Excerpted from Anatomy of a Product Leader.
For businesses across consumer-facing industries, product experience sits atop the talent agenda. Finding highly skilled leaders in this area is challenging, though, in part because “product” remains broadly defined and product development itself continues to evolve. A product may be a website, software or services, a feature on a phone, a smartphone app or an entire experience combining hardware and software. In fact, in the case of some offerings, such as software updates or new features installed automatically or uploaded from the cloud, end users may not even realize that what they have received is a product. One definition we heard from an experienced chief product officer encompasses “the entire experience from beginning to end: the look, feel, flow, features, copy, environment, sound. Anything that affects the experience or service that you are offering is part of the product.”
As the definition of product has evolved, the way products are developed also has changed. Three primary areas have been the source of this change, each with implications for product leadership:
Speed. The cycle time of product development is fundamentally different today; the speed at which organizations need to develop, test and launch products into the marketplace — and then create new iterations based on immediate feedback — has increased dramatically. One venture capitalist notes that getting the public’s attention is the single greatest challenge to putting out a product; the need to meet an accelerated timeline makes that task even more daunting. Speed is not only about the pace of development and iteration, but the potential to gain or lose market traction at an even faster pace.
Ecosystem. Product development also has become more complex as many products are connected to others in intricate ways, and the expectation is for the user experience to work seamlessly. As a result, managers need to understand the interactions their product has with other products and systems, and how changes to one can greatly affect the functionality and delivery of the others. This is equally true for the product manager working on a single item as it is for the manager overseeing a suite of products or even an entire product line. The product manager needs to be conscious of the user experience as well as the value chain in which the product competes. The risk is that even the most elegant user experience can go profitless if the platform it depends on becomes a competitor. Today’s product leaders must constantly understand the web of partnerships that allows their product to be discovered and to exist both technically and financially.
Experience. Consumers increasingly expect digital products to be rich and emotional experiences. Every point of the customer experience — from opening the box to launching the application to interactions with customer service — needs to be consistent. A product manager’s rapt attention to detail and ownership of the whole experience is critical to success.
The need for product-focused leadership will only increase over time as digital products and services continue to proliferate. Consumer-facing companies should not underestimate the importance of having strong product leadership — a product savvy CEO or other product executive — to guide product innovation and to create successful product experiences. They also should recognize the forces that are impacting product development within their organization and the implications for product management.
Learn more about how the rise of digital has generated increased demand for leaders with product experience.