PRODUCT MANAGEMENT: A VITAL ELEMENT OF ANY ORGANIZATION

No one before has actually put a stake in the ground to recommend the establishment of a transformational framework for Product Management. In my first book, The Product Manager’s Desk Reference, I set forth the body of knowledge clarifying the basic elements needed for doing the work involved in Product Management. Based on that foundation, and on what I have since learned from the years I’ve spent in research and benchmarking, I feel strongly that now is the time to focus attention on the creation of a solid organizational structure to enable better Product Management. It is the logical next step.

Every time a reorganization takes place and a new management is in charge, companies have to “reinvent” how Product Management is performed. To prove my point: At a client firm, the leader of Organizational Development was charged with guiding the firm’s Product Management transformation. However, that action was delayed because, as the leader explained: “We have to put things on hold until our new chief marketing officer (CMO) arrives—we’re not sure of her philosophy about Product Management.”