Comments on: Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 3)

By: Happy (belated) birthday to us (again)! | On Product Management

Happy (belated) birthday to us (again)! | On Product Management — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:31:23 +0000

[...] Manager vs. Product Management Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [...]

By: Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 5) « On Product Management

Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 5) « On Product Management — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:49:59 +0000

[...] Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 3) | On Product Management // June 5, 2010 at 10:25 pm [...]

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:27:38 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. Project management should report directly to senior management. In many cases, the project is managed by an outsource company who are experts in managing and creating the awesome results. Decisions that the project manager has to make are that of senior management feedback and the PM should not have to go through channels in order to get the proper information. This could seriously delay a project!

By: Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 1) « On Product Management

Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 1) « On Product Management — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:26:38 +0000

[...] Articles Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 2) Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 3) Product Manager vs. Product Management (part [...]

By: Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 4) « On Product Management

Product Manager vs. Product Management (part 4) « On Product Management — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:21:21 +0000

[...] I received a number of requests for the “20 page document” mentioned in the part 3 of this series that defines the activities in the Product Management Deliverables grid. (see [...]

By: Charlie Wicks

Charlie Wicks — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:32:17 +0000

Please send me the 20 page supporting documentation supporting your PM chart.

Thanks,

Charlie Wicks

By: saeed

saeed — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:28:17 +0000

Jon,

Thanks for the comment.

One point of clarification. The Sustaining column (probably could be better titled Ongoing) lists some activities that occur on a regular basis throughout the development cycle. The diagram didn’t make that clear. Thus Competitive assessments, for example, don’t just happen at the end after GA, but are part of an ongoing process.

I may be a bit hardcore on the org structure. I’ve worked in companies where PM was part of Marketing, part of Development as well as it’s own separate function. And while it CAN work while part of other orgs, it will work BEST when it is run as a separate entity, with an experienced VP level executive overseeing it. If PM is truly a strategic function critical to a company’s success (as is ofter heard said), why wouldn’t it be treated that way?

As for “orthogonal” — I’m glad you appreciated it’s use. It’s an old habit from my days as a physics undergrad.

Saeed

By: Jon Gatrell

Jon Gatrell — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:59:29 +0000

I’m not sure I would wait until the end of the process for competitive intelligence. I think competitive understanding and work is a first step in validating a market. I agree on the pragmatic model being a little too abstract, but I think effective product managers have to be both a little bit product marketers and alot of product management.

While I think your organizational assessment is a little too rigid, I in principle agree that a seat at the executive table is needed, but it can work in marketing.

Related: Product Management Org/Execution – http://spatiallyrelevant.org/2007/08/26/crossfunctional-product-management-preso/

Thanks for the article and thanks for using orthogonal – I love it when folks can use that.

By: saeed

saeed — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:47:00 +0000

Melissa,

I can forward a version of the document to you, but please send your email to us at “info at eigenpartners dot com”

Also, if you are new, please take a look at the series of articles I wrote on how to be a GREAT product manager. There are six articles and one wrap up article — the first on the page — that links them together.

http://onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/category/other/great-pm/

Saeed

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:43:04 +0000

Hi Saeed, your articles are very interesting and helpful. You mentioned above that you have a 20 page document to back up your product management deliverables diagram. I’m very interested to see this document. Could you send it to me or send me a link to it? I’m new to the profession and could use all the help I can get. Thanks!