I was having a conversation with an old friend the other night. She is now running a software company. Since I am looking at new opportunities, I asked her what she thought of her product management/marketing – did she have them? Was she happy with results?
As I half-expected, her response was “I wish we had either here. But, I can’t make the investment right now.” I wanted to reach the phone, grab her neck, and shake her silly. Why not? “We don’t have the discipline set up to see the benefits.” You can only imagine how hard I would shake her if I could. Time to wake up!
As a thread in Twitter discussed, the need for product management, to discover the market problems, and product marketing, to understand and communicate with that market, is critical for success. Even more so when a company is in early stages in their development or entry into a market.
A strong product management and product marketing discipline will only help you acheive success faster. Every professional in these fields can spend hours and days sharing the stories of failure when you have not prepared properly.
The rule is simple – know the market, learn their problems, build a solution to solve their problems, speak with them back in a way that lets them know you understand, help them see why your product solves their problems, guide them to why your solution is the best available. And, it helps if you price it a point that makes them want to pay.
Looking in from the outside, you can’t say it more simply than that. If you don’t make the investment up front, be prepared for the clean-up on the back-end. And, last I checked, rework always takes more time, more effort and is more expensive than getting the information nailed the first time.
