Content

Chapter1
Introduction to Product and Product Management....
Aim…………………………………..
Objectives…………………………….
Learning Outcome……………………..
Introduction…………………………..
1.1 Defining Product …………………..
1.2 Product Management: Meaning……….
1.3 Product Management: Scope…………..
1.4 Roles in Product Management…………
1.5 Aspects of Product Management……….
1.5.1 Product Planning…………………
1.5.2 Product Marketing……………….
1.6 Product Manger…………………………..
1.6.1 Role Of product Manger…………..
1.6.2 Skills and competencies required in product manager role………………
1.6.3 Functions of product manager………………..
Summary
References

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 Chapter I Introduction to Product and Product
Management
Aim:
The aim of this chapter is to:

 Introduce the concept of product

 Discuss the Definition and Scope of Product Management

 Skills and competencies required in the product manager role

Objectives:
The objectives of this chapter are to:

 Understand the importance of product management in organization

 Outlining the role of product manager

 Functions of product manager

Learning outcome:
At end of this chapter, the students will be able to:

 The difference between product management and product manager

 Skills which they will require to become product managers

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Introduction
We are in the era of the new economy, which is based on the digital revolution and the
management of information. Marketing in this environment has to be carefully crafted to meet
the challenges in the market place – knowledgeable consumers with increasing buying power,
greater variety of available goods and services, great amount of information, ease in interacting
and placing and receiving orders, ability to make comparisons of products and services,
improved logistics and technology. The Internet is the new channel for business.

1.1 Product
 A product is a tangible (good) or intangible (service) information offering to meet the
needs, wants and demands of the people.
 It’s a value proposition, a set of benefits offered to customers satisfy the needs. It is a
bundle of satisfaction that a customer buys.
 A product will be successful if it delivers value and satisfaction to the customers.
 A product is much more than its physical attributes. It is a total concept that a customer
buys. The customer judges the product offering by 3 basic elements, product features and
quality services mixed and quality and price.

1.2 Product Management: Meaning

Product management is a process that focuses on bringing a new product to market or developing
an existing one. It starts with an idea of a product that a customer will interact with and ends with
the evaluation of the product’s success. Product management unites business, product
development, marketing, and sales. One of the critical activities of product management
is creating and documenting a product strategy. Product management is an organizational life
cycle function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products
at all stages of the product life cycle. . Product Management Process starts with the type of
company one works for.

Product management is led by a product manager. Don’t confuse the role with

a project manager. A project manager is responsible for a single part of a product lifecycle –
product development, while a product manager’s responsibility is to lead a product from the
germ of an idea to launch, focusing on features, business value, and the customer.

Product Manager’s primary role is to serve as the “voice of the customer”. Thus product
management includes indirect management and cooperation with other members of various
groups. The day to day work revolves around executing four main tasks:

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1. Developing the market requirements document

2. Managing the product feature list

3. Coordinating activities of different functional groups

4. Participating in and/or running the launch and post-launch marketing activities for a product.

The goal of product management is to:

1. Ensure a market-driven “whole” product offering

2. Establish competitive and profitable pricing models

3. Ensure the existence and support of product distribution

4. Create effective marketing promotions that generate revenue

1.3 Product Management: Scope

Product management as a discipline is about what the product should be. Product managers are
advocates for the customer’s needs and desires. A large product might have numerous product
managers working towards its success at a variety of levels, all the way from the junior product
manager writing specifications about single feature sets to a product strategy director who has
overall responsibility to executive management for the product direction. A product manager’s
responsibilities include the following:

1. Defining and planning product lines and product enhancements

2. Managing product contracts and sales. Setting strategic direction based on customer needs
and business goals

3. Interpreting strategic goals into operational tasks

4. Making proposals to senior management regarding implications of proposed plan

5. Serving as a representative to internal and external clients. Taking the leading establishing
tactical plans and objectives

6. Developing and implementing administrative and operational matters ensuring achievement

of objectives

7. Evaluating risks and trade-offs 8. Proposing contingency plans

9. Analyzing business processes and creating applications to improve or support those processes

10. Branding

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11. Working with graphic designers to create look and feel

12. Defining navigational flow and user experience

13. Defining feature sets and scooping releases.

1.4 Roles in product management

Every product team consists of several players, including those at the management level.
Usually, there are three: a product manager, a project manager, and a product marketing
manager.

There’s also a business analyst – someone who interprets stakeholders’ business requests into
development tasks for the tech team.

Each manager has one’s own responsibilities, limited to his or her sphere of concern. The
product manager’s role is much wider and includes activities on every level. Let’s define the
responsibilities of the first two to understand a product manager’s role better.

Project Manager. This person coordinates the internal process of product development making
sure that the project follows a timeline and fits a budget. The project manager tracks progress
and coordinates all internal resources and members of the team (engineers and designers) to
deliver the product on time.

The product marketing manager is the person responsible for commercialization, branding,
and positioning of the product. The Product Marketing Manager provides market research,
packaging, sales team training, and planning of promotional activities and events. This person is
responsible for:

 Defining user persona and learning about the customers

 Creating the product’s marketing strategy
 Communicating the product’s value to the market
 Developing sales tools for a product
Stakeholders. These are the people who have an interest in the final product, can influence the
process of product management and development, and are involved in decision-making. In
product management, stakeholders can be clients, investors, even users of a product, or all of
them combined.

Their responsibilities are to:

 Provide feedback on product ideas

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  Describe the requirements in details
 Contribute new features to the product development
 Approve or disapprove product features
 Influence decision making and timeline
 Identify potential risks and issues in product management
 Provide necessary resources for product development
 Stay informed about the lifecycle of the product
The product manager is the person who creates internal and external product vision and leads
product management from scratch. The product manager develops positioning strategy while
working with stakeholders and teams throughout the process. The main responsibilities of the
product manager are:

 Understand customer experience

 Develop vision
 Prioritize processes and activities
 Develop product pricing and positioning strategies
 Negotiate with stakeholders
 Build and follow a roadmap
 Arrange product testing groups
 Drive product launch
 Participate in the promotion plan development
 Build and maintain product awareness on all levels among product teams

1.5 Aspects of Product Management

Depending on the company size and history, product management has a variety of functions and
roles. Sometimes there is a product manager, and sometimes the role of product manager is held
by others. Frequently there is Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility as a key metric for evaluating
product manager performance. In some companies, the product management function is the hub
of many other activities around the product. In others, it is one of many things that need to
happen to bring a product to market.

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 Product Planning: Product Planning is the ongoing process of identifying and articulating
market requirements that define a product’s feature set.

 Defining new products

 Gathering market requirements
 Building product roadmaps, particularly technology roadmaps
 Product Life Cycle considerations

Product Marketing: Product Marketing is based on identifying, anticipating and satisfying

customer needs effectively and profitably.

 Product positioning and outbound messaging

 Promoting the product externally with press, customers, and partners
 Bringing new products to market
 Monitoring the competition

1.5.1 Product Planning

Product Planning is the ongoing process of identifying and articulating market requirements that
define a product’s feature set. Defining New Products: It is important to define the products and
services you want to promote. Ideas for new products can be obtained from basic research using
a SWOT analysis and/or brainstorming of new product, service, or store concepts. Gathering
Market Requirements: This is helped by analyzing market and consumer trends, competitors,
focus groups, corporate spies, trade shows, or ethnographic discovery methods.

Building Product Roadmaps, Particularly Technology Roadmaps: A great roadmap walks the
fine line between being too narrow (“a one-trick pony”) and too wide (“all over the map”).
Demonstrate focus by building your plan and presentation to spend the most time on your initial
products. Size the markets conservatively, and pick realistic penetration rates. Roadmaps are
always subject to change. Product Life Cycle Considerations: The idea of a product life cycle
acknowledges the fact that designing and selling a product is only part of the story. In fact, every
product goes through a series of steps between the time it is first conceived and the time the
manufactured product is retired or discarded. Product Differentiation: Product differentiation
(also known simply as “differentiation”) is the process of distinguishing the differences of a
product or offering from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market. This
involves differentiating it from competitors’ products as well as one’s own product offerings.

1.5.2 Product Marketing

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Product marketing deals with the first of the “4P’s” of marketing, which are Product, Pricing,
Place, and Promotion. Product planning, as opposed to product management, deals with more
outbound marketing tasks. Product Marketing is based on identifying, anticipating and satisfying
customer needs effectively and profitably. It encompasses market research, pricing, promotion,
distribution, customer care, your brand image and much more.

Example: Product planning deals with the nuts and bolts of product development within a firm,
whereas product marketing deals with marketing the product to prospects, customers, and others.

1. Product Positioning and Outbound Messaging: Positioning is a process that focuses on

conveying product value to buyers, resulting in a family of documents which drive all outbound
communications. Yet in recent years, it seems as if positioning has ‘devolved’ into a document
of vague superlatives that convey nothing as they attempt to trick the customer into buying the
product. The best positioning clearly states how the product will solve specific customer
problems.

2. Promoting the Product Externally with Press, Customers and Partners: Launching a new
product on the market, to gain sales and exposure for it can be a challenge. There are many other
ways to promote and sell a new product, but the most important of them all include packaging,
trade shows, exhibitions, promotional videos, internet marketing, etc. Each of the marketing
method includes liaison with press, customers and partners.

3. Monitoring the Competition: The old adage, “keep your friends close, and your enemies
closer”, is applicable not only to personal relationships but business relationships as well. While
it does not mean that you befriend your competitors, it is important that you are cognizant of
your competitors’ business ventures and methods. There are several ways to conduct successful
stealth competitive intelligence operations. While it is fanciful to imagine yourself as a secret
agent or spy, none of these techniques are difficult, hidden or secretive. In fact, most of them are
tools or services available to all businesses.

1.6 Product Manager

The product manager is the person responsible for defining the why, when, and what of the
product that the engineering team builds. This means they lead cross-functional teams from a
product's conception all the way through to its launch. Product managers provide the deep
product expertise needed to lead the organization and make strategic product decisions.

A product manager has to make sure that all members of a team work harmoniously to achieve
the main goal. This person is also responsible for the outcome of a product launch. Some product
managers focus mainly on development, writing specifications, and supervising development

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progression, while others display more focus on marketing and sales by developing a marketing
plan and training a sales team.

While at first it seems like a product manager performs administrative tasks rather than making
something, that is not true. They are constantly working on the improvement of the existing
product, analyzing data, doing market research, and observing current trends of the industry.
Eventually, a product manager has to make the final decision on what the end-product should be
like and the strategy of its development and launch.

1.6.1 What is the role of a product manager?

A product manager plays an utterly important role in an organization. Being at a very responsible
position, he/she has to guide a team that is charged with a product line contribution as a business unit.
This extends from increasing the profitability of existing products to developing new products for the
company.

A product manager builds products from existing ideas, and helps to develop new ideas based on the
industry experience and his contact with customers and prospects. He possesses a unique blend of
business and technical savvy; a big-picture vision, and the drive to make that vision a reality. He spends
time in the market to understand the problems of the customers, and finds innovative solutions for the
broader market.

The role of a product manager also becomes important because he has to communicate with all areas of
the company. The product manager works with an engineering counterpart to define product release
requirements. At the same time, he works with marketing communications to define the go-to-market
strategy, helping them understand the product positioning, key benefits, and target customer. He serves
as the internal and external evangelist for his product offering, occasionally working with the sales
channel and key customers.

A product manager’s key role is strategic, not tactical. The other organizations will support your strategic
efforts; you won’t be supporting their tactical tasks.

The key responsibilities of a product manger may include:

1. Managing the entire product line life cycle from strategic planning to tactical activities

2. Specifying market requirements for current and future products by conducting market research

3. Driving a solution set across development teams (primarily Development/Engineering, and Marketing
Communications) through market requirements, product contract, and positioning.

4. Developing and implementing a company-wide go-to-market plan, working with all departments to
execute.

5. Analyzing potential partner relationships for the product.

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 1.6.2 Skills and Competencies Required In the Product Manager Role
In most cases, the description of Product Manager covers an incredibly wide range of skills.
However, most Product Manager roles have several key components:

 Domain expertise: Very often, your knowledge of your market and product area is why
your company hired you. The fact that you know the customers and the business is the main
reason you’re now a Product Manager.
 Business expertise: People say that the Product Manager is the CEO of the product.
Though that is not typically 100% true, making sure the company is generating a profit is usually
involved. You need to have a suite of business skills to keep your product profitable.
 Leadership skills: Many people within your company are looking to you for guidance. If
you don’t have leadership skills under your belt, you need to develop them quickly.
 Operational ability: Product Managers need to dive deep into the many nitty-gritty
details needed to manage a product: for example, creating part numbers or updating a
spreadsheet. Sometimes you can get someone else to do these tasks, but many times you are
responsible for them.

1.6.3 Functions of a Product Manager

Astute product management requires the product manager’s involvement at every phase of the
product lifecycle. Starting with the initial conceptualization and coordination with the different
departments, including liaising with finance, legal and other teams, and finally, driving the
product to launch and after sales service by interacting with the sales and marketing functions.

To take each of these phases and analyze the functions of a good product manager, the following
points need to be underscored:

 It is the duty of the product manager to follow up with the sales and marketing teams as
well as the customer service team to track customer complaints to closure. While this is a
definite imperative in smaller organizations, in large sized firms, it is absolutely essential
to have a dedicated team that does this.
 Perform root cause analyses of problems being reported by the customers including any
strange issues that have surfaced. Remember that effective product management also
requires agile perception management wherein customers are satisfied and comfortable
with the products and hence, any problem or issue that appears out of the ordinary has to
be treated with urgency.
 One of the neglected aspects of product management is the coordination with the finance
and legal teams apart from other administrative functions. More often than not, a great
idea or a great product might fail because the cash flows are not generated to the
satisfaction of the finance team and hence the product becomes a loss making one. As
important as it is to have excellent design and market sensing sales strategies, the right
kind of financial ratios also need to be looked after if the company is to break even and
make a profit on the product.

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Of course, this does not mean that the product manager has to be a jack of all trades. The point
here is that the product manager (in small companies) and the product management (in big
companies) has the responsibility of being the point of contact or the go to person as far as
overall responsibility of the product is concerned. Hence, without putting a finger in each pie, the
product manager nonetheless should not lose sight of the big picture nor the attention to detail
that separates effective product management from pedestrian product management.

The important thing to note is that the product manager must establish credibility with the
different teams and the customers. In a way, the product management function is both external
facing (customer centric) as well as internal facing (satisfaction of the internal stakeholders). So,
a product manager must essentially be customer focused and at the same time must be cognizant
of the needs of the internal stakeholders.

In conclusion, it is all about finding the right balance between the needs of the marketplace and
the capabilities of the company. Only by matching these two and balancing the restraining and
driving forces can there exist equilibrium in the organization in its internal and external dealings
as far as product launches are concerned. So, product management is like a soap opera where the
product manager is the conductor and the different teams the players or the members of the
orchestra. Unless a product manager directs all the stakeholders to act in unison can there be
music. Otherwise, there would be noise.

Summary
 A product is a tangible (good) or intangible (service) information offering to meet the
needs, wants, and demands of the people. It is a value proposition, a set of benefits
offered to customers to satisfy the needs. It is a bundle of satisfaction that a customer
buys.
 Product managers normally manage a product for only a short time and this leads to short
time planning with no long-term strengths though there are differences in the way they are
handled.
 Product management is a process that focuses on bringing a new product to market or
developing an existing one. It starts with an idea of a product that a customer will interact
with and ends with the evaluation of the product’s success. Product management unites
business, product development, marketing, and sales.
 Products should meet local market conditions—one of the prerequisites in marketing
strategies. The Indian economy has opened up and is opening up further, and more and
more collaborations with foreign companies are being signed up.

References

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 Donald R. Lehmann and Russell S. Winer, (2004). Product Management, McGraw Hill
Higher Education, 4th edition, 512 pages.
 Steve Johnson, the Strategic Role of Product Management, Pragmatic Marketing.

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