The Head of Product Management developed a range of powerful skills and competencies resulting in higher levels of personal confidence, increased peer respect and ability to act more effectively as a general manager across a range of strategic, operational and performance challenges.

Priorities

Our client was the Head of Product Management within a global technology company. The rate of new product introduction had been accelerating for some years to maintain market competitiveness. The Division in which our client was based had grown rapidly from relatively modest beginnings and the complexity of product and price plans was putting excessive pressures on a variety of operational and service teams.

Whilst the business had enjoyed unparalleled success and growth it was only just emerging from an entrepreneurial stage typified by highly proactive people but lacking in systematic approaches. As a consequence, there had been no formal product management process in place resulting in many issues such as a lack of product retirements. The product portfolio simply continued to grow and, due to the lack of concise data about business performance, the profitability of individual products remained largely guesswork and hidden from view.

The business priorities were for a more formal programme of product management to be put into place, and that a more integrated approach was needed across the various functions involved such as sales and marketing, technology and customer service. Alongside this effort it was considered opportune to provide development for the Head of Product Management to develop her performance capabilities in this critical leadership role.

TRIMENTIS were invited to lead the development of a formal product management approach including the personal development of the head of department.

Approach

TRIMENTIS lead the implementation of our core Strategy Formulation and Performance Management Processes as the basis for the clarification of a product strategy, development of the underlying product management process and associated resources and the ongoing performance management of products in the portfolio.

To complement these activities, the Head of Product Management who was to lead and develop the cross functional teams was coached to develop her capabilities using our High Performance People Programme. The programme is based on the Core Competencies and underlying Attributes within the High Performance People Model and is initiated by a 360 Survey.

Delivered as a series of one-day tutorials interspersed with periods of practical application to develop the day job, the programme exploits action learning to build positive new skills, habits and behaviours.

Our client implemented monthly Performance Review Meetings involving all the Heads of Departments who shared accountability for the overall definition, development and delivery of products and services and ultimately for product profitability and customer satisfaction.

Results

• A formal Product Strategy was developed critically including a strategic pricing and discount structure, developed for the first time and designed to assist in the sales process and guide use of discounts which previously had been ad hoc and effectively automatic, resulting in a high sales performance but low margins.
• A set of key performance indicators was developed enabling product profitability to be tracked, resulting in products formally retired from the portfolio for the first time and significantly simplifying management and operation of the portfolio.
• Ongoing performance management was put in place, enabling a more integrated approach to product development and deployment with technology, operations and service ideas taken into account early in the process which increased ease of product introduction, with fewer product issues and faults and generally a more widely shared accountability for success.
• The Head of Product Management developed a range of powerful skills and competencies resulting in higher levels of personal confidence, increased peer respect and ability to act more effectively as a general manager across a range of strategic, operational and performance challenges.