CONTEXTUAL WAYFINDER

Arcturus7 |PMM, is a compendium of high-quality Product Management content and resources, complemented with a collective of 'Interactive Business Models', 'Pro-Desk Pads', 'Wall Charts' and 'Workshop Stationery' available from the Arcturus7 |Hub.

You have access to an unrivalled 'Product Management' framework which is eminently flexible and scalable to align with virtually any application - effectively making this innovative PM framework 'future proof'.

This 'World-Class' body of knowledge represents a unique compendium of processes and activities culminated from over 25 years of professional 'first hand' practical experience within management training and consultancy domain. Integrated support activities (including 'on-demand' 1-1 support) is available at your disposal.  You can also reserve meetings, book training seminars and request consultancy support all from within the online facilities.

In summary, the Arcturus7 website provides a unique and powerful compendium of tools and strategic processes ensuring your company delivers a continuous stream of realisable benefits to your Customers. As we all know, ...following method and structure ultimately means you are both more efficient and effective, leading to a culture of repeatable success.

Product Management processes and activities must work in harmony with the organisation to deliver strategic intent efficiently and effectively - in other words they must be right for your business - operations and activities must add value.

Business planning and process constraints should, therefore, be understood/acknowledged throughout. Particular attention should be given as to how your business objectives / strategies are cascaded into the organisation and the use of multidisciplinary teams to get things done, this is often a weak area in many companies and have a detrimental effect on its outcomes. Changing the 'culture' of a steadfast business steeped in tradition should, however, not be underestimated, it will take careful rational to alter its course for the better.

The PMM core concepts are generic in its form, they can be deployed in part or as a process ethos entity into virtually any business environment, but we must understand 'Where are we now' (the initial start-point) and 'What do we want to achieve' (what are your expectations).

Please Note: If you would like to dip in and out of the tools and processes on an ad-hoc basis, that’s fine, you can do just that; however, expectations regarding the outcomes must be aligned accordingly.  Likewise, the rigour and time spent on individual elements /subject areas are directly related to the level of business risk you are willing to accept going forward. That is to say, little or no planning = high risk, meticulous planning = risk averse. ...so you must decide the level of planning activity that is right for your business.

The following chart indicates different operational structures Vs a Company’s size with various attributions that, in turn affect the outcomes of the introduction of a 'Product Management' bias. We can however say with confidence that the PMM methodology is most suitable for deployment in any structure as described.

In many organisations, the role of 'Product Management' is misguided and misunderstood (not that anyone openly admits to this fact) and individuals working within the role often work in a rather 'ad-hoc' fashion - as a 'management discipline' it is often misaligned within the operational environment with unclear terms of reference.  Inevitably this leads to those individuals concerned getting sidetracked by functional areas and ending up not as 'strategic thinkers' but 'tactical' co-ordinators of various events within the business - sadly this situation is not uncommon.

The above is further compounded by 'Agile Development' and 'Stage-Gate Development', processes which put their own spin and expectations as to what the Product Management role is and is not. The recent creation of Agile 'Product Managers' and 'Product Owners' is evidence of this.

Product Management alignment within the Development activity/process has undoubtedly had a positive effect on the effectiveness of new product development activities, which is good, but in reality, what has been created is a completely different role to the one we have traditionally known for decades. So perhaps this new role should have been given a completely different title? In truth, it is confusing and unhelpful and the traditional 'Product Manager' is now suffering from what appears to be an identity crisis.

Reminder: The role and purpose of Product Management (...Product Manager, Market Dev.Manager and Strategic Director) is to strategically manage functional 'Abilities and Core Competencies' via strong multidisciplinary teams to deliver Product(s)/Services to the target market in alignment with Strategic Intent (...a collective of focused business objectives).

It's also not uncommon to hear that the 'Product Manager' has been told that they are the 'CEO' of their Product, ...in practice  however, this vision is simply impossible to achieve, unless of course, you are the equivalent of Steve Jobs from Apple,  so there's a good chance you are probably not! The main reason for this is that in practice you do not have any direct reports and to get most things done, it's by judicious helpings of influence and persuasion, or indeed by yourself!

Furthermore, it's often stated that the 'Product Manager' is required to own/manage the Product from 'Conception to Grave' and be seen as the Product Champion, writing Business Plans, Controlling and delivering the Product Marketing Strategy. This scenario does, in fact, work if you are managing a single product which is directed at a few key target markets (this is an option within the PMM Frameworks).

In the above scenario, problems materialise when both the Product Portfolio and Target Markets (...Geo-demographics) increases. At this point, interdependencies increase by square law and the ability to manage everything using the initial framework becomes unmanageable and it becomes virtually impossible to deliver the agreed objectives (Strategic Intent). In this example, the role of Market Development activity initially managed by the Product Manager becomes unmanageable and is typically ambushed by 'Sales Management' (with the best intention of course) who adopt their own strategies as to how, where and when the product is taken to market. Unfortunately, at this point, the Product Strategy turns Tactical and rapidly becomes 'short term' ...which is jam today!  This often leads to a constant stream of requests to 'add' features to the product in question, on the promise of additional short term sales! - this is a jobbing shop approach and can have a questionable outcome. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, this situation can deteriorate further and faster if Sales Management is paid a commission and perhaps even worse if Sales Management is awarded a full-time seat at board level - which is not uncommon.

The importance of the  Sales Management activity, however, should indeed not be undermined or dismissed. Without a doubt, Sales Management is a highly respected and essential management function and deserves a critical success factor status. Furthermore, we must remind ourselves that ...nothing happens in business until you sell something!  However, this knotty interrelationship issue remains prominent in many businesses and is directly responsible for 'inefficient' product management activities, leading to strategic misalignment against the original business strategy.

We, therefore, need to be mindful of how each Functional area of the business plays its part in delivering 'the right product at the right time', even more so when there is a large product portfolio in the mix. Central to this activity is Product Management who are directly responsible for driving organisational strategy throughout the business. So if the role/discipline of Product Management is poorly executed or not at all, functional areas across the business, will by default dictate an unplanned commercial outcome.

Given the above scenarios, Product Management, if left to the Functional departments to execute will almost certainly, over some time descends into short term tactical activities throughout the organisation, together with a string of negative consequences. This route usually involves significant fire-fighting activities, which adds undue levels of stress to all concerned. The importance of the Product Management activity is, therefore, key to the success of any Product / Portfolio of Products and should be strategically planned within an agile, continuous improvement environment, as described herein.

As a crucial recognised discipline, the Product Management activity is at its best whilst operating within a structure of strong multi-disciplinary teams, made up of the timely involvement of each Functional areas of the business (represented by functional TouchPoints). Functional areas are responsible and accountable for delivering strategic objectives against defined and agreed Strategic Intent (defined by the business). Essentially this delivers a cascade of specific objectives and strategies throughout the business, this ultimately means that everyone within the organisation who 'touches' the Product / Service needs to deliver against expectations, measured against defined critical success factors and managed accordingly.

In conclusion, ...and for any business/organisation with dysfunctional or suboptimal Product Management activities, this is the ideal opportunity to give some serious consideration to the deploying a robust, well thought through Product Management framework - the results are extremely compelling and will be worth the effort.

The secret of best practice Product Management lies in a robust planning structure. The principles of the PM methodology ensure that any product/project falls into one of Six (Innovation, Conceptual, Development, Product Release, Active LifeCycle and withdrawal) time related phases and enables a common set of process deliverables to be defined.

PMM 'frameworks' have also been developed from first principles and feature an open architectural footprint - future proof. This means you able to robustly manage a portfolio of Products / Services across individual 'life-cycles' in the knowledge that it is structurally sound and flexible enough to be rolled out across 'any' business unit. Obviously there is no such thing as a 'generic business', they come in all shapes and sizes with their own unique quirks and idiosyncrasies. As such this must be to be taken into account when deploying any management processes - it has to be right for the organisation concerned - a management process that is an incorrect fit or goes against the culture will be badly received and soon fall into disrepute. Senior management must therefore believe in the system / process with a passion and results will undoubtedly flow thereafter.

Product Management activities lie at the heart of the (Product) LifeCycle process. As the name suggests a ‘LifeCycle’ is a time related series of events managed in accordance with the requirements of an actioned strategy. Timing also plays a big part in this rationale.  The ‘ethos’ of managing the Product LifeCycle is well understood (…in theory) however in practice it becomes somewhat nebulous as there are many variables to be taken into account which are not entirely under our immediate control.

There are effectively two LifeCycles that must be managed. The first of which is the Product Management LifeCycle which is an internal management activity and comprises of six phases:

As you can see from the diagram below, the Innovation Phase completely surrounds the other 5 phases of Product Management and is by definition a perpetual activity - it should definitely not be seen as a 2 week 'think and sprint' prior to a new product development project. Strategically, the role of Product Management is to manage the Product across it's entire Product LifeCycle with the objective of maintaining its product position within the target market. Depending upon the market itself, this will inevitably require enhancements and tweaks that ensures it remains competitive as long as possible against competing offers.

The second LifeCycle, which is interrelated with the first, is a Product LifeCycle from a market perspective. There are five specific phases to this LifeCycle; Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline.  Each of the phases mentioned are directly related to a time frame which, in turn, is linked to many variables (internal and external).

A product LifeCycle is fundamentally the 'cause & effect' of Strategy, as such, it requires constant observation and adjustment to ensure viability and commercial results tracks with expectations.  It should be noted however, that if a product is released and left to its own devices (not managed as such), it will still have a life cycle  - but it equally it may never reach your commercial expectations.

Product Management is a key 'strategic' activity in any business unit - Implement it correctly, Practice it, Master it and the results will follow. For all those involved in this important discipline / process, the responsibility of making clear decisions from pragmatic rationale is a prerequisite in this continuous / perpetual activity.

This unique collective of Best Practice 'tools and processes' complemented with workshop material and software modelling will ensure quality decisions are made in a robust and timely way.

As a business strategist you should demonstrate pragmatism and clarity in everything you do. Rock solid decision making and Communication skills are absolutely fundamental when operating in the Product Management domain. Understanding every nuance about the business, its operational environment, and what needs to happen next, are all fundamental activities that provide 'Strategic Vision'. Needless to say the very essence of leadership is that you have to have good Vision and to have good Vision ultimately means you posses the key attributions of 'knowledge', 'Understanding' and 'Talent'. ...With these abilities, we can deliver Core Competencies.

The PMM Elements section gives you direct access to a library of dedicated tools and processes that have been specifically aligned to the  Product Management task and represent modern day ‘Best Practice’. They can be followed as part of robust management process (such as the PMM ) and is the most effective approach, however all 'elements' within this section can be accessed and used autonomously. This ultimately means they can all be used on a 'as and when' required basis to suit your own application.

There are over 60 best practice tools available (...all mapped for their suitability), accessed by clicking on the appropriate hexagonal section.

Once you reach the intended subject level required, you can choose to purchase / download (if applicable) the 'interactive business model'.