Answer: The most common notion among many companies for a product to be designated as a “Commercial Failure” means that the company acknowledges two years after launch that there is no chance to recoup the entire investment made so far in the . . . → Read More: Measuring Product Success or Failure]]>

Question: “How can we measure the success or failure of a product?”

Answer: The most common notion among many companies for a product to be designated as a “Commercial Failure” means that the company acknowledges two years after launch that there is no chance to recoup the entire investment made so far in the product (including all the development costs). Product termination usually follows and in this situation the company had clearly lost money on the product.

In terms of deciding if a product was a success or failure, the market usually categorizes Product Success Indexes into four groups:

1. Financial – revenue, profitability …
2. Marketing – sales velocity, market share …
3. Product Level – on time-quality-budget …
4. Customers – satisfaction, awareness, image …

All product success indexes are subjective and there are no objective criteria to measure the magnitude of a product’s success or failure.

Answer: Indeed a lot in product management represents common sense . . . → Read More: Benefit of Using MRD]]>

Question: “Quite frankly, so called product management is really all about having some good old fashioned common sense.  For example, why do we need an MRD if with Agile we can just build the product as we go and suffice with a Product Backlog?”

Answer: Indeed a lot in product management represents common sense thinking. However, common sense alone is insufficient to generate results and promote efficiency. Required is a professional product management methodology that is comprised of extremely well-ordered and well-disciplined processes, accurate role descriptions and detailed task templates/checklists.

Agile is a product development method and it is not a technique for doing market research or planning products. The Market Requirements Document (MRD) is based on prior and continuous market research and therefore it encapsulates established market knowledge and represents a true understanding of customers and their needs.

Developing a product without an MRD will result in “Research-oriented Development”, a situation where product development begins while there are incomplete, ambiguous or missing market requirements.  This forces further learning of the market and cause occasional readjustments to the product’s feature set while the product is being developed as more market knowledge is gained.

Although possible to reach the same product feature set with or without an MRD, it is the general opinion that with an MRD the effort required and the time duration needed to deliver a product are less than those without an MRD. This builds the notion that money can be saved when using an MRD as opposed to not using an MRD. Please see the Benefit of Using MRD graphic.

Blackblot Benefit of Using MRD

Answer: These questions require elaboration on several issues.

What is a methodology? A methodology is a set of well-documented (and time-tested) principles and methods which govern a particular discipline or body of knowledge. The methodology, with . . . → Read More: The Importance of Having a Product Management Methodology]]>

Question: “Why is it important to have a product management methodology? How can you identify a sound methodology?”

Answer: These questions require elaboration on several issues.

What is a methodology?
A methodology is a set of well-documented (and time-tested) principles and methods which govern a particular discipline or body of knowledge. The methodology, with its principles and methods, is an unambiguous guide to applying the discipline to some benefit.

With all endeavors and particularly when dealing with complex projects of any kind, a methodology is critical to help achieve the desired results and eliminate any trial and error experimentation.

A methodology with its tenets and orderly steps creates a repeatable doctrine with reproducible results, and lends itself to be evaluated and analyzed in order to implement corrective action that will improve the end result, such as time reduction, cost reduction, or improved quality.

 
How can you identify a sound methodology?
A sound methodology which embodies a solid conceptual foundation must possess the characteristics of being consistent, holistic, and practical.

Consistency in a methodology is achieved when the relation between the various propositions in the methodology are all true at the same time. A methodology is consistent when all of its internal components (particularly models) do not contradict each other. An inconsistent methodology is unusable.

Holism in a methodology is achieved when the methodology wholly views and presents the entire discipline as a unified entity and also conjointly details all the internal components within the discipline. A methodology is holistic (complete) when all its tenets exist and when it fully describes all the internal components within the discipline. When a methodology is not holistic (incomplete) it cannot be used effectively.

Practicality in a methodology is achieved when the methodology explicitly depicts all the pragmatic aspects of all the components within the discipline. A methodology is practical when it definitively explains and describes the actual activities that are necessary to obtain the desired results. An impractical methodology lacks or partially describes the functional actions required to obtain results, and is therefore realistically unemployable.

 
Why is it important to have a product management methodology?
Applying a solid product management methodology that translates into standardized processes can greatly increase the probability of product success and profitability. While there is no way to prove a direct correlation between a methodology and financial rewards, it is understood that a solid methodology helps reduce the risk of failure at all levels and increase the chances of success. Ultimately, a methodology is about following the definitive steps that foster efficiency, focus, and success.

Empirically, not all successful products have had great product management behind them but it is clear that many product failures have had poor or no guidance from product management. Therefore, combining a definitive product management methodology with disciplined technology development practices is the key to commercial success, especially in the world of high-tech.

Product management is comprised of many activities that profoundly impact a product’s chance for success. In order to succeed, a company must execute all fundamental tasks and follow all key processes in its product management methodology. That demands a well-defined, well-documented product management methodology that is realistically capable of effectively embracing the complete product management body of knowledge (tasks, processes, deliverables, and roles). Having a product management methodology and following it will help companies to better compete in today’s competitive markets.

 
Blackblot’s Product Manager’s Toolkit^® (PMTK) product management methodology provides a consistent and holistic approach to product management at both the macro and micro level. This means that the Blackblot PMTK methodology explains the underlying fundamental concepts of product management and also presents the details of how to practically apply the methodology in business.

Answer: The term “programmatic” has a dual meaning of . . . → Read More: Programmatic Tools for Product Management]]>

Question: “You had mentioned that there are no real programmatic tools presently available on the market for product management. You also said that this has resulted in a situation where the best tool for product management currently available is MS-Office. Please elaborate on this topic.”

Answer: The term “programmatic” has a dual meaning of being programmed (such as a software application) but also as having a plan (methodology).

Most of the software tools currently available for “managing products” are not for product management (problem space) but for product development (solution space). All the popular Agile tools, technical requirements and project management for product development tools are really designed for engineers, not for product planners nor for product marketers.

Some of the requirements management applications currently available are essentially a database with an API and scripting language that allow you to create your own processes and screens and reports, but these tools do not offer a product management methodology “out of the box”. You have to build everything by yourself. Some tools offer a very specific and narrow capability such as feature prioritization or roadmap management.

The whole situation is akin to “People wish to learn how to write letters while the vendors wish to sell Word processor licenses”… Product planners are seeking an application with a methodology to write a Market Requirements Document (MRD) while the application vendors wish to sell seats/licenses. It’s just a gap in objectives.

With regard to relevant features in a product management tool for product planners, the application must embody a methodology that is based on best practices yet be configurable and customizable enough to allow for internal company variances in doing product management. At its core, the application for a product planner must provide for a way to create an MRD with all the necessary supporting elements such as use cases. It would be highly desirable if the application would bridge the problem space and the solution space and provide the capability (along with traceability) for creating PRDs, roadmaps and go even further down to allow creating the product’s technical specifications.

As a result of this situation where no real programmatic tools are presently available on the market for product management, most product planners create the MRD as a textual document and the most common way of doing so is with MS-Office tools, as many product managers are familiar with Microsoft Word or Excel. While word processors are good at producing textual documents, they have deficiencies that significantly decrease their ability to provide a suitable platform for creating market requirements. Word processors and spreadsheets are not good at querying information, sorting and baselining data, maintaining relationships between statements, and linking information internally and across documents. They are however inexpensive and easy to learn and use.

An application for product marketing would be a different matter and an application that would allow for synchronizing product planning with product marketing is still far away.