The development and delivery of product strategy is critically dependent on expanding the traditional frameworks and approaches to include design management approaches to not only product strategy and design but also in the pursuit of business planning, organizational alignment, and technology innovation aspirations.
Topics covered in this blog, explore the best way to leverage traditional business planning tools with the practices of design management. By leveraging this combination of tools, the product manager can with with the best practices of both. These tools aligned with the organizations values can position the company as a way to drive the innovation of products and services that address market needs AND most importantly delight customers.
Product strategy development has heavily relied upon traditional business planning approaches focused on P&L metrics and market level dynamics. Two of the most important foundational frameworks include Porter’s “Five Forces” in the analysis analysis industry level dynamics and Kotler’s Marketing Management, both central to MBA curriculums that have survived into the first part of the 21st century. The “new world” of software product management now requires a focused attention on both customer experience and asethetics.
My first exposure to the important intersection of traditional business planning and design was laid out by Marty Neumeier in a review of his “whiteboard overview” called “The Designful Company.” He describes that innovation drives differentiation and argues that to “build bridges to customers, crack wicked problems, and more. The fact is, if you wanna innovate, you gotta design.” The world we live in has moved on from the mechanics of an assembly line to brands that respect human emotion and experiences.
Currently, I am most fascinated with the intersection of the traditional product lifecycle processes that I have learned by experience and by training with managing design strategy, process, and implementation approaches outlined in Kathryn Best’s “Design Management.” There are a number of thought leaders proposing methodologies, frameworks, and tools to offer ways to advance the human forces that need to be central to the development of product strategies and the organizations that support these strategies in this next century.
Key Thought Leaders and Resources:
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Marketing_Management.html?id=8VDYaWzc9MgC).
http://www.martyneumeier.com/the-designful-company
https://bloomsbury.com/us/design-management-9781472573681/
Modern Business Strategy, Experience, and Design 