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haha

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hello I'm Stevens and today we're going
to talk about best in class

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product management and to do this when I
try to introduce you to

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us little bit more when I talk about the
dynamic nature of

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markets and the situation with product
management and we're gonna talk a little

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bit about

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what desirable product management looks
like and what undesirable product

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management look like

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so that we can talk about what it takes
to achieve

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best in class product management so
little bit more about secret learning

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networks

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I'd like to just talk to you about my
vision and that is

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to professionalize product management so
I don't need to tell you

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that the business environment is
incredibly complex

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markets are global supply chains are
complex

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and your customers are facing incredible
challenges

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they're looking for greater levels of
proficiency looking for a way to revenue

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and what makes it even more complicated
is that there are more

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purchasers there are more
decision-makers and there's greater

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complexity in the customer segments
themselves

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we all learn and market segmentation
that there are buyers

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their users their influencers and their
decision makers

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Sophie think about that there are many
many more

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influencers and there are many many more
decision-makers

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so customers who are those influences
decision-makers

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they don't want to hear about features
and functions and things like that

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what they want to know is how are you
going to help me

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improve my business what's the value
that you bring to me

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and we'll understand my business and how
I do what I do

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then I will perceive you as a strategic
partner

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and that's what we're looking for and
that's what you need to start adopting

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in thinking about

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as you start to move toward best in
class product management

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people confuse product management with
product development and people in

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product development confuse it with
product management

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and because there's no real document
that standard even product management is

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carried out

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in in different ways in the same company

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as well as across companies so what is
best in class product management and how

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do we know

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so product management isn't a job title

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product management doesn't what
marketing does

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what product management is is genetic to
the fun and so what that means is it's

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a commitment by a company to the
efficient management of products

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from beginning to end so it doesn't
necessarily mean

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from idea to launch and it doesn't mean
from launch to discontinuation

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it means from beginning and so prop
manager is a person who was appointed

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to be a product or product line we call

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many business owner you could think
about it as a general manager or CEO of

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a product

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and that person is responsible for
leading across functional protein

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so operative words there pointed and
their

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job is to lead a team and it is the
teams responsibility

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optimize the performance of the product
across its life cycle

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inconsistent with the financial and
strategic imperatives of the

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organization

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park managers a leader the issue with

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product managers and leadership is the
fact that nobody works for them

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and so what they have to do is earn
their credibility

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get people to follow them and to listen
to them died the things that they say

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and they do and that's tantamount to
being entrepreneur

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and entrepreneurs a very spirited the
very passionate for a committed

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and what they do is they get people to
see the end game they see their vision

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and then the use these great networking
skills it's almost like a politician's

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that allow them to navigate to the
organization to get everybody motivated

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to go in the same direction

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leadership also requires intense market
focus

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but entrepreneurs noticed in new ones

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and when they do that they were able to
communicate that other people

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and then help those people to act with
the kind of agility that's necessary

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in order to compete vigorously product
leaders also provide great documentation

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they do business cases not only do they
do business cases they do business cases

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together as a collaborative team they
also apply financial techniques

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you need financial Aki man in order to
be able to manage the business since

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money is the language of business

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and lastly they use all that data to
make the most appropriate decisions

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on behalf of the business so free
understand this universe of work

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then who's going to carry out the work
and some other work is going to be

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carried out by a product manager

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some other work is going to be carried
out by marketing and maybe even other

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people

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but the idea is somebody has to see the
larger picture

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and make sure that all that work gets
done and his

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orchestrated in the most appropriate way
at the right time

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so how do we know what best in class
product management is

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for about 15 years both in my corporate
life in my current life

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we've interviewed hundreds of people in
hundreds of companies

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and the kinds of things we have always
wanted to know is what kinds of things

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do you do

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when your products and services tend to
be more successful

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so one of the things that we find most
often

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is what makes a company market driven

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alright why they focus so strongly on
customers

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and our competitors and on the
industries in which they operate

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the second point has to do with
strategic clarity

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in many companies when products and
services on successful

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and we ask people well what strategies
your product lines where

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many times people are not able to tell
us but when they tell us

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we understand why we're developing what
we're developing and why we're bringing

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to market what we're bringing to market

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they're able to be or at least have the
chance of achieving

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higher levels of success additionally
what these companies do

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is they manage portfolios of products
and product lines

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and they make decisions as if they were
managing investments

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so the allocate the investments
according to the strategic importance of

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market importance of a given product or
a given product line

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and when they have business cases to
create to justify future investments

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those investments are lined up with the
portfolio strategies

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those organizations and as the creators
business cases

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they use cross functional product teams
to make the most appropriate decisions

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on behalf of the business and to that
end

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when people are creating the business
case together the roles and

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responsibilities of those team members

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very very clearly organized and and what
all this comes together as

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is the team sport metaphor that is
everybody works together toward a common

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goal

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and that is one of the characteristics
that distinguish is best in class

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companies from other companies

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so i wanna talk to you about what
market-driven really means

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so first let's define the market market
place's just

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buyers and sellers coming together to
exchange goods and services

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so let's talk about the seller's the
sellers are competitors

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and if you're going to be a good
competitor

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need to understand about what your
competitors are doing in terms

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positioning their products and
strategies that they're using to support

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their customers in the marketplace

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the second point has to do with your
customers and it's your job to make sure

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that you understand what

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customers do how they do it and how
their needs change

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all the time being a market-driven
company also means that people

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are sharing the data they collect so as
use encourage people in your team

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to put up the market radar and
constantly scanning the horizon

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so that everybody understands what it is
that's going on in the marketplace

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when you have many many different points
of view because you're looking at

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different data points

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when everybody comes together in a
cross-functional environment

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you have the best chance have coming up
with opportunities that make

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the most sense and night more
significantly impact the marketplace

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product managers have the power to
create

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and perpetuate culture sharing

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and really focusing on the marketplace
and this is particularly important

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when products 10+2 commoditized overtime
and that you have to start to draw

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our really strong balance between the
products that you bring to the

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marketplace

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the value they bring and the cultivation
of the corporate brand

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that brings the whole thing together one
of the most undesirable characteristics

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in product management has to do with how
companies tend to organize themselves

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when companies organized in functional
silos are some people call

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swim lanes they tend to perpetuate their
own functional agendas which means that

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a marketing department wants to do with
marketing department wants to do

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product development that's what they
want to do in maybe they come together

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at some point

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and so those agendas to be kind of
destructive to an organization

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we also see that in some organizations
when the product development process is

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very very technical engineering Jeff n

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it becomes very very rigid and it
doesn't really allow

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for the nuances of the marketplace that
are so important to market at the

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company's

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so another undesirable characteristics
for product management

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has to do with something we call
customer centricity

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match in a very large company or a large
customer coming to and say

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could you build on this from me and
because it's so much money involved in

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racist okay

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let's go build this for this person for
this company

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and when you do that you take away
resources from other projects that could

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be strategically critical for the firm

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doesn't mean that this is wrong all the
time but it happens so often

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it takes your eyes of %uh the
marketplace

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and hold your eyes internally inside the
company

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that's not such a good thing another
undesirable characteristics to do with

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how business cases get created

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sometimes business cases in in
undesirable state done just by one

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person

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a product manager or marketer maybe even
a product developer

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business cases need to be done in a
cross-functional environment

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other undesirable characteristics have
to do with the fact that decisions are

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very often made without facts

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or data sometimes based on supposition
and very often decisions are made

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without

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understanding what the strategic impact
is going to be up those decisions

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and lastly one of the things that are
critical to running a successful

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business has to do with

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making a plan establishing metrics and
looking back to see how well you did

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and undesirable characteristics and
product management is when people don't

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look back

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and they don't take the most appropriate
corrective actions

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that result in new strategies and the
tactics

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desirable product management is when
teens of people in a product team

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own the business their product that is
so critical

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because everybody sees the same thing
and so that goes hand in hand with

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vision

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a product manager or team leader may
establish that vision for their future

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state

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and they get everybody to play together
so everybody's working toward that end

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and so also because we're working in a
cross-functional environment

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the team leverages each others strengths

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and when you leveraging at each other's
strengths and when you're

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for instance applying a new product
development process

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and trying to process all the market
signals team saying all the signals

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together

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works together in a much more effective
fashion thats

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more effective product management best
in class product management

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talk specifically about having financial
facts

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having market data and making the most
appropriate decisions

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and then going back and looking at the
plans that you made with

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those metrics that a financial and
market in nature

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and seeing how well you did so we can
make the most appropriate strategic and

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tactical

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improvements to the business of the
product a lot of what we're talking

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about

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in terms of best in class product
management involves change

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it doesn't mean by the next week
everybody is going to magically

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transform themselves

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into best in class product managers and
product teams it does take some time

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so the kinds of things you'll see as you
see organization evolve over time

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has to do with perhaps the portfolio of
products

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the portfolio of products is more finely
tuned it's a mix of products and

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services that make the most sense

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for the walking areas that you gonna be
focusing on another whale now

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is that people are working together
capable group

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skill people work together on behalf of
the business

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to produce the products that are
necessary in order for your company to

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be successful

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and with everybody sees things the same
way it gives you the opportunity

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to be more consistent to call things

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by the same names means it's a common
vocabulary you have

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same documents same terminology and so
you're

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much much more efficient and how you
carry out the work and then

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you just become much better competitor
you and child competitor

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and you're going after your competitors
and what so very very interesting thing

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to see

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is how people's attention turn to the
marketplace

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and making the competition your enemy
instead your internal constituencies

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and your products achieve the desired
walking in financial performance

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and most importantly your customers keep
buying your products

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and they keep recommending you to other
people and you some more and more and

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gain market share that you really
deserve

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so I thank you for spending the time
with me today and

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when I wrote the product managers desk
reference one of the things that was

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most important to me

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was to help people understand that this
is a journey

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product management isn't a single point
in time

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and in your career is sure going to be
growing and learning

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and it is a journey and from this point
on I do wish you

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safe journeys haha