3 Ways Product Management Can Improve Its Stock

by John Mansour |02.20.2009

If your product management team wants to take its reputation and value to the next level, here are three skills it can improve upon.

1. Leadership

Product Management is the one function in the company that should have the most well rounded perspective of the market dynamics, target customer needs and their collective relationship to your business.

Stronger leadership means taking the initiative to constantly socialize the market and business perspective to marketing, sales, services, engineering, finance, etc. to ensure it's at the foundation of everything you do as a company. It also makes life easier for product management if everyone has the same view of the world. If necessary, brush up on your presentation and sales skills.

2. Objectivity

Product Management is the one and only function that can be the conscience of the organization because everyone else gets paid to focus on a slice of the business such as sales, finance, customer support, technology, investor relations, etc. Product Management needs to be the voice of reason since many of its constituents are on the highly emotional front lines.

One of the best ways to keep objectivity at the forefront of emotional decisions is to use a single version of market data and business assumptions for every major initiative, and don't embark on anything that won't yield a minimum ROI. Continue to reinforce the value of the current plan as it relates to the objectives of the organization. It's a great way to keep everyone focused on the most important things.

3. Balance

Some people are great thinkers and others are great doers. Product managers need to be good at both, a key reason the great ones are so hard to find.

Product lifecycles have both planning and execution phases. Be more conscious about when to flip your switch from planning to execution mode. Great product management can be achieved by spending 20% of your time crafting and selling a well thought out plan and 80% executing it. As distractions occur, refer back to point #2 above.

If your product management team wants to increase its value to the organization, send them to Product Management University where they'll learn how simple it is to be well balanced and lead the organization with great objectivity.

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us at 866-797-3647 for a program that addresses your unique circumstances.

Comments(1)

Good post. Don't forget that PM's need to have the ability to communicate what they are doing in order to make sure that the rest of the organization knows what value they are bringing to the table...
- Dr. Jim Anderson

Dr. Jim Anderson, Comments, 02.24.2009

Last Updated ( 10.05.2009 )

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