Rethinking Product Management at Technology Companies
Introduction
Is Old School the Right School?
Endless explanations on trending buzzwords (MVP, PLG, Product-market Fit, etc.)
Endless debates on software development methods (Agile, Scrum, SAFe, etc.)
Product management has been drawn into these endless deliberations and consequently marginalized and blurred.
The meaning of product management has been lost for many.
Is old school the right school? Maybe.
For sure, modern technology companies must rethink the importance and implementation of product management.
The State of Things
The world has changed.
The world is now interconnected, rife with unlimited data and information, customers are more sophisticated, and competition is fierce.
Nowadays, customers demand top-quality products delivered faster and with excellent customer service.
Many companies find it challenging to serve the rapidly changing new markets where speculation can become fatal to any company’s existence.
The company’s products are speculation without true product management activities to connect market needs with solutions.
Rethink Product Management
Product management is the starting point and arguably the most critical component of product delivery.
Whether officially or unofficially, product management activities are always present and applied at a company from its outset.
However, for mainly traditional reasons, technology companies focus on leveraging technology, building products, generating sales, and debating product development methods.
At many technology companies, market-driven product management, anchored in developing market expertise and the highest possible understanding of the market, customers, and their needs, is partially performed by employees who are not product managers and whose primary focus is some other activity.
The unrelenting demands of modern markets require companies to readjust and rethink the importance and implementation of product management.
The Right Path
To compete in modern markets and develop the required corporate flexibility to respond rapidly to changing market demands, a company needs to build a sustainable product management organization, progressively elevating product management’s and product marketing’s maturity levels.
The company needs to help product managers and marketers gradually increase their competency levels and become dedicated professionals.
These product-oriented market and marketing experts build critical knowledge expertise that the company can positively leverage to increase their products’ chances of marketplace success.
A side benefit of this move will help product managers fulfill their career potential and attain deserved recognition.
Now more than ever, it is imperative for technology companies to readjust the corporate mindset, recalibrate their perspectives and rethink product management.
The importance of the product management discipline to a company’s marketplace success cannot be overrated.