You are here: Home / Archives for product development

What is this About?

May 18, 2011 By

Here’s a deceptively difficult question for you to ponder (inspired by Steven Pressfield’s excellent latest book, “Do the Work“),

What is this about?

If you are working on developing a new product, can you answer? Can you do it without a ten page PowerPoint deck? How about to someone not familiar with your product line or industry? If you only had 10 seconds to explain in front of a room of potential customers buyers could you convince them?

What is this about?

Ok, so now that you get the point, take a look at how you are talking about your product in your marketing campaigns, advertisements, web sites, sales decks, blogs. Does the message still come through? Do the sub-points add or strengthen the overall message? Ultimately, are you building the overall story or watering it down?

Talk to your customers. Ask them how they describe what you do? Does it align to your story? Does what you think is valuable and different align with their assessments? Does your “special sauce” really taste special?

Now take a look at your competitor’s marketing, advertisements, web sites, blogs. Does what they are saying compare to your story? Do the differences jump off the page or do you need to go down a level or two?

Like what you find?

If not, return to the start and ask, “What is this about?” Fix from there.

Image Credit:  Colin_K

Filed Under: feature, Product Management, Product Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Parting Thoughts – My Last Product

February 25, 2011 By

I can’t resist posting this. Sorry, but I just can’t.

There is common analogy that product planning and development is like parenting. If you have ever spent a year or more working to bring a product to market, the analogy makes even more sense – from the ups and downs during development to the final release out into the wild, it can be an emotional journey.

Continuing the analogy, the product I was working on was the quintessential definition of a problem child. There were many occasions where everything that could go wrong did. It took a lot of sweat and patience to pull everything together and the entire village ended up pitching in to help raise this one.

I left my last employer mid-last year after planning was complete of the product but knowing that it would not launch till the end of the year. It was very hard waiting for the launch without hearing much for updates on the progress – not to mention the traditional nerves on how it will be received.

So, when the product launched in early December, I thought the team did a phenomenal job delivering on a very complicated product plan and early indicators seemed to say the market agreed. But it was this last week that I received the real treat. In the press release announcing the company earnings, the only product called out for the Consumer line of business unit was my product!

Consider me one proud parent.

Here’s a peak at the latest commercial for the product:

 

 

Image Credit:  Flickr

Filed Under: Product Management Tagged With: , ,

The 2 W’s of Product Development

October 25, 2010 By

Over at the BusinessWeek blog, Steve McKee wants you to make sure that when it comes to marketing planning, you have the full story before you go to market.

Steve recommends that marketers should focus on the “why, who, what, where, and when” and in that order for building their strategy. While the article is directed at outbound marketing, its message is equally poignant for product planning

When it comes to new product development, start with the “Why and the Who” before working on the “What“.

  • Why should we develop a new product (pain points)?
  • Why is this opportunity interesting?
  • Who is this the primary user of this product?
  • How are they solving this problem now and why isn’t that good enough?

Now that you have this information, work on the “What” (the new product).

It sounds like a simple approach but it will help avoid the dreaded “solution looking for a problem” product. And as an added bonus, get this done up front and it will really help your outbound marketing.

Filed Under: Product Management Tagged With: ,

Yahoo And Product Portfolio Management

April 27, 2009 By

sort

The current issue of Fortune has an article covering Carol Bartz, the new CEO of Yahoo, and the staggering job in front of her trying to turn the company around.

One of the most interesting parts of the article was the historical recap of the early 2000′s where the company was on a buying tear, gobbling up companies left and right.  The strategy seemed to be focused on growth through acquisitions with no attempt to merge and focus the acquired companies.  Of course, it was during this time that Google perfected paid search and the rest is history.

Comment new Yahoo CEO Bartz,

She also wants to prevent more space debris from launching in the future. “Yahoo was amateur hour in the past when it comes to product management,” she bluntly told business partners last month; groups haphazardly released things without a clear sense of whether customers wanted them.

It is always easier looking back, but I think is safe to say that a strong product portfolio management process may have helped avoid some of the missed opportunities.  The key here is to make prioritization decisions on product development that align with the strategic direction of the company.

Portfolio Management for New Products is an excellent resource on the topic.   From PMNP, the portfolio process should be the starting point for evaluation:

  • Does the new product fit our business strategy?
  • Where is the business currently spending resources and what allocation changes need to be made?
  • What needs to be done immediately and what should be postponed?

However, a good process doesn’t guarantee success.  If done right, it will defenitly help focus, but you still need a sound strategic direction to make sure at the end of the day, your products hit the mark.

Filed Under: Product Management, Product Marketing Tagged With: , ,