Book excerpt: Create innovative, game-changing products with high-performance Product Management “A must-read for all business leaders driving their organizations to develop winning products and solutions. The book’s insight and thought-provoking scenarios help crystallize actions needed to achieve growth and marketplace success!” —Jerry Rose, VP Product Management, United Technologies Corporation, Fire & Security “An indispensable guide for any executive looking to develop a world-class Product Management organization. Haines outlines a 360-degree view of the practice and offers practical, accessible guidance to implement positive change.” —David Desharnais, Group Director, Product Management, Cadence Design Systems “Excellent Product Management is critical to the success of any business. This [is] an indispensable guide to realizing the true value of Product Management in any business.” —Nick Hallwood, VP Product Management, SHL Group, Ltd. “Haines’s diverse industry experience is clearly evident in this well-written guide to creating a high-performance Product Management function.” —George Coulston, VP Global R&D, Kennametal, Inc. “This easy-to-read, practical book is a natural extension of Steven Haines’s passion for enabling businesses to make sustainable improvements to their products, services, and organizations. It is an essential resource for any leader wishing to develop, cultivate, and sustain a world-class Product Management organization.” —C. Melissa Connolly, Director, Six Sigma Programs, Baker Hughes “There is perhaps no more important job in the modern enterprise than Product Management—and none harder to get right. Haines offers up wise, practical, and indispensable advice on how to do just that.” —Richard Bravman, Chairman, Intelleflex Corporation, and former CEO, Symbol Technologies, Inc. “Managing Product Management is the icing on the cake in helping us design, integrate, and elevate the Product Management function.” —Paul Eichenberg, VP Corporate Development and Strategic Planning, Magna Powertrain, Inc. About the Book: The well-being of any high‑performance organization is tied to its ability to align business functions and to produce and manage profitable products—and Product Management is the function most suited to meeting that imperative. When Product Management takes root in a company and thrives, the entire organization succeeds and everyone wins. Does your company use Product Management to its fullest potential? In Managing Product Management, Steven Haines, one of the world’s top authorities in the field, lays the groundwork for moving Product Management out of a supporting role and establishing it as a vital, strategic partner with other business functions. He provides a solid, implementable framework that takes you step-by-step through a process that will transform your company in profound ways. Learn how to: Better situate Product Management organizationally for more consistent operations that generate predictable results Defeat the “city of silos” mentality and create cross-functional engagement models Utilize a stable reference model for the planning, execution, and management of products and services Clearly define the role of product manager, hire the right people for the job, and institute effective job-development plans for those product managers Design and support cross-functional product teams to steer a product line and deliver agreed-upon business results Institute a governing model that sustains Product Management in its dynamic role Steven Haines sees an answer to business challenges in a place where few people have even thought of looking. Product Management done right has worked wonders for companies around the world—and it can do the same for yours. Managing Product Management is the one and only resource you need to start thinking of Product Management in a whole new way, utilizing it to its utmost capabilities, and making it a dynamic, ongoing structure in your organization.