The Product Manager's Desk Reference

Illustrations 
Preface 
Introduction 

MODULE 1
Foundations of Product Management
Introduction to Module 1 

CHAPTER 1
What Is Product Management? 
Question 1: What Is a Product? 
Product Lines 
Product Portfolios 
Solutions, Bundles, and Systems 
Product Elements and Modules 
Platforms 
Question 2: What Is Management? 
What Does a Product Manager Really Do? 
The Product Management Life Cycle Model 
Question 3: What Is Product Management? 
Product Management: A Holistic Activity 
Summary: Why Product Management Matters 

CHAPTER 2
The Product Master Plan 
The Purpose of a Master Plan 
Plans Change 
The Format of the Product Master Plan 
The Value of a Product Master Plan 
An Insurance Policy for Consistent Communication 
The Basic Construction of the Product Master Plan 
Product Business Documents 
Organizational Information 
Product Business Information 
Customer and Market Data 
Financial Information 
Resources and Tools 
A Personal Library 
A Product Management Library 
Summary 

CHAPTER 3
Leadership: Creating Influence 
You Are Always on Stage 
Stay Calm, Even When Your Hairâs on Fire 
Transformation 
Important Leadership Values 
Leadership Behaviors and Mindset 
Your Leadership Experiences 
Evaluation and Personal Development 
Summary 

CHAPTER 4
Leveraging Teams to Get Things Done 
Product Teams vs. Project Teams 
Agile Project Teams 
Team Membership 
Teaming Is Not Always Easy 
Building Blocks of a Cross-Functional Product Team 
Team Membership 
Multicultural Product Team Issues 
Distributed Development Teams 
Product Team Responsibilities 
Cross-Functional Product Team Membership 
Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities 
The Functional Support Plan 
Team Membership Across the Life Cycle 
Cross-Functional Teams in the Global Arena 
Cross-Functional Team Leadership 
Summary 

CHAPTER 5
Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, and Prioritizing 
The Importance of Decision-Making 
Decision-Making and Problem Solving 
Saving Grace: a Case Study About Decision-Making 
Decision-Making Techniques 
Combining Options 
The Morphologic Box 
The Decision Matrix 
The Decision Tree 
Analysis Paralysis and Rational Ignorance 
Gut-Feel Decision-Making 
Business Intelligence 
Summary 

CHAPTER 6
Finance for the Product Manager: Keeping Score 
The Language of Business 
The Basic Financial Statements 
The Income Statement 
The Balance Sheet 
Cash Flow 
Demystifying Discounted Cash Flow 
Financial Planning for Product Managers 
Creating Business Cases for Product Investments 
Assembling Forecasts 
Testing Planning Assumptions Using Sensitivity Analysis 
Deriving Product Cost Models 
Establishing Pricing Models 
Preparing Product Budgets 
Managing the Business 
Making Sure the Product Is Achieving Its Financial Goals 
Financial Ratios 
Last Words on Ratios 
Maturity Assessment: Placing the Product on the Life Cycle Curve 
Using Scorecards and Other Evaluative Tools 
Summary 

MODULE 2
Building Insights and Driving Strategies
by Making the Market Your Primary Focus
Introduction to Module 2 
Market Data Matters 
Customer and Market Insights Are Vital 
A Market Insights Development Process 

CHAPTER 7
The Playing Field and the Players:
Analyzing the Industry and Competition 
Becoming the Expert 
What Is an Industry? 
Putting Industry Evolution into Perspective 
Carrying Out Industry Research 
Securing Additional Data 
Competitive Environment 
Competitive Positioning 
Gaining an Edge: Performance Counts 
Competitive Intelligence in Your Company 
Competitive Intelligence in Your World 
Ethics in Competitive Intelligence 
With Whom Do You Compete? 
Competitor SWOT 
How Do They Do What They Do? 
Sizing Up the Competitive Landscape 
The Final Analysis 
Summary 

CHAPTER 8
Finding Markets to Conquer by Understanding
Customer Needs and Market Segments 
The Common Denominator in Segmentation: Customer Needs 
How Markets Are Segmented 
Market Segments Are Dynamic 
Describing the Target Market 
They Donât Know What They Donât Know 
Planning and Carrying Out Customer Visits 
Capturing the Voice of the Customer 
Conducting Customer Interviews 
Using Personas and Customer Narratives to Capture Needs 
Capturing the Customerâs Journey 
Associating Customer Needs with Product Features 
Summary 

CHAPTER 9
Preparing to Set Your Mileposts:
Forecasting for the Product Manager 
Forecasting and Market Potential 
Forecasts Are Built on Beliefs About the Future 
Validating Assumptions and Applying Customer Preferences 
Forecasting Is a Cross-Functional Exercise 
Sales Forecasting 
Validating the Forecast 
Demand Planning 
Summary 

CHAPTER 10
Product Strategy Formulation 
Strategy Is a Dynamic Continuum 
Strategizing Is Like Solving a Puzzle 
Cascading Strategies 
Dynamic Strategy for the Product Manager 
Strategy in Your World 
The Product Strategy Formulation Process 
Using the Product Strategy Formulation Process 
Baselining the Business of the Product 
Organizing the Data 
External Data: Industry and Competition 
Customer Activity 
Organizational Capabilities and Financial Health 
Capturing Product Performance Data 
Life Cycle State 
The Marketing Mix 
Company Resources That Contribute to the Productâs Business 
Synthesizing Data and Identifying Opportunities 
Your Productâs Future 
Establishing Goals 
Identifying Strategic Options 
Linking Your Strategy to a Roadmap
Did We Get There? 
Summary 

MODULE 3
The Start of the Productâs Journey
Introduction to Module 3 
Limits and Benefits of Processes 
Importance of the Right Cadence 
Faster Is Not Always Better, but It Canât Hurt 
Organization of the Chapters in This Module 

CHAPTER 11
Making a Molehill Out of a Mountain:
Linear Product Planning and Prioritization 
Linear Product Planning 
Whatâs the Big Idea? 
Categorization of Product Ideas 
Sorting Out Opportunities 
âSo What?â: The Value Proposition for the Opportunity 
Clarifying Your Identity with a Positioning Statement 
Selection and Prioritization 
Managing Rejected Opportunities 
Securing Approval to Move to the Next Phase:
The Concept Review 
Is There Really a Business Here? Assessing Feasibility 
Clarifying Roles, Responsibilities, and Deliverables 
Marketing 
Product Development/Engineering/IT 
Finance 
Customer Service 
Sales/Account Management 
Operations 
Supply Chain 
Legal/Regulatory/Compliance 
The Business Case 
Characteristics of Strong Business Cases 
Activities and Sequencing 
Business Case Structure 
Section 1: Framing 
Section 2: Customer Context and Problems 
Section 3: Industry and Competitive Environment 
Section 4: Overall Market Context 
Section 5: Product or Solution 
Section 6: Forecast and Pricing 
Section 7: Scenario Planning 
Section 8: Financial Analysis 
Section 9: Operations and Integration 
Section 10: Go to Market/Launch 
Section 11: Risk Assessment 
Section 12: Review and Recommendation
Make Versus Buy 
Carrying Out a Make Versus Buy Analysis: An Example 
The Decision Matrix for the Feasibility Phase 
Summary 

CHAPTER 12
Appearances Are Everything:
Defining and Designing the Product 
Product Definition Documents 
The PRD Outline and Template 
Managing Requirements 
Eliciting Requirements 
Defining Requirements 
Organizing Documents 
Managing Requirements from Beginning to End 
Prioritizing Requirements 
Inspections and Peer Reviews 
Requirements Management and the Product Life Cycle 
The Evolving Product Design 
The Product Definition Phase Review 
Summary 

CHAPTER 13
Product Planning and Prioritizing in the Digital World 
Perspective 
Customers First 
Designs and Prototypes 
Customer Value Drivers 
Verification of Strategic Fit and Prioritization of Features 
Staging Features for Development and Release Planning 
Summary 

CHAPTER 14
Execution and Oversight During Product Development 
The Product Managerâs Role During Development 
Truth Mixed with Humility 
Product Managers Must Understand Execution
and Mitigate Conflicts 
Surfacing Conflicts and Realities with âHowâ Questions 
Linear Product Development 
Managing Project Plans Helps Manage Risk 
P rogress Validation Is Essential 
Product Testing 
The Beta Test 
Product Documentation
Managing Change and Scope: Trade-Offs and Prioritization 
Iterative Product Development 
Priming the Pump 
Kanban 
Product Managers Versus Product Owners 
Connecting the Processes 
Summary 

CHAPTER 15
To Market, to Market: Launching and Releasing Products 
Launch Benchmarking Outcomes 
Putting the Launch into Perspective 
The Launch Plan 
Launch Execution 
Executive Champions Need to Lead Important
Product Launches 
Confirm the Market Window 
Review Market and Beta Testsâ"or Conduct Them If Necessary 
Prerelease/Early Adopter Review
Product Availability Ratings 
Provide Adequate Sales Training 
Sales Goals and Compensation 
Ensure Readiness of Marketing Collateral, Website,
and Promotional Programs 
Leverage Digital Marketing 
Arrange Coverage by Industry or Market Analysts 
Make Sure Distribution Channels Are Able to Sell
and Deliver the Product 
Ensure Readiness of Operational Systems 
Preparing for the Internal Launch 
Launch Metrics Must Be Assembled and Ready to Track 
Risk Management 
Be Willing to Recommend Go or No-Go for Launch 
The Announcement 
Summary 
MODULE 4
Continuing the Journey:
Post-Launch Performance Management
Introduction to Module 4 

CHAPTER 16
Auditing Results After the Launch 
After the Launch 
Using an Impartial Auditor 
Market Window Compliance 
Executive Sponsorship 
Business Case Synchronization 
Adequacy and Timing of Marketing Material 
Adequacy of Sales Training 
Reviewing Operational Readiness 
Conformance to Launch Metrics 
Make Sure to Capture Lessons Learned 
Winâ"Loss Audits 
Internal Winâ"Loss Auditing 
External Winâ"Loss Auditing 
Assembling a Report
Summary 

CHAPTER 17
Post-Launch Performance Management 
Running the Business 
The Importance of Measuring Performance 
Creating a Data-Driven Fact Base 
Data and Metrics 
Market Metrics 
Financial Metrics 
Sales, Service, and Operations Metrics 
Evaluation: Whatâs Happening Now with the Product? 
Assessing the Impact of Your Cross-Functional Product Team 
Identifying the Life Cycle State of the Product 
Evaluating Financial and Business Data Using Product Scorecards 
Using a Product Dashboard and a Product Health Report 
Pricing and Product Performance 
Updating Your Product Roadmap 
Summary 

CHAPTER 18
Product Portfolio Management 
Dispelling Some Myths About Product Portfolio Management 
What Is Life Cycle Product Portfolio Management? 
A Portfolio Reference Model 
The Ideal Work Structure for Product Portfolio Management 
The Cross-Functional Product Review Board 
A Life Cycle Product Portfolio Model
Methodology 
Further Analysis: Current Products 
Create Your Own Product Portfolio Model 
Portfolio Decision-Making 
Availability of Data Is Critical 
Summary 

CHAPTER 19
Enoughâs Enough! Discontinuing the Product
Barriers to Discontinuation 
The Discontinuation Decision 
Product Discontinuation Documentation 
The Cross-Functional Team 
Other Types of âDiscontinuationâ 
The Discontinuation Notice 
Summary 

Index