For decades, enterprises have relied on a sales-led model. But the advent of firms with more defined product propositions that are mapped closely to the evolving priorities of customers, has created a shift towards product-led growth.
Product-led offerings have an intrinsic link with digital channels and the trend has only accelerated during the Covid pandemic as the emphasis has shifted to remote service delivery. In its Market Guide for Product Management and Roadmapping Tools, market research firm Gartner® says that: "By 2022, organizations focusing on product-centric delivery will experience twice the average rate of success in recovery and renewal from the economic downturn."
Yet, remarkably, many product teams remain poorly served by software solutions for organizing and prioritizing their work. Often, ad-hoc manual processes are still the norm.
This was confirmed recently in new independent research conducted for airfocus in the US and the UK. The survey, which took place in September 2021, polled 300 product managers, owners and directors across a variety of sectors, about their changing roles and requirements.
Reflecting the shift towards product-based business growth, four out of 10 product managers said they believed the role of product management was becoming more prominent strategically, and that its value is now better understood by business leaders. But this hasn't yet translated into adoption of appropriate tools to equip product teams to better balance their time and priorities.
Inadequate solutions
Today, almost as many product owners, managers and directors rely on a system of Post-It notes on the wall (30%) as have access to dedicated product management technology (31%). Even where product teams do have access to relevant technology, these solutions have usually proved inadequate - particularly during the continuing pandemic. More than half of respondents cited a lack of relevant features and functionality, poor usability, or not being able to adapt the platform to their specific needs.
Other common issues are poor provision for the way that product teams actually work, a lack of support for collating feedback centrally, failure to enable easy collaboration with the different business stakeholders, and a lack of integration with other enterprise applications.
Dedicated tools
For more than four out of 10 product managers, dedicated product management tools are necessary, particularly for addressing the key challenges that are expected to intensify over the next 12 months - most notably the pressure for companies to adopt product-led growth strategies, and the growing requirement for product teams to become more focused on business outcomes.
Five pain points
To understand more about product managers' pain points, the survey looked at the tasks currently occupying the most time. These are:
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Collecting and consolidating/centralizing customer feedback.
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Day-to-day liaison with internal stakeholders (which could range from 12 up to 20 in number).
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Collating and centralizing internal feedback.
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Preparing documents and presentations for other departments.
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Locating product information within the organization.
By contrast, just 28% of respondents said that formulating product strategy was the task to which they devoted most of their time - even though this is crucial to business outcomes.
Filling the gaps
So what, specifically, are the gaps in product managers' roadmapping and process planning/ management capabilities?
In the survey, respondents pinpointed:
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An improved ability to innovate.
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Greater visibility for the team.
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Easier communication and alignment with stakeholders.
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A holistic view of product strategy.
Part of the requirement around innovation is linked to the ability to prioritize product development requests. Now more than ever, product teams must be able to reliably and impartially assess which requests for new features should be channeled into next releases, in order to deliver maximum value.
Key requirements
In the survey, the main qualities product managers look for when choosing a product management platform were support for easy and effective prioritization; the ability to create clear roadmaps; easy adoption by users; modularity/flexibility to choose appropriate features; and seamless and easy integration with everyday office applications.
Overall, simplicity emerged as a particularly strong priority. The need to address the current capability gap is also felt quite keenly. When asked which factors would most shape the future of product management, almost four out of 10 product managers cited rising awareness that ineffective product management will lead to poor products.
As product teams command a more central, strategic and visible role within the business, there is a need for product management to take on more of the professional trappings of other business functions. If organizations of every kind are to adapt and prosper into the future, this is not just desirable, it's crucial.
About the author
Malte Scholz is the founder and CEO of airfocus, the creator of the world's first flexible and modular product management platform, supporting product strategy and management in firms of any size or sector.
