In large organisations product managers fulfil pivotal strategic roles, deciding which products and features to launch into the right market at the right time. In small and medium sized businesses, the role of the product manager is often not that well defined, or sometimes does not exist at all. User Experience professionals often seem to be a logical choice to fill that gap. But are they?
In this session at Web Expo Prague in September 2014, I talked about his experience of being an accidental product manager, the challenge of managing product vision, strategy and roadmap, what makes product management different from UX design, and how to succeed in your first months of having to fill this role.
10. More than 88 percent of product
managers I surveyed said that there
isn’t a carefully thought-out plan for
them when they start their jobs. They
get caught up in the whirlwind of
seemingly urgent tasks that act like a
riptide in an ocean. !
!
Steven Haines: The product manager’s survival guide!
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11. “Can we put this in the backlog?”!
!
”My client wants to see the roadmap!” !
“What about these feature requests?”!
!
“We don’t have any business requirements!”!
!
“When is this being released?”!
!
“We need to talk about this launch!”!
!
A Tsunami of new
responsibilities coming
towards you….!
!
“Like this it’s never going to sell!”!
!
“We’ve got a $ 1M sales target for this product!” !
“Can we do a workshop on the marketing material?”!
!
16. So what does a product
manager do and how !
do you fit? ! !
17. If your role is now:!
!
Design the right product for !
your users (and company)*!
*https://medium.com/what-i-learned-building/63c09a43d0ec!
!
18. It will become:!
!
Help your team (and company) ship
the right product to your users*!
!
*https://medium.com/what-i-learned-building/63c09a43d0ec!
!
30. Foundations of a solid product strategy!
• Competitive landscape!
• Size!
• Readiness!
• Segmentation!
• Economical, political,
social, legal,
technological factors!
• Regional variations!
• Long term trends!
• Demographics!
• Industries / Company
size!
• Roles !
• Budgets / Deal sizes!
• Goals / Issues!
• Needs / Wants!
• Attitudes / Motivations!
• Barriers to entry!
• Attitudes!
• Needs!
• Abilities / Proficiency
of use!
• Preferences!
• Motivators!
• Work and usage
patterns!
• Sales / contribution!
• Profitability / Margin !
• Actual usage!
• Usability !
• User / customer
satisfaction!
• Market share!
• Supportability !
• Deliverability !
• Sustainability !
• Competiveness!
!
Understand the market and
the competition:!
Understand who buys your
product and why:!
Understand your user and
their needs:!
Understand and measure
product performance!
MARKET POSITIONING! VALUE PROPOSITION! PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS!
31. Understand and measure product success across the whole customer lifecycle!
?
Find!
What are people looking for?!
• Web stats!
• Key words / search logs!
• Competitor evaluation!
• Market stats / research!
Evaluate!
Does the product meet their needs?!
• Questionnaire!
• Usability testing!
• User forums!
• Remote research!
Buy!
What do they buy and why?!
• Sales stats!
• Post-sale questionnaire!
• User forums!
• Remote research!
Upgrade!
Which new features and product would they buy?!
• Market research!
• User forums!
• Questionnaire!
• Contextual research!
Use!
How well does the product perform? !
• Questionnaire!
• Usage stats!
• User forums!
• Usability testing!
• Support calls!
• Contextual research!
Learn!
Which features are they aware of / start using?!
• User forums!
• Questionnaire!
• Support calls!
• Usage stats!
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5 2
4 3
32. Connecting the dots and filling the gaps!
TRACK! PRODUCT! PERFORMANCE! OVER! TIME!
Find! Evaluate! Buy! Learn! Use! Upgrade!
Do we have what
people are looking
for?!
What do customers
actually need /
want? How well
does the product
satisfy their need?!
What do they
actually buy and
why?!
What do they
actually install, learn
and start using? !
How happy are they
with the product?
Does it meet their
needs?!