even more from Barb…

Who are we…an internal survey of the class…What we discovered is that there is substantial confusion about how product managers are called (title) how many other jobs they are responsible to do, and who they report to.
Several company structures…product oriented, market driven focus, adaptive focus
In a product focus, the PM/Brand Manager is the “CEO for Product” but with no authority
Why is product marketing/management so difficult?
Mini-CEO, jr. COO, responsibility without authority. The pressure vs. getting to WOW is typical.
When Misalignment comes from the top…
–PM is oten caught between doing what’s best for the customer and the company.
–PM has trouble getting resources for an approved product and is measured on this. (Co is not being clear with priorities and product team suffers repercussions.)
–More value put on releasing a product at a particular time, vs. figuring out how to wow the customer
–Not enough time spent on planning, and not enough time spent with customers.
The balancing act of Marketing
Overall corporate position, are you Mercedes or Kia?
Strategic, vs Product, vs Tactical
Strategic—longer term, trends
Product—shorter term, solve specific problem/need
Tactical—Execute details of plan
Strategic: Either you do this full time, or it is part of the product manager’s role, or it isn’t being done.
Product manager spends most of his time working on shorter term and day to day issues.