Productist

Business process management (BPM) is a discipline that uses various methods to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve and optimize business processes. Business process modeling is a tool that organizations use to evaluate their current processes.  The goals of modeling: to understand to illustrate  to analyze Components of modeling: activities events decisions roles information Other artifacts Common Modeling Methods: Swim Lane Flowcharts (read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swim_lane) UML Activity Diagrams (read https://www.uml-diagrams.org/activity-diagrams.html) BPMN Business Process Diagrams (read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation) Important links: Process Excellence Network- http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/articles/ iSixSigma- http://www.isixsigma.com/new-lean-six-sigma/ BPMN home site- http://www.bpmn.org/ BPMN Quick Guide- http://www.bpmnquickguide.com

As a product manager we deal with different stakeholders of the organization; like marketers, tech support guys, designers, developers, HRs, SMEs and even C-level executives. Most of our interactions aim at- Getting approval for proposals or work orders. Getting acceptance for solutions/work arounds. Requesting budget or resource availability. Resolving conflicts. In my opinion - being assertive is the key to succeed in such conversations. Assertive Communication is the art of expressing our thoughts, feelings, and opinions in a way that makes our views and needs clearly understood by others, without putting down others thoughts, feelings, or opinions. It is an effective tool for constructively resolving conflicts and achieving results. Following are some tips to communicate assertively with Stakeholders: Be clear on what you want and why you want something Quantify impact of not getting it Know all your alternative options  Be honest and direct in your communication Hold on to you...

As a product manager we aim to build a product, that meets the customer need, better than any other product in the market. We aim to not just satisfy the customer, but to delight him or her with our offerings; and while doing so we gain a competitive distance/advantage.  To maintain this competitive distance we need to monitor and analyze our competitors. This activity needs to be done religiously basis a predefined schedule and predefined format to record the findings. I have been using the below competitive analysis matrix and updating the same on a quarterly basis.  As it can be seen every row monitors a feature and compares it along the top contenders in the market. Analytical findings of this study is recorded in the last column. Product Roadmap can be updated accordingly. Conclusion:  Product Manager needs to be aware that the same activity of 'competitive analysis' is being done by the Product Managers of the contender products too. Thus, it is important to build '...

The time frame, from a product’s introduction to the market; to its exit, is broken down into four stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. Product Manager plays an important role, in successfully driving the product through these stages. Introduction Stage: In this stage substantial investment is made by the organization in advertising and marketing. As a Product Manager we must help the Marketing team with positioning & pricing of the product, preparing benefit tree and an aligned communication plan. We might also spend some time in training presales team; preparing them for client demos. After successful launching the product; a gradual rise in its sales curve can be seen.  Growth Stage: In this stage more and more 'new' customers become aware of the product and try it. 'Satisfied' customers will repurchase it. Organization must focus on process optimization and automation to serve this increasing inflow of customers. As a Product Manager we must buil...

Hiring the right people; is crucial, for the success of the product. Remember!! it is our product and the team building it; is OUR team. It starts with foreseeing and defining roles that you will need for building the product. Lets take an example of a Software Product. We will need, Architects, Developers, Testers, DevOps, SMEs, etc. Next comes; what I call is the ‘core’ activity in hiring process i.e. writing detailed Job Description . This not just helps the talent acquisition team in sourcing the right candidate but also helps the candidate in knowing what he or she can expect. This Job Description also helps in identifying internal resource suitable for our product team. Next crucial activity as a product manager we must do is - Interview every candidate before he joins the product team . This will give us a chance to explain what challenge we are intending to solve and evaluate if the candidate is interested in it. Because, relationship is a two way process! Building the product...

 'Product Manager's ambition and interest' VS 'Product Vision' It is important!! that Product Manager's ambition and interest is in-line with the Vision of the Product. He or she should 'really' feel the need to solve the problem.. The same problem that the product intends to solve. It becomes so much fun - when it gets personal!! Yes, once it gets personal our product is always in our mind. Thoughts of building, testing, improvising our Product will never fade.  We will start investing time on self-learning; just to ensure we are able to solve the problem better than anyone else. Our product becomes our purpose and we live to see the future; where - our product is in use and SOLVING THAT PROBLEM.