Discussions on ways to create and grow product management teams. There are few standards on how to structure teams of product managers and product marketers. The aim is to get attendees to discuss what they’ve seen in their experience that worked and didn’t work and why.

1. How to Structure a
Product Management Team
ANDREW SCHMIED
BUSINESS ADVISOR
www.productcamp.org/toronto
May 30, 2010 – Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University

2. WHAT TYPE OF BUSINESS?
Environmental
Health
Financial
Entertainment
Social Media
Software
Hardware
Services
Enterprise
Consumer
Federal
Regulated
b2b / b2c
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

3. WHICH PRODUCT PORTFOLIO?
In Transition
Commodity
Vertical
Mainstream
New
Technology
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

4. WHERE IN THE BUSINESS CYCLE?
700
 Start-up 600
500
 Established 400
300
 Mature 200
100
 Profitable 0
 Leadership
 Follower
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

5. WHO ARE THE LEADERS?
 Development driven
 Marketing driven
Product
 Vertical Marketing
Assistant
 Flat Sr. Product
Product
Manager
Manager Product
Support
Program
Planner Release
Manager
Manager
Business
Analyst
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

6. START WITH…OWNERSHIP
Product Management must
Define innovative products
Drive competitively paced development
Package easily consumed solutions
Launch uniquely to market
Support self-driven channels
Repeat success
Responsibility is total
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

7. What company is a benchmark
for product excellence?
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

8. Apple
Apple to $248.52, for a market cap of $226.1 billion
Microsoft to $25.50, for a market cap of $223.5 billion
May 26, 2010
Apple has the best organization for empowering product creativity
Apple has the best organization for managing vision into reality
Apple has the best organization for creating intense product demand
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

9. Apple
“To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue
to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.”
Steve Jobs
Inflection Point
iPod (all-touch interface)
iTunes Store
Windows compatibility
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

10. …or Microsoft?
"Where do we go, how do we make products that are more innovative, more popular,
how do we make more profit …there is no technology company in the planet that is
as profitable as we are and I am certainly proud of that.”
Steve Ballmer
Inflection Point
Windows 95
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

11. WHAT WAS THE GAME CHANGER?
Innovative products
Competitively paced development
Easily consumed solutions
Unique launch to market
Self-driven channels
Defined, driven, packaged, launched and supported
by Product Management
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

12. WHICH ROLES MADE IT HAPPEN?
Problem Solvers Believers
Product Product
Support Planners
Release
Visionaries Writers Leaders
Managers
Strategic
Tacticians Program Strategists
Alliance
Managers
Managers
Motivators Product Mktg Business Evangelists
Managers Analysts
Product
Managers
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

13. WHAT TOOLS DID THEY UTILIZE?
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

14. WHAT WERE THEIR CHALLENGES?
 Workload
 Insufficient planning
 Lack of empowerment
 Team conflict
 Poor communication
 Insufficient resources
 Relationship barriers
 Lack of recognition
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

15. Guiding Elements
for
Product Management
Teams
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

16. DNA
What is the company leadership’s philosophy?
High involvement or herding cats?
What is the industry pace?
A sprint or marathon?
What is the cost of failure?
Is every bet all in?
Product Management is responsible for its own success
 Every role is strategic
 Each participant is an owner
 All investments require solid return
1 in 4 S&P 500 companies will be gone in 10 years
Ackoff Center for the Advancement of Systems Approaches, 2010
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

17. KUBA
“RELIGION”
Knowledge
Company, Customer, Competition
KU Understanding KU
BA Market, Technology, Psychology BA
Belief
Goals, Direction, Team
Action
The market waits for no one
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

18. CONFLICT
“COOPERATION IS OVERRATED”
Innovation wins
Revolution over Evolution
The strong survive
Weak hands show early
The best defense is a good offense
Repeatedly
Support must be driven by necessity
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

19. PERFORMANCE
“INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT IS THE KEY METRIC”
 Leadership owns team results
 Performance measurements are validated by the market
 Level of ownership = Level of reward
 Team growth is impossible without competition
 Manufactured change can be healthy
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

20. UNIFIED LINK MODEL
TM
Research Planning Marketing Execution
Market Requirements Positioning Evangelism
Analysis
SWOT Features Collateral Sales
Support
Competitive Roadmap Launch Success
Analysis Analysis
Team Performance Team Performance Team Performance Team Performance
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010

21. THANK YOU
ANDREW SCHMIED
andrew.schmied@gmail.com
+1 647.295.9060
ProductCamp Toronto – MAY 30, 2010