Product developement
Product Management Framework (PMF)
The process of managing the entire lifecycle of product from conception, through development and production, to retirement
Business Analysis
Engineering Development
Project Management
PMF is where the supporting processes need to align and create value
Value Creation Processes
Value creation process is the way the product manager and the project team organize around the work that needs to be completed
3 types of processes
Serial
Iterative
Iterative/Incremental Agile
Serial Processes: Waterfall & Phase-Gate
Works well in highly structured environments
After-the-fact changes are costly
Also, works well when the processes must be documented, followed and with clear traceability
E.g: medical device or pharma
Typically, they take longer to complete
Requirements
Design
Development
Verification
Delivery
Phase-gate/Go-NoGo decision
Decision process whether to move forward to the next phase depending on deliverables and achievements in that stage
E.g. Going from high-school to college requires passing the high school and getting accepted by the college (SATs, ACTs etc)
When a phase-gate review is complete, there are 4 possible outcomes
Go
No Go
Redirect or rework
Defer or hold
Serial Processes are Time Consuming
t1, t2, t3, t4, t5 are time duration for each of the stages
Total time (T) from start to finish = t1+t2+t3+t4+t5
For example, a micro-processor development : 12-16 months!
Requirements
Design
Development
Verification
Delivery
t1
t2
t3
t4
t5
What are the Advantages & Disadvantages of Serial Process?
Advantages
Manages cost risk
Known and agreed-upon requirements
Trace-able
Disadvantages
Longer duration
Schedule delays due to defect identification and resolution
Case study: Intel’s processor development methodology
Product Life Cycle (PLC)
Exploration
Planning
Production
Development
Launch
Exploration
Ideas, concepts and strategies analyzed
Planning
Architectural analysis
Development
Implementation
Production
Volume shipments, launch
Development/Qualification/Production Model
QS
Beta
SW
PV
SW
Production
Beta Validation
Rollout Model
T-15
T-14
T-17
T-29
T-20
QS Validation
T-40
ES1
T-52
Pre-Alpha
SW
Early
Validation
T-32
ES2
Prod Test
& Pilot Build
Customer ready to ship
T-0
Alpha
Alpha
Validation
Beta
Cut off
T-21
Production
Cut off
Retail
On-Shelf
T+2
T-7
Iterative/Incremental Processes
Develop a product through repeated cycles (iterative) and in small portions at a time (increments), allowing the team to take advantage of what they learned while developing earlier parts or versions of the system
The process starts by delivering a smaller subset of requirements learn from the customer feedback enhance the delivery repeat
Allows faster response where the requirements are changing rapidly
Iteration vs. increment
Iteration refers to the cyclic nature of a process in which activities are repeated in a structured manner
E.g. Coding a software: write a program code it review compile test the results … the process repeats
Increment refers to the quantifiable outcome of each iteration
In the above example, if the software code was for displaying log-in screen, then increment = log-in screen
Agile
Describes number of development methodologies that share common principles associated with incremental/iterative processes
Common Agile processes include
Scrum
Extreme programming
Feature-driven development
Agile approach assumes that change is pervasive
Hence, the product manager’s ability to predict how to best estimate customer needs is limited
As a result, use probe-and-learn approach to get customer feedback
Fewer surprises, misalignments, miscommunications and delays
There are 4 elements
Requirements – often written as user stories which capture who it is for, what they are trying to accomplish, why it matters to them
User stories are short, simple descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the person who desires the new capability, usually a user or customer of the system. They typically follow a simple template:
As a < type of user >, I want < some goal > so that < some reason >.
User stories are often written on index cards or sticky notes, and arranged on walls or tables to facilitate planning and discussion. As such, they strongly shift the focus from writing about features to discussing them.
Examples of User Stories
One of the benefits of agile user stories is that they can be written at varying levels of detail. We can write a user story to cover large amounts of functionality. These large user stories are generally known as epics.
Here is an epic agile user story example from a desktop backup product:
As a user, I can backup my entire hard drive.
Because an epic is generally too large for an agile team to complete in one iteration, it is split into multiple smaller user stories before it is worked on.
The epic above could be split into dozens (or possibly hundreds), including these two:
As a power user, I can specify files or folders to backup based on file size, date created and date modified.
As a user, I can indicate folders not to backup so that my backup drive isn't filled up with things I don't need saved.
There are 4 elements (contd)
Requirements – often written as user stories which capture who it is for, what they are trying to accomplish, why it matters to them
Estimating and Planning
Product Backlog – prioritized list of requirements
Story points - measure of estimating resources
Team velocity = how fast is the team finishing up the backlog
Burnout chart
Burndown Chart - example
The 4 elements of Agile (contd.)
Iterative development: generally 1-4 weeks
Visual management
Task board
| To do | In progress | Done |
| As a … | As a … | As a … |
| As a … | As a … | |
| As a … | As a … | |
| As a … |