pm becomes more strategic
DESCRIPTION
Tom Grant's presentation on the forces that are pushing PM into an increasingly strategic role. Agile, social media, tech savvy buyers--these and other trends in the tech industry are pointing PM in the same direction.TRANSCRIPT
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PM Becomes More StrategicAnd What It Means For You
Tom GrantSenior AnalystForrester Research
March 2010
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2Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
For more information
For a copy of one of today’s presentations and to download a Product Management & Marketing Toolkit, visit www.forrester.com/pcampaustin
Toolkit includes:
• 3 pieces of free research
• 1 hour-long recorded Webinar “2010 Priorities for B2B Tech Community Marketing”
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3Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Agenda
• How do we know if PM is strategic?
• What is making PM strategic?
• What does this mean for me?
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4Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Agenda
• How do we know if PM is strategic?
• What is making PM strategic?
• What does this mean for me?
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5Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
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6Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
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7Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Agenda
• How do we know if PM is strategic?
• What is making PM strategic?
• What does this mean for me?
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8Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
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Who can meet the challenge?
Smart investmentsSmart investments
Clearly articulated valueClearly articulated value
Go-to-market excellenceGo-to-market excellence
Market masteryMarket mastery
RESPONSESRESPONSES
Social mediaSocial media
SaaS/cloudSaaS/cloud
Business technology (BT)Business technology (BT)
RecessionRecession
InnovationInnovation
AgileAgile
CHALLENGESCHALLENGES
Company perspectiveCompany perspective
Business & technology acumenBusiness & technology acumen
Company ubiquityCompany ubiquity
Customer & market intelligenceCustomer & market intelligence
PM STRENGTHSPM STRENGTHS
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10Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
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11Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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?
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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?
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SaaS/cloud
BEFORE:ON PREMISE
AFTER:ON DEMAND
What’s the same?What’s different?
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14Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
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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
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16Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Agenda
• How do we know if PM is strategic?
• What is making PM strategic?
• What does this mean for me?
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17Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Present this picture to your management
Smart investmentsSmart investments
Clearly articulated valueClearly articulated value
Go-to-market excellenceGo-to-market excellence
Market masteryMarket mastery
SOLUTIONSOLUTION
Social mediaSocial media
SaaS/cloudSaaS/cloud
Business technology (BT)Business technology (BT)
RecessionRecession
InnovationInnovation
AgileAgile
CHALLENGESCHALLENGES
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
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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
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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
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20Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
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21Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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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