Product Management Tidbits

Software Product Management Survey

The 280 Group, a leading product management consultancy based in California and Quantum Whisper have joined forces to conduct a product management survey.

The goal of the survey is to learn more about ACTUAL product management practices in the field. Responses will provide meaningful insight into today's high-tech product management environment. We are also looking to evaluate market maturity and establish comparative benchmarks.

If you are a product manager, or know someone who is, it would be appreciated if you could complete the survey (http://tinyurl.com/quantumwhisper). The survey should take you LESS THAN 10 MINUTES to complete. All responses are confidential.

What's in it for you?

Following the survey, the 280 Group will publish a report complete with analysis. The result will allow you to compare your product management practices with those of the broader market. The survey will close July 5th and the report will be released before July 31st.

Additionally, participants will be eligible to win one of several prizes:

• Grand Prize: 280 Group's PM Office Pro ($400 value). Includes over 150 templates and five self-paced training modules for product management and product marketing tasks. Details at http://tinyurl.com/2r5yyf.
• Three copies of the ebook version of Expert Product Management. Details at http://tinyurl.com/n4e665.
• Four Amazon.com gift certificates ($50/each).

Thank you in advance for making this survey a success. We appreciate your participation!

SaaS and the Evolving Role of Product Management

In our earlier post we suggested that many traditional product management responsibilities have either been de-emphasized, dropped or have evolved with the ongoing software industry trend or shift to SaaS. I recently attended a seminar where the question was asked, "Do SaaS companies still need a Product Manager". Dumb founded by what I thought was a rhetorical question, I was surprised by the ensuing discussion and debate.

Behind this question is the notion that under SaaS, product management is somehow less important and potentially even disposable.  While I agree many of the traditional product management responsibilities (e.g., developing and managing a product lifecycle policy or NRE requests) are threatened with SaaS, to infer that product management in no longer necessary --- is absolutely absurd.  With the advent of SaaS the product management role remains largely untouched; it does however impact the activities and scope of responsibility. While some traditional product management responsibilities may disappear, others are introduced or more emphasized. The most significant of which is the expanded responsibility of managing the entire "service" or user experience. In many ways this is akin to a familiar concept for product managers ---managing the "whole" solution. Examples include:

• Providing enough self-serve information on-line to support a low-touch (cost) sales cycle
• Managing a X-day free trial (and all of its intricacies)
• Product configuration or packaging to support a "land and expand" sales strategy
• Capitalizing on usage data to drive development, innovation and profitability
• Squeezing costs (product/service BOM) to support low subscription pricing

Regardless of whether solutions are delivered on-premise or hosted, the role of product management remains the same. The responsibility of product managers is to identify market problems and understand or quantify customer "pain" and its pervasiveness. Armed with this information product managers, designers and engineering can conceive, develop, price and deliver solutions that customers' value and are willing to buy. Why? Because it addresses a market problem customers are willing to pay "money" to solve. Bottom line, as long as there are problems to solve and people or companies willing to pay for solutions to those problems --- there will always be a need for product managers.

SaaS Impact on Product Management

Software-as-a-Service is having a profound impact on the software industry. The entire ecosystem ---ISVs, system integrators and resellers are forced to adapt. While the popularity of SaaS in the board room continues, many companies are struggling to adapt. Although everyone is familiar with the business model and its impact on revenue and cash flow, considerably less information is available addressing how SaaS impacts the entire company, and specifically the roles that make-up a typical software  company. For starters, let's consider how the role of Product Managers has evolved. Consider the following:

• What's the value of a lifecycle policy under SaaS?
• Statements of Direction --- are they still necessary?
• MRDs and PRDs - old school?
• Distribution or resellers - do they still exist and can anyone make money?
• NRE or custom development - no longer necessary :)
• What about fulfillment? No more CDs to ship!
• Proposals and contracts --- aren't they all built in to the product or on-line?
• Are ROIs equally important? Less risk and out-of-pocket --- what's to worry about?
• Demos - still important or are they being replaced by FREE trials?
• Collateral or on line webinars and ebooks?

I'm sure there are many more. What's your experience? In our next post we'll focus on the new responsibilities that SaaS introduces to Product Managers.