Product Management for HiTech Roger Hecker October 2001

Product Management for Hi-Tech Roger Hecker October 2001

Session Roadmap • What is Product Management? • Real Life Product Management • Q&A

What is Product Management? • Product Lifecycle Management – Define product requirements – Design the product – Develop the product – Test the product – Sell the product • Single Point of Contact – Design – Status – Strategy

What is Product Management? Define Product Requirements • Inputs from: – Sales – Business Development – Management – R&D • • Target Markets, Partners and Customers Revenue Dependencies Competitors Corporate Strategy

What is Product Management? Design the Product • Understand what is technically possible • Product Specifications – User Interfaces – Functionality and Performance – Feature Priorities – Dependencies and Implications – Rough implementation timeline per feature/version

What is Product Management? Develop the Product • Ensure that R&D is developing the product: – According to design – In line with priorities – On schedule • Reprioritize during development: – R&D surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant – Sales, Biz. Dev, Mgmt surprises – Changing timeframes

What is Product Management? Test the Product • • Prioritize major bugs Set up Beta sites Manage Beta process Release product

What is Product Management? Sell the Product • Establish prices for product/features • Establish marketing strategy for new product/features based on: – – – Price/Performance ratio ROI Competitors Corporate strategy Installed base for upgrades • Educate the sales, marketing and Biz. Dev teams on the strategies

What is Product Management? Sell the Product (continued) • Ensure that the marketing team: – Creates Presentations – Writes and Designs Brochures/Data Sheets – Writes and Publishes White Papers – Creates Competitive Matrices – Creates and distributes channel kits with: • Literature and Presentations • Pricing lists and tools (configurators, if applicable) • Case Studies – Trains Channel sales teams

What is Product Management? Sell the Product (continued) • Ensure that the technical writers are writing: – User Manuals – Installation Manuals – Maintenance Manuals • Ensure that the training/support team: – Is knowledgeable about all new features, functionalities, bugs and workarounds – Has all necessary equipment to support new functions – Creates appropriate training materials – Trains channel support teams

What is Product Management? Single Point of Contact • The one place to go for authoritative answers on Design, Status and Strategy: – How is this supposed to work? – How is this feature coming along? – Can I promise this to my customer? – Has this bug been fixed yet? – How are we positioned against competitor X? – Will we support this feature in the future? When?

Who is a Product Manager? • Power without Authority • Everybody’s Friend: – Management – R&D – Marketing & Sales – Business Development • Assertive • Detail-oriented

Real Life Product Management Conflicting Interests • To R&D, Marketing people seem to be: – Superficial – Big spenders – Not the brightest stars in the Milky Way • To Marketing, R&D people seem to be: – Secretive – Stubborn – Insensitive to market requirements

Real Life Product Management Taking Both Sides • Gain the trust of R&D – Understand the technical issues deeply – Keep surprises as surprises – Investigate feature requests thoroughly • Gain the trust of Marketing & Sales – Provide frequent, accurate and updated status on all features – Go on sales calls personally with sales team – Be the main resource for marketing strategy, especially competitors’ products and features

Summary • Lifecycle Management – – – Define Design Develop Test Sell • Single Point of Contact – Authoritative voice • Everybody’s friend – Earns respect from all departments

Thank You