Why Product Management

This week, Steve Johnson and I were joined by regular panelists Dharma Subramanian, Joy McCaffrey, and Calvin Marshall, as well as new panelist Paul Hatala.

Hear the panel discuss the answers to our Monday question "Why does an organization need product management?" where doing the right things emerged as the leading reason.

Listen to our conversation on the poll question "What is the biggest performance impact a company gains by focusing on doing the right things?" Where it depends was the clear winner, Dharma makes the case for All of the Above, and Joy wins the day with one word "morale"

Get our take on the following questions:

What are the most visible symptoms of an organization that needs product management? Including lack of sales, morale, never releasing, the failure rate of those things you do release, 

Is product management the right name for the role we are discussing? Including offering management, how Drucker's definition of marketing has been co-opted and product management or at least product strategy is really strategic marketing, how the term product owner has created a lot of confusion, and the discussion of whether we need to take back the title product management for the business and strategy role.

And get our Lightning Round answers to "For a company without product management, where is the best place to start?" Including start by getting marketing more strategic, define the types of problems product management solves and how it can help them, hire a product manager, start with customer support as they are closest to the customer, start with a product canvas artifact, and get senior leadership to understand that random acts of growth are because they have a product problem.