More 2 Marketing

Susan
More to marketing. Welcome to more 2 marketing, a podcast on marketing, product and everything in between. I’m your host, Susan, and today we’re gonna be talking about some trends in product management now over the last year or two, there’s been some changes in the direction of product management specifically because of COVID. So we’re going to go into a couple of the new trends. Coming through that are merging so that you’ve got a bit of consideration to be thin. Thing about, but first and foremost, we’ve gotta make sure that we forge alliances within our pro teams and also outside it within the organisation. So you’ve got key stakeholders. That support you. There’s alignment across the business is critical to be able to get goals in place and to ensure you’re actually going against the targets that you have all set together. So First off, #1 always make sure you forge those really major stakeholder relationships within your team and also around you within the organisation. #2. Instead of focusing on solutions, we need to get back to basics and look at what the problem is. What are we trying to solve for? Because if we jump into solution mode, that’s not going to help anybody. We’re not actually thinking about what the end customer is needing, and we probably missed some critical aspects that need to be considered. So always make sure to look at the problem and then what solutions can come out of it. And this comes back to the why? Why is it this way? Why is it that way? What can we do? And going to a real exploration by having this focus, you’ll have the team more engaged. You’ll have some specific targets to focus on for your demographics. For your personas, and you’ll also be able to ensure that the most creative solutions are coming together to make a difference. Now, when we’re actually talking about emerging trends, there’s all different ways to look at this. So for me, these aren’t in any particular order for the rest of them. But number 3:00 PM role. So the product manager role itself is still critical no matter what type of economy we’re. In wherever. Certain uncertain. It is critical and that’s because they are the heart and soul of making sure things are going on track and growing, and there’s there’s been, unfortunately a huge amount of layoffs of recent days, weeks and months. But. A product is needed. Product managers are specifically needed and they should be in demand. If you build the right products and features, your customers will be happy. They’ll want to be with you, and most importantly, you’re building up the business goals, targets, financial, weather there. Making money or if they’re making engagement wherever it is. That’s what their job is there for. So you’ve got it’s a bit silly if you getting rid of all your product managers cause they’re people focused on this and making sure the goals are happening. Now according to the product school future of product management report, 43% of companies are hiring more PM’s and 26% of PM’s are planning to leave their job within the. Next 12 months. Eric managers are in high demand now. This is mostly stats related to the US, but it just. Shows that they. Are definitely a needed resource and you want to find a quality one that fits your business as well. Next one on our list, #4 getting product management systems and processes in place. Is it’s a must. You can’t miss it. So this is making sure that your proof management systems and your processes. Are as good as they can get to ensure that you’re going to be under satisfy what you need to do. The 2022 Product Excellence report reveals that confidence is currently quite low in product management systems and processes, so it’s a huge area of improvement, so you should be taking a look at what you currently have and. How you can? Improve and seeing what’s out there that suits your type of Rd, maps, products, services and designs. Only 12% of the 1400 plus respondents were satisfied with the approach insights that they capture. So this means that people out there and businesses are not listening to their customers enough to be able to build. So that’s where you’ve got to go back to your road map and actually find out how you can make more insightful decisions with your limited budget. By listening to your customers, you’re going to make things more relevant, and that’s where the product managers come in to make sure that happens for you with the team. Whether you’re an individual contributor or the actual product lead now is the time to be systematic and to capture and act on the product feedback and insights that you’re getting. Defining the strategies and also the approach to prioritise, that’s what we refer to as backlog to ensure that you have whatever you need in the backlog in the right order and bring it forward. As well and. You want to make sure that your team, if you’re the PM themselves. Is aligned to all the ceremonies that are happening. Now the next one on the list here is per team prioritisation of the hybrid collaboration. Now everything has changed. We’re not all going into work. We’re not all staying at home. There’s generally a mix of both happening in many organisations, so that’s where we need to be more fluid in how we do ceremonies and. How we interact because we want to ensure that one that healthy balance is maintained, but two that we’re collaborating in a creative way. Working together is to build relationships and that’s where the PM comes in to build that trusted relationship throughout the team and the greater business. And they do as well making people feel comfortable by asking questions, interrupting and making constructive criticism. So you want to be able to build that within your teams. And that’s where the PM is strong. They’re the stakeholder management tool that will bring all that together. Now they want to be able to bring in an open forum so that anyone can speak up, and that means you’re gonna get the best out of. The team possible. Whether it’s in the office or at home, that’s where the structure of good meetings and other types of ceremonies comes to place. The next one here. Overcoming lack of clarity around prohibition and strategy. Fluffy words don’t help a team. So the number one challenge that needs to be overcome from 2022. That’s come forward through 2023 is to make sure you set a clear pro vision and strategy. Ensure that you capture things like the pain points for by the by the customers, the internal stakeholders, so that all the contributors and and anybody else within the team. You want to ensure that you have this clarity within everyone so that you build this. Great product around these great people to to make the vision happen. As the product manager, the PM. It’s their job to sit and communicate this clear such strategy. It’s a hugely important job. And there needs to be regular check-ins with the team to ensure that everyone’s on that same page and going towards that same goal. It’s very often that team members can get confused, particularly if we end up doing a pivot. Pivots are very common, depending on the market conditions or practise or even consumer changes, so it’s important to have check regular check-ins with the. And to also differentiate your own product from competitors so that your team understands its difference and its strengths. This will help with building that strong portfolio and bringing back to the business and having that key targeted customer to aim for. So again, clarity of the vision and the strategy of the product. The PM during this time also needs to ensure that there is a fresh. Customer centric view. Now customer centric. It’s all about what problem are you solving for those customers, whether it’s a cohort and individual or a giant group, you’ve got to make sure that what you’re doing is going to. Resonate. And that it’s going to get the results that you yield? In 2023, it’s expected that a lot more product teams are going to be focusing on. Improving numbers around customer centric, so if you’re not going to do this, you’re going. To be behind the 8 ball. The project needs to have an audience, or else it’s not going to sell, so it’s important to make sure that you focus all your efforts in the right area, and that’s definitely going to be taking that customer centric view because you can be solving the right problems. And that means you’re going to have customers who want what you’ve got and we’ll probably positively talk about it and give feedback. The last one I want to talk about here is product managers focus on working smarter and more efficiently. There’s only so many hours in the day. And with less and less people in teams, potentially because of unfortunate layoffs, it means that there’s only a certain amount people can do, so it’s very important to recognise that and to then focus on what makes sense. So shifting from pure focus on growth. To actually efficiency, profitability is probably going to be better for a lot of organisations. Budgets are going to be tighter, so it needs to be more of a focus on revenue and return on investment, but that should not stop some experimentation and risk taking because AB testing and all of those things help to improve and optimise what you’ve got. And definitely research should not be at the stake. Of this, either because that’s how you know what the customers are after. It’s even more important now to create great products. This requires that product manager being really tight on what the communications and the cross collaboration is within the organisations you can’t afford to have silos. The team needs to understand the prioritisation. And the why? Because then they’ll be more passionate about what they’re doing. You’ll also need to be focused and avoid getting distracted by other requests, and that’s why a strong clear backlog and articulating what you are able and aren’t able to do will help with all those stakeholders and also managing expectations. So working smarter and more efficiently is definitely going to be a huge focus for this year for a lot of organisations, and particularly those strong product managers within them. So just a quick recap there. There’s a number of items that can definitely help you and your organisation with product management and making it better for this year. So the focusing trends are focus on problems, not solutions. Forge a membership and team alliances across the organisation. In your team and outside of it. The pen needs to be. Remain critical despite the economic uncertainty. They also need to make sure that they’re getting product systems in place to ensure that they’ve got best practises so they’re not wasting time. The team itself needs to be able to prioritise in a hybrid environment and make sure that collaboration is strong. Overcoming the lack of clarity by having a really clear vision and strategy is a must, and it needs to be continually reinforced to the team. A fresh take on customer centricity and to ensure that everyone is still looking at that. Why? For the customer. When they’re looking at the product and improving it. And the last one is. And lastly, make sure your product managers are focusing on being smarter and more efficient with limited time and resources. We have to make sure that we target the areas that can make the most improvement and opportunities. Hopefully you got something out of this to focus on for this year to improve your product management strategies. Don’t forget to follow more on marketing to hear more podcasts on interesting topics about marketing products and everything in between. More to marketing.