Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Product Management 5
Chapter 1: Welcome to the World of Product Management 7
Understanding the Need for Product Management 8
Recognizing the Critical Role of Project Management 9
Defining product management 9
Serving as a strategic driver for business 9
Product Management in a Nutshell: Checking Out Your Day-to-Day Life 12
Managing a product during every phase of its life 12
Reaching in to your bag of tricks 13
Chapter 2: Getting in Character: Discovering Your Role as a Product Manager 15
Orientation Day: Examining Your Role as Product Manager 15
Checking out the job description 17
Pinpointing product management on the organizational chart 19
Drafting your product management manifesto 20
Comparing Product Management to Other Related Roles 21
Checking out product marketing 22
Looking into program management 23
Exploring project management 25
Knowing what other roles you interact with 27
Conducting a Self-Assessment: Traits of a Great Product Manager 32
Business acumen 32
Industry knowledge and expertise 33
Technical knowledge 33
People skills 34
Decision-making skills 34
Problem-solving aptitude 35
A cool head 35
Leadership chops 36
Scoring your product manager traits 37
RACI and DACI: Understanding Responsibilities 38
Going the RACI route 38
Taking a DACI direction 39
Using RACI and DACI effectively 40
Chapter 3: Checking Out the Product Life Cycle 41
Defining the Product Life Cycle: What It Is and Isn’t 41
Phases and gates 42
Mapping phase-gate to Agile methodologies 43
It’s Just a Phase: Breaking Down the Product Life Cycle 46
Phase I: Conceive 46
Phase II: Plan 47
Phase III: Develop 48
Phase IV: Qualify 49
Phase V: Launch 49
Phase VI: Maximize 50
Phase VII: Retire 51
Detailing the Optimal Product Process 52
Taking a look at how the process works 52
Understanding the nine core documents 54
Part 2: Discovering, Evaluating, and Planning for Great Products and Services 57
Chapter 4: Coming Up with Great Product Ideas 59
Getting a Handle on the Creative Process 59
Exploring sources for new ideas 60
Letting your team play 61
Generating Creative Ideas: Techniques and Tips 63
Brainstorming 63
Consulting customer councils 65
Tapping the power of mind mapping 66
Trying a more structured approach: The four actions framework 67
Chapter 5: Working to Understand Who Your Customer Is 69
Moving from Markets to Segments 69
Defining markets and segments 70
Determining market segments 70
Harnessing the Creativity of Personas 72
What is included in a persona description 72
Developing personas 74
Making Sure You Cover All Persona Roles 77
Visiting Customers 78
Observing customer visit courtesies 78
Interviewing customers 79
Chapter 6: Doing Your Homework: Evaluating Your Ideas 83
Understanding the Importance of Market Research and Competitive Intelligence 83
Subdividing kinds of market research 85
Looking for the right place to start 86
Undertaking the Market Research Process 87
Spelling out the market research process 88
Asking the right questions 89
Examining market research methods 91
Studying Competitive Intelligence 93
Identifying competitors 93
Collecting all the competitive intelligence possible 93
Keeping track of the competition 98
Reality-Checking Your Ideas and Hypotheses 99
Using a simple validation process 99
An example of product validation 100
Crunching the Numbers with Financial Forecasting 100
Chapter 7: Prioritizing and Selecting Your Ideas 101
Prioritizing Your Ideas 101
Finding the right fit with the product-market fit triad 102
Putting business canvases to use 104
Weighing different opportunities 108
Applying Scoring Models 110
Scoring for differentiation: The Kano model 110
Scoring for efficient use of development resources: Value versus effort analysis 111
Filling out a prioritization matrix 112
Collecting ballots: Dot voting 113
Buying features 114
Chapter 8: Planning to Plan: Choosing a Suitable Approach 115
Adopting Planning Best Practices 115
Starting early 116
Including your team 116
Treating your plan as a living document 117
Deciding on the Right Amount of Planning 117
Comparing Lean versus in-depth planning 118
Completing the types of new products and services grid 119
Finding the right level of planning for your company’s culture 120
Considering your executives’ expectations 122
Evaluating investment risk 123
Streamlining the Planning Process with Lean and Simple Planning 124
Understanding the Lean approach 125
What numbers are you looking at? 125
Taking a look at a popular business model canvas 126
Being prepared to rapidly change and pivot 128
Taking a More Thorough Approach: In-Depth Planning 128
Deciding whether to document 129
Using key documents and corresponding questions 130
Estimating your time investment 132
Chapter 9: Developing Your Business Case 133
Making a Business Case for the New Product or Service 134
Recognizing the importance of a business case 134
Outlining your business case 135
Gathering the necessary information 136
Putting It All Together: Documenting Your Business Case 136
Part I: Executive summary 136
Part II: Problem and opportunity 137
Part III: Market landscape 139
Part IV: Competitive landscape 139
Part V: Financial and resource impact analysis 141
Part VI: Risks 143
Parts VII through XI: Other sections 143
Getting buy-in for your business case 146
Chapter 10: Developing Your Market Strategy 147
Grasping the Importance of a Market Strategy 148
Setting Yourself Straight on Strategy Tools 149
Go-to-market strategy 149
Strategy models 150
Considering Other Components of Marketing Strategy 156
Whole product offering 156
Brand promise 157
Pricing 157
Segmentation 161
Positioning 161
Naming your product 165
Messaging 166
Putting Your Market Strategy in Writing 168
Part I: Executive summary 169
Part II: Whole product offer 170
Part III: Pricing 171
Part IV: Segmentation 172
Part V: Positioning 172
Part VI: Messaging 173
Part VII: Strategy 173
Part VIII: Launch programs and activities 175
Part IX: Budget 175
Part X: Concluding sections 175
Chapter 11: Developing a Plan: Market Needs, Product Description, and Road Maps 177
Uncovering Market Need and Creating Product Feature Descriptions 178
The problem space 178
The solution space 178
Comparing market needs and product features 178
Keeping discussions clear 180
Documenting Market Needs 181
Questioning why “why” is so important 181
Gathering the necessary information 183
Detailing your market needs document 187
Prioritizing detailed features and market needs 192
Whipping Up a Product Feature Description 193
Outlining the product description 194
Completing the product description document 195
Plotting Your Product’s Path to Success with a Product Road Map 199
Part 3: Building and Maximizing Product Success: From Development to Retirement 201
Chapter 12: Shepherding a Product Idea through the Development Phase 203
Getting the Lowdown on Waterfall/Phase-Gate versus Agile Development 203
Waterfall: Measure twice, cut once 204
Agile: Plan and deliver rapidly 205
Creating the backlog in Agile 207
Assuming typical responsibilities 211
Unlocking the Secrets of the Product Development Trade-Off Triangle 213
Maintaining Best Practices during Development 215
Chapter 13: Gearing up for Your Product Launch: The Qualify Phase 217
Getting Up to Speed on the Qualify Phase 217
Ensuring internal and external quality validation 218
Creating a beta plan 219
Dodging typical beta testing mistakes 220
Putting a Beta Program in Place 221
Setting appropriate goals 221
Making your goals concrete 221
Recruiting participants 222
Making the Decision to Ship the Product 226
Chapter 14: Liftoff! Planning and Executing an Effective Product Launch 227
Unlocking the Do’s and Don’ts of a Successful Product Launch 228
Understanding the importance of first impressions 228
Detailing the elements of a successful product launch 229
Setting Launch Goals 230
Checking Out Different Launch Types 231
Launches under Agile or very frequent releases 231
Easy does it: The soft launch 231
A small effort: The minimal launch 232
Going all-in: The full scale launch 233
Choosing a launch type: Key considerations 233
Running a Smooth Product Launch 234
Building your launch squad 235
Tracking milestones and ensuring accountability 235
Arming your sales team and other key stakeholders 236
Creating a Product Launch Plan 237
Recognizing the importance of the launch plan 237
Filling out the launch plan template 238
Validating the Plan against Your Launch Goals 241
Chapter 15: Maximizing Your Product’s Revenue and Profits 243
Grasping the Basics of Marketing 244
Marketing mix 244
Working with marcom and creating marketing collateral 248
Fitting into the sales and marketing funnel 252
Getting sales the tools to sell the product 254
Becoming marketing aware 255
Forecasting: A Look to the Future 256
Collecting data for forecasting 256
Making assumptions 259
Creating an Effective Marketing Plan 260
Recognizing the importance of a top-notch marketing plan 261
Outlining your marketing plan: What to include 261
Setting goals 263
Monitoring Product Success Metrics 265
Keeping tabs on the sales funnel: Leads, opportunities, and conversions 265
Examining revenues and profitability 265
Gauging market share 266
Benchmarking: Tracking against the business plan 266
Changing Course: Making Adjustments 267
Beefing up sales support 268
Enhancing the product 268
Trimming costs 268
Chapter 16: Retirement: Replacing a Product or Taking It off the Market 271
Deciding How to Retire a Product 272
Taking into account internal and external expectations 272
Considering Critical Factors in a Product Retirement Plan 273
Breaking down specific end-of-life issues by product type 273
Distinguishing a product’s various end-of dates 275
Checking out parts of a product retirement plan 276
Following Best Practices when Retiring a Product 277
Part 4: Becoming a Phenomenal Product Manager 279
Chapter 17: Cultivating Your Product Management Leadership Skills 281
Identifying Traits of an Effective Product Management Leader 282
Developing Your Leadership Style 283
Reaching for results and motivating people 283
Handling stress 284
Thinking, acting, and communicating like a leader 287
Chapter 18: Mastering the Art of Persuasion 289
Brushing Up on Persuasion Basics 289
Active listening 290
Convincing with the three reasons method 291
Asking for what you want — concisely 292
Getting Your Executive Team on Board 293
Drawing up an influence map 293
Building relationships with the key players 294
Talking the talk: Executive-speak 295
Winning Over Your Development Team 296
Building your credibility 296
Assessing your team and adjusting 298
Sizing up different types of developers and how to handle them 299
Fostering rapport with the team 300
Getting Sales on Your Side 301
Making it easy for sales to sell your product 302
Chapter 19: Getting to the Next Level in Product Management 305
Mapping Your Career Path: Setting Goals and Target Dates 305
Establishing goals 306
Building a career plan 307
Writing one-, three-, and five-year action plans 309
Remembering the favors 310
Mastering Your Market and New Technologies 310
Becoming the market and customer expert 311
Increasing your technical expertise 312
Part 5: Part of Tens 313
Chapter 20: Ten Common Product Launch Mistakes to Avoid 315
Failing to Plan Early Enough 316
Not Having a Sustaining Marketing Plan in Place 316
Shipping a Poor Quality Product 317
Inadequately Funding Launch 318
Underestimating the Required Marketing Exposure 319
Driving Customers to Buy Your Competitor’s Products 319
Announcing Too Early 320
Not Having a Dedicated Product Review and Public Relations Program 321
Delaying Communication 323
Considering International Markets as an Afterthought 323
Chapter 21: Ten (Plus One) Road Maps to Help You Succeed 325
Theme-Based Product Road Maps 326
Timed Release Product Road Maps 328
Golden Feature Product Road Maps 329
Market and Strategy Road Maps 329
Visionary Road Maps 330
Competitive, Market, and Technology Trends Road Map 331
Technology Road Maps 331
Technology across Products Road Map 332
Platform Road Maps 333
Matrix Product Road Maps 333
Multiple Product Line Road Maps 334
Chapter 22: Ten Ways Product Managers Fail 337
Talking More Than Listening 337
Focusing Only on Features 338
Not Continuing to Learn 338
Reinventing the Wheel 338
Avoiding Seeking Help 339
Digging In and Refusing to Compromise, Ever 339
Never Visiting Customers 339
Not Owning the Whole Product 340
Adopting Agile but Losing Overall Business Focus 340
Being a Product Janitor Rather Than a Product Manager 341
Glossary 343
Index 349
