Blackblot Product Management Transformation Guide
Introduction
Transitioning to a market-driven product delivery strategy and transforming the company to be market-driven is realistic and feasible when all the steps are known.
This guide outlines the considerations and phases of adopting a market‑driven product delivery strategy using the Blackblot PMTK Methodology™.
Product Delivery Transition
The meaning of Product Delivery was always about bringing a product to market.
A product delivery strategy is the manner and concept that guides the delivery of a product to market.
According to the Blackblot PMTK Methodology™, a Product Delivery Strategy Transition is moving from one product delivery strategy to another.
The result of this transition is a Business Transformation, a dramatic and conceptual change in how a company fundamentally delivers products to the market with profound company-wide implications beyond the product management department.
In summary, transition is the method, and transformation is the result.
Product Delivery Strategies
There are three types of product delivery strategies that companies use to create successful products:
- Technology-driven — Engineers control the product strategy and feature set.
- Sales-driven — Salespeople and customers define the product’s feature set. The company’s product strategy is inconsistent.
- Market-driven — Product managers shape the product strategy and manage the market problem that the product solves.
The product delivery strategy chosen by the company markedly affects the status and scope of responsibilities assigned to product managers, elevating them to a leadership position or relegating them to an operational and logistics role.
Technology-driven
The technology-driven product delivery strategy is focused on delivering superior technology or “better” products.
Decisions are often made mostly from a production or technology perspective.
Product managers are expected to provide operational and technical support to the engineers and salespeople.
At software companies that subscribe to a technology-driven product delivery strategy, the product manager is effectively part of product development and subservient to the development method.
According to a technology-driven product delivery strategy, the engineers are in charge of the product strategy and own the product’s feature set and roadmap.
With their control over the product, the engineers inflate its feature set to increase its value. This phenomenon is referred to as Push Mode, Technology Push, or Feature Factory.
The advantage of a technology-driven product delivery strategy is that it is less expensive and quicker to market because of the reduced documentation and workforce overhead.
The disadvantages are a higher probability of developing unnecessary products, unnecessary features, complex features and exhibiting low growth potential.
Adopting a technology-driven product delivery strategy in product management will transform the entire company into a technology‑driven company.
Sales-driven
A sales-driven product delivery strategy (aka project‑driven or custom‑job‑driven) is focused on short-term return on investment (ROI).
The salespeople are in charge of the product strategy. Product managers provide tactical support to the salespeople and the “delivery” function.
This product delivery strategy mandates altering the product’s feature set to accommodate a specific customer’s particular wishes.
In this scenario, product features are dictated or requested by customers.
The salespeople convey the requested product features to the product managers, who, in turn, present the product feature requests to the engineers in product development.
A sales-driven product delivery strategy can be a lifesaver and used as a survival mode tactic if market segments start deteriorating or are in a chaotic phase that precludes targeted marketing programs.
The downside is that a sales-driven product delivery strategy is a short-term approach that does not build highly sustainable product lines.
It isn’t easy to build market leadership and promote company growth without those sustainable product lines.
The eventual outcome of a sales-driven approach in technology companies is a plethora of product variants (produced via modification of core products) sold to different customers.
Adopting a sales-driven product delivery strategy in product management will transform the entire company into a sales-driven company.
Market-driven
The market-driven product delivery strategy is focused on uncovering potentially profitable market problems (aka market opportunities) and addressing them with products and features.
This delivery strategy requires a proactive product management process, engaging customers before the product is planned, defined, designed and developed.
The market-driven product delivery strategy has product managers focus on the problem space, manage the market problem that the product solves, and shape the product strategy.
Only with a market-driven product delivery strategy is there a strategic expectation of a product manager.
In this scenario, the engineers in the solution space own the solution to the market problem and the product development project schedule.
The advantage of a market-driven product delivery strategy is it promotes sustainable market leadership, targeted value, and revenue-growth potential.
When properly applied, the result is a product that will solve a pervasive market problem in an established market segment and for which customers are willing to pay.
The main disadvantage of a market-driven product delivery strategy is that it requires business discipline, which is not always compatible with the company or country’s culture.
Additional disadvantages include increased operational effort, more documentation, more time required to deliver products, and increased workforce and budget overhead.
Adopting a market-driven product delivery strategy in product management will transform the entire company into a market-driven company.
Executive Management Involvement
The very first step in any adoption or transition is getting executive management’s approval.
Successfully transitioning to any product delivery strategy hinges on the company’s executive management commitment to a long-term strategic move (1–2 years) to adopt the said approach to product management.
At this preliminary stage, the company’s decision-makers are presented with the pros and cons of the three primary product delivery strategies: technology-driven, sales-driven, and market-driven.
A crucial part of the discussion is identifying the company’s current product delivery strategy and its implications.
Eventually, company executives will decide whether to maintain the current product delivery strategy or transition to a different one.
It is important to note that every product delivery strategy has its pros and cons.
Therefore, it is incorrect to suggest one product delivery strategy over another, in absolutist terms, without fully knowing the market context and company circumstances.
The company executives must be made aware that adopting any product delivery strategy will shift the company’s power and control structures over its products.
This adoption is a significant cultural and political change.
Accordingly, it is important to involve the company’s human resources (HR) in this transition process because it will alter the company culture, internal interactions and workplace relationships.
Furthermore, executive managers’ direct involvement and participation throughout the entire transition process, leading by example, drastically increases the chances of a successful transition.
Transition to Market-driven
A market-driven product delivery strategy is the only way to achieve long-term growth potential and market leadership.
Blackblot PMTK® is a market-driven product management methodology.
The Blackblot PMTK Methodology™ views the product manager as having a strategic role in the problem space, responsible for managing the market problem that the product solves.
Accordingly, this guide is about the transition from a technology‑driven or sales‑driven product delivery strategy to a market-driven product delivery strategy using Blackblot PMTK Methodology™.
A transition to a market-driven product delivery strategy with Blackblot PMTK® also reshapes the role of a product manager from technical, tactical, or operational to strategic.
Therefore, such a transition will transform the company into a market-driven company and the roles of product managers into strategic ones.
For more information on product delivery strategies, see the Product Delivery Strategies chapter on page 11 in the Blackblot PMTK Book: Second Edition.
Market-driven Transition Phases
A transition to a market-driven product delivery strategy entails building or realigning all aspects of the product management team via a phased process.
1. Methodology Selection
Selecting a market-driven product management methodology that is complete, holistic and practical and offers clear information on all fundamentals of product management, theory, concepts, tasks, roles, processes, teams, interactions, goals, objectives, and responsibilities (e.g., Blackblot PMTK®).
2. Team Leadership
A successful transition to a market-driven product management delivery strategy and methodology requires a Strategic Product Leader who can lead people with authority and inspire by example.
The Strategic Product Leader is a highly strategic and encompassing role that is owned by a strategy and process expert who leads the product management team by providing overall product vision, product and market strategies, and team leadership.
The Strategic Product Leader is responsible for:
- Formulating the company’s product and market strategies and driving their implementation while balancing corporate goals with long-term market trends and market opportunities.
- Coaching and mentorship to the product management team members.
- Furnishing team with resources, tools, and uniform processes to do their respective jobs.
- Creating and managing the overall product management process and overseeing its effective execution.
The Strategic Product Leader continuously oversees the successful formulation and execution of the product and market strategies; and strives to achieve better consistency in the internal application of the product management discipline.
The Strategic Product Leader is an extremely critical component to a successful transition to a market-driven product delivery strategy.
3. Team Building
Defining the roles and responsibilities of a product management team and a product definition team in a way that fits the current company culture and will minimize internal resistance.
Blackblot PMTK® offers complete role descriptions and guidance on the organizational placement of the product management department.
Scoping of the roles in product management should describe which role responsibilties to include and which to exclude.
Internalizing the strategic product management mindset is done through Blackblot professional training.
Validating the knowledge acquired during the training and ensuring cohesion and consistency among all team members is done through Blackblot BPMP certification.
Reshaping the product management function in an existing organization (organizational change) is a complex and sensitive act that needs planning and diplomacy.
Special care must be taken, with the aid of Human Resources (HR), to avoid unnecessary complexity, stress, and conflicts that could arise from role responsibilities being overlooked or overlapped.
The overall challenge in reshaping the team is finding the correct process and pace to follow.
4. Processes and Tools
Blackblot PMTK® provides a complete and consistent set of models, templates and processes that govern all activities.
Strategic product managers work according to Blackblot PMTK®, a market-driven product management methodology, and their work is independent of the product development method used by the engineers.
The PMTK Action Model is the master model, a reference framework that governs the sequence of using Blackblot Product Manager’s Toolkit® (PMTK) templates, executing product management tasks, and depicting the overall product management process.
5. Implementation
The most challenging phase of a product management transition is implementing a market-driven product management methodology into an established organization.
The recommended process of implementing Blackblot Product Manager’s Toolkit® (PMTK) methodology is based on two stages:
- Preparation Stage: Evaluating the company’s current product management practice by utilizing the Blackblot PMTK Methodology™ methodology as a benchmark, followed by identifying gaps in roles, responsibilities, processes, procedures, tools, and techniques, and then developing an implementation plan to address the identified gaps and improve the overall product management process.
- Commit Stage: Applying the PMTK Implementation Plan and negating any in-house resistance.
The Blackblot PMTK Implementation Plan is a detailed phased process for introducing and implementing Blackblot PMTK Methodology™ within a company to foster the effective execution of product management processes.
Within the Blackblot PMTK Methodology™, there are two tools to gauge the maturity of the company’s product management practice. These tools are used, among other things, to evaluate transition progress.
In-house resistance and political interference are natural forces and will always occur because employees are wary of any change at their workplace.
Change, especially the introduction of anything unfamiliar, such as a new employee, new executive manager, new software, new machine, new process, etc., is viewed by the existing staff by its possible effect on their personal employment situation.
People fear that the proposed change will adversely affect their job description, scope of responsibility, career advancement, and their necessity in the organization.
No universal measure could be enacted to quell such concerns because it does not exist, and indeed, some individuals will inevitably be affected to a certain degree by any change at the workplace.
Many people reject things because they do not fit with their personal views, which are conceptualized on the basis of one’s personal experience.
However, the product management practices of a company cannot be applied based on notions and perceptions.
Blackblot PMTK® is a market-driven product management methodology designed to promote teamwork, creativity and innovation, and it does not block individualism where required. Once people realize this, their resistance will likely be lowered.
During the Commit Stage, an HR representative and a Blackblot Certified Product Coach™ collaborate to make the transition as frictionless as possible from a personal and professional perspective.
The Blackblot Certified Product Coach™ is a knowledgeable company employee who guides the company’s product team to achieve better integration and more structure and consistency in applying the product management discipline.
Successful Transformation Main Takeaways
All successful Blackblot PMTK® guided transformations to transform a company to be market-driven via transitioning to a market-driven product delivery strategy share the same characteristics:
- The company’s executives publicly commit to a long-term strategic move (1–2 years) to build and professionalize its product management through Blackblot PMTK® training and BPMP certification.
- The company’s mid-level management leads the adoption of PMTK® methodology every day through real-life applications on existing product lines.
- The company’s executive management, at the highest levels, projects true leadership and sets an example to follow, themselves undergoing Blackblot PMTK® training and completing a BPMP certification level.
- The company mandates that all product managers be certified in Blackblot PMTK® to emphasize the importance of validated product management knowledge for individual and organizational growth.
- The company’s HR department regularly collaborates with a Blackblot Certified Product Coach™ and aids throughout the entire transition.
- A detailed PMTK Implementation Plan is prepared and followed throughout the entire transition.
Summary
Every product delivery strategy has advantages and disadvantages.
Each product delivery strategy is specific to the market conditions and the company’s maturity level.
However, a market-driven product delivery strategy is the only way to achieve long-term growth potential and market leadership.
Accordingly, this guide detailed the considerations and phases of a transition to a market-driven product delivery strategy using Blackblot PMTK Methodology™.