Lifecycle Strategy for Product Managers
What would you say is the hardest thing about being a product manager?
It’s communication.
Think about it.
You sit in the middle of infinite competing needs and finite resources.
The sales team needs this feature. The marketing team wants that one. The ops team just wants to know what’s coming out next, by when, and why. The CEO is griping about when they can see the new prototype. The engineering team missed their last sprint goals and wants more resources.
Your job is all about synthesizing and communicating what actually is happening versus what should be happening. You must then try to close any gap by aligning with key stakeholders and communicating those changes.
If the definition of stress is being accountable for something that you have no direct control over, well, then your role as product manager can be very stressful indeed.
So here’s the next question…
If communication is one of the most demanding jobs of a product manager, then what’s the secret to effective communication?
It’s context.
Think about it. If a team has first built shared consciousness together about why, when, and how product decisions are being made, effective communication becomes possible. Without shared context, each individual usually sees things only from their vantage point, leading to noise, ambiguity, and dissatisfaction with the product, the roadmap, and the overall business direction.
And the next question…
If a product manager’s success depends on effective communication, and context is the key to effective communication, then how can you build shared context across your team as quickly as possible?
Use a picture.
You already know the adage about pictures and a thousand words. It’s true!
In this article, I’m going to propose that you add your products, or groups of products, to the Organizational Physics Strategy Map below to show your team where each product or product category sits now in its lifecycle stage:
By doing so, you’ll create the necessary context across the team to explain why you’re treating different products or product categories differently and what the next set of product roadmap decisions should be for each. You’ll also assist in aligning the surrounding business to support the given product or product category.
Products or Business Units?
The Organizational Physics Strategy Map is usually used to put a business or business unit on the map, identify strategic execution risks, and develop the next-stage strategy of the company. Instead of a business or business unit, I am placing your company’s products, or product categories, on the same map. The assets may be different, but the principle is the same: the current position on the map dictates the next steps.
How to Place Your Products onto the Product Strategy Map
To illustrate how to place your company’s products onto this map, let’s use an example of ACME Company, which has three products. Its legacy product is […]