Contents 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction Welcome to the Second Edition of the Product Manager’s Survival Guide Chapter Introduction to Product Management Chapter Understanding the Role of the Product Manager and Assessing Your Product Management Acumen Chapter Navigating the Organization Chapter Influence and the Art of Being a Product Manager Chapter Who’s the Customer? Chapter Garnering Industry and Competitor Insights Chapter Getting From Here to Tthere: Product Strategy and Roadmaps Chapter After Strategy: What’s Next? Chapter Execution: Developing and Launching Products Chapter 10 Harnessing Data and Running the Product’s Business Chapter 11 Improving Your Experience as a Product Manager Index Guide Cover Title Page The Product Manager’s Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed as a Product Manager, Second Edition Page List i ii iii iv v vi 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 ▪ What corporate or product management experience have you gained that helps you shape your view of how things should or could be done? ▪ What experiences have you had that you feel set you apart from others? How can you leverage this going forward? ▪ In which areas have you become a subject matter expert? What questions can you now ask and answer that you weren’t able to earlier in your career? ▪ Is there an area in which you’re interested where you haven’t had a chance to work? Would this be something you would want to pursue in your next role, either in your current company or elsewhere? ▪ What books, online resources, podcasts, and so on teach you the most about areas in which you’re interested? ▪ How can you begin to cultivate your credentials in areas in which you’re interested? ▪ How can you help others using the experience you’ve gained, either in your company or elsewhere? ▪ If you’ve gained experience and subject matter expertise, can you leverage this to establish a thought leadership position in your field? In this case, could you write, speak, or other things to help others? This list of questions can be adjusted and augmented The questions are meant to offer you a chance to think more broadly about your career and the roles you could take on in the future I hope you’ll consider these as you continue to contribute to the profession of product management I wish you a safe, profitable, and rewarding career journey INDEX Please note that index links point to page beginnings from the print edition Locations are approximate in e-readers, and you may need to page down one or more times after clicking a link to get to the indexed material Page numbers followed by f refer to figures A/B test, 179, 182 Action, 101 Ad hoc personae, 87 Agile (term), 6, 59 The Agile Manifesto, 199 All-hands meetings, 69 Amazon, 99, 179–180 Annual operating plan (AOP), 128–129 Apple, 209 Applied project learning template, 262, 264f ARPA (average revenue per account), 227 The Art of War (Sun Tzu), 118–119 Assessment, of launch, 214–215 ATMs (automated teller machines), 98, 175 Attribute clusters, 259f–261f Attributes, professional, 20–30 Automobile navigation systems, 7, Average price per unit, 226 Average revenue per account (ARPA), 227 Baseline situational analysis, 134–144, 135f, 136f, 138f–141f, 143f, 144f Beta testing, 194–195 Bezos, Jeff, 179–180 Bosses, 50–52 Break-even point, 232 Broadway shows, 48 B2B industries(business-to-business), 84 Business cases, 169–173, 172f, 234f Business managers, 17–20 Business Model Generation (Osterwalder and Pigneur), 44 Business news, 107 Business-to-business industries (B2B), 84 CAC (customer acquisition cost), 226 Capital (assets), 50 Career journey, 265–266 Career ownership, 257–259, 261–262 Career strategy, 256 Career-action planning template, 262, 263f Cascading strategies, 129, 129f Channels, 247–248 Chief financial officer (CFO), 227 China, 126 Churchill, Winston: on progress, 105 on success, 219 Churn rate, 230 Clickstream data, 230 Clorox, 100 CLV (customer lifetime value), 227 COGS (cost of goods sold), 227–228 Collaborating, 72 Communicating, 71 Communities of practice, 68 Community, 116 Company, navigating your (see Navigating your company) Company strategy, 129–132, 129f Competition, 105–123, 136f environment of, 112–118 and industry environment, 106–112, 108f, 112f utilizing data on, 118–121, 120f Competitive Comparison Profiles, 119–121, 120f, 142 Competitive intelligence, 114–118 Competitive positioning, 113–114, 142, 143f, 144f Competitive scale, 109 Complaint handling, 214 Concept phase, 165 Consumers (see Customers) Cook, Tim, on working as a team, Coordinating, 71–72 Core capabilities, 12 Cost of goods sold (COGS), 227–228 Covey, Stephen, 68, 257 Creative briefs, 246–247 Credibility, 64–68 CRM (customer relationship management system), 45, 200 Cross-functional product teams, 48, 59, 62, 72, 74–75, 79, 130, 156 Cross-organizational relationships, 59 Current year (CY), 134, 135f, 136f, 138f–140f, 142 Customer acquisition cost (CAC), 226 Customer life cycles, 97 Customer lifetime value (CLV), 227 Customer profitability, 227 Customer relationship management system (CRM), 45, 200 Customer research, 11 Customer usage, 225 Customers, 81–103, 136f, 143f, 153f, 156 feedback from, 92–93 focusing on, 83–84 identifying, 85–90, 86f, 88f, 89f interviewing, 93–96 journeys of, 85–86, 99–101 narratives of, 87 needs of, 96–101 observing, 90–92 research on, 101–102 satisfaction of, 229–230 tracking digital footprints of, 92 CY (see Current year) Data, 12, 219–253 and baseline situational analysis, 134–144 collection of, 222–231, 222f, 225f drawing conclusions from, 148–149 financial, 226–228 and future of your product’s business, 237–249 on industry/competition, 107, 118–121, 120f and life cycle states, 231–237, 232f, 234f, 236f market/usage, 224–226, 225f operational, 228–231 and performance, 220–221 and place, 247–248 and price, 240–244 and product discontinuation, 249–252 and product scorecards, 235–237, 236f and promotion, 244–247 sales/service, 228–231 Days of inventory, 229 D&B Hoovers, 115 Decision authority, 85 Decline, 140 Definition phase, 165 Delivery, 213–214 Design thinking, 175–177, 182 Digital footprints, 92 Discontinuation, product, 249–252 Discussion, information-sharing, 13 Drucker, Peter: on hard work, 159 on reflection and action, 122 Earth, 43, 49 Edison, Thomas, 176 Empowerment, 64–68 Essential questions, 54 European Patent Office, 116 European Securities and Markets Authority, 115 Execution, 186, 189, 207–210 Experience, improving, 255–266, 259f–261f, 263f, 264f Experiments, 179–182 External design, 175 External testing, 194 FAQs (frequently asked questions), 212 Feasibility phase, 165, 169 Feature backlog, 200 Feedback from customers, 92–93 Financial data, 226–228 Financial market analysts, 107 Financial targets, 215 Focusing on customers, 83–84 Forbes, 158, 179 Ford, Henry: on goals, 58 on teamwork, 61 Frequently asked questions (FAQs), 212 Fulfillment, 213 Functional silos, 45 Functional testing, 193 Gaps, identifying and closing, 38–39 Global Industry Classification System (GICS), 110 Goals, 150–151 Google, 180 Government agency reports, 107 Greece, 126 Gross margin, 227–228, 234f Growth, 140, 232, 235 Harvard Business Review, 90, 158 Harvard University, 90 Heinlein, Robert, 43 Horizontal leading, 53 Humility, 188–189 Hypotheses, 180–181 IBM, Ideas, 163–164 Implementation support, 214 Improving experience, 255–266, 259f–261f, 263f, 264f Incident handling time, 230 Incident-based metrics, 230 Industry and Competitive Analysis groups, 114 Industry associations, 107 Influence, 61–79 and building foundation/team, 62–64 and earning credibility/empowerment, 64–68 and knowledge-sharing networks, 68–70 and monitoring your team, 75–76, 77f on purchase, 85 and virtual product teams, 70–75 Influence diagrams, 46, 55 Information technology (IT), 53, 205, 214 Information-sharing discussion, 13 Initial product backlog, 202 Installation, 214 Interface testing, 194 International Consumer Electronics Show, 208 Interventions, 52 Interviewing customers, 93–96 Inventory turns, 229 IT (information technology), 53, 205, 214 Iterative product development, 198–206, 204f Iterative product planning, 175–182 Journeys, of customers, 85–86, 99–101 Kickoffs, 210 Knowledge-sharing networks, 68–70 Las Vegas, Nevada, 208 Leading horizontally, 53 Lean (term), 162 Levitt, Theodore, 90 Life cycle states, 140, 141, 141f, 221, 231–237, 232f, 234f, 236f Lincoln, Abraham, on success, 43 Linear product development, 189–197, 190f, 191f, 198f Linear product planning, 164–175, 165f–167f, 169f, 170f, 172f Load testing, 193 Logistics, 213 Maintenance, 175 Management (term), 8–9 Managing Product Management (workshop), 66 Manufacturing, 213 Market attractiveness, 89 Market communication, 211–213 Market data, 224–226, 225f Market focus, 72–74 Market indicators, 143f, 152 Market movement, 224 Market penetration, 224, 225 Market position, 13 Market research, 11 Market segmentation, 83, 86f, 89, 90, 109 Market share, 224, 225f, 250 Market targets, 143f, 152 Market window, 208 Marketing and Sales, 131 Marketing indicators, 215 Marketing mix elements, 139, 140, 237–239, 248–249 Mars, 43 Maslow, Abraham, 96, 265 Materials testing, 193 Matrix organizations, 45 Maturity, 140 Mentors, 56–58 Monitoring, 75–76, 77f Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), 110 Motivation, 101 Museum of Natural History (New York), 125 NAICS (North American Industry Classification System), 110 Narratives, customer, 87 Navigating your company, 43–60 and aligning with your boss, 50–52 and establishing ties with other managers, 52–54 and finding mentors, 56–58 and organizational agility, 49–50 and political capital, 49–50 and roles/responsibilities, 48–49 and visibility, 54–56 Needs of customers, 96–101 Net promoter score (NPS), 230, 236 Netflix, New York City, 97, 125, 200 Nietzsche, Friedrich, on the future, 125 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), 110 NPS (net promoter score), 230, 236 Observing customers, 90–92 Operational data, 228–231 Operational readiness, 213–214 Operational targets, 215 Opportunities, 146, 167f Opportunity statements, 165, 166f Oracle, 154, 200 Orchestration, 207–210 Order handling, 213 Order taking, 213 Organizational agility, 49–50 Organizational instinct, 49 Organizational maps, 45 Osterwalder, Alexander, 44 Outcomes, 101 Out-of-stock metrics, 229 Pace, 161–163 Pain points, 99 Pausch, Randy, on experience, 255 Performance, 175, 220–221, 222f Perot, Ross, on customers, 81 Person type, 86 Personae, 85–88, 102 Phase-gate process, 164, 190 Pigneur, Yves, 44 Pivot points, 144–149 Place, 247–248 Political capital, 49–50 Portfolio strategy, 11, 245 Positioning statements, 168, 212 Post-launch product management, 219 The Practice of Management (Drucker), 122 PRD (see Product requirements documents) PRESTO market analysis technique (political, regulatory, economic, social, technological, and other), 108–112, 112f Pricing, 226, 240–244 Prioritization, 195–197, 198f Processes: limits/benefits of, 160–161 and pace, 161–163 phase-gate, 164 product planning, 161 Product(s): definition of, 7, discontinuation of, 249–252 future of, 149–156, 153f, 159–160 vision for, 149–150 Product cash flow, 227, 232f Product definition, 173–175 Product development, 185–206 iterative, 198–206, 204f linear, 189–197, 190f, 191f, 198f product manager’s role in, 186–189 Product development process, 11–12 Product discontinuation, 249–252 Product goals, 11 Product hierarchy, 7, 8f, 13 Product launch, 206–215 assessing performance of, 214–215 and market communication, 211–213 and operational readiness, 213–214 orchestration/execution of, 207–210 planning for, 206, 207, 207f and salespeople, 210–211 Product launch project plan compliance, 214–215 Product lines, Product management: basics of, 6–7 as core capability, 12 definition of, 9–10 function of, 9, 10 as model for business organization, 10 transforming business via, 10–12 Product Management Acumen Assessment, 30–39 combining scores for product management and domain expertise on, 34, 35f domain expertise on, 31, 33, 33f getting a second opinion on, 37–38 scoring of, 31f synthesizing information from, 34, 36, 36f Product manager(s), 15–20 Product Manager’s Desk Reference (Haines), 85 Product opportunities, 143f, 152 Product owners, 204–206 Product planning: iterative, 175–182 linear, 164–175, 165f–167f, 169f, 170f, 172f Product planning processes, 161 Product requirements documents (PRD), 173–175, 184, 187, 189 Product roadmaps, 154 Product scorecards, 235–237, 236f Product strategy, 11, 125–160 and baseline situational analysis, 134–144, 135f, 136f, 138f–141f, 143f, 144f and company strategy, 129–132, 129f dynamics of, 126–129 and future of product, 149–156, 153f, 159–160 model of, 132–134, 133f and synthesis, 144–149, 145f, 147f Product testing, 193–195 Product vision, 149–150 Product–business strategy blueprint, 152–156, 153f Professional attributes, 20–30 communication/interpersonal skills, 26–27 market/product, 22–23 mindset, 24 performance/results, 29 product management activities, 24–25 in quadrant model, 21, 21f Promotion, 244–247 Proto-personae, 87 Quality assurance (QA), 188, 194 R&D (research and development), 114, 116, 117 Reform, 10 Regulatory, 175 Relationship maps, 46 Release plan, 202 Repairs, 214 Research and development (R&D), 114, 116, 117 Return on investment (ROI), 244–245 Returns, 214 Revenue, 143f, 153f, 156, 226–227, 234f, 250 ROI (return on investment), 244–245 Role confusion, 49 Rowling, J K., on imagination, 184 Royce, Winston W., 190 Safety, 175 Sales data, 228–231 Sales force effectiveness, 228–229 Sales indicators, 215 Salespeople, 210–211 Satisfaction, customer, 229–230 Security, 175 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, 83 Sequent Learning Networks, Service data, 228–231 The Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey), 68, 257 Shared elements, 13 Showcase presentations, 69 Sketching, 177 Sloan Management Review, 158 SMART method (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timeframed), 150 Snapshots, 84 Software-as-a-service products, 232, 244 Sourcing, 213 Speed, 2–3 Sprints (term), 177, 199, 203–205, 204f Standard & Poor’s, 110, 115 Standards groups, 107 Stand-ups, 203 Starbucks, 97 State of the business review, 69 Stock-out ratio, 229 Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), 43 Strategy(-ies): career, 256 cascading, 129, 129f company, 129–132, 129f defined, 126 portfolio, 11, 245 product (see Product strategy) Strengths, 145, 146 Stress testing, 193 Structural testing, 193 Sun Tzu, 118–119, 126 Support, 53–54, 67–68 SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), 35, 36f, 41, 128, 133f, 145, 145f, 146, 147f, 151, 158, 259 Syndicated research, 107 Synthesis: of information, 34, 36, 36f and pivot point, 144–149, 145f, 147f Systems interface testing, 193 Teams, 62–63 Testing: product, 193–195 in production approach, 179 (See also specific types) Thomson Reuters, 115 Threats, 146 Trade-offs, 195–197 Transaction volumes, 226 Transformation, 1–2, 10–12 Trust, 66–67 Truth, 188–189 Unit volumes, 226 Unsolicited customer feedback, 93 Up-and-across approach, 52 U.S Patent and Trademark Office, 116 Usage data, 224–226, 225f Use testing, 193 User experience design (UX), 87, 188 User experience testing, 193 User stories, 87 Valentine Michael Smith (character), 43 Value propositions, 97, 168, 169, 169f, 170f, 212 Vertical specialty functions, 62 Virtual product teams, 70–75 Visibility, 54–56 Vision, product, 149–150 Wall Street Journal, 158 Waterfall development, 190, 191f Weaknesses, 146 The Wizard of Oz (film), 70 Yahoo, Your industry, 105–123 and competitive environments, 112–118 evaluating environment of, 106–112, 108f, 112f utilizing data on, 118–121, 120f Zen Buddhism, 121 ABOUT THE AUTHOR STEVEN HAINES is a business optimist committed to the improvement of the skills and capabilities of business people who work in complex corporations He teaches managers and leaders to think holistically and systemically about business so they can effectively manage, lead, and influence others on their path to business success Steven is a bestselling author, world-renowned speaker, and founder of two successful companies: Business Acumen Institute and Sequent Learning Networks ... Guide, was written to help both new and aspiring product managers to become as productive as possible, as fast as possible Why? Because most companies want their product managers to hit the ground... is that you have to be able to figure out the path you ve already taken so that you can more easily map the path ahead with a purposeful professional development strategy PRODUCT MANAGERS ARE... the Product Manager and Assessing Your Product Management Acumen Chapter Navigating the Organization Chapter Influence and the Art of Being a Product Manager Chapter Who’s the Customer? Chapter