ProductCamp Boston, April 2011 'Tips to help new product managers hit the ground running regardless of their situation: - Existing company, newly promoted product manager, existing products - New company, experienced product manager, assuming control in the middle of a product development effort - New company, experienced proeuct manager, hired to start a new product line

1. Help! I’m A Product Manager
Steve Wells, AIPMM

2. Help!!! I’m a New Product Manager
• You are a former project mgr, dev eng, architect, QA,
or SE
– Hands – who are you? Where coming from? MBAs?
• You are a seasoned PM in a new company/group
– What do you do now?
– What are your activities?
– What are your deliverables?
– Who are your stakeholders? (what is a stakeholder ???)

3. What You Need to Survive
• Orientation
– Just parachuted onto new terrain - need to get oriented
– What is your situation? New recruit, acquisition, transfer?
– How familiar are you w/ the terrain
– Who can help you get oriented
• Tools
– What is your frame of reference?
– How can you organize your info?
– What scaffolding/framework tools exist to help you?
• Identification of Stakeholders
– Internal – exec, core team
– External – customers, partners

4. Now What?
• Need way to define info req’d to manage products
• What about:
– Who, What, Where, When, Why, How, How Much*
• Or a more modern version?
– Organization = How, When
– Business = How Much
– Customer = Who
– Product = What
– Market = Why, Where
* Circa 1902 Rudyard Kipling's "the Elephant Child"
I Keep six honest serving-men: (They taught me all I knew). Their names are What and Where and When and How and Why and Who.

5. WHAT knowledge is needed to manage products?
• Organization
– Who are you? Where fit in Org? What are Org goals/strategy
– What are your goals?
– What are roles, activities, deliverables?
– What is expected of a product manager?
• Business
– What is the sustainable business model for the product?
• Customer
– Who are all your customers?
– Who are the stakeholders who will influence the product?
• Product
– What are your products?
– How can you make them unique?
• Market
– Where do all the customers gather?
– Who markets your products?
– Who defines your market opportunities?

6. WHEN is this knowledge required?
• Need a simple way to define WHAT is required WHEN
• Can use simple, home grown, customized spreadsheet
• Alternatively could use AIPMM Product Management Framework (PMF)
– Simple, Comprehensive
– Indisputable
– Standard/Universal: All Industries, All companies
– Expandable

7. AIPMM Product Management Framework
X-Axis: Product Management Life Cycle (PMLC)
Y-Axis:
Project/
Product Program
Mgmt
Knowledge Product
Areas
5 Major Knowledge Areas (KA)
4 unique to Prod. Mgmt: Business, Customer, Product, Market
1 overlap w/ Proj / Prog Mgmt: Organization (cross-functional matrix projects & programs)

8. PMF Spreadsheet Tool
Product Management Life Cycle (PMLC)
Product Management Knowledge Areas
• Simple structure – not rocket science – easy to copy
• You can do it yourself or use an AIPMM tool

9. Interested in Helping Grow Our Profession?
• We’re looking for volunteers/creative initiatives
• Adopt /promote PMF, ProdBOK to your colleagues
• Join AIPMM - www.aipmm.com
– Networking opportunities, Training, Ambassador
Program, On-line forums, PM data base
• Join AIPMM Ambassador Group
– Evangelize
– Provide thought leadership
– Help drive initiatives to grow our profession
• Consider Product Management certifications
– CPM, CPMM, Agile CPM