In many Product Organizations, Product Management has become like Socialism. A hat worn by anybody, for a convenience and then discarded. In this process the hat keeps on shifting from a Development Manager to Project Manager to Customer Support Manager to Receptionist to Security.

In an environment where technology keeps changing rapidly and products face the heat of competition, product management needs a lot of stamina. And hence the reason it gets thrown between lot of people like a soccer ball.

When something becomes too difficult to handle, either it gets specialized to a very few and loathed by others or it gets handled by almost everyone. Product management becomes an item too hot in many places.

In another perspective, if the product management vision is not shared by people involved (if not get thrown between people like soccer ball) it won’t survive the competition and fast changing world. Like a soccer game, though ball gets played between everybody, like a captain directing the game, a product manager has to direct his team.

Much like the soccer captain, he has to allow individuals to play their games, not interfering with their work and style, but ensure the end output, as desired by him. If a product manager is not responsible for work and style of his team, what parameter does product manager has to control his team..?

It is the vision of his team, that product manager needs to set. A successful soccer captain sets the vision of his team on field with respect to the opponent, playing terrain and team strengths and use that to drive the team to play in his way. Similarly the product manager needs to set the vision of his team with respect to competition, eco-system and the strengths of his team to drive the team towards his goal..

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What is in reality Product Management..?

Product Management, I often tell my team, is a metabolic evolution. Not that they understand it this way better. But it makes them to listen to me more, as they become angry and gnaw their teeth.

In the way life evolves in an eco-system, products evolve in an economic eco-system. Products do not have a meaning, purpose or energy to live outside their eco-system, in the same way as a biological being.

But then the eco-system is not a constant one. It keeps changing, due to changes of nature as well as the changes caused by the living beings themselves. Which means that living beings need to continually adapt to their eco-system of which several changes are caused by themselves.

In the same way products in an economic eco-system need to continually adapt due to changes in economic eco-system caused by other factors as well as changes caused in the eco-system due to products themselves. This leads to evolution of new products.

Every life takes some energy from the system and gives out energy in some other form back to the system. Same way every product consumes energy (which can be monetarily quantified) from the economic eco-system and gives out energy (which can be monetarily quantified) in another form.

In this metabolism, there are two parameters that every product manager need to monitor and control. Efficiency of this metabolism and more important the effectiveness of this metabolism.

Efficiency in terms of how fast product adaptations can happen with least energy input possible and effectiveness in terms of the returns that product need to generate for him (his organization) and his customer.

No doubt. Effectiveness is more important than efficiency in product management.

Again if effectiveness needs to be better, then how well the product is adaptable to its eco-system (in terms of depth of user acceptance), how wide the product is able to proliferate and survive in different environments (verticals and geographies) needs to be better.

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Though Product management seems to be a monolith, function it is not. Typically product management happens at three different levels, in my experience.

The three levels are
1) Habitat level (Target customers level)
2) Environmental level (Market level with competition, disruptive changes considered)
3) Eco-system level (At a macro-economic level considering changes in the overall eco-system that could shift the whole paradigm or frame of operation permanently or termporarily)

Above all these levels, I define a fourth level for internal discussion with my team members. That is the ‘Fate level'. Those invisible lines that are supposed to be running inside our brains and make all of us act in the way we do, can change things beyond our imagination. One cannot handle this level with management. One needs the supreme philosophy of any management which is acceptance.

In any organization that is involved in Product development, effective product management at these 3 different levels is essential. Product could be anything be it hardware, software, combination of the above or an online service.

The Habitat level product management is much more focussed on the immediate set of existing and perceived customers and their requirements. The product is expected to change in this level. The level of change is not in-depth.

The fundamental functions of the product remain the same, though different ‘species’ of the same product may evolve in this level. In this level Product management will concentrate on users and revenue maximization from the users.

The Environment level is focussed on the technology, regulatory, financial, manufacturing (if applicable) and marketing environment of the product and is to ensure adaptation of the product to its environment. The same product could be used in different verticals and geographies and the environmental product management for them would be different for each of the environment. The product is expected to change in this level. The level of change is slightly in-depth at times.

Some fundamental functions of the products could change, appearing as if the old product is dead. Some times totally new products appear as successors to the previous product, but having no direct relationship with them, except for the fact that unless they are seen as the next-generation, it is not possible to sell. Sometimes product might not itself change, but business models themselves will change.

In this level Product management will concentrate on next generation developments, re-use for next generation developments and multiplication of revenues through environmental adaptation.

The Eco-System level is focussed on the overall business environment, economic environment, technology evolutions that are on-going, disruptive technical and business events in the offing etc. To adapt to eco-system level, business models might need to change. The perception of revenue, profit & loss may change. The concept of the product or service may undergo a total change and current understanding may become irrelevant or redundant. Product management here will concentrate on possible re-use to cut short time to market, but will be developing fundamentally new products for new environments with newer business models if necessary.

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Sometime back when we I had a new Product Manager, I lectured to him for almost an hour on Product management and its relevance to our organization.

He patiently listened to me and then finally asked “Well.. What do you want me to do now..?”

Actually, I wanted to share my experiences on product management and how to go about doing it, but then as usual I have lectured around it (probably to an empty hall).

But then, I am from the genre of those politicians who stand in a street-corner dias and keep talking, irrespective of who is listening to them. I can’t be stopped. I will continue on my Habital Level Product Management in my next post.

I also owe an explanation on why I call my Product Managers as PUMMIES. Though it is not correct, in many organizations pummies are brought into the picture after DUMMIES (Development Managers) and MUMMIES (Maintenance Managers). Dummies start it up all without much knowledge and abandon the product mid-way to sole care of Mummies.. Mummies toil hard to breathe life into the product. Poor Pummies have to lend their initials as the dutiful father for the orphaned product and struggle to grow it and find a business(job) for it.

In successful product organizations Pummies are the real parents and the products grow so capable that they find their business (job) themselves. That and more in my next post..

**To be continued ***

-Balajee Rajaram