In order to build a holistic view of product positions, we also need to understand the relationship between product roles and organizational systems. In this article, let's take a look at common collaborative project delivery scenarios as examples.
I. Preface
1. Overview
I will update my understanding of product methodology in a series of articles, from product general knowledge to product skills and then to product thinking.
I have successively served as marketing planning, user operation, event operation, and solution positions in major Internet companies, and am now a senior product manager. If you are new to the product, I hope you can get to know this position more quickly. If you're an experienced peer, share feedback and deliver value together.
The product methodology will be divided into three dimensions: product general knowledge, product methods and tools, and product thinking.
2. This article explains
1) Today's updated module is Product General Knowledge - Product Position Standard Process - Relationship between Product Position and Organizational System.
In my previous articles, I have explained the basics of the position, explaining what a product manager is, what it does, what classifications it has, what competency models are needed, and what job terms you should know.
But knowing all of this is not enough to build a complete picture of the product role. Each position is a component of the machine of the enterprise, and it needs to be coordinated with other positions in order to have an effect on the organization.
Therefore, as a product manager, you need to understand where you are in the system of the organization, what roles you have in front and back, and then know how to effectively collaborate with the collaborative department, how to flow tasks, how to divide rights and responsibilities, and where the evaluation standards and boundaries of work are.
In today's article, I will take you to draw a chessboard and understand how the product manager, as one of the chess pieces, carries out his work.
2) In order to show more intuitively, this article will take common collaborative project delivery scenarios as examples.
Because in this scenario, it includes external customers and multiple departments within the enterprise, and the roles and situations are the most complete.
Second, the whole process of project delivery - flow chart
1. From the perspective of project time, the project can be divided into:
- Pre-sales support stage: communicate requirements, negotiate cooperation, clarify the scope of delivery and product realization methods, and sign contracts.
- Product system design stage: write product schemes, system design schemes, and test cases.
- Product function implementation stage: development coding, test execution, project management, handling requirements changes and other abnormal issues.
- On-line and acceptance stage: product acceptance, product function manual writing, product training, customer acceptance and signing of acceptance form.
- After-sales technical support stage: technical problem troubleshooting and handling, problem recording, product demand pool, product version iteration.
2. From the dimensions of each role involved in the project, it can be divided into:
- Project party: Since the scenario illustrated in this article is the delivery process of a cooperative project, the project party can be understood as Party A who puts forward the requirements and contributes funds.
- Market: The company assumes the role of external docking and business negotiation.
- Product: Product Manager. Some companies can also be divided into two roles: product manager and solution manager, the former focusing on product solution design and product development follow-up, and the latter focusing on demand docking and cooperation plan formulation before solution design.
- R&D: Front-end and back-end developers, responsible for coding and implementing product solutions.
- Testing: Test engineer, responsible for functional testing after coding, acceptance after launch, and troubleshooting during after-sales technical support. Some companies will set up a separate customer service department to undertake after-sales problems.
- Platform operation: As the core role of understanding the business in the project, to ensure that the project does not affect the original business development. If the function needs to be operated or promoted after it is launched, the platform operation position can also quickly formulate an operation plan by participating in the whole process of the project.
- Customer Success: This position is typically found in SaaS (Software as a Service) companies or 2B businesses that provide software services, businesses or businesses that build long-term customer relationships and provide ongoing value. The core value of the role is to maintain close contact with customers, ensure that customers have a good and expected experience when using the company's products or services, and build customer loyalty. Therefore, in the project process, you should undertake the customer delivery function after the product is launched, participate in the product acceptance, and be familiar with the product function.
3. The whole process of project delivery - dismantling of task items & deliverables
The flowchart makes it easy to understand the time and sequence of the flow of each role and matter, and the teardown table below can be used to understand the roles, tasks, and standard outputs of each stage.
A project from the start-up business stage to the completion of the collection, the company's main departments need to work together, if there is a lack of standard processes, there will be internal disputes at each key node, the division of labor is not clear, the boundaries are not clear. It will also give the partner the impression that the service is not professional, and affect the contract renewal or industry reputation.
Fourth, summary
This article is the whole process of the project carefully sorted out by the author, and the content information is condensed from a number of project experiences in my own work.
Different from other industry knowledge, the details of this article can be flexibly adjusted according to the specific situation of the respective company.
It's not easy to be original, please pay more attention and recommend it to your peers who need it!
In the next article, we will talk about the workflow of a product manager and understand the beginning and end of the work in this position.
If you have suggestions and additions, please feel free to communicate! Your interaction will be the biggest motivation for my update, thank you!
This article was originally published by @刘一手 on Everyone is a Product Manager. Reproduction without the permission of the author is prohibited.
The title image is from Unsplash and is licensed under CC0.
The views in this article only represent the author's own, everyone is a product manager, and the platform only provides information storage space services.