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Product Manager's Desk Reference PDF

745 Pages·2008·3.23 MB·English
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ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE PRODUCT MANAGER’S DESK REFERENCE The Product Manager’s Desk Reference is an encyclopedic refer- ence tool for product managers everywhere. The material is presented in an accessible, logical format with numerous useful templates and outlines. This book should be a prominent addition to every practicing manager’s library. —L I N D A G O R C H E L S, D I R E C T O R , E X E C U T I V E M A R K E T I N G , UW–M A D I S O N E X E C U T I V E E D U C AT I O N This book very accurately addresses the challenges I have faced dur- ing my time in product management. I only wish such a complete resource as The Product Manager’s Desk Reference had been available to guide me throughout my career. I believe that from now on, this book will stand as an important reference point for all prod- uct management teams. — M A R K E L L I O T T, V I C E P R E S I D E N T P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T, S M I T H S D E T E C T I O N This book is the quintessential, comprehensive body of work on prod- uct management. It deserves a spot not only on the desk of every product manager, but within reach of every person involved in the creation, sales, or support of a product. — T H E R E S E PA D I L L A, P R E S I D E N T, A S S O C I AT I O N O F I N T E R N AT I O N A L P R O D U C T A N D M A R K E T I N G M A N A G E M E N T Haines strikes the perfect balance between theory and practice, com- bining actionable, practical advice from his extensive professional experience with just the right amount of background for why product managers need to care about the underlying principles. This is an invaluable reference. — T O M S V R C E K , P H.D., M A N A G I N G D I R E C T O R , C O R P O R AT E E X E C U T I V E B O A R D A very readable, well-written book that contains significant insights and provides practical wisdom on the profession of product manage- ment. An excellent guide for any product manager or marketing professional. —J I M D O E L L , V I C E P R E S I D E N T O F M A R K E T I N G , T R E M C O , I N C . The Product Manager’s Desk Reference reflects Steven’s consid- erable experience and passion for product management. This book is a comprehensive work that is much more than a text book. Each section draws on Steven’s personal experience and includes insights into the “why” and “how”—questions that are critical to the successful prac- tice of product management. —B I L L S H A N N O N , V I C E P R E S I D E N T –GMS P R O D U C T L I N E M A N A G E M E N T, P I T N E Y B O W E S G L O B A L M A I L I N G S Y S T E M S A great tool for every product manager… —D AV I D P. H I L L, G E N E R A L M A N A G E R (A M E R I C A S), C H O M E R I C S D I V I S I O N O F PA R K E R H A N N I F E N C O R P O R AT I O N A great reference tool for both new and experienced product managers as well as product management executives. —J U L I A B A I L E Y, D I R E C T O R , P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T, M A R I T Z The Product Manager’s Desk Reference is an essential resource for anyone in the product management field. Steven Haines covers this multifaceted topic in a systematic manner that makes the book easy to navigate. His groundbreaking proposal that product manage- ment become a formal discipline is an accurate reflection of the acute need for these skills in the business community. The book will help anyone raise their “Product Management Experience Quotient” and make them more effective in their job. It is a true reference book with useful templates and samples. I keep it near my desk for easy access. —D A N O’D AY, S E N I O R D I R E C T O R P R O D U C T M A N A G E M E N T, T H O M S O N R E U T E R S THE PRODUCT MANAGER’S DESK REFERENCE This page intentionally left blank THE PRODUCT MANAGER’S DESK REFERENCE STEVEN HAINES New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2009 by Steven Haines. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-07-159135-5 MHID: 0-07-159135-4 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-159134-8, MHID: 0-07-159134-6. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps. McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representative please visit the Contact Us page at www.mhprofessional.com. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, futures/securities trading, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. —From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committeeof the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers TERMS OF USE This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”) and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill’s prior consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms. THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise. A man is nothing without the women in his family. To Mom, Debra, Alex, Gail, Alison, Lauren, and Ruthie; A wise man is nothing without his teachers. This page intentionally left blank C O N T E N T S Acknowledgments xxiii Introduction: The Accidental Profession xxvii MODULE 1 FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS FOR PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Introduction to Module 1 1 Chapter 1 What Is Product Management? 5 Question 1: What Is a Product? 6 Product Lines 7 Product Portfolios 8 Solutions and Bundles 9 Product Elements and Modules 12 Platforms 13 Question 2: What Is Management? 14 What Does a Product Manager Really Do? 15 Question 3: What Is Product Management? 18 Question 4: How Does Product Management Transform a Product? 20 New Product Planning Phases 21 New Product Introduction Phases (Execution) 22 Post-Launch Product Management 22 Product Management: A Holistic Activity 23 ix Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 26 Chapter 2 The Product Master Plan 29 The Purpose of a Master Plan 30 Plans Change 31 The Format of the Product Master Plan 32 The Value of a Product Master Plan 33 An Insurance Policy for Consistent Communication 35 The Basic Construction of the Product Master Plan 35 Major Documents Included in the Product Master Plan 38 A Personal Library 42 Summary 42 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 43 Chapter 3 Leadership: Creating Influence 45 You Are Always on Stage 48 Stay Calm, Even when Your Hair’s on Fire 48 Transformation 49 The Most Important Values 49 Leadership Behaviors and Mindset 51 Additional Skills and Subject Matter Expertise 55 Experiential Development 56 How Do You Improve Your Skills and Experiences? 57 Summary 58 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 59 Chapter 4 Cross-Functional Product Teams: Getting Things Done 61 Cross-Functional Team Definitions 62 Definition: A Culture of Discipline 63 Team Membership 65 Teaming Is Not Always Easy 66 Curing the Dysfunctional Team 68 Building Blocks of a Cross-Functional Product Team 69 x CONTENTS Product Team Responsibilities 75 Forms of Cross-Functional Product Team Membership 75 Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities 76 The Functional Support Plan 78 Team Membership across the Life Cycle 79 Cross-Functional Team Leadership 80 Summary 81 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 81 Chapter 5 Decision Making: What’s Next? 85 The Importance of Decision Making 86 Decision Making and Problem Solving 87 Saving Grace: A Case Study about Decision Making 89 Decision-Making Techniques 93 Combining Options 94 The Morphological Box 94 The Decision Matrix 96 The Decision Tree 97 Analysis Paralysis and Rational Ignorance 98 Gut-Feel Decision Making 100 Business Intelligence 102 Summary 102 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 103 Chapter 6 Finance for the Product Manager: Keeping Score 105 The Language of Business 106 The Basic Financial Statements 106 The Income Statement 107 The Balance Sheet 111 Cash Flow 115 Demystifying Discounted Cash Flow 116 Financial Planning for Product Managers 118 Creating Business Cases for Product Investments 118 CONTENTS xi Assembling Forecasts 119 Testing Planning Assumptions Using Sensitivity Analysis 120 Deriving Product Cost Models 120 Establishing Pricing Models 122 Preparing Product Budgets 123 Managing the Business 123 Making Sure the Product Is Achieving Its Financial Goals 124 Financial Ratios 124 Last Words on Ratios 128 Maturity Assessment: Placing the Product on the Life Cycle Curve 128 Using Scorecards 130 Summary 130 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 131 MODULE 2 MAKING THE MARKET YOUR PRIMARY FOCUS Introduction to Module 2 133 Chapter 7 The Playing Field and the Players: Analyzing the Industry and Competition 135 Becoming the Expert 136 What Is an Industry? 137 Industry Classifications 137 Putting Industry Evolution into Perspective 140 Carrying out Industry Research 141 Securing Additional Data 146 Processing the Signals 149 Competitive Environment 149 Competitive Positioning 150 Gaining an Edge: Performance Counts 151 Competitive Intelligence in Your Company 151 Competitive Intelligence in Your World 152 Ethics in Competitive Intelligence 153 With Whom Do You Compete? 154 xii CONTENTS Competitor SWOT 154 How Do They Do What They Do? 156 The Final Analysis 163 Summary 164 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 164 Chapter 8 Finding Markets to Conquer by Understanding Customer Needs and Market Segments 167 The Common Denominator in Segmentation: Customer Needs 168 How Markets Are Segmented 170 Market Segmentation and the Marketing Mix 173 Describing the Target Market 174 They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know 176 Planning and Carrying out Customer Visits 179 The Voice of the Customer 183 Using Personas as a Way to Capture Needs 186 Your Research Strategy 187 Summary 188 Improve Your Product Management Equivalence Quotient (PMEQ) 188 Chapter 9 Preparing to Set Your Mileposts: Forecasting for the Product Manager 191 Forecasting Basics 192 Forecasting Is a Cross-Functional Exercise 195 Validating Market and Demand Potential 195 Forecasts Are Built on Beliefs about the Future 198 Validating Assumptions and Applying Customer Preferences 199 How Much Can We Really Make? Deriving Market Share Estimates 200 A Case Study Example for Forecasting 202 Sales Forecasting 207 Making the Sales Forecast Useful 208 Demand Planning 209 Concluding the Case 210 CONTENTS xiii Summary 213 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 213 Chapter 10 Strategic Product Planning: The Inflection Point 215 Strategy Is a Dynamic Continuum 216 Using a Generic Strategy 217 Strategy Is Like Solving a Puzzle 218 The Waterfall Effect 219 Dynamic Strategy for the Product Manager 221 Strategy in Your World 222 The “Product as a Business” Strategic Planning Model 223 The Model: A Quick Walk-Through 224 The Product as a Business Strategic Planning Model in Detail 225 Step A. Baseline the Business of the Product 225 Organizing the Data 226 External Data: Industry and Competition 227 Customer Activity 229 Organizational Capabilities and Financial Health 230 Capturing Product Performance Data 230 Synthesizing Data and Creating Useful Information 236 Prepare to Tell a Story about the Product 241 The State-of-the-Business Product Strategy Review 244 Step B: Recast the Vision for the Product 244 Step C: Identify Strategic Options 247 Summary 250 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 250 MODULE 3 THE START OF THE PRODUCT’S JOURNEY AND THE NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Introduction to Module 3 251 Limits and Benefits of Processes 256 A Generic Phase Gate Model 257 Processes Are Linear, Markets Are Not 258 Importance of the Right Pace for New Product Planning 258 xiv CONTENTS

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