How To Guide

Product Management Tools, Techniques & Roadmaps

Executive Summary:

This report has been designed to provide practical advice for improving
your product management capabilities and for building product
roadmaps that guide development resources.

Read this brief 9-page report to learn:

 Importance of Product Management

 Product Management Definition
 The Product Lifecycle Stages
 Product Management vs. Product Marketing
 Product Management Roles & Responsibilities
 Product Management Tools & Techniques
 Product Roadmap Description
 Benefits of Product Roadmaps
 Implementing a Product Roadmap

Read this report to learn how to make product management a core

competence that drives competitive advantages in your marketplace and
to organize product development initiatives, schedule product feature
releases, and create a product roadmap that aligns with your target
market segments.

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Table of Contents Page

Importance of Product Management 3

Product Management Definition 3

The Product Lifecycle Stages 4

Product Management vs. Product Marketing 5

Product Management Roles 5

Product Management Tools & Techniques 6

What is a Product Roadmap 7

Benefits of Product Roadmaps 7

Implementing a Product Roadmap 8

Conclusion 9

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Importance of Product Management

Being market-driven requires organizations to build a strong product

management capability. Most organizations struggle to create a role in
their business that is exclusively geared towards listening to their
market. Those who do, gain a better understanding of what drives
VALUE, and incorporate that insight into the product development
process.

In a mid-sized organization, it is the job of the CEO to take feedback

from each department and drive the product development process.
Unfortunately, most CEOs are so busy with meetings, fire fighting,
purchasing, and other important business issues, that they don’t leave
time to adequately manage product development. This results in many
problems.

One approach that is working well for mid-sized enterprises is to

introduce a Product Management business leader. This change in
organizational structure relieves much of the pressure on the CEO
related to product development, and provides an internal representative
for customer & prospects.

If you are struggling to make sales, having problems with time-to-

market, or need to improve profitability, strongly consider revamping
your product management infrastructure.

Product Management Defined

Product Management is an organizational function dealing with the

product planning, development, and marketing, for all product lines, at
all stages of the product lifecycle.

Essentially, the role of Product Management is to analyze & identify

market problems, quantify opportunity size, and determine risks &
costs, to provide business cases to senior management for decision-
making. Once approval is given, Product Management is responsible for
building the right product for the market, and supporting sales in their
efforts.

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Product Lifecycle Stages

 Stage 1: Development - this is the most costly stage of the

cycle as there are no revenues to support development efforts.
Losses occur in the short-term, as precious resources are
allocated to development efforts.
 Stage 2: Introduction - losses continue in this stage due to
high costs and low revenues. There is little or no competition and
demand needs to be generated. Customers need to be “sold” on
trying the new product.
 Stage 3: Growth - costs reduced from economies of scale, sales
volume increases significantly, and profits are earned.
Competitors begin to develop competing products while prices
are at their maximum.
 Stage 4: Maturity - costs are relatively low as the need to
generate demand has decreased; sales volumes peak,
competition starts to heat up. Prices drop based on competitive
pricing, mergers & acquisitions occur, and brand & feature
differentiation becomes more important. This is usually the most
profitable phase of the lifecycle.
 Stage 5: Decline/Stability - sales volumes level off or begin to
decline as competitors chip away at market share. Prices
diminish and production & distribution efficiency become top
drivers of profitability.

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Product Management vs. Product Marketing

Product Management Product Marketing

Product Planning & Design
Functional Requirements
Product Lifecycle Management
Product Portfolio Management
Product Differentiation
Sales & Service Training
Analyst Briefs & Keynote Talks
Product Requirements Doc.
Product Development
Win/Loss & Profit Analysis
User Personas & Use Cases
Technology Assessments
Sales Support & Collateral
Market Needs & Problems
Product Messaging
Product Promotion, PR, etc
Product Positioning
Outbound Marketing Efforts
Tradeshow/event Facilitation
Market Requirements Doc.
Product Launch
Competitive Analysis
Lead Generation Activities
Channel Development

Product Management Roles

In “Crossing the Chasm”, Geoffrey Moore defines and recommends two

separate positions: “A product manager is a member of either the
marketing organization or the development organization who is
responsible for ensuring that a product gets created, tested, and
shipped on schedule and meeting specifications. It is a highly
INTERNALLY FOCUSED job, bridging the marketing and development
organizations, and requiring a HIGH DEGREE OF TECHNICAL
COMPETENCE and project management experience. A product marketing
manager is always a member of the marketing organization, never of
the development group, and is responsible for bringing the product to
the marketplace and to the distribution organization. It is a HIGHLY
EXTERNALLY FOCUSED job.”

Be sure to differentiate between Product Management and Product

Marketing, as these roles require much different skill sets. Use our
Product Management Director Job Description and Product
Marketing Manager Job Description for help.

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Product Management Tools & Techniques

1. Understand Distinctive Competence: determine what makes

your firm stand out. Use our Product Management Maturity
Assessment and conduct an internal SWOT Analysis to
document strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Evaluate win/loss reports, operational product metrics, and
market share statistics.

2. Target Market Analysis: read our report on Market

Segmentation, Targeting, & Positioning to start analyzing
your market segments. Use our Market Segmentation Tool to
analyze the size of your market and understand prospective
client issues. Use this information to build a product Business
Case.

3. Determine Market Requirements: conduct research and

survey customers and prospects to identify opportunities for
product development. Document each opportunity with a
Product Development Charter and present to senior
management for approval to allocate more resources. Complete
Market Requirements Document and Product
Requirements Document.

4. Product Development: create Product Development

Schedule, Feature List Priority Analysis, and Product
Sanity-Check to document development efforts. Reprioritize and
sanity-check throughout the process.

5. Product Marketing: use our Product Launch Checklist to

organize your product marketing campaign. Following is a list of
other helpful tools for managing this process:

 Competitive Product Positioning Map

 Customer Profile Template
 Case Study Template
 Feature, Advantage, Benefit Tool
 SPIN Selling Questions Tool
 Competitive Analysis Tool
 Product Positioning Tool
 Sales Script Template
 Sales Presentation Template
 Sales Proposal Template
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What is a Product Roadmap

A product roadmap is a management communication document that

outlines market segments, estimated revenues, market/technology
trends, future customer needs, products to address needs, and
technology required to build/refine products.

Product Roadmaps are high-level and typically used with Product

Development Schedules and Product Feature Release Schedules which
provide more detail related to proposed delivery dates.

Benefits of Product Roadmaps

 Retaining Customers: providing customers with a high-level

roadmap of where your product is heading is critical for
communicating reasons why they should continue to do business
with your organization.

 Support Product Marketing: communicate your product

roadmap when speaking with industry analysts to gain further
exposure. Submit press releases that highlight new product
feature releases and timelines.

 Build Internal Alignment: guide your engineering and product

development staff, and identify resources that will be required to
build or refine your products.

 Secure Financing: product roadmaps may be requested by

potential investors looking to acquire mature businesses or invest
in start-up organizations.

 Reporting to Senior Management: product roadmaps help

senior management understand your product development plan
to ensure that you have the resources required to create or
refine existing products.

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Implementing a Product Roadmap

1. Determine Scope of Roadmap: discuss product roadmaps with

senior management to determine the level of detail and
complexity that is required for your organization. Assess the time
required to create and maintain your roadmap and assign
resources to the project.

2. Conduct an External Analysis: use our STEP Industry

Analysis tool to document market conditions, technology
landscape, and identify market opportunities. Read our Market
Segmentation, Targeting, & Positioning report if you need
help with identifying new market opportunities.

3. Perform a Competitive Analysis: organize your product

features into high-level categories and use our Product Feature
Competitive Analysis tool to identify areas to drive feature-
based differentiation in your market. Also use our Competitive
Product Positioning Map to document key buying criteria for
each of your market segments, analyze & rate your competitors,
and develop a product positioning map.

4. Identify Product Feature Requirements: distribute our

Product Feature Request Form to your Sales & Customer
Service staff to document new product ideas and work with
customers and prospects to develop a Market Requirements
Document. Create your Product Requirements Document
and use our Product Feature Priority Tool to prioritize
requirements for new or existing products and identify “silver
bullet” features.

5. Conduct an Internal Analysis: use our SWOT Analysis tool

to assess internal skills and resources and evaluate your
technology environment. Using your Product Requirements
Document as a starting point, perform a Product GAP
Analysis to strategically plan for improvements to Market
Research, Product Strategy, Capabilities, Technology, and
Product Marketing.

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6. Develop your Product Roadmap: use our Product Roadmap

to communicate new market opportunities, and document
technology required to support product development. Create a
Product Development Schedule for new products or a
Product Feature Release Schedule to organize delivery of new
features for existing products.

Conclusion

Improving product management capability is a key priority for mid-sized

enterprises. Firms who develop a competitive advantage in product
management usually experience higher revenue growth rates, better
profitability, and larger market share than their competitors who are
more internally focused.

While it may take a few more minutes to document your analyses than
to have a “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” type of meeting, the time
spent should be considered well invested. Demonstrating a clear
business case for a new product, managing the requirements gathering
process, and deploying an effective go-to-market strategy are critical
keys for success.

If you need more assistance than this report & tools can provide,
consider attending a seminar from Pragmatic Marketing, who are
considered to be the leader in the field.

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