The Product Manager's Survival Guide

by Steven Haines

Attribute Cluster 1: Environmental Product and technical knowledge and experience. Includes a comprehensive understanding of product functionality, capability, and usage so you know how your product is used and how it solves a customer’s problem or meets a customer’s need. This also includes characteristics of the technology used in the products you manage (such as software, development methods, materials, and components) or in the techniques, processes, or methods used by your customers. Last, it covers aspects of the product’s business that encompass pricing models and promotional techniques as well as sales and distribution channels. These areas, and others, will be discussed further in Chapter 3. Domain knowledge and experience. Involves the collective aspects of the industry, technology, and other factors related to your product. This can broadly be thought of as domain (or as I’ll discuss in Chapter 4, the product’s “environmental domain”) in which products are marketed and sold. Note that while technical knowledge is listed above, there is a difference between the state of a technology and having technical experience. International business experience. Relates to your travels to other countries to transact business or work with colleagues. It must include the analysis and comprehension of discrete market areas—a country or a region. It can also include working with external partners and internal structures such as a manufacturing plant or a customer service center—a...