1. Product Management for 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 Management Conflicting 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 Management Taking 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