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Will You Add? - High Tech Product Management
What is a testimonial?You've seen testimonials for every type of product and service imaginable. A testimonial is a brief quote from a member of your audience – donor, volunteer, client, member or community stakeholder – summarizing how your organization has benefited him or her.Nothing you can say or write has as much impact as comments from your audience, to your audience. Yet, I continue to be surprised at how many nonprofits don't put testimonials to work.Take a look at these examples, drawn from nonprofit websites and brochure:Volu
In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).
So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly
You’ve probably seen or heard the Geico and Wachovia commercials touting their high customer satisfaction rates. Geico says it has a 97% customer satisfaction rate. Wachovia says it has the highest customer satisfaction ranking in its industry. At first glance, you might think that’s pretty impressive. But, let’s take a closer look at what a satisfied customer really is and then decide if you should celebrate such an accomplishment. (Please note I do not have any personal vendettas against either Geico or Wachovia. I am not “picking on them.” They are just the first examples tha
Product Management is all over the map in High Tech. Most often it resides in the marketing department. Sometimes, it's in the engineering/product development department. Occasionally you will see it as it's own function. And again, what does the term mean in a High Tech company? Sometimes it is used interchangeably with the term "Product Marketing". In this case, it means responsibility from cradle to grave of the product planning and marketing functions for a particular product or product line. In other words, working with the developers to define the product (product planning), as well as driving the other "3Ps" for the product--setting pricing, distribution strategy and promotional strategy.
In larger companies you will often find this function separated into two distinct jobs: Product Management as the Product Planning portion, and Product Marketing as the function that manages the product once it is released into the market--driving pricing, promotion and distribution. In this case both functions may still reside in the marketing department, or the Product Planning portion is sometimes in the engineering department.
The last variance on this theme that is sometimes seen is that the Product Management resides in the engineering department, but it only vaguely resembles the traditional definition of the term. In this case it is "Product Planning", but the job and skill set more closely fit the definition of an engineering project manager, with very little weight put on exploring the market to match marketplace needs with engineering capabilities.
In High Tech, the Product Management function is most typically a "matrix" position: lots of responsibility for a product's success, with very little actual authority to ensure that success. Normally a Product Manager's success will be decided based upon his/her ability to convince other stakeholders in the organization that the path laid out is the best thing for the company (and the individual stakeholders as well!) People skills are therefore as important as having a technical grasp of the job in a Product Manager's ultimate success.
In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).
So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly t
The debate over how much of a companies large reserves of spending power should be spent with greedy, oafish design agencies rages on and is not about to be resolved in this trite article, however we can suggest some alternatives to the usual company logo ideas and perhaps for once bad could be the new good...or something.A company logo should make you stop and think... How many times have you heard your design manager or someone from the marketing/advertising department going on about the need for a clever logo or a design that 'thinks outside the box'? In marketing terms thi
In larger companies you will often find this function separated into two distinct jobs: Product Management as the Product Planning portion, and Product Marketing as the function that manages the product once it is released into the market--driving pricing, promotion and distribution. In this case both functions may still reside in the marketing department, or the Product Planning portion is sometimes in the engineering department.
The last variance on this theme that is sometimes seen is that the Product Management resides in the engineering department, but it only vaguely resembles the traditional definition of the term. In this case it is "Product Planning", but the job and skill set more closely fit the definition of an engineering project manager, with very little weight put on exploring the market to match marketplace needs with engineering capabilities.
In High Tech, the Product Management function is most typically a "matrix" position: lots of responsibility for a product's success, with very little actual authority to ensure that success. Normally a Product Manager's success will be decided based upon his/her ability to convince other stakeholders in the organization that the path laid out is the best thing for the company (and the individual stakeholders as well!) People skills are therefore as important as having a technical grasp of the job in a Product Manager's ultimate success.
In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).
So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly
There are various schools of thought on how to plan for a great career. Previously staying with one company from the start to end was known as the key to career development. In time of course, you were likely to climb the corporate ladder. At present, this attitude has changed. This does not imply that the old theory failed but people have had to make adaptations considering that your present day job may not even have existed a few years ago. When forming guidelines on how to plan for a great career, it is essential that you maintain a flexible attitude towards your job requirements.<
The last variance on this theme that is sometimes seen is that the Product Management resides in the engineering department, but it only vaguely resembles the traditional definition of the term. In this case it is "Product Planning", but the job and skill set more closely fit the definition of an engineering project manager, with very little weight put on exploring the market to match marketplace needs with engineering capabilities.
In High Tech, the Product Management function is most typically a "matrix" position: lots of responsibility for a product's success, with very little actual authority to ensure that success. Normally a Product Manager's success will be decided based upon his/her ability to convince other stakeholders in the organization that the path laid out is the best thing for the company (and the individual stakeholders as well!) People skills are therefore as important as having a technical grasp of the job in a Product Manager's ultimate success.
In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).
So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly
How many times have you announced a big strategy or organization change and just when you thought it was working it becomes obvious the change didn’t happen? When your idea for a new significant change in strategy is still fresh and new, you must work to gain your organization’s psychological momentum shift towards the idea. The organization hears your message from top to bottom and internalizes what the change means to them, how they might benefit from it, and what they might need to do to make it happen. You’ve got everyone in the company talking about it. Your top management team
In High Tech, the Product Management function is most typically a "matrix" position: lots of responsibility for a product's success, with very little actual authority to ensure that success. Normally a Product Manager's success will be decided based upon his/her ability to convince other stakeholders in the organization that the path laid out is the best thing for the company (and the individual stakeholders as well!) People skills are therefore as important as having a technical grasp of the job in a Product Manager's ultimate success.
In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).
So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly
In today’s high speed world where information moves at the speed of light across the country, electrician jobs go unfilled for lack of qualified, talented individuals. There are entire websites and head hunting personnel firms that specialize in finding qualified, educated electricians for large electrical contractors and government agencies. In addition, there are courses and programs that will help you to create an industry approved version of an electrician’s resume that will be accepted by small firms and large ones alike.Even apprentice electricians right out of school are in
In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).
So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly that most high tech businesses would benefit by structuring the Product Management function to be strong. Tthere is much to gain by putting a strong, experienced Marketer with a strong technical background in a Product Manager role where they are graded and compensated by the results of the P&L of their product line. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Product Development should report to the Product Manager in a High Tech company, but I would give them discretionary budgetary authority on at least a portion of the marketing budget for the product line. I would also make sure they have management backing to deal with the developers from at least an equal position of strength. This lack of product management strength is a huge problem in many High Tech companies, particularly those founded by product developers.
The Product Manager's mentality should be that of a "mini-CEO" with his product line analogous to the overall company for a real CEO. Too often in technology companies the Product Management/Marketing functions do not have the ability to stand up to Engineering. This leads to a culture of building what suits someone's fancy, not building what the market will buy--a very dangerous thing in the long term. A strong Product Management function will lead to an advocate for that product line whose sole business "purpose in life" is for his product to succeed. This outlook ensures that the big picture will always been looked out for, eliminating the potential for a product line's performance to be reduced by turf wars-- or sub-optimal tactical moves due to poor inter-department communication. The Product Manager is there to rationalize and orchestrate to ensure the product line has the best chance of success.
That's my take--what's yours?
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