Product Management for Hi-Tech

1. Product Managementfor Hi-Tech Roger Hecker October 2001

2. Session Roadmap • What is Product Management? • Real Life Product Management • Q&A

3. What is Product Management? • Product Lifecycle Management • Define product requirements • Design the product • Develop the product • Test the product • Sell the product • Single Point of Contact • Design • Status • Strategy

4. What is Product Management?Define Product Requirements • Inputs from: • Sales • Business Development • Management • R&D • Target Markets, Partners and Customers • Revenue Dependencies • Competitors • Corporate Strategy

5. What is Product Management?Design the Product • Understand what is technically possible • Product Specifications • User Interfaces • Functionality and Performance • Feature Priorities • Dependencies and Implications • Rough implementation timeline per feature/version

6. What is Product Management?Develop the Product • Ensure that R&D is developing the product: • According to design • In line with priorities • On schedule • Reprioritize during development: • R&D surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant • Sales, BizDev, Mgmt surprises • Changing timeframes

7. What is Product Management?Test the Product • Prioritize major bugs • Set up Beta sites • Manage Beta process • Release product

8. What is Product Management?Sell the Product • Establish prices for product/features • Establish marketing strategy for new product/features based on: • Price/Performance ratio • ROI • Competitors • Corporate strategy • Installed base for upgrades • Educate the sales, marketing and BizDev teams on the strategies

9. What is Product Management?Sell the Product (continued) • Ensure that the marketing team: • Creates Presentations • Writes and Designs Brochures/Data Sheets • Writes and Publishes White Papers • Creates Competitive Matrices • Creates and distributes channel kits with: • Literature and Presentations • Pricing lists and tools (configurators, if applicable) • Case Studies • Trains Channel sales teams

10. What is Product Management?Sell the Product (continued) • Ensure that the technical writers are writing: • User Manuals • Installation Manuals • Maintenance Manuals • Ensure that the training/support team: • Is knowledgeable about all new features, functionalities, bugs and workarounds • Has all necessary equipment to support new functions • Creates appropriate training materials • Trains channel support teams

11. What is Product Management? Single Point of Contact • The one place to go for authoritative answers on Design, Status and Strategy: • How is this supposed to work? • How is this feature coming along? • Can I promise this to my customer? • Has this bug been fixed yet? • How are we positioned against competitor X? • Will we support this feature in the future? When?

12. Who is a Product Manager? • Power without Authority • Everybody’s Friend: • Management • R&D • Marketing & Sales • Business Development • Assertive • Detail-oriented

13. Real Life Product ManagementConflicting Interests • To R&D, Marketing people seem to be: • Superficial • Big spenders • Not the brightest stars in the Milky Way • To Marketing, R&D people seem to be: • Secretive • Stubborn • Insensitive to market requirements

14. Real Life Product ManagementTaking Both Sides • Gain the trust of R&D • Understand the technical issues deeply • Keep surprises as surprises • Investigate feature requests thoroughly • Gain the trust of Marketing & Sales • Provide frequent, accurate and updated status on all features • Go on sales calls personally with sales team • Be the main resource for marketing strategy, especially competitors’ products and features

15. Summary • Lifecycle Management • Define • Design • Develop • Test • Sell • Single Point of Contact • Authoritative voice • Everybody’s friend • Earns respect from all departments

16. Thank You