The Productologist

I was at a SVPMA meeting last month where the presenter, Barbara Nelson from Pragmatic Marketing, was giving a talk about the “Politics of Agile” and during the course of the discussion, she brought up examples of products that she had managed in the past. What I noticed was that when Barbara talked about the products, she always referred to them as “her” products. That’s what I like–making the product personal.

As Product Managers, we spend a lot of time working with other groups—Prospects, Customers, Sales, Support, Engineering, Marketing, etc–to get our products up and running and out the door. Managing that diverse universe of contacts is an integral and frequently taxing function of the Product Manager’s role. But there is another group that many Product Managers that I know neglect to include in their universe of contacts: other Product Managers.

Popularity: 58% [?]

Ever bought something expensive that you really wanted on sale at a massive discount? Or walked out of car dealership with a new (or used…er, previously-owned) car that you got for WAY below the asking price? That feeling is what drives sales people (of course, they tend to be on the other side of the equation, but the feeling is the same). Today, I got that feeling.

I didn’t get a new car or something expensive that I had been pining for. What I got was a discount on OEM hardware. Well, the truth is that I didn’t just get the discount…I negotiated it.

One of my goals for this year is to establish Product Councils for my products. Product Councils, or Product Advisory Boards, as they are sometimes called, are made up of people who are familiar with your product and/or the market. In most cases, they are external, meaning that the members are customers or industry experts who can provide strategic guidance or provide feedback on tactical implementations, but they can also be made up of, wholly or in part, internal members.

I plan to have two; one made up of internal team members and one made up of customers. Both are necessary to help me grow the product to meet the needs of the market.

At my company, it’s annual review time, which means that I get to spend quality time writing about what I have accomplished over the past 12 months and how it relates to my role as Product Manager. Now, as an individual contributor, I like the annual review process (I’ve been on the management side, too, and that’s not as much fun). It gives me an opportunity to reflect on how far my product has come from a year ago, identify areas for growth and lets me campaign for a salary increase. But in a role like Product Manager, what are the best ways to evaluate success?