An introduction to Product Management, for people involved in technology or software companies. Mainly aimed at evangelizing the role and responsibilities across an organization. This is the #1 presentation out of a serie of 10 sessions. Special thanks to Marty Cagan @ SVPG for the title :)

1. PRODUCT
MANAGEMENT
101
#1 How To Create
Products Customers L♥VE
Jean-Yves SIMON
@jysim0n
http://fr.linkedin.com/in/jysim0n

2. What I have observed in
many companies

3. “Everybody’s got a
strategy until they get
hit.”
– Mike Tyson

4. No
Thanks!
We are
too busy
People too busy to improve
Want
some
help?

5. People Firefighting
leave that job to professionals
(especially Product Managers)
Based on an idea from Pragmatic Marketi

6. 1. Intro
2. Why do companies need ProductManagement?
3. The Origins of Product Management4. Product Manager: an unrecognised role5. Where do they belong in the Organisation?6. (Re)defining the Role of the Product Manager7. Methodologies to create great Products
Agenda

7. It’s Quizz time!

8. Which of the following is an effective source of Ideas?
A: R&D department
D: Users of the productsC: Customer complaints
B: Competitor’s Products

9. All of the above!
Which of the following is an effective source of Ideas?
A: R&D department
D: Users of the productsC: Customer complaints
B: Competitor’s Products

10. Why do companies need
Product Management?

11. Is this Why Companies Need
Product Management?

12. Feature, feature, feature…

13. Well actually, Product
management may be the one
job that the organization
would get along fine without
(at least for a good while),
right?

14. Without engineers, nothing
would get built.

15. Without sales people,
nothing is sold.

16. But in a world without
Product Managers, others
simply fill in the gap and go
on with their lives.

17. However, when there is a
great product management
function, it usually makes the
difference between winning
and losing.

18. Let’s see one example

19. Your task is to
Design me a Pen
Tell me what you would do?

20. A pen can be
A permanent
marker
A pen for
astronauts to
use in space
A pen for
children to
use in the
bath
A pen for
scuba divers

21. Everyone of us
would need and design
a very different pen

22. That’s one case where you
need a Product Manager

23. Product Management is there to avoid this…
Source: http://www.projectcartoon.com

24. The Origins of
Product Management

25. There is no School of Product
Management*.
People actually evolve into
this role.
* Or no school where technology product management is taught in Europe, maybe US...

26. Back in the Days…

27. Source: The Origins of Product Management, onproductmanagement.net - 2010
1930 - Procter & Gamble
P&G Neil McElroy creates a role called
“Brand Man” for the Camay Soap product
The origins of Product Management go back to
the 1930s at P&G
1981 – Intuit
Scott Cook, a former P&G “brand man”, applies
“brand management” principles to software
products at Intuit to develop Quicken.
Technology product management was born.
1991 – Harvard Business Review
In his article “Marketing is Everything”, Technology
marketing guru Regis McKenna described the
changes that technology was bringing to the
marketing profession. This “new marketing” described
core aspects of Product Management.
2001 – Manifesto for Agile Software
Development
Changed the way software was being built. Birth of the
Product Owner Role
2011– Lean Startup
Eric Ries combined validated learning methods for
developing businesses and products.

28. Product Manager:
an Unrecognised Role

29. Every company has its own
definition for Product
Manager.

30. Example of a Product Manager
LinkedIn Job Ad, July 2014
56 responsibilities! Among which:
“Coordinate crisis activities in case of escalation.”
“Provide all useful product documentation.”
“Conduct internal and/or customer training as needed.”
“Contribute to RFPs as requested.”
“Support the Delivery organization on key customer
engagements.”
“Write High-level Statement of Requirements and develop
product plans that identify key market requirements.”
“Monitor customer satisfaction.”
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/17521694

31. This company is looking for a
“Swiss army knife”,
not a Product Manager.
This position is surely set for failure.

32. So why should Sales sell,
developers code, and
Product Managers be the
“Jack of all Trades, Master of
none”?

33. (Re)defining the
Role of the Product
Manager

34. The Product Manager’s
Mission is to…

35. Deliver measurable
business results through
product features and
solutions that meet both
market needs and
company goals.
Source: http://onproductmanagement.net/2011/03/21/differentiated-pm-roles/

36. Key Activities of
Product Managers

37. Product Manager Key Activities
Business
• Focuses on maximizing business
value from his product
• Obsessed with optimizing his
product to achieve the business
goals
• Cares on maximizing the ROI
User experience
• Is the voice of the user
inside the business
• Must be passionate about
the user experience.
• Has to be out there testing
the product continuously,
talking to users and getting
feedback
Technology
• Understands the level of
effort involved to make
the right decisions
• Spends time day to day
with the development
team

38. Pragmatic Marketing
Framework:
A market-driven
model for managing and
marketing technology
products
Pricing
Buy, Build
or Partner
Product
Portfolio
Business
Case
Buying
Process
Product
Profitability
Buyer
Personas
Market
Definition
Marketing
Plan
User
Personas
Customer
Acquisition
Win/Loss
Analysis
Distinctive
Competence
Market
Problems
Distribution
Strategy
Customer
Retention
Positioning
Program
Effectiveness
Lead
Generation
Use
Scenarios
Innovation
Thought
Leadership
Presentations &
Demos
Product
Roadmap
Channel
Training
Event
Support
Sales Process
Collateral
Sales Tools
Requirements
“Special”
Calls
Status
Dashboard
Channel
Support
Technology
Assessment
Competitive
Landscape
Referrals &
References
Launch
Plan
MARKET BUSINESS PROGRAMSPLANNINGFOCUS SUPPORTREADINESS
Strategic
Tactical
Different activities, different profiles, different
titles
Source: pragmaticmarketing.com

39. Pragmatic Marketing
Framework:
A market-driven
model for managing and
marketing technology
products
Pricing
Buy, Build
or Partner
Product
Portfolio
Business
Case
Buying
Process
Product
Profitability
Buyer
Personas
Market
Definition
Marketing
Plan
User
Personas
Customer
Acquisition
Win/Loss
Analysis
Distinctive
Competence
Market
Problems
Distribution
Strategy
Customer
Retention
Positioning
Program
Effectiveness
Lead
Generation
Use
Scenarios
Innovation
Thought
Leadership
Presentations &
Demos
Product
Roadmap
Channel
Training
Event
Support
Sales Process
Collateral
Sales Tools
Requirements
“Special”
Calls
Status
Dashboard
Channel
Support
Technology
Assessment
Competitive
Landscape
Referrals &
References
Launch
Plan
MARKET BUSINESS PROGRAMSPLANNINGFOCUS SUPPORTREADINESS
Strategic
Tactical
STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES
Titles: Product Manager, Director Product
Strategy, Product Line Manager
TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
Titles: Product Owner, Technical Product
Manager, Program Manager, Business Analyst
MARKETING
ACTIVITIES
Product Marketing Manager,
Sales Enablement
Different activities, different profiles, different
titles
Source: pragmaticmarketing.com

40. Pragmatic Marketing
Framework:
A market-driven
model for managing and
marketing technology
products
Pricing
Buy, Build
or Partner
Product
Portfolio
Business
Case
Buying
Process
Product
Profitability
Buyer
Personas
Market
Definition
Marketing
Plan
User
Personas
Customer
Acquisition
Win/Loss
Analysis
Distinctive
Competence
Market
Problems
Distribution
Strategy
Customer
Retention
Positioning
Program
Effectiveness
Lead
Generation
Use
Scenarios
Innovation
Thought
Leadership
Presentations &
Demos
Product
Roadmap
Channel
Training
Event
Support
Sales Process
Collateral
Sales Tools
Requirements
“Special”
Calls
Status
Dashboard
Channel
Support
Technology
Assessment
Competitive
Landscape
Referrals &
References
Launch
Plan
MARKET BUSINESS PROGRAMSPLANNINGFOCUS SUPPORTREADINESS
Strategic
Tactical
Product Manager Product Marketer
Role split in medium-sized organisations
Source: pragmaticmarketing.com

41. The pilars of a successful
Product Manager

42. their productProduct Managers

43. Product Managers Lead through Influence
Well, maybe not this type of influence

44. It’s more this type of influence J
Source: http://www.targetprocess.com/
Developer
Programming
Skill
Blood Alcohol Concentration (%)

45. Product Managers
are the Voice of the
Customer

46. Product Managers are accountable for Measuring
& Communicating Progress & Success
• Key Performance Indicators
• Product adoption & Usage metrics
• ROI & P&L metrics
• Feature Team Scorecard
“What gets
measured gets
done”

47. Why measure?

48. Data
beats
opinion- Google
“

49. Product Managers do
Plant Seeds To Infuse
Ideas with their
Stakeholders
“Work with stakeholders until they know the story so well
they are constantly telling and retelling it themselves.”
- Dane Howard, eBay

50. PMs Create Products
Customers
L♥VE

51. And Want To ฿u¥!

52. The B.O.S.S.
Product Manager

53. • Runs the product like a
Business
• Has an Outside-In
approach
• Engages & communicates
with his Stakeholders
• Focuses on Strategic
(What) rather than
Tactical/Technical (How)
The B.O.S.S Product Manager

54. • Runs the product like a
Business
• Opportunity Assessment
• Build, buy or partner?
• Measures investment ROI
• Defined & Follows adoption
KPIs
• Continuous optimization
• Has an Outside-In
approach
• Engages & communicates
with his Stakeholders
• Focuses on Strategic
(What) rather than
The B.O.S.S Product Manager

55. • Runs the product like a
Business
• Has an Outside-In
approach
• Meets with Customers and
prospects weekly
• Is the voice of the customer
• Brings the customer into the
company
• Engages & communicates
with his Stakeholders
• Focuses on Strategic
(What) rather than
Tactical/Technical (How)
The B.O.S.S Product Manager

56. • Runs the product like a
Business
• Has an Outside-In
approach
• Engages & communicates
with his Stakeholders
• Communicates progress & KPIs
regularly,
• Include them in discovery
phase
• Focuses on Strategic
(What) rather than
Tactical/Technical (How)
The B.O.S.S Product Manager

57. • Runs the product like a
Business
• Has an Outside-In
approach
• Engages & communicates
with his Stakeholders
• Focuses on Strategic
(What) rather than
Tactical/Technical (How)
• Systematic discovery process,
• Competition & Market analysis,
• Roadmap,
• Product canvas
The B.O.S.S Product Manager

58. Where do Product
Managers
belong in
Organisations?

59. Product Managers Wear
Many Hats
FinanceTechnical
Engineering
MarketingBusiness
And too often…Firefighter

60. They generally report to the
CTO or the CMO in most
technology companies

61. Recently, especially in Tech
companies, we’ve seen the
rise of a Product function
reporting directly to the
CEO.

62. The Chief Product Officer

63. But whether they report to
Marketing, Customer Success
or R&D, Product Managers
will always be driven by the
department’s objectives.

64. Methodologies
To Create Great
Products

65. Working in
Feature or
Pizza Teams
If you can't feed a team
with two pizzas, it's too
large.
- Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon
“

66. Gathering
Developers
+ Product Managers in
Feature Teams

67. A typical Feature Team
Core
Feature
Team
User
Experience
Product Owner
Product Manager
Scrum Master
Sr Dev Lead
Developers
UI+Back-end
QA
Analyst
IT Ops
Engineer
Can be external shared

68. A typical Feature Team
Core Feature Team
Core
Feature
Team
User
Experience
Product Owner
Product Manager
Scrum Master
Sr Dev Lead
Developers
UI+Back-end
QA
Analyst
IT Ops
Engineer
Extended Feature Team
Product
Marketing
Software
Architect
Program or
Delivery
Manager
Other Feature
team
members
The Extended feature team is made up of teams who are involved at a given
point in the definition, development or delivery process.

69. The Agile process was
conceived as a development
methodology.

70. Get it on
READY to
MARKET
Ideate Get it
PRIORITIZED
Get it
DEFINED
with Customers
Get it DONE
w/ Agile
Get it
TESTED &
VALIDATED
Product
backlog
BUSINESS
GOALS
PRIORITY1
2
3
.
.
.
.
10
TODO
DONE
2
weeks
Scrum Team
Product, UX,
Dev, QA, Ops
Testing Team
Internal test
Pilot Customers
Customer
Discovery Team
Product Manager
User Experience
VALUE
Prototypes
MVP
Interaction designs
visual designs
Sprint backlog
User stories
Opportunity Assessment
Go-to-market Plan
Launch Plan
User Doc,
Marketing
Materials
Product steering
committee
Product managers,
Stakeholders
Marketing
Teams
MarCom/PMM
Test Plans
Pilot dashboard
Product Delivery Chain
All
Iterations
OwnersSupporting
Documents

71. In Agile, PMs do things a
little differently…

72. Agile changed Collaboration
Before After
COLLABORATION
REQUIREMENTS
DEVELOPMENT
DEPLOYMENT
Feature Teams use
Sprint to manage
projects. Thee
Product Owner is
the voice of the
customer.
Up-front work to
create a vision that
describes what the
product will roughly
look like and do.
Prototypes is the
new Specification.
Demos and
retrospective bring
continuous
improvement and
accountability with
Developers
Deployment is
effortless enabling
user feedback to be
gathered instantly
Source: Mendix.com
Several roles.
Teams were unable
to collaborate
effectively, resulting
in frustration and
miscommunication
Extensive market
research, product
planning, and
business analysis
are carried out up
front.
Development is a
black box, lots of
uncertainty due to
miscommunication
of the heavy specs
Deployment became
a project in itself,
requiring time and
effort that stifled
project flexibility
Months Days
prototype
?

73. …but Agile is really just one
part of a Product Manager’s
job.

74. Agile doesn’t guarantee that
you’re building the right
thing…

75. To build the right thing,
there are methods

76. Lean Product Management
http://ueberproduct.de/seminar/kanban-fuer-lean-product-management/

77. INNOVATION GAMES©
Use Innovation games in Workshops, product councils, steering
committees. Makes it fun and engaging and ensures there is a
deliverable at the end of the session.

78. INNOVATION GAME©:
• Buy-a-feature Game:
• 24 cards
(features)
• Each feature has
a price from 15 to
130 credits
• Each participant is
given 100 credits
• Objective
• Define Minimum
Viable Product
• Roadmap
prioritization

79. Lean Startup: Don’t be perfect, but try and
fail fast

80. Lean Startup: Build > Measure > Learn

81. The Minimum Viable Product
VIABLEMINIMUM
SWEET
SPOT
Weak products no
one wants to use
Products built by
companies with
more money to
spend
Good products that
solve the problem
and that users can
use

82. Questions?

84. FEEDBACK?
@jysimon