When it is not Product Management

It seems like the definition of Product Management (PM) is kind of nebulous across different companies. But here is what it is not:

• Spending lots of times on sales calls.
• Doing lots of project management.
• Constantly writing new data sheets and collateral.
• Constantly being in crisis mode

Let me address each one;

1. PM is not spending lots of time with sales. Spending some time with initial sales calls is good since you are training the sales team. Spending all the time with sales means your product sucks and you have not done your job. A good product is unique and has high value making it easy sell. You don't see the iPhone product managers manning Apple stores do you? Also do not confuse discovering customer needs with selling the product. The approach is totally different.
2. PM is not project management. Many companies confuse this role. Hire a project manager for this role to get it done right. PMs do help define the critical milestones and help with getting resources to get the job done. But a dedicated project manager is more suited for this role.
3. PM is not about writing compelling collateral. Some companies confuse the role of Product Marketing and Product Management. Product Marketing and PR should be responsible for all outbound collateral. PM should initiate the core positioning and pricing and should build the product so it is easy to use Web 2.0 type marketing. PM should define customer segmentation and work with the Product Marketing Manager and PR to get the right message to the right audience.
4. PM should not be in a constant crisis mode. Occasional crisis and being paranoid that your product is successful is good. Constant crisis and not finding time to do your job means either your product sucks or you do not know how to delegate. Think strategic and delegate.
   

Now you might say Moin you have never worked in a start up. Sometimes due to lack of cash you have to shoulder the load of multiple responsibilities. Trust me I know since I have made all the mistakes outlined above. If you cannot delegate or outsource some of the above for a long time, you are headed for failure. The real job of the product manager is to spend time on product discovery, validation, design and taking action on customer feedback. You are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the product. Don't blow it.

Why Vista? Or What was Microsoft Thinking

Today I finally convinced my father-in-law to ditch his new HP Vista laptop and get a Windows XP Laptop from Dell. My main motivation was that I was tired of providing free tech support for a product that never should have shipped. After 6 system recoveries and 3 full Vista installs it was time to throw in the towel and get our money back. Maybe I should send an invoice to Steve Ballmer and claim compensation for emotional distress as well.

Despite the rosy picture painted by Steve B. on how he is so pleased with the sales of Windows Vista, the fact remains that Vista has failed to produce enthusiasm either among the consumers or the corporate users. The only reason the sales of Vista are so high is because it is the only choice available to users buying a new PC. Unless of course they buy a Mac or Linux.

So where did Vista go wrong. What were the Vista product managers thinking? Here are Five Mistakes made by the Microsoft Product Managers.

1. Failed to understand the customer
   
2. Failed to create innovative value
   
3. Emphasized Security over User Experience
   
4. Failed to generate developer enthusiasm
   
5. Its all about the Web Stupid!

Failed to understand the customer:

Microsoft has made the same mistake that Dell has made. They have failed to recognize that the current and future growth in PCs is driven by consumers. Apple correctly read this trend when Steve Jobs took over Apple. The Mac is the best consumer PC hands down. Hence their feature set is geared towards the consumer. The PC has evolved from a tool purely used for business productivity to one used for having fun. It seems that a comparable task is more fun and easy on a Mac.  The consumer centric design permeates from the user interface all he way to the type of applications bundled with the Mac. The Mac is capturing legions of new customers. I hear and see more people excited about upgrading to a Mac than people lined up to buy Vista. 

Failed to create innovative value:

Vista does pretty much the same things as Windows XP but costs hundreds of dollars more. Duh! Need I say more.

Emphasized security over user experience:

Vista is supposed to be more robust and secure than its predecessors. While we may argue that Vista and Security are an oxymoron, (I had a Windows Vista laptop hacked within minutes on an unsecured network) for the sake of argument let us assume that Vista is more secure.  So in the name of greater security,  user experience has taken a major backseat. In Vista, you are constantly being pestered to give permission to the OS to perform the simplest tasks. It is confusing and makes the user more paranoid. The Vista security model has also broken existing drivers and applications further exasperating the user. It takes the FUN out of using the PC. The design philosophy is backwards. The OS should handle security in the background without making it a burden on the user. I have a Mac. I do not feel harassed using a Mac but I do when using Windows Vista. Windows Vista was supposed to be all about user experience but in reality it is more about user pain.

Failed to generate developer enthusiasm:

I am not sure who were the developer evangelists for this product but looks like they all took a vacation. It has been over 1.5 years since the launch of Vista and I have not seen or heard of one killer app using Vista technologies. Even the MS Office team decided to stick with MFC rather than WPF libraries. It looks like MS forgot its own launch of Windows 95. Within a few months of the Windows 95 launch there were thousands of cool applications that provided a reason to upgrade. But maybe the Vista product managers are really smart and realized that the PC applications are irrelevant in the long run which brings me to the next point.

Its all about the Web Stupid!

Now how can the Vista product managers miss this point. They had a chance to really enhance the web experience. Except they blew it. IE 7 looks like a FireFox clone except a lot slower and buggy. Gadgets look like Mac Dashboard's ugly step sister. It would have been nice to have the search feature built into the task bar. RSS feeds could have shown up on my desktop.  The OS could have had built-in web services that kept my bookmarks, searches, contacts, and history accessible from any Vista PC in my home network. A blog app would have been nice too. Or how about seamless sync of images in MyPhotos to my favorite web based photo album. Maybe a builtin support for Video conferencing and VOIP could  have been the icing on the cake . But instead we are given Windows Vista which looks like Windows XP warmed over.

What do you think?