Revised and updated techniques to acheive top performance in product management
The Product Manager's Handbok takes the mystery out of this field by detailing how to integrate aspects from production and cordination to value maximization into a cohesive whole, while examining key international issues, new technologies, and the financial side of product management.
EAN: 9780071459389
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Should I buy the The Product Managers Handbook, 3E?
Great book, highly recommended for new PM's
I read this book in 2000 when I started my first job as a PM. Since then, I have re-read it a few times. Each re-read is such a pleasure as I am able to tie in my experience to more and more facets of the book that were previously unclear. The book is an industry independent, general review of the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. It lays a nice foundation for those who are new to the position by outlining business processes, internal and external interactions and organizational roles a PM can expect to have.
The book does not delve into the mechanical details of marketing: such as conducting research, performing surveys, managing channels or evaluating effectiveness. However, it does talk about which kind of product managers would benefit from certain types of marketing initiatives.
If you are new to Product Management or would like to learn more about the processes involved in managing a product's lifecycle, this book is an excellent introduction.
Provides insight into the roles & responsibilities of the product manager
This book gives a good introduction into the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. It makes no assumptions of any prior knowledge or experiences. For each chapter, it provides worksheets or process flow charts. In addition, case studies of actual events are presented. At the end of each chapter, it provides a set of checklist. Therefore I will recommend this to any reader interested to know more or making a career change.
Overall, this book provides an excellent overview of the on-goings within business processes. Below is a brief summary.
This book is divided into 4 parts. Part I gives an introduction into product management. Part II highlights the process that the product managers (PMs) can use in their annual planning activities. It provides a format or guidelines for the annual product marketing plan. Part III highlights the analytical skills of PMs, which is to evaluate existing product line and to determine & implement new product strategies. Part IV elaborates on the marketing skills necessary for a successful product line. Special attention is devoted to pricing and marketing communication decisions and activities.
Briefly, product management is about the planning, forecasting and marketing of products and services. There is a need for PMs to be cross-functional leaders. The overall responsibility of the PM is to integrate the various segments of a business into a strategically focused whole, maximizing the value of a product by coordinating the production of an offering with an understanding of the market needs and requirements. PMs manage not only products, but projects and processes as well. The PM's job is to oversee all aspects of a product/service line to create and deliver superior customer satisfaction while simultaneously providing long term value for the company.
In terms of time allocation, the PM typically spends 40-55% on day-to-day activities, 20-30% on short term activities and 15-25% on long term or strategic activities. Therefore excellent time management is crucial. Examples of day-to-day activities are maintenance of product fact books, motivation of the sales force and distributors, collection of marketing information including competitive benchmarks, trends and opportunities and customer expectations, acting as liaison between the sales, manufacturing and R&D, etc teams. Examples of short-term activities are controlling budget and achieving sales goals, participation in annual marketing plan and forecast developments, working with advertising departments or agencies to implement promotional strategies, coordinating tradeshows and conventions, participation in new product-development teams and predicting and managing competitors' actions, modification of product and/or reduction of costs to increase value, recommendation of line extensions, participation in product elimination decisions, etc. Examples of long term strategic activities are creation of long term competitive strategy, identification of new product opportunities, recommendation of product changes, enhancements and introductions, etc.
PMs need a variety of knowledge including product/industry knowledge, business knowledge and interpersonal/management knowledge. In the beginning, PMs typically spend most of the time gathering and organizing information on products, customers and their competition. Product knowledge is paramount. As they gain experience, the focus shifts to more comprehensive business knowledge, including finance, marketing and strategic planning. At the same time, they develop team building, negotiation, communication and leadership abilities. For PM to be effective, they need to build bridges throughout the company and be cross-functional leaders. For product management or marketing management, the emphasis is on being market-driven and not product-driven.
In terms of new product development, the role of the PM will be to represent the voice of the customer, balancing the corporate ROI (rate of investment), customer satisfaction and the manufacturing cost. Whereas for strategic interactions, the PM must work continuously with operations to improve and enhance production line. PMs are frequently involved with operations on cost-reduction projects.
The best guide for Product Managers
If you want to follow some steps in your decision making processes as product manager, you should have this book. Easy to understand, and to apply , this handbook brings you ideas and simple models on how to implement market analyses, marketing programs, etc.
Great for a product manager
I've been a product manager for several years. This book gave me a great foundation for my work when I was getting started.
I used it in conjuction with Profitable and Successful
This is another book that forms the trio of my reference shelf in marketing (The others Succesful Product Management & Sucessfull Product Management). Again, this book gets you in the ready-action mode you need to keep focused on what really matters of your product dynamics.
