In my last post I wrote about how vital it is for the development team to be in sync with one another. We identified four key product development team goals:
1 – Achieve the organization’s projected sales and margin rates
2 – Publish product roadmaps that are 100% resourced
3 – Reach customer-facing roadmap deliverables (For example on time, on scope, and on budget execution)
4 – Attain compliance with your product lifecycle management process
Today, I’m going to provide further explanation about these four product development team goals.
Goal 1 – Achieve Projected Sales and Margin Rates
The head of Product Management is the logical person to take the lead on this goal. He or she is responsible for identifying market opportunities that can be transformed into revenue for the company. This person also is responsible for making sure the employees with customer-facing responsibilities are supporting sales efforts. In addition, Product Management often goes into the field to support major sales opportunities. Even though their involvement is less direct, User Experience, and Engineering teams also share this goal. Project Management can be responsible for keeping releases on track for on-schedule completion. Engineering’s and User Experience’s commitment to this goal is vital because their on-time and on-budget work is key to meeting the organization’s sales and marketing goals.
Goal 2 – Making Sure Items on the Product Roadmap Are Fully Resourced
Ensuring that the product roadmap is fully resourced will require excellent upfront collaboration between Product Management, Engineering, and User Experience. For every item on the roadmap, have Engineering and User Experience estimate resources and time needed for each requirement. It is Product Management’s job to accurately communicate the scope of what must be accomplished. When the resource estimate is complete, Product Management must set priorities. In addition, the head of Product Management needs to be able to clearly articulate how priorities identified relate back to tangible business value.
Goal 3 – Successful Execution of Roadmap Deliverables
If successful execution is an area where your team has struggled, consider putting a stake down and committing to meet at least goals for example, 80 percent of your deliverables. By linking improved execution to compensation, this goal has teeth that will resonate with the workforce.
Goal 4 – Adhere to the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Process
It is important that Product Management, Project Management, Users Experience, and Engineering insist on everyone abiding by the PLM process. By doing so, the team can continually improve execution and meet deliverables on time and on budget.
In my next post, I’ll share one additional step product development teams can take to make their process even smoother and more efficient.
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