One of the areas where I find that I can help organizations is by helping product managers develop solid product plans.

Product managers are always busy.  I have found them to be some of the most in-demand people in organizations with responsibilities to management for product plans and updates, sales for product information and closing top customer deals, marketing for how to position and promote products, and engineering for what to develop next.  It is no wonder that product managers feel pulled in many directions!  I find that the best product managers thrive on this constant crush of activity.

The challenge for product managers is figuring out what is the best next step for their product.  Should precious engineering resources be spent making products more usable and stable or should they be put on new features that may not have a certain need?  Are some ideas even worth considering for the product both from a marketing perspective and from a technical perspective?  Will a new direction cost more in operation and support than it will return in revenue?

With over 30 years of experience developing software products from embedded devices to global services, I have seen many ideas succeed and fail.  I can help product managers analyze a new product area from technical, market, and business perspectives to help them determine the best path forward.  Product managers frequently do not have the time or resources to adequately analyze new product ideas and their teams are too busy supporting the current product or working on the backlog of requests already in the queue.  This makes the decision process for new product plans even more haphazard and risky.

An engagement to sort out the ideas, determine technical feasibility, and potential return can provide the knowledge and confidence needed to make solid product direction decisions.