There comes a time in a growing organisation when you must have a Product Manager. In a small organisation, the CEO usually sees himself as the product visionary and leader. He is the resource allocator and chief priority setter.
He alone determines which products should be launched and the resources to be allocated to certain products. He is able to communicate the product vision and benefits to his staff. Nobody challenges his product choice.
Now if he does not know much about the art and science of product ideation, development and management, he arrogates the successful products to his ability to see into the future, discern the opportunities and push through to give birth to the products.
However as the organisation grows, he needs to delegate this so-called “divine ability”. Else as he focuses on the growth issues, he would find out that there would be no more new products introduced. He has not been able to instil the culture of innovation in the company. It was only resident in him alone.
The process of introducing new and successful products can be taught and learnt. It is not rocket science.
Every organisation needs knowledgeable people primed to introduce new products, manage products and even sustain the culture of innovation. These are the product managers. As is usually termed, a Product Manager is the CEO of products in an organisation.
A product manager is that person assigned the responsibility for overseeing all of the various activities that concern a particular product.
- He is responsible for setting the vision and discriminating strategies for products;
- He ensures that the product vision is aligned with the corporate vision of the organisation;
- He is responsible for setting the framework for the development and management of new and existing products;
- He is responsible for ensuring and sustaining the innovation culture in the organization;
- He is responsible for monitoring competition and the competitive landscape;
- He is responsible for managing product stakeholders – internal and external;
- He ensures that products are successful and have a positive contribution to the bottom-line.
With all these responsibilities you may ask, how come I have been surviving without them in my organization? The success is only temporary because you, the CEO, have been the Product Manager unconsciously. But this cannot continue for long and cannot be sustained. So if you don’t have a Product Manager(s), get one fast. If you have and you want them to be more impactful, give me a call. We will train them.
You can take advantage of our upcoming training, where I will be personally taking new Product managers on the following issues. I will:
- Cover the skills needed for the whole range of product-related activities looking at key challenges, best practice and how to be effective
- Give the opportunity to focus on specific company issues
- Engender an approach to product management where product managers take ultimate responsibility for the success of their products
- Re-energise Product Managers and challenge them to ‘raise their game’
- Demonstrate a commitment to building a credible and professional product management workforce in your organisation.
Check out the flyer in this link – http://tenthcodemedia.com/trainings.php . Our next course is on the 21/22 August 2019 in Lagos, Nigeria. Call 08067604550 on or send an email to info@tenthcodemedia.com
