Product Lifecycle ↗ and Product Manager Career 😎 !
Have you ever wondered how a Product life stage will affect a PM? ✅
Likewise how a PM can change the course of a Product given some autonomy? 😇
I had the opportunity to speak with amazing product managers and entrepreneurs over the weekend.
A common vibe I found listening to them was :
“Everyone wants to work on a product that is in an amazing growth phase or wants to start from scratch (100% Ownership)” 🤠
Well, there is no harm in having this set of expectations, the reality is that you have no idea what kind of a product you would be tagged in the early stage of your career.
Will this mean I have to fly blindfolded?🧘♂️
Absolutely not, this is where PM will have to don the hat of a researcher.
Work on competitor analysis, user personas, market research and come up with a plan for their product.
Sweet Spot — Growth Product & Forward-looking PM career!🎯
A product that is on the cusp of taking leaps into the growth phase is one that reaps great results via
PM’s North Star Metrics, Amazing Primary and Secondary metrics, Revenues and market scope expansion.
What does a PM need to do if the product is in a maturity or decline state?🤝
A question that has come up during the course of our engagement.
Sunsetting and working on matured cash cow components is an amazing path carved with learning.
PMs must generally avoid emotional attachment and do a logical analysis to figure out the direction of their product and if costs vs ROI doesn’t make sense, scrap it for their own good.
Some of the important action items in these phases include :
1. Customer Retention and Satisfaction
2. Cost Optimization
3. Market Expansion (If possible)
4. Product Diversification (If Possible)
5. Innovation and Version Updates
6. Discontinuation planning
7. Customer Education and Support
Decluttering is an art!🔄
We live in a world where there are 120 not needed features and 5 most commonly used features.
As a PM in the declining state of a product one needs to remove the unnecessary added features that are not in use to make your product much lite.
This will at least give you an assessment as to where one’s product stands.
PM Career Impact!
It is imperative to say that a PM’s career path is directly proportional to the variety of Products($$$) one has worked on.
As a PM keep doing great work irrespective of the stage of the Product and will reap benefits in the long term if not short term.
#ProductManagement #Product #PMs #LifeCycle #KPKR
