Product Management

Companies need an intimate understanding of customers and the ability to create tailored solutions for them - Product Management is a vital role that guides every step of a product’s lifecycle, from proposal, to positioning and pricing - focusing on customers and how value will be generated.

Product Managers advocate for customers within the organisation and make sure the voice of the market is heard and heeded.

Product Managers also work closely with teams interacting with customers, as well as creating Products within an overall enterprise architecture which are built by ring-fenced engineering teams reporting into them.

Thanks to this focus on the customer, product aware organisations deliver better-designed, higher-performing products.

Product Managers need 3 further skills:

• Storytelling – so that they can share their knowledge of the customer
• Marketing – to integrate the language of customers into product messaging
• Empathy – for engineers and how they work; for customers and their pain points, and even for upper management, who juggle aggressive goals and impossible schedules.

Product managers are responsible for product vision, market research, competitive analysis, target market understanding and customer requirements, plus a roadmap of how to deliver the value.

Next:

We discuss how each major cross-functional capability works in a customer-centric world in these other posts:

Enterprise Architecture

Companies undergoing digital transformations will continue to build new systems. The whole approach should be architected to provide a clear view of strategic intent, future operational efficiencies and cost-effective IT, avoiding loss of control, excessive complexity or unchecked cost.

Digital Transformation LeadershipDavid Seacombe

Engineering

The term ‘engineering’ may describe our understanding of the world and ability to invent, design, and build things to solve problems and achieve practical goals. In our world we use engineering teams to create products, built within an enterprise architecture.

Digital Transformation LeadershipDavid Seacombe

A customer's response to your product is their sub-conscious alignment their unrealised needs, expectations, requirements and motivations. We explore this further in What are your Product Benefits?

What are your Product Benefits?

It is a fundamental rule of marketing and sales that customers are typically more interested in benefits as opposed to the technical details or features of your product. You need to understand the benefits of your products.

Digital Transformation LeadershipDavid Seacombe

Building a customer-centric digital organisation that is focused on delivering value to your customers needs new and agile ways of working. We explore this thinking in The Three Laws.

The Three Laws

Building a customer-centric digital organisation that is focused on delivering value to your customers needs new and agile ways of working. Let’s explore the Three Laws.

Digital Transformation LeadershipDavid Seacombe