Product management 101

Section 1: Course introduction

© Todd Birzer
 3 goals of the course…

1 Learn best practices for the work of

product management
• Market intelligence, strategy, new
product development, and lifecycle
management

© Todd Birzer
 3 goals of the course…

2 Take strong steps toward becoming a more

strategic product manager
• Healthier balance between the strategic
and tactical
• Greater impact on your company and
its product portfolio

© Todd Birzer
 3 goals of the course…

3 Learn to be leaner, faster, and more

experimental
• Data-driven innovation

© Todd Birzer
 Designed for …
Product managers (0-5 years experience)
looking to enhance and deepen their skills

Aspiring product managers

Business managers who want to better

understand the work of product
management

© Todd Birzer
Purpose of product
management

Manage the full lifecycle of products/services

to…

• Create exceptional customer value

• Generate long-term competitive advantage
• Deliver year-after-year profitability

© Todd Birzer
 Our job: to delight
customers in hard-to-copy,
margin-enhancing ways

Gibson Biddle
Former VP of Product at Netflix

© Todd Birzer
The work of product
management
Market New product Lifecycle
Intelligence Strategy development Management

Customer Product strategy Prioritization Positioning

Market Discovery & Pricing
Competition delivery Sales support
Launch Sales channels
Product support
Finding growth
Obsolescence

© Todd Birzer
 Marketing, Sales,
Executives Customer Success
The work of product
management
Marketing Market New product Lifecycle
Intelligence Strategy development Management

Customer Product strategy Prioritization Positioning

Market Discovery & Pricing
Competition delivery Sales support
Launch Sales channels
Product support
Finding growth
Obsolescence

Engineering &
technical teams
Product designers

© Todd Birzer
 Todd Birzer
Principal consultant
Kevolve Product Management

• 25+ years in product management

• Consult and teach
• Head of Product, director, worldwide &
regional product manager
• Author, Becoming a More Strategic
Product Manager

© Todd Birzer
Structure of this
course
Market New product Lifecycle
Intelligence Strategy development Management

Customer Product strategy Prioritization Positioning

Market Discovery & Pricing
Competition delivery Sales support
Launch Sales channels
Product support
Finding growth
Obsolescence
With company examples,
practice activities,
templates, and quizzes

Product management in all its diversity…

Software, hardware, services
Startups to big corporations
© Todd Birzer
 As product managers, we want to go big

No product manager wants to be a

product…caretaker, janitor, babysitter

The key to going big…

• The right balance between the strategic
and tactical
• Answering customer’s opportunities and
problems through innovation

© Todd Birzer
Where we come from…

Engineering
Project manager
Marketing
Product
Sales
management
Customer success team
Product support
Product designer
MBA

© Todd Birzer
© Todd Birzer
Balancing the
strategic and tactical
Where we lose our balance…

• We focus too heavily on sales support and

product support

• We get too buried in Agile processes

• We pick up non-core projects related to our

products
– Project management, monthly financial
reporting, operations support, etc.

© Todd Birzer
 Market New product Lifecycle
Intelligence Strategy development Management

Customer Product strategy Prioritization Positioning

Market Discovery & Pricing
Competition delivery Sales support
Launch Sales channels
Product support
Finding growth
Obsolescence

© Todd Birzer
Finding the path to
greater impact ☺ 
Going big More here Less here
Say “yes” and lean in Gently say “no”
• Deep customer • Project management
understanding • Extensive product
• Market and support
competitive analysis • Getting buried in Agile
• Product strategy processes
• New product • Deep engineering
discovery & concept support
testing • Extensive sales support
• Product analytics
• Pricing
• Search for growth

© Todd Birzer
Finding the path to
greater impact ☺
Going big More here
Say “yes” and lean in
• Deep customer
understanding
• Market and
competitive analysis
• Product strategy
• New product The good news:
discovery & concept You can quickly
testing
raise your impact
• Product analytics as a product
• Pricing manager
• Search for growth

© Todd Birzer