Answer from Mara Krieps of Pivotal Product Management: This is a great question, and solving this problem will give you an excellent opportunity to demonstrate strategic planning and cross-team leadership.

Here’s how to start:

Before you can convince executives to invest in delivering on your product requirements, you have to have the bigger picture clearly in mind, find the common opportunities, and present a business case that shows how the company will benefit.

• First, get the bigger picture clearly in mind. Do your homework to understand the current strategy at the company level, as well as at the product portfolio level. You will need to tie your own product strategy to these higher-level strategies in order to convince executives to follow your recommendations. It may take some digging, so work with your manager and fellow product managers to identify and map out the strategy at each level.
• Find the common opportunities across the product portfolio. Know what your product line has in common with the company’s other products, in terms of target customer segments, highest-priority customer requirements, greatest competitive threats and most compelling product development opportunities. Where are the common needs and opportunities between your product line and others in the portfolio? Your challenge is to convince executives and other managers “what’s in it for them” by showing the common opportunities and why they are important.
• Develop a business case that shows why the company should invest in your ideas. If you’ve identified opportunities that benefit not only your product line but others as well, most likely your business case will show greater opportunity than investment in any one product. Collaborating on a business case with other product managers also can create a “win-win” situation for multiple products, and shows your ability to lead a cross-functional effort, which is good for your longer-term career growth.

Good luck in your product planning!

I’ve been hired by a software company to be their first Product Manager. There is no product manager today, and each part of the job is done either by engineers, sales, marketing, QA, etc.

What would be the first steps to establish the product manager role within the company and bring value while learning products and context?

Answer from Mara Krieps of Pivotal Product Management: Congratulations on being selected to launch the product manager role in a company! This is one of the most challenging (and sometimes risky) assignments a product manager can have, and yet it can be one of the most rewarding. Here are my recommendations for what to do during your first weeks in the role:

1. Get a clear picture of the stakeholder landscape. Meet one-on-one with all known and potential stakeholders. Your goal is to answer these questions:
   1. Who understands the role of a product manager?
   2. Who currently holds some or all product manager responsibilities?
   3. Who is in favor of this change, and who is not? (Who sees this change as a gain vs. loss for themselves or their department?)

   Based on the responses you receive, it can be helpful to draw a “map” of the stakeholder landscape and identify your likely challenges and relationship-building opportunities.

2. Identify and prioritize the current issues around the product development process. Consider facilitating an Innovation Game like “Speedboat” with your stakeholders to identify the key issues in a non-threatening way. Include your own expected challenges in this exercise. They will include migration of product management tasks from the current owners, and getting the organization to agree to move from an ad hoc process to a predictable processes.
3. Develop a plan for the processes and tools you’ll use to get the job done.
   • Ask the team to show you the documents, models and templates they are using now
   • If your own toolbox is lacking any templates, come and get what you need from ours: www.pivotalpm.com/learn

Also, you’ve correctly identified ramp-up as an underlying task. Do get up to speed on the product, customer and market as quickly as possible. As you know, your credibility ultimately will rely on your domain expertise.

Good luck in your new role!

We have a server-based software product and we are introducing a new desktop-based product. The products have the same features, they just differ in how they are installed. Rather than the new product replacing the existing one, we want both products to continue to exist in parallel, though obviously the goal is to increase revenue overall. What are some techniques and approaches to launch the new product without it having a negative impact on our sales?

Answer from Mara Krieps of Pivotal Product Management: This is an interesting question, and it has raised a bunch of follow-up questions, such as:

• Was there any customer request for the desktop version?
• If so, what problem were they trying to solve with this solution? (e.g. non-workable pricing levels with the server product; performance issues)
• Was the goal to broaden your market with the desktop product? In other words, are there customer segments that you’re not addressing with the server product?
• Or do your competitors have a desktop version and is your win/loss analysis showing that the competitive solution is stealing market share?

Bottom line: You’re likely to cannibalize the server version, unless there is a compelling customer need that will enable you to expand market share in your current segments, or target new segments.

Given the information you’ve provided, my best advice is:

1. Get really focused on what the customer’s problem is, and what they are asking for which points towards the need for a desktop version.
2. Once you’re really clear on #1, think about the 5 Ps of marketing as follows, and then apply the strategies that make the most sense.

Product: You’ve said that the features currently are the same between the two versions. But is there any way you can differentiate the two by thinking about the “whole product” (in the Geoffrey Moore sense)? For example, are there any additional consulting services, or support or documentation, that you can offer with one version or the other? Maybe some different reports, or an enhanced reporting package for one version, as part of the product roadmap?

Pricing: Pricing could be a possible way to differentiate. You could structure pricing so that the desktop product priced best for customers who need up to X copies, with pricing on the server version that represents a lower per-user price for companies that need more licenses. Experiment with different models, and think about the level of overlap you want to create for customers in the mid-range. Also, I strongly recommend doing some price testing, either in-market or as a research study.

“Place” (Distribution): Depending how your product is distributed, you may have an opportunity to offer the desktop version via a subset of current channel partners or sales teams – or possibly through a new and different distribution channels. Thinking about this possible strategy makes me go back to the question “Did your customers ask for this, and if so, which ones, and which distribution channels currently serve them?” The answer will help point you to the best distribution strategy.

Promotion and Positioning: This brings us back to the segmentation question. Do some market segments have a stronger need for the server product and others would benefit more from the desktop version? Structure your promotional messaging and offers to make one of the two products more attractive to the most applicable segment. Also, back to the comments re: product – differentiated promotion and positioning will be easier if you can create some real differences between the two versions.

Each of these possible strategies is promising, but do make sure that you’re clear about customer needs and requests before you make your plans. Best of luck to you, and please do comment back if you have additional questions!

Related questions: How can I avoid cannibalization with a new product?