Product Life-Cycle Management and Marketing Framework

What's in a title? Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers, Marketing Manager, Launch Manager, Marketer or maybe Product Leader. You may be any of these and accountable or responsible for Product Management.

Whatever your title Product Management encompasses a number of activities during the Product Life-Cycle as shown in the framework below. Your company may regard Product Management as supporting sales, overseeing the product development and/or introducing them to the market. We define Product Management as managing the Product (or Service) from conception to the grave. Perhaps viewing it this way a Product Manager or Leader should think of himself as a proud parent for New Products!

Our Product Life-Cycle Management and Marketing Framework is shown below

As a Product Manager or Product Marketing manager, how many activities in the Product Life-Cycle are you responsible for or accountable for in your role? Who does the other things necessary for successful Product Life-Cycle Management?

If you are a Product Manager tasked with management of Products from Conception to Grave what activities do you tend to focus on.

If you are focused most of the time on the Launch or In-Market phases of the Life-Cycle (such as sales support, expediting deliveries) you may not be paying attention to the critically important strategic market focused (or in-bound) parts of the Life-Cycle. If you don't understand the market perhaps you won't know where the next product is going to come from or whether a New Product based on New Technology from a New Entrant will kill your cash cow.

If you're not sure who does what in your organisation carry out a RACI analysis - you may be surprised at who does what and more importantly who isn't.

What is your organisational focus or where does your organisation drive you to focus?
Where do you focus?
Where's your comfort zone?

Use the above chart to consider your current role and behaviours and then plan how you can become a Product Leader not just a Product Manager, Sales Support Manager or Marketing Manager etc.

Download a copy here. You will Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the file.

If you'd like help or would like to comment on our Product Life-Cycle Management and Marketing Framework please e-mail us or use our feedback form to comment