PM Becomes More Strategic

PM Becomes More StrategicAnd What It Means For You

Tom GrantSenior AnalystForrester Research

March 2010

2Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Agenda

• How do we know if PM is strategic?

• What is making PM strategic?

• What does this mean for me?


Agenda





How do we know if PM is strategic?

• Who’s my boss?

– More reporting to CEOs or GMs

• What’s my job?

– Greater clarity and specialization

• Do I have the skills and experiences?

– Higher bar, emphasis on people and business skills


How do we know if PM is strategic?

• What’s my deliverable?

– Strong interest in recycling for different uses and audiences

• How do you measure my perforamnce?

– More directly tied to business outcomes

• What’s my authority?

– Less ambiguous decision-making power


Agenda





New challenges, common responses

Social mediaSocial media Customers expect a two-way conversationCustomers expect a two-way conversation

SaaS/cloudSaaS/cloud Customers see, try, maybe buy, maybe leaveCustomers see, try, maybe buy, maybe leave

Smart investmentsSmart investments

Tech adoptionTech adoption We’re dealing with more stakeholdersWe’re dealing with more stakeholders

Clearly articulated valueClearly articulated value

RecessionRecession We need to re-think our business, perhaps taking new risksWe need to re-think our business, perhaps taking new risks

InnovationInnovation Someone needs to shepherd the process from ideation to adoptionSomeone needs to shepherd the process from ideation to adoption

Go-to-market excellenceGo-to-market excellence

AgileAgile We can develop faster, but can we deliver?We can develop faster, but can we deliver?

Market masteryMarket mastery

CHALLENGESCHALLENGES

RESPONSESRESPONSES


Who can meet the challenge?





RESPONSESRESPONSES

Social mediaSocial media

SaaS/cloudSaaS/cloud

Business technology (BT)Business technology (BT)

RecessionRecession

InnovationInnovation

AgileAgile


Company perspectiveCompany perspective

Business & technology acumenBusiness & technology acumen

Company ubiquityCompany ubiquity

Customer & market intelligenceCustomer & market intelligence

PM STRENGTHSPM STRENGTHS


Agile

CustomersPartnersSales, marketing,

and other externally-facing groups

Development

Agile is more than just faster iterations, and it changes more than just development.

Given their position and expertise, PMs need to be leaders of this transition.

Agile is more than just faster iterations, and it changes more than just development.

Given their position and expertise, PMs need to be leaders of this transition.


Social media

OUTBOUND

INBOUND

VENDOR CUSTOMERS

These people expect a two-way conversation, and for us to follow up!

And they’re talking to each other!

Should we just let them vote on the product roadmap? If not, how do we make product decisions that work for

both us and the customers?

PM is the obvious candidate to figure out how social media factor into the product development process.

But where does this fit into the to-do list? How do you use this information effectively?

PM is the obvious candidate to figure out how social media factor into the product development process.

But where does this fit into the to-do list? How do you use this information effectively?


A methodology for inbound social media

PERSONAPERSONA

LOCATIONLOCATION

OPTIONSOPTIONS

Who is the target user or stakeholder?What problems do they face?What tasks do they perform?

Who is the target user or stakeholder?What problems do they face?What tasks do they perform?

How do people in this demographic use social media?Where can I find them?

How do people in this demographic use social media?Where can I find them?

What is the question that we want to pose?What are the options among which we’re choosing?

What is the question that we want to pose?What are the options among which we’re choosing?

TESTTESTHow do we get a credible, actionable answer?How do we get a credible, actionable answer?


SaaS/cloud

BEFORE:ON PREMISE

AFTER:ON DEMAND

What’s the same?What’s different?


Business technology

Product marketing is the fine art of understanding the stakeholders and figuring out what’s interesting to them. Not all stakeholders are the same.

Product marketing is the fine art of understanding the stakeholders and figuring out what’s interesting to them. Not all stakeholders are the same.

Frequency of use, discussion forums/communities as sources of ERP advice, by stage

Source: B2B North American and European B2B Social Technographics Online Survey, Q4 2008


Innovation

Ideas can and should come from everywhere, both inside and outside the company. However, PM is best positioned to see the idea through, or pull the plug if needed.

Ideas can and should come from everywhere, both inside and outside the company. However, PM is best positioned to see the idea through, or pull the plug if needed.

Is this agood idea?

Is there areal marketfor us?

Are we ready?

What shouldwe build?

IDEATION EXPLORATION DEVELOPMENTGO TO MARKET


Agenda





Present this picture to your management





SOLUTIONSOLUTION

Social mediaSocial media

SaaS/cloudSaaS/cloud

Business technology (BT)Business technology (BT)

RecessionRecession

InnovationInnovation

AgileAgile


Company perspectiveCompany perspective

Business & technology acumenBusiness & technology acumen

Company ubiquityCompany ubiquity

Customer & market intelligenceCustomer & market intelligence

PM STRENGTHSPM STRENGTHS

Identify the strategic challenges in your company

Identify the strategic challenges in your company Determine what’s

necessary to resolve them

Determine what’s necessary to resolve them

Propose how strategic PM will make this strategy successful

Propose how strategic PM will make this strategy successful


Build credibility and leverage

• Determine what matters to executive management

– EX: Aligning company, portfolio, product goals

• Become the guardian of company performance metrics

– EX: Customer satisfaction, post-launch readiness

• Build a repository of useful customer and market intelligence

– EX: Personas, user stories, solutions architectures

• Propose a new innovation process

– EX: Rapid market testing and adjustment at each phase


Balance authority and accountability

• Pick reasonable objectives with real business outcomes

– EX: Shorten sales cycle

• Make them shared objectives

– EX: Shared responsibility of PM, Sales, Marketing

• Measure, measure, measure

– EX: Frequency of sales bottlenecks

• Market, market, market

– EX: Make sales training less about products, more about successful implementations


Define strategic PM

• Do a brutally frank assessment of your department

– EX: In an Agile organization, how can we juggle both tactical and strategic questions?

• Create specializations

– EX: Portfolio manager, product manager, product owner

• Insist on decision-making power

– EX: No project goes forward unless a PM can explain how it meets the following criteria…

• Insist on clear boundaries

– EX: If we’re going to focus more on requirements, or support social media, someone else needs to shoulder sales enablement more


Try some bigger changes

• Propose field certification

– EX: Sales training ends with a presentation…

• Abolish the idea of customer

– EX: Embrace and evangelize user stories

• Replace the words “product” and “service” with “value”

– EX: Shift from product management to solutions or portfolio management

• Throw out the old concepts of release and launch

– EX: Our measure of launch is a threshold of value, not just something new


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PM Becomes More Strategic