The Product Manager's Desk Reference 2E

Whatever your business sells, product management is one of the most important functions in the organization's pursuit of profits. With everexpanding globalization and increasingly fierce competition, the stakes are higher than ever--and the room for error narrower than ever. Introducing a brand-new Product Management Life Cycle (PMLC) model, The Product Manager's Desk Reference, Second Edition, provides the knowledge, tools, and insight you need to establish yourself as a cutting-edge productmanager who contributes measurably to your company's success. In this fully revised edition of the definitive product management guide, veteran product management thought leader and practitioner Steven Haines clearly illustrates the entire product life cycle, from beginning to end. The Product Manager's Desk Reference is packed with an array of best practices and helpful hints that arecritical to the efficient management of products. Written for practitioners by a practitioner, TheProduct Manager's Desk Reference explains how to: Choose and justify which products to buildPlan for their profitable creation and deploymentDevelop and launch themManage them once they enter the marketGracefully retire them and replace them with new productsEfficiently allocate investments across all of the products in an organization The Product Manager's Desk Reference embodieseverything "product management." It is a comprehensive, versatile, must-have resource for anyone who works in any company, in any industry, who seeks to successfully and profitably market and manage products and services. PRAISE FOR The Product Manager's Desk Reference:"There are some books that are destined to become classics in their field. The Product Manager's Desk Reference by Steven Haines is one of those books. Anyone working not just in product management but also marketing and business development should take the time to read and absorb the comprehensive body of knowledge that Steven has organized around product management." -- AMANDA NOZ, Head of Positioning and Messaging, Alcatel-Lucent "Steven has done an excellent job of bringing a standard definition of the roles and responsibilities of this 'accidental profession' to the industry, and has provided a path along with tools to improve your skills within the product management profession." -- BRIAN WEBER, Manager of Product Management, Thomson Reuters "Steven Haines covers this multifaceted topic in a systematic manner that makes the book easy to navigate. His groundbreaking proposal that product management become a formal discipline is an accurate reflection of the acute need for these skills in the business community." -- DAN O'DAY, Senior Director, Product Management, Thomson Reuters "From now on, this book will stand as an important reference point for all product management teams." -- MARK ELLIOTT, Vice President, Product Management, Smiths Detection "The Product Manager's Desk Reference is a practicial guide to the activities fi rms need to engage in to build the discipline of product management. When actively utilized, the Desk Reference promotes consistency and standardization of methodology, which in turn leads to repeatable process, good decision making, and positive outcomes. This is an incredibly valuable resource." -- DEBORAH LORENZEN, Chief Operating Officer, BNY Mellon University

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations xix List of Templates xxiii Foreword Practice What You Preach: A Case Study onSteven Haines . . . Bob Corporale xxv Preface xxxi Introduction The Accidental Profession xxxv MODULE 1: FOUNDATIONS OF 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 9 Solutions, Bundles, and Systems 10 Product Elements and Modules 13 Platforms 14 Question 2: What Is Management? 15 What Is a Product Manager? 16 What Does a Product Manager Really Do? 16 Question 3: What Is Product Management? 19 Question 4: How Does Product Management Transform a Business? 21 Discovery and Innovation 22 New Product Planning Phases 23 New Product Introduction Phases (Execution) 24 Post-Launch Product Management 25 Product Management: A Holistic Activity 25 Summary: Why Product Management Matters 26 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 27 Chapter 2 The Product Master Plan 31 The Purpose of a Master Plan 32 Plans Change 33 The Format of the Product Master Plan 34 The Value of a Product Master Plan 35 An Insurance Policy for Consistent Communication 37 The Basic Construction of the Product Master Plan 37 Product and Product Line Business Documents 38 Cross-Functional Product Team and Other Organizational Information 42 Product Performance and Other Business Information 44 Market Data 47 Resources and Tools 47 A Personal Library 48 A Product Management Library 49 Summary 49 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 50 Chapter 3 Leadership: Creating Influence 51 You Are Always on Stage 54 Stay Calm, Even when Your Hair’s on Fire 54 Transformation 55 The Most Important Values 56 Leadership Behaviors and Mindset 57 Additional Skills and Subject Matter Expertise 61 Experiential Development 62 How Do You Improve Your Skills and Experiences? 63 Summary 64 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 65 Chapter 4 Cross-Functional Product Teams: Getting Things Done 67 Cross-Functional Team Definitions 68 Definition: A Culture of Discipline 69 Team Membership 71 Teaming Is Not Always Easy 72 Curing the Dysfunctional Team 75 Building Blocks of a Cross-Functional Product Team 76 Team Membership 77 Multicultural Product Team Issues 78 Product Team Responsibilities 79 Cross-Functional Product Team Membership 80 Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities 80 The Functional Support Plan 82 Team Membership Across the Life Cycle 83 Cross-Functional Teams in the Global Arena 85 Cross-Functional Team Leadership 87 Summary 87 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 88 Chapter 5 Problem Solving and Decision Making: What’s Next? 91 The Importance of Decision Making 92 Decision Making and Problem Solving 93 Saving Grace: A Case Study about Decision Making 95 Decision-Making Techniques 99 Combining Options 100 The Morphologic Box 100 The Decision Matrix 101 The Decision Tree 103 Analysis Paralysis and Rational Ignorance 104 Gut-Feel Decision Making 106 Business Intelligence 107 Summary 107 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 108 Chapter 6 Finance for the Product Manager: Keeping Score 111 The Language of Business 112 The Basic Financial Statements 112 The Income Statement 113 The Balance Sheet 117 Cash Flow 121 Demystifying Discounted Cash Flow 122 Financial Planning for Product Managers 124 Creating Business Cases for Product Investments 124 Assembling Forecasts 125 Testing Planning Assumptions Using Sensitivity Analysis 126 Deriving Product Cost Models 126 Establishing Pricing Models 128 Preparing Product Budgets 129 Managing the Business 129 Making Sure the Product Is Achieving Its Financial Goals 130 Financial Ratios 132 Last Words on Ratios 134 Maturity Assessment: Placing the Product on the Life Cycle Curve 135 Using Scorecards 136 Summary 137 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 137 MODULE 2 BUILDING INSIGHTS AND DRIVING STRATEGIES BY MAKINGTHE MARKET YOUR PRIMARY FOCUS Introduction to Module 2 139 Why Insights Matter 140 Chapter 7 The Playing Field and the Players: Analyzing the Industry and Competition 145 Becoming the Expert 146 What Is an Industry? 147 Industry Classifications 147 Putting Industry Evolution into Perspective 150 Carrying out Industry Research 151 Securing Additional Data 156 Processing the Signals 159 Competitive Environment 160 Competitive Positioning 161 Gaining an Edge: Performance Counts 161 Competitive Intelligence in Your Company 162 Competitive Intelligence in Your World 163 Ethics in Competitive Intelligence 165 With Whom Do You Compete? 165 Competitor SWOT 166 How Do They Do What They Do? 166 The Final Analysis 175 Summary 176 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 177 Chapter 8 Finding Markets to Conquer by Understanding Customer Needsand Market Segments 179 The Common Denominator in Segmentation: Customer Needs 180 How Markets Are Segmented 183 Market Segmentation and the Marketing Mix 185 Describing the Target Market 186 They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know 188 Planning and Carrying out Customer Visits 193 The Voice of the Customer 198 Using Personas (Or Customer Characterizations) as a Way to Capture Needs 201 Your Research Strategy 203 Summary 204 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 204 Chapter 9 Preparing to Set Your Mileposts: Forecasting for the Product Manager 207 Forecasting Basics 208 Forecasting Is a Cross-Functional Exercise 210 Validating Market and Demand Potential 211 Forecasts Are Built on Beliefs about the Future 214 Validating Assumptions and Applying Customer Preferences 215 How Much Can We Really Make? Deriving Market Share Estimates 216 Case Study: Forecasting 218 Sales Forecasting 223 Making the Sales Forecast Useful 224 Demand Planning 225 Concluding the Case 226 Summary 228 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 229 Chapter 10 Strategic Product Planning: The Inflection Point 231 Strategy Is a Dynamic Continuum 232 Using a Generic Strategy 233 Strategizing Is Like Solving a Puzzle 234 The Waterfall Effect 235 Dynamic Strategy for the Product Manager 237 Strategy in Your World 237 The Product as a Business: A Strategic Planning Model 238 An Overview of the Model 240 The Model in Detail 241 Step A. Baseline the Business of the Product 241 Organizing the Data 242 External Data: Industry and Competition 243 Customer Activity 245 Organizational Capabilities and Financial Health 246 Capturing Product Performance Data 247 Synthesizing Data and Creating Useful Information 254 Prepare to Tell a Story about the Product 260 The State-of-the-Business Product Strategy Review 261 Step B: Recast the Vision for the Product 263 Step C: Identify Strategic Options 264 A Note on Product Roadmaps 268 Summary 269 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 269 MODULE 3 THE START OF THE PRODUCT’S JOURNEY: THE NEW PRODUCTDEVELOPMENT PROCESS Introduction to Module 3 273 Limits and Benefits of Processes 276 A Generic Phase Gate Model 277 Processes Are Linear, Markets Are Not 278 Importance of the Right Pace for New Product Planning 278 Faster is Not Always Better, But It Can’t Hurt 282 The Value of Flawless Execution 283 Organization of the Chapters in This Module 284 Chapter 11 Making a Molehill Out of a Mountain: The Concept Phase 285 The Basic Process 286 Ideation: What’s the Big Idea? 287 Experimentation and Discovery 289 Categorization of Product “Projects” 290 Sorting out Opportunities 291 Looking Down the Product Pipeline 295 Product Enhancements as a Grouped Opportunity 298 “So What?”: The Value Proposition for the Opportunity 299 Clarifying Your Identity with a Positioning Statement 303 Positioning Means Making a Difference 304 Narrowing the Field: Choosing Among Opportunities 306 Managing Rejected Opportunities 307 Securing Approval to Move to the Next Phase: The Concept Review 309 Summary 309 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 311 Chapter 12 Is There Really a Business Here? Assessing Feasibility 313 Using Functional Support Plans to Clarify Roles, Responsibilities, and Deliverables 317 The Marketing Functional Support Plan (The Marketing Plan for the Product) 321 Product Development/IT/Systems Functional Support Plan 323 Finance Functional Support Plan 324 Customer Service Functional Support Plan 325 Sales Functional Support Plan 326 Operations Functional Support Plan 327 Supply Chain Functional Support Plan 328 Legal/Regulatory/Compliance Functional Support Plan 328 Manufacturing Functional Support Plan 329 International (or Global) Functional Support Plan 330 Resource Planning and Summarization 331 Document Evolution During Feasibility 334 Planning to Monitor the Future Performance of The Product 335 The Power of the Prototype 337 The Decision Matrix for the Feasibility Phase 337 Phase Review: Feasibility 339 Summary 341 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 343 Chapter 13 Appearances Are Everything: Defining and Designing the Product 345 Product Definition Documents 349 The PRD Outline and Template 352 Managing Requirements 353 Eliciting Requirements 356 Defining Requirements 359 Orga nizing Documents 363 Managing Requirements from Beginning to End 364 Prioritizing Requirements 366 Inspections and Peer Reviews 367 Requirements Management and the Product Life Cycle 368 The Evolving Product Design 369 Linking the Product Definition to “Building” the Product 371 Make Versus Buy 371 Carrying out a Make Versus Buy Analysis: An Example 372 The Countdown Starts Now: Launch Planning 374 Counting Back: How to Meet the Launch Goal 376 Other Parameters for Successful Launch Planning 378 Setting the Conditions to Recognize Future Life Cycle States 378 The Exit Plan 381 The Product Definition Phase Review 381 Summary 382 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 384 Chapter 14 Justifying Product Investments: The Business Case 387 The Purpose of the Business Case 388 Characteristics of Good Business Cases 388 Activities and Sequencing 390 Orchestration of the Case 392 Business Case Structure 393 Cover Page 393 Executive Summary 393 Framing 393 Business Need and/or Strategic Fit 394 Market Assessment 395 Product Description 395 Project Proposal 396 Assumptions, Forecasts, and Financials 396 Operations and Implementation 398 Risk Analysis and Contingency Plans 399 Recommendation 400 Appendices 401 Kick Start the Business Case 401 Case Study: Creating a Business Case 402 The Sample Business Case 405 Concluding Comments 416 Summary 416 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 417 Chapter 15 Synchronizing the Gears: The Marketing Plan for the Product 419 The Marketing Plan for the Product Is a Functional Support Plan 420 Getting Organized 420 Marketing Plans Always Begin with Strategy 424 Building a Historical Marketing Profile 425 Historical Inbound Programs 425 Competitor Research 426 Field Research Data 427 Market Segmentation and/or Customer Research 427 Industry Research Reports 427 Checking for Inbound Data Sufficiency 427 Historical Outbound Programs 428 Advertising, Promotion, and Customer Education Program Information 428 Sales Information 429 Marketing and Selling Collateral 429 Using the Historical Profile 429 Putting the Marketing Mix in Perspective 429 Outline for the Marketing Plan 431 Setting the Team Up with a Realistic Marketing Plan 432 Essential Sections of the Marketing Plan 434 Executive Summary 434 Strategic Context for the Marketing Plan 434 The Market Environment for the Product 435 The Marketing Mix: Strategies and Tactics 435 Product 436 Value-Oriented Pricing 437 Advertising, Promotion, and Customer Education 438 Place: Sales and Distribution Channels 438 Marketing Alliances 440 International Marketing Activities 440 Product Launches Being Planned or Being Carried Out 441 Sales Support and Training Programs 441 Customer Service Training 442 Additional Research Programs Needed 442 Cross-Functional Deliverables and Dependencies 442 Integrated Budgets 443 Measurements and Metrics 443 Risks 444 Appendices and Supporting Material 444 Summary 445 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 445 Chapter 16 Execution and Oversight During Product Development 447 The Product Manager’s Role During the Development Phase 449 The Product Manager as Facilitator, Partner, and Orchestrator 451 Truth Mixed with Compassion 452 Product Managers Must Understand Execution and Mitigate Conflicts 453 Surfacing Conflicts and Realities with “How” Questions 453 Rapid Product Development 454 Progress Tracking 457 Frequent Status Updates Are Essential 458 Managing Project Plans Helps Manage Risk 459 Additional Project Management Tools 462 Progress Validation Is Essential 465 Product Testing 466 The Beta Test 468 Product Documentation 469 Managing Scope and Budget Creep 470 Managing Change: Trade-Offs and Prioritization Decisions 472 The Development Phase Review and Checklist 475Summary 477 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 477 Chapter 17 Introducing the Product and Orchestrating the Launch 481 Launch Benchmarking Outcomes 482 The Product Launch Phase Workflow 484 Executive Champions Need to Lead Important Product Launches 488 Confirm the Market Window 488 Synchronize Your Documentation (The Business Case, Marketing Plan,and Launch Plan) 490 Review Market and Beta Tests—or Conduct Them If Necessary 490 Product Availability Ratings 492 Provide Adequate Sales Training 492 Sales Goals and Compensation 493 Ensure Readiness of Marketing Collateral, Website, and Integrated Promotional Programs 494 Arrange Coverage by Industry or Market Analysts 496 Make Sure Distribution Channels Are Able to Sell and Deliver the Product 496 Ensure Readiness of Operational Systems 498 Preparing for the Internal Launch 499 Launch Metrics Must Be Assembled and Ready to Track 500 Risk Management 500 Be Willing to Recommend Go or No-Go for Launch 501 The Announcement 502 The Launch Checklist 503 Summary 503 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 505 MODULE 4 CONTINUING THE JOURNEY: POST-LAUNCH PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Introduction to Module 4 507 Chapter 18 Auditing Results After the Launch 511 Afterward 512 Using an Impartial Auditor 513 Market Window Compliance 514 Executive Sponsorship 515 Business Case Synchronization 516 Adequacy and Timing of Collateral 516 Adequacy of Sales Training 517 Reviewing Operational Readiness 518 Conformance to Launch Metrics 518 Make Sure to Capture Lessons Learned 519 Win–Loss Audits 520 Internal Win–Loss Auditing 521 External Win–Loss Auditing 522 Assembling a Report 523 Summary 523 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 524 Chapter 19 Post-Launch Strategic Performance Analysis 525 Running the Business 526 The Importance of Measuring Performance 527 The Product Business Strategy Model 529 Collection of Data 532 Sources and Types of Data 534 Market Data 534 Financial Data 537 Sales, Service, and Operations Data 538 Observational Data 541 Evaluate the Data: What’s Happening Now with the Product? 542 Identify the In-Market Life Cycle State of the Product 543 Answer the Question: “What’s Happening Now with the Product?” 547 Leading the Cross-Functional Product Team 555 Product Team Meetings 556 Summary 557 Raising Your Pr oduct Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 559 Chapter 20 Post-Launch Strategic Mix Management 561 Steering the Product Using an Actionable, Integrated Roadmap 565 Deriving Value-Based Pricing 569 Strategic Context 572 Value Orientation 573 Creating Programs to Advertise, Promote, and Educate Customers 575 Fundamental Advertising, Promotion, and Educational Programs 577 Understand What Your Company Is Currently Promoting 579 Action Plans to Promote Your Own Product and Educate Your Customers 580 Improving Customer Access by Selecting the Best Path to Your Chosen Customer 582 Deciding on the Best Path to Take and Creating an Action Plan 585 Integrating Other Aspects of the Strategic Mix for the Product’s Business 587 Creating Unforgettable Customer or User Experiences 587 Protecting the Brand 591 Garnering Customer Loyalty 591 Operating Efficiently 593 Summary 594 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 595 Chapter 21 Life Cycle Product Portfolio Management 597 Dispelling Some Myths about Product Portfolio Management 598 What Is Life Cycle Product Portfolio Management? 600 A Portfolio Reference Model 601 The Ideal Work Structure for Product Portfolio Management 602 The Cross-Functional Product Review Board 603 A Life Cycle Product Portfolio Model 604 Methodology 607 Considering Existing Products 608 Product Projects in New Product Introduction 611 Products Being Planned 611 Create Your Own Product Portfolio Model 613 Portfolio Decision Making 614 Availability of Data Is Critical 616 Summary 616 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 617 Chapter 22 Enough’s Enough! Discontinuing the Product 619 Barriers to Discontinuation 620 The Discontinuation Decision 621 Product Discontinuation Documentation 621 The Cross-Functional Team 622 Other Types of “Discontinuation” 623 The Discontinuation Notice 626 Summary 628 Raising Your Product Management Experience Quotient (PMEQ) 629 MODULE 5 PROFESSIONALIZING PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Introduction to Module 5 631 Chapter 23 Charting Your Career 633 It’s Up to You 634 A Career Strategy 635 Where Are You Now? 636 Assessing Knowledge, Skills, and Experiences 636 Career Action Planning 639 Your Applied Learning Project 639 Summary 643 Chapter 24 Organizing for and Managing Product Management 645 Getting Organized 646 Leading Product Management 649 Transforming the Organization 651 Chartering and Supporting Cross-Functional Product Teams 651 Empowerment 652 Acting as the Product Portfolio Review Council and Directing Product Investments 654 Assigning an Owner for All Product Management Processes and Documents 655 Providing Data for Product Managers 657 Creating a Repository of Templates and Tools 658 Resolving Problems as Escalated by the Product Teams 659 Staffing Strategies for Product Managers 660 Ensuring Ongoing Professional Development of Product Managers 662 Support the Building of a Product Management Community 663 Establishing an Environment for Creating and Sustaining Customer Partnerships 665 Investing in Market Research to Support the Product Teams 6 65 Coaching Product Managers 666 At the Heart of Business: Product Management Matters 668 MODULE 6 THE PRODUCT MANAGER’S TOOLBOX 671 Customer Visit Plan Template 672 Functional Support Plan Template 674 Opportunity Statement Template 676 Product Positioning Statement Template 677 Competitive Analysis Dossier 678 Business Case Template 685 Product Strategy Template 697 Product Marketing Plan Template 701 Product Launch Template 713 Product Discontinuation Outline 717 Product Master Plan Outline 718 Product Requirements Document Guideline and Template 721 Glossary 725 References and Resources 755 Index 759

About the Author :
STEVEN HAINES is among the world's top experts in product management. He is the founder of Sequent Learning Networks, a global training and advisory services firm based in New York City. He is also founder of The Product Management Executive Board, a professional association of senior executives who share a common bond in their quest for product excellence. Haines is the author of Managing Product Management and The Product Manager's Survival Guide.