Process of product management

[prachi-chawla-00503722 (Prachi Chawla)]

The process of Product Management is ever-evolving and on can never agree on a rigid process, but there are a few broad steps which are agreed upon in the industry.

Identifying the issue
Identifying a high-value customer pain problem is the first step. Following that, individuals or groups attempt to do anything but are unable to. If they can, it’s either prohibitively expensive, time-consuming, resource-intensive, inefficient, or simply unpleasant.

What’s currently accessible isn’t quite cutting it when it comes to transporting a person or item from point A to point B, finding the appropriate gift, reaching the proper audience, keeping people entertained, or any other goal. People desire something better or something that they do not have.

These abstract complaints, needs, and wishes are turned into a problem statement in search of a solution by product management. The spark and impetus for all that follows comes from resolving that problem and alleviating that agony.
There’s little chance that the product will take momentum or stick around without a clearly specified aim that explicitly addresses that pain issue.

Calculating the potential
There are a lot of problems and issues out there, but not all of them are worth fixing. This is when product managers switch from a customer-centric to a business-oriented mindset.
Product management must be able to answer the following questions and establish a business case based on the answers they uncover in order to justify investment in developing a new product or solution:

• Total Addressable Market
• is the pain point serious enough that an alternative solution is required
• are people willing to pay for that alternative solution
  After product management has assessed the prospective market, they may move forward with attempting to address it if it is substantial enough.
  Investigating possible solutions
  Product management may now completely study how they could tackle consumer challenges and pain points now that they have a target in mind. They should cast a wide net of potential answers rather than dismissing anything too early. Assume the firm already has some exclusive technology, intellectual property, or a specific area of expertise that gives it an advantage. In such scenario, those possible solutions will very certainly make use of it.
  Skipping this phase and diving immediately into the construction process might result in a catastrophic defect or significant delays. While there are no certainties, receiving confirmation from potential consumers that the concept is something they’ll desire, utilize, and pay for is a crucial step in attaining product-market fit.

Creating an MVP:
It’s time to engage the product development team in earnest after evaluating a solution’s attractiveness and practicality. The team should first identify the bare minimal set of functionalities, after which they can construct a working version of the product that can be field-tested with real users.
In collaboration with product marketing, MVPs may evaluate both how the product functions and the overall message and positioning of the value proposition. The key is determining whether or if this embryonic product is something that the market needs and if it fits their primary criteria properly.

Creating a loop of feedback:
While consumer input is important at all stages of a product’s life cycle, there is no point when it is more necessary than at the MVP launch. Customers are reacting to an actual product experience, not just theoretical notions flung out in a chat, thus this is where the product management team can understand what they genuinely believe, need, and detest.
Product managers must make it simple for consumers to submit feedback by providing regular prompts. They must also evaluate, synthesize, and react to this feedback, transforming it into actionable ideas that make their way onto the product roadmap or backlog.

Not to mention, product management must design a strategy for completing the loop with consumers, ensuring that their complaints and recommendations are acknowledged and, if appropriate, addressed.

Developing a strategy
If the MVP is well received, it’s time to devote more resources to developing a product strategy. Goals and objectives must be developed to enhance the product, get it to market, grow its reach, and fit with the overall corporate strategy and intended results now that the team understands they’re on to something.

The approach should be built on making acceptable, incremental progress toward attainable goals, with key performance indicators and other measures in place to measure success. These metrics should be aligned with the organization’s overall goals and compliment what the firm already does well (assuming it isn’t a startup).
The strategy is where product management must obtain stakeholder alignment and buy-in more than anything else. If there isn’t a clear, shared knowledge of this crucial aspect of the product, the basis for future conflicts and arguments has already been created.

Taking the lead on execution
It’s time to get to work converting ideas into reality with a feasible product concept, a scalable feedback management system, and a good strategy. This entails prioritising prospective development items and charting the product’s development path.
Product management may use a variety of prioritisation frameworks to determine which development activities will assist the product fulfil its most critical goals as soon and effectively as possible, setting the stage for near-term work. Of course, nothing can be first, so making these selections based on which items have the biggest influence on vital objectives, with input from all levels of the company, is critical. Product management may then flesh up their product roadmap once the first priorities have been established. This useful tool helps stakeholders see what’s coming up next and why it matters to the strategy, especially if it’s organized around themes and goals rather than specific features and delivery dates.