Last night I attended a baby shower for one of our neighbors, a lovely young couple who (like a few other newer residents to the cul-de-sac) are morphing the neighborhood from 'Newlywed and Nearly Dead' to a vibrant place filled with children.
This neighborhood's transformation made me think about Product Lifecycle. When a product is showing it's wear and tear as product managers we begin to think about ways to maximize our already sunk investment. Can we institute a price increase while decreasing our investment in promotions and advertising to increase our margins on a lagging product? What bells and whistles can we 'tack on' to extend the lifecycle or 'revitalize' without the massive investment to replace our product?
What we (product managers) do not think of is how to transform our products to another market or buyer, perhaps even to another purpose. Similar to my neighborhood in the suburbs of Atlanta. It's tree lined huge lots, mature houses (read dated '80's kitchens) and in a fabulous school district it's just waiting to be transformed into a family neighborhood. The most frequently sited example of a product 'makeover' is coffee. Starbucks transformed the cup of coffee from a .50 cent to go in a Styrofoam cup experience to an event. Starbucks does not sell coffee, they sell an environment. Just ask the Dunkin Doughnut drive through coffee fans they will tell you "I don't have time to sit around and drive coffee, that's why I go to Dunkin."
What about other examples - How about the Tide To Go stick? I have one in my desk drawer at work, what about you? Certainly many of us have converted to using Dishwasher 'nuggets' those pre-measured dishwasher inserts vs. boxed dish washing powders. In both instances, the repackaging results in purchasing less product for more money and in the case of the Tide To Go Stick the product is used for a different purpose.
While the focus of this blog is not to advertise my employer, I do feel compelled to mention ADP's RUN Mobile application. The mobile application allows small business owners to run payroll, track tax information and direct deposits via their mobile devices. While there is absolutely nothing new about processing payroll, the ease of use and the access via mobile device changes the buyer persona. We've heard testimonials from folks that pay their nanny via their phone each week and small business owners who say they'd never processed payroll before (offloading it to other more expensive services). Making it easier to consume your product can shift the buyer profile as evidenced by the 250,000 clients that have selected to use the RUN application.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Sitting in my kitchen on a rainy Sunday morning envisioning the strategic planning process for FY'14 already. Which begs the question - why now? Is it intrinsic to the Product Management position to be forever forward facing? Or is it simply the age old struggle of pre-planning due to a lack of current data?
To the second question, I share as I've shared with many of my fellow Product Managers that one of the struggles with the profession of product management is being a change agent of the future while living in your past. Depending upon the business you are in and development lifecycle that your product uses the product manager is typically wrapping up their road map 4-18 months ahead of a software release.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, daily issues abound with the current product- promotions, campaigns, maybe even a defect or two and certainly a host of user groups and call report sessions. Like the specter of the 'Ghost of Products Past' the versions walk in and out of our lives. But the profession demands that Product Managers keep pushing forward because when we stopping championing change and focus solely on the present the 'Ghost of Product Future' is there to bitch slap you. You will find your product being called dated (the equivalent of being told your baby is ugly), lacking innovation or 'behind'. So the profession demands that you keep championing change in your organization and that you help others in your organization envision the future that you are moving towards.
But why FY14, why now? It is very easy to retrieve a lot of data and present it on a slide. But translating Big Data from multiple source and tying them together to create a story takes time. Additionally, all too many product managers provide a strategic plan that only focuses on 'what we did', 'what the competitors did' and 'what we want to do'.
A strong plan should include anticipating where the competitors will go (this requires a deep understanding of the competitor's value chain), a harsh look at 'how did we perform' and an analysis that includes a deep product life cycle review across the entire product portfolio. The strategy should be built brick by brick according to the life cycle of each offering. Only after this deep analysis can you truly begin to develop an overall strategy at the company level for your plan.
To the second question, I share as I've shared with many of my fellow Product Managers that one of the struggles with the profession of product management is being a change agent of the future while living in your past. Depending upon the business you are in and development lifecycle that your product uses the product manager is typically wrapping up their road map 4-18 months ahead of a software release.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, daily issues abound with the current product- promotions, campaigns, maybe even a defect or two and certainly a host of user groups and call report sessions. Like the specter of the 'Ghost of Products Past' the versions walk in and out of our lives. But the profession demands that Product Managers keep pushing forward because when we stopping championing change and focus solely on the present the 'Ghost of Product Future' is there to bitch slap you. You will find your product being called dated (the equivalent of being told your baby is ugly), lacking innovation or 'behind'. So the profession demands that you keep championing change in your organization and that you help others in your organization envision the future that you are moving towards.
But why FY14, why now? It is very easy to retrieve a lot of data and present it on a slide. But translating Big Data from multiple source and tying them together to create a story takes time. Additionally, all too many product managers provide a strategic plan that only focuses on 'what we did', 'what the competitors did' and 'what we want to do'.
A strong plan should include anticipating where the competitors will go (this requires a deep understanding of the competitor's value chain), a harsh look at 'how did we perform' and an analysis that includes a deep product life cycle review across the entire product portfolio. The strategy should be built brick by brick according to the life cycle of each offering. Only after this deep analysis can you truly begin to develop an overall strategy at the company level for your plan.
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