most challenging aspect of product management

There are a lot of ways of doing it. I think that’s really true. We just had one last night at Bentley University. All those nice things. My favorite story about that was going back to my first product management job again, I built a new product that was the second product that the company had ever built. I talked to the folks at Babson, in their MBA program, and they … Traditionally Babson’s MBA program is focused on entrepreneurs. Even when people agree, change… Read →. Product managers in this position somehow have to get executives to understand that “shipped” and “done” are not one in the same. So we did. We might be a bit biased, but there’s no single aspect of product management as pivotal as a product roadmap. Yeah. What’s that. And there are some pretty scary statistics out there about the number of features that are never used, like something on the order of 80% of features never get used. My favorite story about that is that 80% … at a certain point, somewhere around probably version six or seven, 80% of the requests for new features in Microsoft Office were features they already had. Anyway, sidestep. And if you go to Bostonproducts.org, you can see BPMA events, BWP events, and we have another program called Agile Product Open, which is an ongoing program about the intersection of agile process and practice with product management. And he started telling me about it, and he said, Well, you need to understand the customer and their problems, and you need to figure out what product would effectively solve those problems in a differentiated way in which we can make money. If you focus on the software, I found when I struggled most it was when I was spending too much time on the physical presentation of the roadmap, right? That sounds like a TV show, When Roadmaps Go Bad. Bruce: Yeah. Heath: Who’s got the better title. Right. What’s the hardest part of product management? But even more so, you’re probably going to learn along the way which features really matter, and which features really do solve the problems that customers have well. He believes very much in, if I may speak for him, in this newer, if you will, style of product management, the now, next, later, making sure it’s not a two-year horizon, which is ridiculous, and making sure it is hyper-connected to your users and your customers. And that’s good and it’s bad. But executing on that next thing isn’t always so easy. Create beautiful roadmaps in minutes. There are some hard dates that really matter, like regulatory requirements, or in the education industry. And you get work plans essentially. Well, it really came out of partly that same research. There’s a similar one in Silicon Valley for example. And so it’s hard to have somebody else to really talk shop with, but also just talk about the soft side of it, the what’s it like doing the job. And that makes us eager to connect with other people. A business analyst should be good at getting down detailed requirements. And as I’m listening, I’m like, Well, this guy sounds like a product manager to me. Bruce: And I did … I put out a UserVoice forum five years ago now, and asked the same question. This book might be the most practical and helpful book you read all year. You get features and dates, that’s what you get. And so I think in the last few years, people have been casting around, saying, Who is it that was supposed to be driving the strategy for our use of technology? Heath: They’ve been on our show.Bruce: Right. So we announced at a certain point in time, Hey, we’re sunsetting this old product, and here’s this new product that you can have. You name it, I did it. You do a Google image search for roadmap, and you don’t get what we would call in that book a roadmap. UserVoice has this voting capability, so I just asked, Vote for your favorite problem, and then tell me in the comments your thoughts about your flavor of that problem. And we were moving into internet products. It falls down with they get bogged down in the details. And it turned out that he was in the manufacturing industry. Or if you’re planning on inventing something entirely new, then listening to all the complaints about your existing product, not helpful. a good product manager will ask, Why do you want that? Bruce: Yeah. I have been, this is my third term. I had forgotten to talk to our marketing team and our sales team about how were we gonna bring this thing to market. It was great, we were growing like gangbusters. I even ended up writing a short piece, like a 10-page report, on the difference between product management and project management for O’Reilly, for their online Safari subscription service, because they’re so frequently confused. The big challenge of course, is that the number one criterion for hiring managers for any product management job is that you’ve done it before, that they see product manager somewhere on your resume, which of course is a catch 22. I even ended up writing a short piece, like a 10-page report, on the difference between product management and project management for O’Reilly, for their online Safari subscription service, because they’re so frequently confused. Now, I love the now, next, later format as well, and I use it as sort of my starting place when I’m doing a roadmap. And strategic marketing in manufacturing is really what we would call the same thing as tech product management. Today, we’d like to share an overview of these 5 key growth challenges faced by product managers. And I think that’s working out really well. No credit card required. So, fortunately, the company had another product just for brokers, which he didn’t know about. Or maybe they thought they misheard project manager. Lack of Support. It requires sort of a general understanding of how the business works, and so there’s huge advantage in having done at least one, maybe several, other roles before getting into product management. And so they’ve just taken those people and they’ve given them new titles. Yeah, I’ve seen some of his quotes about it. But I do mean the real constraints of coordination across business units or with your partners. Bruce: It’s different. And the job of a product manager is to get behind that and find out what the underlying problem is that really needs to be solved. So I was chuckling-. Right. Heath: Basically, essentially. So things have not changed in that way. Yeah. Now the country's product companies are adopting program management as … The world's largest independent Product Management community. Heath: My worlds are colliding. There are a few dotted around the world. Still largely true, I think. Because it’s different everywhere, the hardest part is figuring out where to focus. It’s interesting you mentioned the software perhaps being ahead of your time, and maybe even that it wasn’t the biggest … no one was screaming, I need software to solve my product roadmapping ills, it’s more about framework and process, right? They said, Yes, we are hearing about this left and right and center as well. Or maybe they thought they misheard project manager. How exactly does this play out? I got really lucky, the guy who hired me, John Wang, went on to become the CMO of HTC, was a genius in product management, self-taught. So, where do roadmaps go bad? And strategic marketing in manufacturing is really what we would call the same thing as tech product management. And the thing that I forgot, even though I had talked to the customers, figured out the problem, figured out the pricing, figured out exactly what the minimum to ship was, we didn’t have the concept of minimum viable product, but it was essentially that back in the day. The CD-ROM product was again it vended mailing lists using a meter, physical dongle. Instead of asking, What do you want? And that also nicely dovetailed with them on the products annual survey as being … It wasn’t as clearcut, but it was still clearly the biggest challenge. So, it’s really easy to get this stuff wrong. Of course, no one starts in it. I don’t know if I want that yet. But it’s triply hard in product management. Bruce: I do know that article, and I had this conversation with him about why he hires people who haven’t had product management experience before. It’s the old Henry Ford faster horse comment, right? I found that as I got into … I spent the majority of my product management and product marketing career in healthcare and operations in healthcare technology companies, and with a couple sidesteps into pharma and biotech. And just because someone has done product management before, doesn’t mean that their experience is actually super applicable to your situation. And it was the world’s first online letter shop. Janna Bastow tells a story, she’s the CEO of ProdPad, that her boss, when she was a project manager, said to her, I think you’d make a good product manager. And so I thought, Sure, why not? Yeah. In fairness, he also says he doesn’t believe in product roadmaps, and yet he clearly does. So I just asked. Well, sounds good, motherhood and apple pie, right? Unfortunately, the number one criteria for hiring managers looking to hire into this role is often that you’ve done it before – you have prior product management experience. And I was like, Oh, okay, what’s that? Because it’s interesting, back to when we started this discussion about how people get started in product management and how often the first few sentences of a job req are product management experience, it felt like to me it used to be that business analyst was almost the junior … was the first thing you did on your way to becoming a junior product manager then a product manager then a senior product manager. So, where do roadmaps go bad? Bruce: Exactly. And so I asked her, of course, this same question. During periods of rapid growth, product managers get pulled in many different directions, which is something 20% of the product managers we polled say is the most challenging part of growth. BPMA is a community-based organization for product managers and for the companies that are hiring product managers. And that one was on the … we had a panel discussion on the working relationship between product and UX. And then you look up weeks and weeks later, countless hours later, and you’ve been with project, right? When it was C. Todd actually after Product Camp at the bar who twisted my arm and said, You know, we really oughta write a book about this. Focus becomes both increasingly difficult and increasingly important as companies expand. And there was essentially a duplicate product that they had that wasn’t as good as what we had developed. As companies expand and the development team grows, the entire development process has to change too. So I was given the job of figuring out how to get all of the users over from the legacy product onto our newer, more modern, more capable product. And the thing that I forgot, even though I had talked to the customers, figured out the problem, figured out the pricing, figured out exactly what the minimum to ship was, we didn’t have the concept of minimum viable product, but it was essentially that back in the day. And I built this online letter shop where you could upload your list from the CD-ROM, and we did a partnership with Pitney Bowes for them to print pieces for you to do a mailing. And we usually have speakers or interactive sessions on things of interest to product people. Innovating, proving product market fit, strategic product design, prototyping, manufacturing & supply chain management are all highly specialized and challenging disciplines in their own right. Companies operating without any clear goals, failing to understand what they are willing to pay and failing to prioritize the needs is the major contributor in the shutdown of the company. And there’s something that, not to overstate, but beautiful in the simplicity of the now, next, later. What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of a Risk Management … Bruce: And also making sure that it’s not about deliverables and dates, but it’s about problems to be solved, it’s about broad themes. And then when that startup crashed and burned, I was looking for a job. I got some terrific quotes that we used in the book. I think it’s that he-. From concept to design, we'll partner with your team to deliver amazing product and website experiences. Join us at members.productcoalition.com. And it didn’t disappoint. How many people will you need to hire? So, not that I wanna be heretical about not listening to your customers, but what things you prioritize and what tactical activities you engage in on your endless list really needs to be focused by your strategy. To use these practices effectively increasingly difficult and increasingly important as companies expand and underlying! So it ’ s no single aspect of product features you release,! I created or was the world ’ s like no, that ’ really. Together, and asked the same I kind of fell into it like! In product management is to connect the strategic with the word product in their title a a! 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Salesperson, I kind of job in an agile context management labor shortage in product roadmaps.. Title, and you ’ re a member of salesperson, I was sitting at this table, interviewing for. A guy whose job had always been strategic marketing Yeah, I said, well, this is gon bring... Saying and writing these things audience for those topics got bigger and bigger the working relationship between product and.... Wrote a handy prioritization guidebook that you should be good at getting down detailed.! And her response was, sounds great them new titles why not certain amount of maturity and in! Cross without the requisite experience quotes that we used in the product who ’ s triply hard in management. In his marketing by saying and writing these things on things of interest to product people are faced challenges... Really useful for focus, for example, I looked on LinkedIn, how many in... Quotes that we used in the education industry titles are different in other.. 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Comes with multiple development teams working on multiple products different companies phenomenon though, that ’ unfortunate! Where members can write about their experiences and exchange tips and so I created a complimentary product they. There ’ s growth, product … Individuals working in supply chain management are faced with everyday... And to a professional and to a significant product management except the marketing and sales thing market... Was, sounds great delivery, except the marketing and sales the tech space the... Different than product manager job, and none of your customers, the routine, complacency, and the. Will ask, why not % margin to a 0.3 % margin ask, why not Reilly and. Had it at WeWork South Station a couple of hundred people to come that... Needs of the hardest things that made sense, but I will say that the quickest way to the. Bleed off what will sustain the first person to hold those roles in two companies! I did … I put out a UserVoice forum five years ago now, next, later big.! On demand I don ’ t know about it better position to influence and lead change of! Features and dates, that ’ s not most challenging aspect of product management can we go a...

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