The bottom line is that you need a clear vision for the product. Before you start investing all of your resources, it is imperative to put pen to paper and identify who your intended users are, what their needs are, and how your product will satisfy these needs. Most importantly, you need to ask what you want your product to represent and define the essence of what you will market. If this is not clear from the beginning, it’s likely that you will get bogged down in techno-babble specs and suffer from feature creep.

A Vision Needs to Start with a Direction

All too often, we associate a vision with something that will happen in the distant future. While somewhat true, a vision is really about capturing the true nature of the product you’re building and defining the direction on how to get there.

For example, our mission at Ryma is to be the leader in product management by developing tools that will enable our customers to develop better products. We want to touch the lives of every Product Manager out there. So what’s our product vision? We want to offer a solution that will not only be powerful but that is also simple to use and empowers each stakeholder in the product management process to be better at their job. We want to give them the tools that will make their lives easier and will allow them to focus on what’s important: making great products for their customers.

In order to achieve this product vision, we have set a clear direction for the product development team. We want each and every new feature of our product to make life easier for our customers, while giving them access to the power of our platform.  We will shortly announce new capabilities for FeaturePlan that will demonstrate this new focus on simplicity combined with power.

A Direction is a Path to Follow

When a company is building a new game changer, it’s important to stay focused on the intent and not to get lost on feature creep. Achieving a minimal viable product is very much about choosing the right features while making sure you still are on the right path for your product vision. Remember the first iPod? While it pales in comparison with today’s version, you can already understand the product vision and the path that Apple was about to embark on. Having the right product vision, and ultimately releasing a game changer, is very much about that. Again, taking Ryma as an example, our next release will be very much like the first iPod when it comes to a new component named Document Center that’s being added; but the direction will be both clear for our development and our customer and partners.

Clarity in a Product Vision Does Not Make it Easier for Competitors

Recently, many people have been left disappointed by Apple’s product releases. It’s not that they aren’t great or highly successful in the market, but rather that people are now envisioning product ideas ahead of the market and are assuming that Apple will be moving at the pace of their imagination. We often forget that the bad years for Apple were when people had no clue about what would be coming next in terms of their products. Today, we can all see their product vision and can easily guess some of the steps that are coming from them. But even so, it does not make it easier for competitors to beat Apple at that game. I am sure that there are a few manufacturers right now that are scrambling because of the recent release of the new iPad. Companies should not be afraid of having a clear product vision and direction. You should only worry if you can’t execute properly.

Bottom line, if you seek clarity with your product vision and direction, your business will only be better off – and if you execute well, you’ll leave your competitors in the dust.

If you are lucky enough, you end up getting sufficient customer feedback (or complaints) that leads to some level of feature ranking and planning, based on what the market seems to require. This of course has its level of hit and miss. While customers are great at identifying problems, they are not always capable of defining the right kind of solutions they need.  Someone needs to step in and truly identify the right product to build.

After a while, you begin to wonder if there is any kind of best practice that would get you to be a “real” product manager. There are several groups that are offering different levels of training or framework (AIPMM, Blackblot, Pragmatic Marketing and 280 Group just to name a few). This definitively brings standardization and a common language to the world of product development.

But there is one aspect that most product managers forget to aim for: to become the CEO of their product. In my case, I was fortunate enough to have run my own company for several years before taking on true product management roles. While I had the inconvenience (and hard time) of having to adjust to the reality of working for someone else, I had the unique benefit of thinking like a CEO.

Managing a product is far more than just supervising which features are put in it. There are many important considerations to take in account: how big is the market opportunity? What are the financial metrics that will define the success of a product? What is the business rationale in a build vs. buy scenario?  What is the impact on the company’s P&L?  What kind of product can your sales channel successfully sell?

There are a lot questions that need answers. The better you understand what it means to be a CEO, the more effective you will be in managing your product. Key differentiators include your ability to build the right kind of business case – which leads to obtaining approval of new product plans and ultimately receiving more resources and budget, which are needed to drive your product portfolio forward.

So how do you become the CEO of your product? First step is to want it – seek opportunities that will allow you to learn from your own CEO and others around you. Spend time asking about their job and what are the usual challenges they face. Not only you will better understand what it means to be a CEO, you will also be better equipped to sell your product pitches going forward.

Having spent the past 20 years managing, developing and marketing a number of different products, I have seen Product Managers face the challenge of inadequate resources, time and budget to do their job right. Managing a product is far more complex than just creating a simple list of features. Knowing what kind of product to develop and having the right time to market is not a trivial thing. For every story we hear about visionaries such as Henry Ford or Steve Jobs, it’s all about getting an intimate understanding of the customer needs and converting this knowledge into powerful products that will impact the market.

Whether you’re into classical music, marching bands or rock and roll – any great musical performance share a common thread of group alignment, collaboration and precise execution. Product Managers are very much like the conductor or leader of the Product Team. To deliver a great product, the Product Manager must stay on top of all incoming customer feedback and market information and convert this into insightful marketing and product requirements. They must then seek alignment and collaboration, ensuring that every stakeholder is executing a complex plan of action that will ultimately result in the release of a product that the customers will buy.

But unlike a rock band or a small orchestra, companies are often designed in a much more complex organization. People work in different spaces and locations, and can have agendas that are not always compatible with the Product Manager’s vision. On top of this, everyone involved suffers from data overload, which makes it very difficult to get all the stakeholders on the same page, using a common language and up-to-date set of information. Of course, with a lot of hard work, you can do a lot of bridge the gaps and making sure that everybody is in sync and moving in the same direction. But then again, Product Managers still need the time and bandwidth to think about the right kind of products they need to create.

Our vision at Ryma is to provide every Product Manager with a platform where they can maintain all the latest and relevant information, align all the stakeholders across the company, facilitate collaboration between teams, and help individuals execute to the best of their abilities. By automating or eliminating repetitive tasks, we help them focus on driving innovation. By facilitating collaboration and access to information, we improve the communication channels and overall efficiency. By assisting in the process of developing a product, we ultimately help Product Managers optimize the quality of execution – which is much needed to deliver better products to market in a shorter timeframe. We want to touch the lives of all Product Managers and give them the tools that will allow them to develop innovative and great products.

Michel Besner
President and CEO
Ryma Technology Solutions

This extended break led to an unplanned experiment, where I got to measure the stickiness of the content I had written over the years. Of course at first, traffic went down – but not by that much. As time went by, it seemed that I was keeping a steady amount of traffic with regular visits on many of my blog posts as you can see from the following chart. I don’t have any deep and profound analysis on the matter but I was definitively pleased to see that what I had written is somewhat withstanding the “test of time”.

At the end, I guess that the time off was worth it – I am re-energized and ready to talk again about business processes, topics around product management and marketing … thanks for everyone that have been bugging me to come back to writing on my blog and I am looking forward to your on-going feedback.

Rock and roll!

Michel

Steve is very much the primary influence in my interest in technology. From the first time I saw an Apple II, I have been mesmerized by his thinking, vision and determination. He’s the one that got me into computer programming (I remember bugging my parents for months until I got my own Apple II) and ultimately computer graphics. Back then, computers were an amazing source of innovation – you had no choice as you did not have many applications to play with – programming was the way to go. And this pushed me toward finishing my studies in Computer Engineering.

The Mac has influenced many people – this was not the one for me. The work that Steve did while at NeXT completely blew my mind and got me thinking about the aesthetics of software, usability and really thinking out of the box. It also was a great lesson on time to market – NeXT being way too many years ahead of its time.  Steve’s passion and desire to make a dent in the universe forced me to think about my own path and what I wanted to do. This burning passion got me to start a company with a few of my friends – Kaydara.

Very much like every entrepreneur, I took the long road of learning what it means to be a CEO. There is a fundamental difference between starting a company and running a successful business. Again, many of my life lessons on how to become a good CEO came from watching Steve as he came back to Apple. I don’t think I have missed a single of his keynote (in person or on the web). His approach on simplifying the message, focusing on what is key and how to be a leader all impacted my own style. At the same time, I learn the hard way that being somewhat of a tyrant was not a good thing (some of my first employees can attest to that). But over the years I have matured and mellowed – finding a style that I both like and people around me can relate to and appreciate. Finding your own leadership style is probably one of the hardest things to do, as there is no recipe or secret ingredient.

In the later years, Steve’s quest to simplify our digital lifestyle continued to influence me in different ways.  For one, my house is filled with Apple products: one Mac, 5 MacBook Pro, at least 5 iPods, one iPhone, an iPad and a couple of Apple TVs. Some people could call me a Apple freak … Also I once saw a quote from Steve saying that “Software is the user experience” – something I deeply believe in and have made me think of usability in every product I have been involved with – both from a product management point of view but also from a marketing angle.

I will always remember what I felt when I first heard about Steve’s passing. I often get up from the couch and go check my computer to see if there is any emails or news that is worth reading – my home page when I start Safari is the default startpage on the Apple site. It took me a few minutes to really grasp the simple image of Steve with a start and end date. I was in shock.

For days following the news, I did like many people did – revisit Steve’s legacy and re-read many of his famous quotes, including his beautiful commencement speech at Stanford. There is a lot of great content in there but the one that is still resonating in my head is: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

The sense of urgency is a great tool to help you make decision about life – both personally and professionally. Who knows how long you will live and stay in good health? If you have a burning desire to achieve things in life, don’t waste your time, focus on what is really important and let you passion lead the way.

Steve, thank you for everything you brought in my life – you have given me so many life lessons, making me a better person every day.

Dear old burn rate

It is very hard to build a company without investing ahead of the curve, but there is such thing as investing too much. The lifeblood of a company is the cash you have on hand. Without any cash, nothing can be done. Companies need to have their finger on their pulse at every moment. Do you know how much cash you have? How long can this last (i.e. cash flow forecasting)? How long before you can get back to break/even? Most entrepreneurs that are afraid of losing control (the good old 51%+ ownership) don’t realize that as soon as you are running out of cash, you lost control – not matter how much you own of the company.

This is your third strategy in 8 months

If you are constantly reacting to market and customer demand, it might not be a good thing. Execution of a strategy takes time to deploy and measure. If you keep changing the direction (and focus), it is hard to everyone to make this a success. So if every quarterly offsite is a reason for a new direction – maybe it’s time to step back a little.

Sales funnel of one offs

If you sales team only brings in these one of a kind deals and can never find a way to repeat the same kind of sales, you have a big problem – this won’t ever scale and will make it impossible for you to grow the business. You need to get more leads of the same kind, with the same length of sales cycle.

Making hard decisions

Yes, this is only a few of the reasons that should force you to take a step back. Now it’s time to make the hard decisions: what NOT to do. This is as important as what you want to focus on. Many companies spend way too much time debating about specific projects (“should we be doing it or not”). You need to create an environment where it becomes easier to say NO on things that do not fit your plan – no matter how big an opportunity is. This is also called focus.

Sometimes you need to cut

Saying NO is also saying NO to losing money. There should never be any comfort in burning cash – no matter how big your project is. Ignorance about your real cash situation is borderline suicide. Just hoping that things will get better or that elusive deal (or funding) will come just in time to save the situation is quite a dangerous proposal. If you are running short on cash and don’t have visibility on when the bleeding will stop, you need to cut. It’s hard. It’s painful but someone has to do it – don’t wait for others to make the decision for you.

Be honest

The best trick when it comes to making hard decisions is to be honest. Saying no to a deal that is no longer good for you. Informing employees that you had to make hard decisions about staffing. Shelving a new product idea that was so promising. Honesty is usually the best tool to explain the situation. I remember once that I had to let go of some employees and while this hurt and was difficult; one employee actually thanked me. Not for being cut of course; but because I had been honest with him about the situation and why I had no choice but to let him go. It rarely happens like this but you will be far more respected if you tell the truth than to invent any bogus reason that is only designed to protect your own personal image.

Target users

Who are you selling to? You better understand the buyer persona that you are trying to attract. For example: making a hip and snazzy looking site that is targeted at finance people might not be the right approach (they most likely will prefer a simple design with immediate access to stats and visual dashboards on ROI, etc).

Focus on message

What is your website saying? Visitors should get a good understanding of what you do and why you are relevant in a few lines (think of your cocktail pitch put on a web site…). Unless I am crystal clear on what you do and why I am here, you will need to educate me about your value proposition and competitive advantage.

Every page is a landing page

Don’t spend too much time just tuning the main page. While being the first page that many people will see, today’s search engines bring people directly to the relevant page as much as possible. Don’t assume that people will all start from the same place. Every page should have a meaning and an ability to quickly put the visitor in context.

Minimize navigation

Everybody hates searching on a web site for what they need, even more when you need to click a handful of time to just get started. Again, if you know you buyer persona, you should be able to place everything they needs within one or two clicks. While adding a search bar can be convenient, it is not the right way to fix a faulty and confusing web site.

What are you looking for?

If you are looking to capture leads or sell a product, make this an obvious and simple process. Many companies will ask you to fill a form in order to download something, make the process as enjoyable as possible. For example, don’t ask me to fill in something and then get someone in inside sales to review my request. People in today’s world expect downloads to be automated. Nothing more frustrating than to wait for a couple of days and then getting someone trying to sell me something before I am ready. There is nothing wrong in trying to convert business, just don’t make it annoying or painful.

Keep testing your site

Managers spend a great deal of time testing a brand new web site and then they go away. This should be an on-going process; to make sure that everything is running fine, that the user experience is not broken (don’t wait for someone to email you if something does not work, fix it before).  Getting regular focus groups is another good way of making sure you have not missed the mark. Even more when your site is your primary source of revenue generation; you can’t afford to have a bad user experience.

Introduction

Please take the time to introduce yourself but don’t get started for a mile long presentation. Say your name, role and company name (slowly and pronounce every bit properly). The follow with a SHORT one liner about what you do (WITHOUT acronyms or industry specific words). This is not yet your elevator pitch; it’s an introduction on the matter.

Get to know the other person

Nothing worse than to hear someone rapidly pitching what he or she is doing even before they even know whom they are talking to. Take a few moments to find interest in the person you are in front of: what are they doing here? What are they looking for? What kind of businesses interests them? By knowing more about them you will be better at giving them a proper pitch.

What is the problem you are solving?

Never assume that people understand and get your field of expertise. Take a few seconds to put your business in the context of the problem you are solving. Try to find an example that can be highly visual and simple for anyone to get his or her head around.

What kind of solution do you have?

Once the problem is understood on the receiving end that you can take a few seconds to explain what is the solution that you have (plan to have in the near future). Again, make this as simple as possible (think of explaining this to your aunt that has no understanding of technology – never assume that anyone will get it).

What makes you different?

It’s one thing to have a solution; it’s a completely different one to be unique (i.e. to have a competitive advantage). You need to detail here what will differentiate yourself, what will make you win the war against the others. This also does not need to be uniquely technology related. Having a specific go-to-market, pricing strategy, distribution channel, etc. all count as differentiators.

Why do you believe you will succeed?

Almost closing time on your cocktail pitch. What makes you say that you will make it? Why would I think that you are a company to follow and feel that you have the right stuff? Here the challenge is to stay within the boundaries of being pragmatic and not look like a Looney bin.

What do you need?

Ok, you are obviously there for a reason. So what do you need to make your business a success? Do you need money? Senior leadership? New partners? All of the above?

Make it short

This entire cocktail pitch should have lasted only a couple of minutes. Now if the other party is interested, it may last longer but don’t try to hog on someone too long. There are a lot of people to talk to …

Looking forward to see all of you tomorrow evening and hopefully my little tips will help you polish your cocktail tips.

Culture
If you ever had the chance to work with anyone at Apple, there is a deep and well-defined culture over there. Everybody marches with the same level of discipline and engagement. For example, try to get confidential information from any employee (I think that most leaks have come from 3rd parties) and you will get the same textbook answer that you usually get from any Apple employee. There is a deep sense of culture and following within the company; this is very deep and would require major changes for years to come before this changes.

Ultimate User Persona
Whether Steve is there or not, he personifies the ultimate user persona; I am convinced that anyone involved in any decision-making instantly has a thought of “what would Steve say or do” before doing something. It has already been proven that market driven companies thrive upon the use of a user/buyer persona. Apple has probably implicitly created with Steve the uber persona.

Product Roadmap
If you were ever involved in any off-sites or product brainstorming, you know that Apple has most likely a bunch of new product ideas and well-defined roadmaps for years to come. The genius behind ofthe past decade has most likely written down what to do for at least 3 or 4 generations of upcoming product releases and updates.

Executive Team
Most of the key players around Steve have been working with him for more than 12 years: Jonathan Ive (Head of design, since 1997), Scott Forstall (Head of iOS software, worked with Steve at NeXT and followed him in 1997), Tim Cook (COO at Apple for 13 years), and Philip Schiller (SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing, rejoined Apple in 1997). When you have been working with the same team for so long, there is no doubt that they know a lot about the man and his vision. And most likely they know how to continue this going forward.

In short, unless the Company changes all these key executives, run out of what’s on the multi-year roadmap and change the overall company culture and finally stop using Steve as the uber persona, you can expect great things from Apple for many many years to come.

Simplify the content

Making presentation is an art form where less is better. Try to make each of your slides and clean and simple as possible. Try to extract the essence of what you are trying to say in each and every slide.

Use words that are easy to pronounce

Sounds silly but in a Province where English is most likely not your first language, try to pick words that are easy to pronounce. Be careful about words that might have a different meaning when badly pronounced (for example, saying “fuck us” when wanting to say focus). Of course, some words cannot be replaced so you just need to practice your pronunciation.

Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse

You never rehearse enough; don’t just try to wing it. Even the pros practice a lot their speeches and presentations. Practice your timing, practice the quality of your speech. You can do this by yourself but it is also quite valuable to practice in front of a mirror, in front of people that you are not as comfortable with, and ultimately record yourself with a camera.

Lead the presentation

Too many times, we start talking once we have flipped the slide. If you ever have noticed great speakers such as Steve Jobs, they will lead the slides; starting to talk about the content that will appear next – BEFORE the slides is displayed. This will create a better flow and prevents you from just reading what’s on each slide.

Tell a story

Presenting is very much about telling a story. Make your presentation compelling by focusing in getting your audience engaged and getting them thru a series of steps; up to the closing statement.

Take your time

By keeping the content short, you can make sure not to exceed any allocated time period. You can then make sure to take your time. Nothing worse than a rushed presentation because you have too much to say or are not sure on how long you will take.

Pause by taking a sip of water

One useful trick is to take a quick sip of water once in a while. This will allow you to take a second, make sure you are focused and composed (if you were starting to lose it). While this sip of water will feel like you have paused for a minute (or even feel like an hour), it creates just a small enough of a break to catch your breath.

No matter what happened, focus on closing strong

Even if you have fumbled plenty during the presentation, you always have a last chance upon closing. Take a deep breath and make sure you deliver a good and final message correctly. While always better to do a perfect presentation, a good finish can go a long way.

Be careful of your body language

How are you placing your hands? How is your body moving around can say a lot about your level of confidence and comfort. Make sure that you don’t do any twitching, dangling, or too many sidestepping moves. This is where recording your rehearsals with a camera can greatly help. Sometimes we are just not aware of all the things we do when we present.

Smile

Nothing worse than a presenter that is tense and looks like he is in a bad mood. If you can, remember to smile and have an upbeat attitude as you are presenting; even more when a presentation is recorded and then posted to a public website.