Product Management is a complex and essential practice traversing multiple cross-functional areas within the company. While it is a well known practice in various well established product companies, most Product Management aspects are still adhoc within a startup, largely decided by the founders and the leadership teams, some based on gut, others based on fact-check with very few data points. Startups are challenged to find the product-market fit early on and there is small room for errors. Hence, a thorough but low-touch Product Management toolkit and framework would be extremely essential for startups. For IoT companies, it becomes much more complex with both hardware and software, where product management essentials have been very different. Another aspect is the customization you have to do for customers - where do you draw the line? How would you build the product and handle the customization, so that it can be provided easily to other customers with minimal efforts? In this session, Hans-Bernd Kittlaus and Haragopal Mangipudi, the pioneers of International Software Product Management Association (ISPMA), joined us for an engaging discussion on the above. They alse shared the Low-Touch Product Management Toolkit/Framework that would be applicable to most of the startups in our IoTForum community. We were joined by 2 of our Founders from IoTForum - Deva and Ganesh, to ask Hara and Hans the hard questions, relevant cases etc.

1. Art of Product Management
in
IoT
haragopal mangipudi (aka hara)
Adjunct, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore , India
Member of the Board , ISPMA
Founder, guNaka®
09th July 2020
hara@gunaka.com haragopal.mangipudi@iimb.ac.in
@haragopal_m
©gunaka.com

2. ..would rather have questions that can’t be answered than
answers that can’t be questioned
-Richard Feynman*
*unconfirmed source
rule for mutual learning..

3. Product Management - State of the Art for IoT startups?

4. how to get to the ‘state of practice’ for IoT Startups
• Do IoT startups need Product Management?
• What are the PM Challenges in IoT startups?
• Does a framework help improve the odds?
• Have you tried any framework before?

5. Ganesh Shankar The holy grail is :
Prioritization -> Positioning -> Product
Positioning & Product Definition, Business Case
Organizing the team for
different phases
heatmap
Deliver the Emotional benefits
UX Design & Requirements Engg
Build Vs Value focus
Financial, pricing & Value Design
Minimalistic
Costing and UX Design
Fake it till you make it
Positioning & Marketing
IoT is always differentiated
either thru IP or Data
Legal, privacy & IP
Marketing starts from day : zero
& the story telling from day : (-100)
UX, Positioning & Marketing
Obsession for Customer Success
Service /Support
Digital twins
Ecosystem

6. Deva Seetharam
IoT is like putting your s/w on
a thousand clouds /devices
standards compliance &
certification, ecosystem, IP
evolution did not add
complexity until it was a
necessity RoadMapping
the journey is like mountain
climbing – survival is key at
every step ReleasePlanning
Know the opponent before
building the army
Competition&MarketAnalysis
Sensing & Actuation
Gateway Data Collection
User Data Analytics
the journey is like mountain
climbing – survival is key at
every step ReleasePlanning
Business/Market Orientation
Positioning & Marketing
Build frugally
Delivery Model & Service Strategy
Back2Back cover for liabilities
Performance & Risk Mgmt
Support planning
preparation
Support & Service Planning
Sales Planning and
channel

7. ISPMA Framework v.1.3-2

8. Lean ISPMA framework for startups*
Early Stage Startup
Startup in Stabilisation
Growth Stage Startup

9. Strategic Management
Product
Strategy
Product
Planning
Development Marketing Sales and Fulfillment
Delivery Services
and Support
Corporate
Strategy
Positioning and
Product Definition
Product Life-Cycle
Management
Engineering
Management
Marketing
Planning
Sales
Planning
Service Planning
and Preparation
Portfolio
Management
Delivery Model and
Service Strategy
Roadmapping Project Management Customer Analysis Channel Preparation
Service
Provisioning
Innovation
Management
Business Case
and Costing
Release
Planning
Project Requirements
Engineering
Opportunity
Management
Customer Relationship
Management
Technical
Support
Talent
Management
Pricing
Product
Requirements
Engineering
User Experience
Design
Marketing Mix
Optimisation
Operational
Sales
Marketing Support
Market
Analysis
Ecosystem
Management
Quality
Management
Product Launches
Operational
Distribution Sales Support
Product
Analysis
Legal and IPR
Management
Operational
Marketing
Performance and
Risk Management
Participation
Core SPM
Orchestration
Lean SPM framework* for IoT startups

10. Strategic Management
Product
Strategy
Product
Planning
Development Marketing Sales and Fulfillment
Delivery Services
and Support
Corporate
Strategy
Positioning and
Product Definition
Product Life-Cycle
Management
Engineering
Management
Marketing
Planning
Sales
Planning
Service Planning
and Preparation
Portfolio
Management
Delivery Model and
Service Strategy
Roadmapping Project Management Customer Analysis Channel Preparation
Service
Provisioning
Innovation
Management
Business Case
and Costing
Release
Planning
Project Requirements
Engineering
Opportunity
Management
Customer Relationship
Management
Technical
Support
Talent
Management
Pricing
Product
Requirements
Engineering
User Experience
Design
Marketing Mix
Optimisation
Operational
Sales
Marketing Support
Market
Analysis
Ecosystem
Management
Quality
Management
Product Launches
Operational
Distribution Sales Support
Product
Analysis
Legal and IPR
Management
Operational
Marketing
Performance and
Risk Management
Participation Core SPM Orchestration
Early stage heatmap – sample

11. SPM methods and framework for software startups
Crital Focus Area Methods SPM Framework mapping
Problems -Solution fit Lean Canvas Market and Product Analysis
Feature - Benefits Value Canvas Roadmapping Requirements Engineering,
Competition Analysis Petal Diagram Market Analysis
Market Porter's five forces Market Analysis
Business Ecosystem Business Model Canvas Ecosystem
Monetization / Pricing Price-Value Heirarchy Pricing
Customer Segements Customer Life Cycle Customer Analysis
Product-market fit MVP Market and Product Analysis
Retention and Acquisition NPS
Customer Analysis / Customer Relationship
Management
Product RoadMap / Project
Management Standard tools Roadmaping Requirements Engineering,

12. Not all startups are the same ..
Next Steps..
ü Lean SPM workshop for founders - BYOBC&
ü Identify the Mentoring needs
ü Shared Product Management Oversight?
*Steve Blank’s IRL model
&Bring Your Own Business Case

13. THANK YOU