Software Product Management

Dr. Christof Ebert

Vector Consulting Services
It’s easy to confuse the disciplines of project manager and product manager. Simply put, the development of the product or
service falls to the project manager, while the market success of software and system products depends on the skills and com-
petence of the product manager. This article provides an overview of software product management and the role of a prod-
uct manager, and describes concrete practices that can boost an organization’s software product management and thus the suc-

I
cess rate of products in terms of predictability, quality, and efficiency.
magine loggers in a forest. They work ily improved by means of CMMI®. strategy definition, product marketing,
hard and cut tree after tree. It is a huge Today, there are a lot of exciting results and product development.
physical effort and their foreman drives from optimizing projects in terms of Often, the roles of product manag-
them hard to stay on schedule. He wants cost and cycle time [1, 2]. However, the er, project manager, and marketing
to cut a certain number of trees per day software product management respon- manager are unclear in their distinct
and provides the workers with all they sibility and underlying processes remain responsibilities. To successfully define,
need to achieve this objective. Suddenly vague. I often see product definition, engineer, produce, and deliver a prod-
the client shouts, “you cut down the road mapping, and marketing decou- uct, these three roles need to be clari-
wrong trees!” Despite all the hard work of pled from the engineering project-relat- fied [3, 4, 5]. Figure 1 provides an
the foreman and his team, they did not ed processes, which creates deficiencies overview of an archetypical product life
manage to deliver the intended customer and overheads such as heavy changes in cycle and shows how different projects
expectation. Sound familiar? Indeed, this requirements and missed market oppor- integrate towards an end-to-end view of
is what I’ve observed with many software tunities. It is like the loggers: The pro- the product. It highlights the differ-
products. Organizations are pushed to the ject runs well, but with the wrong ences between managing a project and
extreme to be ever more efficient and cre- results. managing a product. The project is a
ate products at a low cost, but when it hits While an organization can embark temporary endeavor undertaken to cre-
the market and sales are lower than on the general principles of product ate a product. The project manager
expected or customers demand several management [3], not much specific focuses on delivering one specific prod-
changes during the development process, guidance is available for software prod- uct or release while meeting time, bud-
margins are dramatically reduced from uct management. This article will pro- get, and quality requirements. The
initial targets. vide a small introduction and tutorial product manager looks to the overall
Successful product management on software product management. market success and evolution of this
means delivering the right products at product together with its subsequent
the right time for the right markets. releases, related services, etc.
Naturally, the success of a product To clearly assign responsibilities,
What Is Software Product
depends on many factors and stake- Management? there should be three distinct manager-
holders. However, it makes a big differ- Product management is the discipline ial roles:
ence when a person is empowered to and business process governing a prod- • The product manager leads and
manage a product from inception to uct from its inception to the market or manages one or several products
market and evolution—and the same customer delivery and service in order from inception to phase-out in
person is held accountable for the to generate the largest possible value to order to maximize business value.
results. This is the product manager. a business. A product is a deliverable They work with marketing, sales,
At Vector Consulting Services, we that has a value and provides an experi- engineering, finance, quality, manu-
have learned from experience with many ence to its users. It can be a combina- facturing, and installation to make
clients in different industries that success tion of systems, solutions, materials, the products a business success [3].
comes from anticipating and meeting the and services delivered. Product man- They have business responsibility
customer’s needs together with being on agement provides leadership to activi- beyond the single project. They
time and on budget. Technical product ties such as portfolio management, determine what to make and how to
development—such as for automotive Figure 1: Software Product Management Spans the Entire Product Life Cycle
components, communication solutions,
defense systems, or IT infrastructure— Research Project Development Project Service Project
traditionally focuses on the project per-
spective and operationally executing a set
of given constraints within the triangle of
content, budget, and time. Often, it
Market Entry
y
becomes clear too late that customer
Strategy Conceptt Evolution
Development
needs were different from what is built.
Project execution can be rather eas-
®
The CMMI is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Product Management Scope
Office by Carnegie Mellon University. (end-to-end, value-driven, portfolio of projects, releases and services)

January 2009 www.stsc.hill.af.mil 15

 Engineering for Production

It would be fatalistic to just take it for

granted that requirements changes will
always cause delays or that business
Vague product vision
and strategy
Conflicts of interest; cases are always wrong. Rather, an
commitments not
empowered product manager acting
like an embedded CEO (and held
Key stakeholders maintained

accountable for results) will try to fix

not integrated
- Rework
internal problems and adjust to external
Unexpected

constraints and needs—similar to a

dependencies
between components

CEO who cannot simply excuse low

Unknown project Wrong Delays,
dependencies
performance with bad circumstances.
content overruns
Unclear
Having worked with different compa-
cost/benefit

nies in a variety of industries on soft-

Business case Scope

ware product management, we empha-

not evaluated creep

size what we call the 4+1 best practices

Incoherent set
of features

Needs not to optimize product management.

understood
4+1 Product Management
Upstream Root Causes Early Project Symptoms Tangible Problems Best Practices
Four software product management
Figure 2: The Results of Insufficient Product Management
best practices will improve the situa-
produce it, and are accountable for This not only stimulates motivation, tion, if used together. These techniques
business success within an entire but also facilitates yfaster and more have been found to reliably improve
Life-Cycle

Market Entry
portfolio. They approve theConcept roadmap t effective decision making in a company project performance. A “+1” practice is
Phase

Strategy Evolution
and content and determine what and [2, 3]. Development added to highlight the need for person-
how to innovate, and are responsible Over the years, Vector Consulting al competence growth.
for the entire value chain of a prod- Services has investigated root causes of
uct following the life cycle, asking: such insufficient product management Service,
WhatPortfolio
do we keep, what do we evolve, and its impacts on hundreds Often,
of techni-Partner, Sales different stakeholders have un-
1. Install an Effective Core Team
SWOT*/
Product Management

aligned agendas that make the project

Business Phase/Gate Supplier Marketing
and what do we stop?Case cal products with different origins,Management
Process Management Planning

• The project manager determines development paces, and sizes [1, 4]. late and cause lots of overhead and
Analysis

howPositioning
to best execute a and
project orProject Figure 2 Engineering
provides an exampleProduct of how rework. The first thing to do is formal-
Processes

contract. They ensure that the spe- product management failures causeManagement ly create a core team with the product,
Product Customer
and Value Technology Relationship

cific project is executed as defined rework, scope creep, and delays. marketing, project, and operations
Management Management Launch
Proposition Roadmapping

and Strategic
are accountable Voicefor
of business Insufficient product management managers for each product (release) and
Service and typi- Marketing
andPlanning
customerand success within a con- cally
and lacks vision, has an unclear
Support market make them fully accountable for the
Product
Risk

tract project. They manage the pro- and business understanding, success of a product. These people rep-
and does-Optimization
Customer Definition Mix
Management
Management Understanding Requirement Management

ject plan and its execution and ask: n’t involve the right stakeholders (see resent not only the major internal stake-
How do we get all of this accom- the left side of Figure 2). This leads to holders in product or solution develop-
plished? initial symptoms such as a conflict of ment, but also sufficiently represent
Competencies

Economic
• The marketing manager and determines interest on priorities Behaviors different external perspectives. The
and contents andNegotiation
Innovation Communication,
Strategy Marketing Thinking and

how to sell a product or service in incomplete requirements. From here, core team leads the product develop-
Change

order to create a customer experi- it’s aSelf- vicious circle Technology ment in all its different dimensions.
with changes that Maturity/
ence.Leadership
They are accountable for mar- necessitate
Management rework, Understanding
which in turn caus- They typically meet once a week to dis-
Teamwork,
Accountability/
ket and customer success and have a es delays, which in turn causes scope cuss all open issues, risks, and relevant
Collaboration
Trust

profound understanding of cus- creep—and so on. Poor product man- aspects of the product. Decisions are
tomer needs, market trends, sales agement causes insufficient project taken and implemented by the respec-
* SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

perspectives, and competitors. The planning, continuous changes in the tive function. I suggest announcing and
marketing manager communicates requirements and project scope, config- making this core team operational as
the value proposition to sales and uration problems, and defects. The early as possible in the product life
customers, drives the sales plan and obvious (yet late) symptoms are more cycle, but certainly when the product or
execution, and asks: What markets delays and overall customer dissatisfac- release is defined. The success factor is
will we address? tion due to not keeping commitments to give this core team a clear mandate
One might argue that in many orga- or not getting the product they expect to own the project. I have observed that
nizations, one or several of these roles (the right side of Figure 2). Being late the most need for active support is in
are laid out differently and might simply with a product in its market has imme- the building of an effective core team
be coordinating based on directions diate and tremendous business impacts that agrees that they have to steer the
received from management. While this [6, 7, 8]. In the contract business, this course together. Too often, we face silo
has certainly been observed, such orga- often means penalties and, in practical- organizations in marketing, where
nizations often encounter interface and ly all markets, it reduces customer loyal- product management and engineering
responsibility battles and have a lack of ty and overall sales returns. don’t work together. In many cases, this
ownership as a result. These three roles The tangible problems can’t be fixed means the necessity is not only to build
are necessary and need to be empow- by pushing a button; instead, the teams, but also to train and coach
ered—and held accountable for results. upstream root causes need to be fixed. employees and to adjust annual targets

16 CROSSTALK The Journal of Defense Software Engineering January 2009

 Software Product Management

and performance management. As we ments will continuously change. A the value they contribute with such links
often realize, culture changes when tar- product (release) must address a need to requirements. Following these direc-
gets are adjusted. and must have a strong business vision. tions allows an organization to both
This vision (i.e., what will be different focus on what matters and monitor the
with the release of the product) must earned value of the project from begin-
Like the core teams, making a standard- be coined into a sellable story. The ning to end, as well as proactively manage
2. Enforce the Product Life Cycle

ized product life cycle mandatory for all story then translates to business objec- risks, such as effort being burned without
product releases (i.e., all engineering tives and major requirements. Good creating value. Also note that your
projects) is essential. Most companies product management first understands change management needs to be both
today have such a life cycle defined, but the customer’s needs and business case, formal and disciplined, because most
rarely use it as the pivotal tool to derive and then develops the necessary fea- issues I’ve seen in troubled projects result
and implement shared and committed tures. Requirements are a contract from creeping requirements and insuffi-
decisions. Too often, requirements mechanism for the project internally cient impact analysis. To ease change
changes are agreed on in sales meetings and often for a client externally. They management, install traceability from
without checking feasibility, and techni- must be documented in a structured requirements upwards to the business
cal decisions are made without consid- and disciplined way, allowing both tech- case and downwards to test cases.
ering business case and downstream nical as well as market and business
impacts. A useful product life cycle has judgment. Their evaluation should
to acknowledge that requirements may specifically look to completeness, con- Managing release roadmaps—and their
4. Assure a Dependable Portfolio

never be complete and may indeed be own portfolio as a mix of resources, pro-
in a continuum state. The product life jects, and services—must be the focus of
cycle should guide with clear criteria each product manager. Often, roadmaps
(i.e., determining what is good enough “Too often, requirements are not worth the paper they are printed
or stable enough). This implies that it is changes are agreed on due to continuous changes that result
sufficiently flexible to handle different in a lack of buy-in from sales, operations,
types of projects and constraints. This on in sales and service. Projects are started ad-hoc,
is achieved with basic tailoring tech- while necessary reviews and clean-ups in
niques and guidance as to which ele- meetings without portfolios rarely happen. With moving tar-
ments are mandatory and which should gets, sales has no guidance on how to
be adjusted to the specific environment. checking feasibility, influence clients, and engineering decides
To foster discipline and visibility, the on its own which technologies to imple-
mandatory elements of gate reviews and technical decisions ment with what resources. The product
(such as checklists or minutes) must be manager has to show leadership and
explicit and auditable. To reduce over- are made ensure dependable plans and decisions that
heads, I recommend using online work- are effectively executed. Dependable
flow management, which operationally without considering means that agreed milestones, contents, or
embeds tools and measurements in the quality targets are maintained as commit-
product life cycle. Ease of execution business case and ted unless a change is agreed on and doc-
with such workflow automation will umented. Be aware that, as a product man-
facilitate reuse, data quality, and consis- downstream impacts.” ager, each ad-hoc content or release
tency. With the current abundance of change will create the perception that your
workflow management systems, I sug- portfolio is not managed well. Apply ade-
gest evaluating potential solutions ver- sistency, and understandability. Ask a quate risk management techniques to
sus your own needs to simplify the tester to write a test case before process- make your portfolio and commitments
process. ing the requirement. Ask the marketing dependable; as you may find, projects may
manager to check whether he or she can need more resources, suppliers could
sell the feature as described; this avoids deliver late, or technology won’t work as
unrealistic or overly complex feature lists expected. For instance, platform compo-
3. Evaluate Needs and

Requirements must be understood and that don’t address real needs. Require- nents used by several products might use
Requirements

evaluated by the entire core team to ments should not be overly detailed or resource buffers, while application devel-
ensure that different perspectives are there is a risk of paralysis by analysis; deter- opment applies the time-boxing tech-
considered. Each single requirement mine what is good enough and ensure nique. If there is a change to committed
must be justified to support the busi- that any further insight is adequately con- milestones or contents within the portfo-
ness case and to allow management of sidered. After evaluation, requirements lio, it must be approved first by the core
changes and priorities. With our clients, are approved by the core team. Only team and, where necessary, by respective
we often found requirements simply thereafter are the requirements formally steering boards and then documented and
being collected, yielding lots of unneces- allocated to the project, and the engineer- communicated with rationales.
sary features that added to complexi- ing effort is spent. Requirements and
ty—but not to customer-perceived business objectives must be managed
value. In fact, almost half of all deliv- (planned, prioritized, agreed, monitored)
The “+1”: Evolve Your Product

ered features are rarely used and do not throughout the life cycle to assure focus Just having these four software man-
Management

provide any payback [1, 7]. If a product [7, 8]: Have a project plan that is directly agement practices distilled and process-
is developed on such an unjustified linked with the requirements. Work pack- es agreed upon is not sufficient in order
basis, it is in trouble because its require- ages within this project plan should show to improve the product management

January 2009 www.stsc.hill.af.mil 17

Engineering for Production

culture. Often, I’ve seen organizations responsible for, or is at least heavily 3. Be enthusiastic about your product.
where product managers complain involved with. Finally, what is derived 4. Have a profound understanding of
about a lack of empowerment and from these processes (shown on the your markets, customers, and portfo-
remain in an observer role. The truth is bottom of the figure) are the compe- lio.
that they simply don’t have the right tency needs of an organization’s prod- 5. Measure your contribution on sales
competencies to be empowered as a uct management. While there are over- (top-line) and profits (bottom-line).
mini-business owner; this leads to the laps across companies, focus areas dif- 6. Periodically check assumptions such
wrong people in wrong positions. To fer (e.g., a software service provider has as business cases.
achieve a true culture change, I strongly different focus areas in this framework 7. Take risks and manage them.
8. Foster teamwork based on Lean
Research Project Development Project Service Project

recommend competence building for all than an automotive supplier).

product managers across an organiza- This being done, we can get back to processes.
tion. This means change management organizational change management and 9. Insist on discipline and keeping
commitments.
Market Entry
y
and closely
Strategyworking with product
Concept t man- working with each product manager to
Evolution
agers to help them grow. Such individu- identify their own strengths and weak-
Development 10. Be professional in communication,
alized and focused competence manage- nesses. The competencies are used as a appearance, and behavior.
Having observed hundreds of indus-
ment strengthens individual Managementbasis
product Scope to provide individualized training
managers and (end-to-end,
helps them achieve
Product
their and releases
coaching for closing gaps. With try projects from domains such as small
missions. The equation is simple: good change management and coaching, software applications and services,
value-driven, portfolio of projects, and services)

Competence and leadership enforced I’ve observed a strong motivational embedded systems to large communica-
tion and IT systems, I strongly suggest
from the bottom up in each project push, and have seen (during the compe-
applying the four software product man-
yields better products, which grows tency evolution process) the product
agement practices in parallel; they
motivation and improves the overall management community starting to take
depend on each other. Their combined
performance. shape: Incumbents had a role model use will significantly reduce delays and
Vague product vision

Our software product management Conflicts of interest; (who had been actively trained); an
and strategy

thus improve market performance.

framework was shaped by working with increasing number of product managers These four practices are applicable in
commitments not

hundreds of product managers world- became interested in working more

maintained

different organizations and industries.

Key stakeholders

wide in different industriesUnexpected [4, 5]. - methodologically, primarily because they

not integrated

They are tangible and can be formally

Rework

Figure 3 shows the product manage-

components saw the success of other business units introduced to projects during the launch
dependencies

ment framework in a simplified format. and colleagues

Wrong who Delays,had already started period, thus reducing the impact change
between
Unknown project

The top shows a product life cycle Unclear as implementing the necessary changes [4]. and allowing an organization to see the
dependencies
content overruns

most companies today have it cost/benefit formally Product managers often ask what growing benefits early in their projects.
up andBusiness
running.case Processes are derived they can do toScope deliver better results.
from best practices and underline Incoherentthe Here are 10 ways to personally grow as
not evaluated creep

formal content of product ofmanage- a product manager:

The Business Value
Does better software product manage-
set
features

ment inNeedsan notorganization. The middle 1. Behave like an embedded CEO. ment mean better business perfor-
section understood
of the figure shows the typical 2. Drive your strategy and portfolio mance? At Vector Consulting Services,
processes thatCauses
a product manager is from market
Tangibleand customer value. we have performed a root cause analysis
of hundreds of products that underper-
Upstream Root Early Project Symptoms Problems
Figure 3: The Software Product Management Framework formed and found similar causes reap-
pearing. Root causes included business
cases that were never re-evaluated,
Life-Cycle

unbalanced portfolios that strangulate

Market Entry
y
Phase

Strategy Conceptt Evolution

Development new products, insufficient management
of new releases and service efforts, and
a lack of vision causing requirements to
continuously change. This is underlined
by observations such as in [6], which
SWOT*/ Service,
Product Management

Business Phase/Gate Supplier Marketing

indicates that the top 20 percent of

Portfolio Partner, Sales
Case Process Management Planning
Analysis Management

enterprises deliver 79 percent of new

Processes

products on-time, while the average

Positioning Product and Customer

enterprise delivers only 51 percent of

Project Engineering Product
and Value Technology Relationship
Management Management Launch

on-time projects. The same holds true

Proposition Roadmapping Management

for efficiency: We found that with a

Strategic Voice of Product Service and Marketing

requirements change rate beyond 20

Risk
Planning and Customer Definition and Support Mix
Management

percent in a project, productivity falls,

Management Understanding Requirement Management Optimization

and as such, business performance [1].

Improved product management has
Competencies

Economic

a profound positive impact on overall

Innovation Communication,
Strategy Marketing Thinking and

business. For instance, strengthening the

and Change Negotiation
Behaviors

Maturity/ product management role at Alcatel-

Lucent showed that duration (time to
Teamwork, Self- Technology
Leadership Accountability/

market), schedule adherence, and han-

Collaboration Management Understanding
Trust

* SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats dover quality all improved in a sustain-

18 CROSSTALK The Journal of Defense Software Engineering January 2009

 Software Product Management

able way. We have been working with Springer, 2007.

hundreds of product managers and 2. Reifer, Donald J. “Profiles of Level 5
achieved a 20 percent per year reduction CMMI Organizations.” CrossTalk
of delays [1, 4]. Explanatory factors for Jan. 2007.
this positive impact of product manage- 3. Gorchels, Linda. The Product Mana- Get Your Free Subscription
ment include leadership and teamwork, ger’s Handbook: The Complete Prod-
managing risks and uncertainty, master- uct Management Resource. 3rd ed. Fill out and send us this form.
ing stakeholder needs, and accountabili- New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
ty towards agreed business objectives— 4. Ebert, Christof. “The Impacts of 517 SMXS/MXDEA
managed by one empowered person Software Product Management.” The 6022 Fir Ave
across the product life cycle. Journal of Systems and Software. Vol. Bldg 1238
80, Issue 6: 850-861, June 2007. Hill AFB, UT 84056-5820
Conclusions 5. IWSPM. Proc. from the International Fax: (801) 777-8069 DSN: 777-8069
Using the 4+1 method means more own- Workshops on Software Product Man-
ership, leadership, and motivation in prod- agement. 12 Sept. 2006, Minneapolis,
Phone: (801) 775-5555 DSN: 775-5555

uct development teams and at their inter- and 9 Sept. 2008, Barcelona, Spain.
faces. Each of the practices can be applied
Or request online at www.stsc.hill.af.mil
6. Cooper, Roger G., et al. “Benchmark-
within a single product line if a company ing Best NPD Practices.” Research- NAME:________________________________________________________________________
is not yet prepared to introduce them
Technology Management. Part I: Jan.
across all product lines. The practices and
2004: 31; Part II: May 2004: 43; Part RANK/GRADE:_____________________________________________________
overall product management framework
can be gradually introduced to product III: Nov. 2004: 43.
lines or business units, thus reducing the 7. Davis, Alan Mark. Just Enough Re- POSITION/TITLE:__________________________________________________
change impact. Practitioners in engineer- quirements Management. New York:
ing, product management, and marketing Dorset House, 2005.
8. Karlsson, Lena, et al. Challenges in ORGANIZATION:_____________________________________________________
accept these practices because they yield
concrete performance improvement and Market-Driven Requirements Engi-
stimulate empowered project teams. neering – An Industrial Interview ADDRESS:________________________________________________________________
Growing an organization’s product Study. Proc. of 8th International
management discipline requires good Workshop on Requirements Engineer- ________________________________________________________________
change management to achieve a culture ing: Foundations for Software Quality.
where these practices are used and imple- Essen, Germany: 37-49. 9-10 Sept. BASE/CITY:____________________________________________________________
mented by teams across the organization, 2002 <www.tts.lth.se/Personal/bjor
supported by their management, and com- nr/Papers/REFSQ02.pdf>.
STATE:___________________________ZIP:___________________________________
municated openly to resolve conflicts.
For improved software production and About the Author
market success, product management is PHONE:(_____)_______________________________________________________
here to stay. It is not a proxy to arbitrate a Christof Ebert, Ph.D.,
variety of conflicting interests, but rather a is managing director and FAX:(_____)_____________________________________________________________
key business role in an entire company partner at Vector Con-
that is empowered to act as a business sulting Services. He is E-MAIL:__________________________________________________________________
owner. It provides the basis for success or helping clients worldwide
failure in the product’s development. Or, to improve technical CHECK BOX(ES) TO REQUEST BACK ISSUES:
using our initial analogy: If you do not
product development and to manage AUG2007 c STORIES OF CHANGE
know which direction to take in cutting
the trees, don’t simply start just to show organizational changes. Prior to working SEPT2007 c SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCH.
progress. Real progress is what creates a at Vector, he held engineering and man-
OCT2007 c SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
lasting user experience, and this is defined agement positions for more than a
decade in telecommunication, IT, and NOV2007 c WORKING AS A TEAM
from a product perspective—not ad-hoc
during project work in a shouting con- transportation. As a business consultant, DEC2007 c SOFTWARE SUSTAINMENT
test.◆ author of several books, lecturer at the FEB2008 c SMALL PROJECTS, BIG ISSUES
University of Stuttgart, and public MAR2008 c THE BEGINNING
speaker, he has influenced numerous
APR2008 c PROJECT TRACKING
Acknowledgement
This article is based on evolving the companies with his results-driven contri-
product manager competence in differ- butions. MAY2008 c LEAN PRINCIPLES
ent companies worldwide. The 4+1 best SEPT2008 c APPLICATION SECURITY
practices had been fine-tuned during OCT2008 c FAULT-TOLERANT SYSTEMS
many discussions at the International
Vector Consulting Services

Workshop on Software Product Man- NOV2008 c INTEROPERABILITY

Ingersheimer Straße 24

agement (IWSPM) series. DEC2008 c DATA AND DATA MGMT.

D-70499 Stuttgart
Germany
References Phone: +49-711-80670-0 To request back issues on topics not
1. Ebert, Christof, and Reiner Dumke. E-mail: christof.ebert@ listed above, please contact <stsc.
Software Measurement. New York: vector-consulting.de [email protected]> .

January 2009 www.stsc.hill.af.mil 19