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February 26th, 2010
Updates to BI Forum @ TechProdo
February 8th, 2010I put a link and some notes to the 2010 Q1 Forrester Wave on our BI forum for Data Mining here.
I also wanted to say something nice about 2 of my favorite BI niche players that keep hanging in there as they bypass the big software vendor acquisition trend in the marketplace. Here I throw kudos to KXEN and I already mentioned QlikTech here @ TechProdo.
The Perils of Microsoft Partnering
February 7th, 2010by Mark
One of the aspects of product management at Microsoft that I found most fascinating was the very large, successful and cooperative/competitive (coopetition) relationships with partners that Microsoft has.
On the large tier-1 scale, HP is one of Microsoft’s largest and most visible partners. No matter what size company you have, when you partner with Microsoft, it can lead you to a very lucrative business model, but be aware that MSFT will at any time compete with you head-to-head and it can get ugly.
When I was posting my latest entry for my BI PPM site at BeyeBlogs, I came across a posting from a product manager at Microsoft that I knew from working with the SQL Server & BI teams for whom I have a lot of respect, Donald Farmer. You may find this interesting because it is a good example of what I am referring to in that he finds himself complimenting yet differentiating Microsoft from this company, QlikTech.
I also found this interesting because I have been a big fan of QlickTech’s from my time as a database and BI architect with Agilent Technologies and then when I was at Microsoft. Plus, QlikTech’s US HQ is in my backyard in suburban Philly.
Which also makes me think that we should add more partnering content to TP in 2010 to help build dicussions and best practices around partner management and partnering techniques.
Anyone wish to comment on the partnering aspect of technology product management ??
Market Your Company on Twitter
January 18th, 2010Anne Smith
I have been spending much of my free time since the New Year helping promote an online store. This has led to hours of research on what vehicles to use, how to set-up the pages and most of all, how to interact with other Twitter users. One thing I did learn through the whole process, campaigns bring your marketing plan and your brand together. Therefore, before you even start the promotion process, write that marketing plan! With that said, I wanted to share a few tidbits I have learned along the way that may help when you take on the daunting task of promoting your company, product, service, etc. using this 140 character interaction tool.
Today, with so many ways to get your message across it can sometimes get confusing, which medium should I use to be the most effective? There are the traditional platforms – your website, collateral and print advertising. However, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr and others have become popular ways to brand a company or support a specific campaign. However, though these are great tools, you should always have a basic messaging platform that ensures you’re consistent in what you say (and legal has approved!). Twitter is the latest rage in corporate social-media strategies and can be a great promotional/campaign tool if done right!
OK, people out there say it’s not a strategy, but a tactic. This is no doubt true as it’s only part of the promotion plan. Nonetheless, if your company already has a strong online following, why not incorporate Twitter into the mix. You can increase traffic to your site while expanding your reach.
A key on Twitter, even though you may already have an online following, you will want to be engaging, interesting and human. When you set up the corporate account, complete your profile as this is an extension of your brand. Upload your corporate logo, use your company name (or an abbreviated version) and make the bio searchable. Customer backgrounds are a great brand identifier for your page. I suggest using your logo and your url.
Once your account is set-up, start following other Twitter users. These people may start to follow you back, and will see your tweets as you post them. Your customers may also start to follow you. Also, monitor what’s being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Join the conversation and become part of the community by tweeting ideas and comments. Twitter users will see your marketing messages as adding value to the community.
One thing to keep in mind when tweeting, do more than tweet headlines, offers, etc. Though this may be the reason you’re on Twitter – to promote your company, it is a two-way street. Twitter is a conversational tool so keep an eye on your tweets and any “Direct Messages” or when someone else retweets your post or includes your Twitter handle in a tweet. You should always respond in kind.
What To Tweet About
Links to your blog
Links to a Video/Webinar
Links to any useful information
Company Announcements – Press Releases, Product Announcements, etc.
Events Attending
Retweets to Build Relationships
Campaigns
Answer Questions About Product/Services/Company
Ask Questions
TechProdo Blogspot Week in Review: Sept 19 2009
September 19th, 20092 series were concluded this week: Agile Product Management and UI Metrics. The marketing plan series was completed with follow-ups in our Forum and there was some additional discussion around SaaS product management.
In the world of BI, Mark added a blog posting about Pareto charts for PPM at Beye Blog and we had continuing conversations about the on-going BI market conslidation in our Forum.
In the news, Deutsche Telekom is rumored to again have interest in U.S.-based Sprint Nextel, next week we’ll hear from the FCC on Net Neutrality and Oracle Q1 results fall in line with the other largest U.S. technology firms holding steady through the recession.
The Case for ROI
June 13th, 2009Let me get this out of the way up-front: I am a big fan of 3 distinct areas that, in my experience, drive top-notch decision making and quality results in product management: thoroughly researched business case, manage and monitor the complete product lifecycle and ROI. I have many robust debates about ROI with my peers about ROI. It is ineffective, it can seem bogus or why do I even need to bother?
I think sometimes that I fall into the category of overly analyzing alternatives or not putting enough stock into intuition. But having worked with and for both large international companies as well as small shops, I have detected a pattern: guessing is hit-and-miss and business cases with ROI are much more predictable.
Duh, right? Well, let me start by recommending that you go back to our home page http://www.techprodo.com and watch my brief into the ROI workbook that I use and posted on our Marketplace link. ROI is not that difficult. And even if you do not agree with the numbers used to derive either the value or the costs, we can at least agree that it is a good beginning for a quantitative approach to decision making.
And this is important because you act like a product manager that is now adding value beyond having a good sense for what the market wants or needs. You are now having defined ROI that can be used within a solid business case. And since we are not talking about public or customer facing ROI sheets, you can negotiate a calculation to use. Work with your financial analysts and decision makers and agree to a standard ROI metric. Then stick with it and use it on every project from DAY ONE.
This way, even though other anlaysts would love to shoot holes in your ROI calculations, you are at least now comparing apples to apples and can look at history and trends because you have stuck to a single ROI approach. And you will start to make better decisions about projects & products on a more consistent basis. I almost guarantee that!
Protecting Against the Disruptions
May 27th, 2009When you are responsible for looking after and GTM responsibilities for an established product line, it is imparitive that you, as a product manager, protect your flank against the small, nimble firms that can produce catchy niche products to begin taking away your market share.
All I wish to do here is to introduce you to the concept of protecting your products against disruptive technologies and for a full rich treatment on the topic, I recommend Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma. Some of the stories in the edition I have are a bit dated, but it does a very good job of using examples in different industries of how well-run companies and product lines fell victim to loss of series market share due to disruptive technologies.
While books like The Innovator’s Dilemma focus on a common theme in building products that meet niche markets, I want to focus your attention on keeping up with competitors and trends.
Do not fall into the pattern of feeling safe & secure with your current established product and customer base. You can fall into the pattern of circularly refocusing all resources and attention on your existing customer base while ignoring growing markets, emerging technologies and lower-margin customers.
Keep up by visiting trade shows, reading trade magazines, product webinars, etc. And use the business case cost/benefit analysis technique to demonstrate that way may seem like low-margin customers with a new product and new target customer at first, will result in continued growth later once you’ve successfully countered the disruptive competition’s technologies.
How to uncover what OTHER people need
May 4th, 2009We all have a pretty good idea of what our own individual wants & needs are. But a good product manager is in the business of finding out what OTHER people’s wants & needs are. Let’s stick with business software solutions for a moment (surprise, surprise).
I will put up a short intro webcast today on Techprodo talking about how to get to the requirements authoring point in the process of new product development. I already uploaded last week, the intro to using an Excel spreadsheet to enter, manage and maintain a requirements list.
For a starting point, think of it this way: You are required to generate a categorized, prioritized wish list from your customers.
Hey, in that overly-simplified generalization, it seems like requirements analysis can clearly add value to the process and you are on your way to building a valuable product.
But what happens more often than not is that something goes heywire in the process. Sometimes a product manager’s bias can come into play and unduly influence the requirements gathering or analysis. Internal politics come into play during the requirements gathering interviews or in the prioritization phase. Or the product manager has asked the wrong questions.
Now, granted, different organizations handle this processes differently. Sometimes a system or business analyst will perform the interviews and questions and gather the requirements.
But there are 2 key takeways from this post that I want to leave you with:
1. It should be the product manager’s responsibility on the intake side of product developement, to ensure that there is a proper MIX and control of the process to the point in which you are either completely removing negative influencers in requirements engineering, or that you have watered it down by also adding to the mix other requirements sources such as analysts and competitive analysis. YOU, the PM, should do this.
2. Make sure that the right questions are asked. If you are not the actual interviewer, make sure that you have influence or final sign-off on the questions being asked. Make sure there are no improper assumptions being made about the desired customer process, tools or legacy.
Take Advantage of Best Practices during NPD
April 13th, 2009My expertise is in computer software engineering, not industrial manufacturing where many of the advances and studies around new product development and process cycle improvements can be found (i.e. Lean Six Sigma). But here’s a quick set of notes that I would like to make based on my experiences in developing new software products and my experiences from working with customers that use our software in the manufacturing process and supply chain.
Utilizing industry best practices has been proven as the most effective way to quickly add quality, value and shortened cycle times in new product development. What I call the “macro” practices of PMI’s project management certifications and engineering best practices from IEEE and CMM (Carnegie Mellon) cut across not just software and IT but also high tech manufacturing.
Specifics to IT (ALM, ITIL), retail inventory management, telecommunications services, manufacturing need to fully understand by product managers. Understanding the best way to gather, analyze and track requirements is only part of the job.
Unless you have the strength, power and size of an Ivy League research team at your disposal, you are best off studying and utilizing these techniques from proven best practices to ensure quality and structure is followed in your new product development.
Process and Methodologies for New Product Development
March 12th, 2009Sure, I am biased because this is my current focus on my day job. But I thought I would just take a moment to touch on a few good processes that are evolving and becoming helpful from the perspective of a product manager who is involved integrally in new product development.
In IT, the current ITIL v3 outlines good structures particularly from an internal IT perspective. In this case, a product manager that works on services or software that are produced for internal usage or perhaps as a part of an outsourced IT group or consultant, should take a look at the IT Service Management and IT Portfolio Management specifications. In nearly every organizational case, portfolio management can be useful as a way to bring business case methodologies into play in order to have order & process involved in selecting and prioritizing products & projects. In other words, analyze in terms of strategy, costs, benefit and resources available before investing in a product or project.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a practice that mimics much of the standard SDLC processes but is evolving to be a bit more broad. And with the buy-in from organizations such as Eclipse, ALM can become a key factor in helping us as product managers to serve to put the goals and requirements from the business closer to the focus of the development teams. Better align with business from development, for me anyway, is a constant struggle and an undeniable requirement for success.
