Strong-form Product Management Model

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Framework Primer
Strong-form Product
Management Model
Presentation created by
Implement
Product-first
Decision-
making
Processes.
Hire Product
Managers
with Proper
Skills.
Create
Financial
Transparency
to the Product
Level.
Develop
Strong
Customer
Relations.
Encourage
Cross-functional
Collaboration
1 2 3 4 5

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Contents
Overview
Product Management
Adopting the Strong-form Model
Change Management
Templates
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A Strong-form Product Management is an innovative approach
to managing product portfolios
Presentation Overview
Implementing the Strong-form Model can keep companies stay ahead of Change.
Most Product Managers have relatively narrow roles and decision rights on product portfolios
are fragmented on various functions. This creates incoherence between a company’s product
and its overall Corporate Strategy.
What is needed is a more accountable decision rights that align responsibility for results to one
person who also has cross-functional decision-making authority. This realignment is at the core
of Strong-form Product Management.
This presentation provides the basic framework on Strong-form Product Management Model.
Adopting a Strong-form Product Management Model begins with 5 essential steps.
This presentation also discusses Change Management principles to follow to successfully
transform your Product Management processes and adopt the Strong-form Model, as well as how
the Strong-form Model links Strategy to Execution.
This deck also includes slide templates for you to use in your own business presentations.
1 Hire Product Managers with Proper Skills.
2 Create Financial Transparency to the
Product Level.
3 Implement Product-first Decision-making
Processes.
4 Develop Strong Customer Relations.
5 Encourage Cross-functional Collaboration.

Contents
Overview
Product Management
Change Management
Templates

Product Management is an organizational lifecycle function within
a company
Superior and differentiated new products – ones that deliver unique benefits and superior
value to customers – are the number one driver of success and product profitability.
Product Management – Overview
Product Management deals with the planning, forecasting, production, and marketing of the product
or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
ULTIMATE GOAL OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
To optimize the business at the product, product
line or product portfolio level over the lifecycle of
the products.
To deliver measurable business results through
product solutions that meet both market needs
and company goals.
OBJECTIVES
Maximize sales, revenues, market share, and
profit margins.
Involves product elimination decisions.
The Product Life Cycle (PLM) Management integrates people, data, processes, and business systems.
It provides product information for companies and their extended supply chain enterprise.
1. Identification of
elimination
candidates.
2. Consideration of
remedial actions.
1. Projection of impact
on the business as a
whole if candidate
product is eliminated.
2. Determination of
elimination strategy
for the product.
1
2
3
4

The fall of RIM can be attributed to a failure in Product Management
Today, BlackBerry’s market has plummeted and the firm is fighting to survive.
Product Management – Cautionary Case of RIM
In April 2007, Research in Motion (RIM) was flying high. The BlackBerry creator was coming off its best
year ever.
RIM was experiencing record revenues,
record earnings per share, and record
shipments. And there was a new
reason to be optimistic: Apple had just
introduced the iPhone and RIM
executives took it for granted that their
product—a runaway hit in the business
world—would grab a huge share of the
burgeoning consumer market as well.
The confidence proved to be ill
founded. The iPhone reversed the
historical pattern of computer
technologies flowing from the
enterprise to the consumer market.
RIM is compelling as a cautionary
tale but it is not unique. Many
companies falter in the face of
discontinuous change. Their failure
usually stems from their inability to
keep up with technological shifts
or the complexity of their product
lines. Though often seen as a
breakdown at the enterprise level,
this starts at a much more granular
level, with ineffective Product
Management.

A Strong-form Model is an innovative approach to managing product
portfolios
A Strong-Form Model keeps companies stay ahead of change and remain competitive.
Product Management – Strong-form Model
Decision rights must align responsibility for results to one person who also has cross-functional
decision-making authority. This realignment is the core of Strong-Form Product Management.
Source: Product Management Gets Stronger, PwC, 2013
Drive outcomes through a clear understanding
of customer needs and leveraging all available
channels.
Responsible for top-line growth and other
financial outcomes.
The Product Manager becomes General Manager, as they perform critical roles.
Make major product changes when needed.
Force actions across functional boundaries.

Contents
Overview
Product Management
Change Management
Templates

A Strong-form Product Management can be a company’s value
proposition to customers
The 5 Steps to Strong-Form Product Management is a Change Management process
to successful transformation.
Adopting the Strong-form Model – Overview
A Strong-form Product Management Model can benefit companies developing a single new product with
high level of investment or companies with dozens of product lines. However, any wrong decision made
could have devastating financial consequences.
A company making a transition must take the 5 steps to successfully adopting a Strong-Form Product
Management.
Implement
Product-first
Decision-
making
Processes.
Hire Product
Managers
with Proper
Skills.
Create
Financial
Transparency
to the Product
Level.
Develop
Strong
Customer
Relations.
Encourage
Cross-
functional
Collaboration
1 2 3 4 5

The first step is about hiring or training Product Managers as investing
in talent is critical
Managing increasingly important product portfolios can be a stepping stone to a position
in the C-suite.
1. Hire Product Managers
KEY CONSIDERATIONS ACTIONS TO TAKE
STEP Hire Product Managers with Proper Skills.
Intrinsic abilities are required by Product
Managers – the judgment to understand
tradeoffs, anticipate market changes, and
make savvy business decisions.
Technical expertise is needed to work with
advanced functional leaders.
Influencing skills are essential to generate
leaders’ involvement and support.
Collaborative leadership style is important
to get the best from people.
Put increased emphasis on learning and
development.
Rotate Product Managers through key
functional areas.
Create new practice to develop and
reward managers’ performance.
Give heightened attention to succession
planning.
Product Managers
have entrepreneurial
mindset to connect
with customers, a
general manager-like
willingness to take
risks, and a desire to
be responsible for
the P&L and meeting
key metrics.
IMPACT
ACTIONS TO TAKE

The second step is focused on creating Financial Transparency that must
be undertaken down to the product level
Transparency is essential if Strong-form Product Management is to have
the maximal impact.
2. Create Financial Transparency
STEP Create Financial Transparency to the Product Level.
Information on monthly sales, operating
margins, and cost is often not provided on a
product level.
There is a lack of insight on how individual
products are doing vs. expected
performance.
A given product may be siphoning revenue
from more profitable products.
Increase in costs from suppliers that
is managed by another function may cause
hidden opportunity costs or
out-and-out profit surprises.
Make much more granular financial
information available to Product
Managers.
Measure actual product revenue and
profitability over both the near and long
term.
Major changes
affecting a product’s
life cycle is
immediately
addressed.
Product Managers
have the insight to
identify marginal or
unprofitable
products, as well as
products that don’t fit
well with the
company’s most
important
capabilities.
IMPACT
ACTIONS TO TAKE

The third step centers on broadening decision rights and increasing
accountability of Product Managers for performance and results
Product Managers have the key role in implementing strategy by deciding which product
attributes to develop and preserve, what services to include, and what price points to hit.
3. Implement Product-first Decision-making Processes
STEP Implement Product-first Decision-making Processes.
Product Managers must lead product
launches, channel strategies, pricing and
many other decisions.
Product Managers must have a “first
among equals” status.
Product Managers must generate the
product road maps and resolve conflicts
among functions.
Provide Product Managers broad
decision rights.
Make Product Managers responsible for
weighing inputs from the functions
against the ultimate goal of enhancing
long-term enterprise value.
Enable the Product Managers to ensure
that the product portfolio is coherent
with the Corporate Strategy.
A Strong-form
Product Manager can
resist lifetime cost-
savings initiatives if
cost savings would
jeopardize the
characteristic of a
product that make a
customer prefer it.
IMPACT
ACTIONS TO TAKE

Product Managers must translate customer insights into product
improvement and new products
Primary objective is to find the sweet spot of having a differentiated and market position
without letting costs get out of control.
4. Develop Strong Customer Relations
STEP Develop Strong Customer Relations.
Product changes becomes tactical instead
of being implemented with long-term
profitability if sales and marketing decide
which product features are added.
There is a possible failed launch if R&D is
allowed to push new technology to market
that may not fit with customer priorities.
Failure to retire aging products with
declining number of customers can be
detrimental.
Pushing so many products into the market
can overwhelm or confuse customers.
Establish closer connections to end-
users to enable Strong-form Product
Managers to effectively manage
complexity and to deliver the right
products and feature sets.
Strong-form Product
Manager can
distinguish necessary
from unnecessary
complexity.
ACTIONS TO TAKE
IMPACT

The fifth step is to encourage cross-functional collaboration as Strong-
form Product Management is inherently cross-functional
The Strong-form Product Manager must be at the center of knowledge.
5. Encourage Cross-functional Collaboration
STEP Encourage Cross-functional Collaboration.
Communication is essential in developing
the relationship between marketing and
product management. There is a debate
as to which group sets the product mix,
sales plan, and forecast.
An important relationship exists between
engineering and product management –
someone needs to oversee the trade-offs
in early stages of product development.
Break down organizational barriers.
Strong-form Product
Managers with good
relationship with
peers may recognize
faster the value that
could be created – in
the form of increased
product quality or
lower costs – by
changing suppliers.
ACTIONS TO TAKE
IMPACT

Contents
Overview
Product Management
Change Management
Templates

Adoption of a Strong-form Product Management Approach requires taking
Change Management initiative
A Strong-form Model offers significant opportunities to move from strategy to execution
while ensuring coherence.
Change Management – Principles
Make leadership changes at the Product Manager level.
Explain and advocate the benefits of the new model.
Prevail other functional leaders to accept a new organizational paradigm
and shift away from old roles in product management.
Involvement of the CEO
and other senior leaders1
Undertaking a Change Management initiative can take years to implement. Success can be achieved when anchored
on basic Principles of Change Management.
Articulate project goals.
Establish metrics for success.
Monitor progress and course correct if things don’t go as planned.
Appointment of a Change
Management Team to
manage Transformation
2
Identify highly skilled Product Managers at the outset.
Put Product Managers in charge of the most important project.
Enable Product Managers to work on improving transparency to bring
immediate benefits.
Introduction of
improvements along the
way
3
Build capability on Strong-form Product Management on either one business
unit or the entire enterprise.
Use Strong-form Management in fast-evolving area.Maintaining flexibility
4

Moving from Strategy to Execution while ensuring coherence is a critical
enabler of success
Companies need to embrace the Strong-from Model to avoid becoming the next
cautionary tale.
Change Management – Strategy to Execution
Significant opportunities arise when companies move from Strategy to Execution.
STRATEGY 1
Create a tight link between strategy, the
customer, and products & services through its
lifecycle.
STRATEGY 2
Allow technologies to evolve and increase the
chance for complexities to overwhelm the
product line.
IMPACT
Strong-form Product Management becomes the
nexus of the company’s current portfolio, future
portfolio, and long-term portfolio.
IMPACT
Strong-form Product Managers can ensure that
the company is leveraging the best information
to make smart decisions about innovation and
development.

Contents
Overview
Product Management
Change Management
Templates

Insert headline
Insert bumper.
Adopting the Strong-form Model – TEMPLATE
Implement
Product-first
Decision-
making
Processes.
Hire Product
Managers
with Proper
Skills.
Create
Financial
Transparency
to the Product
Level.
Develop
Strong
Customer
Relations.
Encourage
Cross-
functional
Collaboration
1 2 3 4 5
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text, filler text, filler
text.
text.
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Encourage
Cross-functional
Collaboration.
5
Insert headline
Insert bumper.
Adopting the Strong-form Model – TEMPLATE ALTERNATE
Implement
Product-first
Decision-making
Processes.
3
Create Financial
Transparency to
the Product
Level.
2Hire Product
Managers with
Proper Skills.
1
Develop Strong
Customer
Relations.
4
text.
text.
text.
text.
text.
text.
text.
text.
text.
text.

Insert headline
Insert bumper.
Adopting the Strong-form Model – TEMPLATE ALTERNATE
Encourage
Cross-functional
Collaboration.
5
Develop Strong
Customer
Relations.
4
Implement
Product-first
Decision-making
Processes.
3
Create Financial
Transparency to
the Product
Level.
2
Hire Product
Managers with
Proper Skills.
1

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Flevy (www.flevy.com) is the marketplace
for premium documents. These
documents can range from Business
Frameworks to Financial Models to
PowerPoint Templates.
Flevy was founded under the principle that
companies waste a lot of time and money
recreating the same foundational business
documents. Our vision is for Flevy to
become a comprehensive knowledge base
of business documents. All organizations,
from startups to large enterprises, can use
Flevy— whether it's to jumpstart projects, to
find reference or comparison materials, or
just to learn.
Contact Us
Please contact us with any questions you may have
about our company.
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press@flevy.com
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