Product Management for Information Providers

Applying a standard Product Management process provides a valuable framework for information providers, and helps keep the multi-disciplinary team aligned.

[Adapted from the 7 phase product management process endorsed by the Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM), enhanced by The 280 Group as the “Optimal Product Process”, and used by product management organizations world-wide.]

The first 6 of 7 stages in the PM process apply most often to information products, with new initiatives starting in the “Conceive” and/or “Plan” stages. 

Using this framework and its associated processes/artifacts in the planning (or enhancement) process offers a best practice approach and tangible deliverables that help keep things on track.

Bill Haines

Keep Market & Product Requirements Separate

Too often Market and Product requirement documents are thought of as the same thing. But they actually serve two different and quite valuable purposes.

Market Requirements Document (MRD) [AKA: Market Needs Document]

·         Describes the “what”, not the “how”. What is the problem to be solved?

·         Form: Typically uses problem scenarios encountered by target personas

o    These scenarios state only what the user wants to do, what goals or benefits they want to achieve, without the proposed solution

·         Purpose: The MRD can inform strategy, marketing, and engineering by focusing all around a clear understanding of the customer goals of the product.

Product Requirements Document (PRD)

·         Describes “how” we solve the “what”. How is the problem described in the MRD solved?

·         Form: Dependent upon your product development methodology:

o    The Waterfall approach necessitates fully defined functional requirements.

o    An Agile approach necessitates only high level requirements, often in the form of “Use Cases” or “User Stories”.

o    A Hybrid approach (“Agile-ish”) is often used and employs a bit of each, with the mix varying by organization.

·         Purpose: The PRD primarily informs engineering. Here the MRD is referred to in order to assure that the PRD is focused on solving the ‘what’ that has been targeted.

Bill Haines

Prioritizing Features

The process of prioritizing product capabilities too often becomes a tug of war among opinions. But it can be made more data-driven and objective.

It starts by establishing just what problems you are trying to solve for the customer, rating how important each is, as well as how well accommodated each of those needs are currently. Those that are of high importance but poorly met will be your focus.

Kano Rating Matrix

Now you can determine which combination of capabilities will best address these key needs. To make this process more objective you can use any of a variety of Scoring Models such as: Spider Charts, Kano Modeling, or Conjoint Analysis.

The person with the best data wins the tug-of-war. More importantly, the customer and the business win too.

Bill Haines

It's All About Gestalt

When assessing a market space. When creating product strategy. When defining a product feature set.

Customers are attracted to, and buy the whole thing, not the parts. 

So, go ahead and segment the market, but look holistically at its needs. Set your strategy, but do it by creating synergy among the full set of business activities needed to drive it. Pick product features, but evaluate the mix in terms of how they all come together to convey unified value.

If you always make decisions based upon the ‘whole’, the parts will seldom disappoint.

Bill Haines