Keeping Score of the Game Called Product Management - Industry Connect by Raghu Ramanujam

Raghu Ramanujam is a Product Manager and entrepreneur with over 2 decades of experience in companies like ZOHO and InMobi, apart from founding his ride sharing platform, PoolCircle. Raghu firmly believes that helping customers succeed is the key measure of the product and its product manager.

His Industry Connect Session was on “What game are we playing and how do we keep score”, where he spoke on some of the key practices that a Product Manager should never forget. Here are the takeaways from the session –

The Product Manager’s job is to ensure that the ship is sailing in the right direction, and has enough firepower to reach your destination. How does he do that?

The Game –

While growth and development happens much later, the first step is to ensure viability.

• Customer Value Proposition – This is the building block of your Product and you need to get this right. An easy way to look at this is by writing down your press release – What problem does your product solve and for which customer?

• Product Positioning – As discussed before, you should be highlighting the pain point of your customer. That’s when you have nailed the problem. For instance, you can’t say that the pain point of someone who owns a Honda City is small changes in petrol prices. That’s not a big enough problem.

Some questions that will help when deciding your “Customer Segment” –

1. Is the market large enough to meet your purpose?
2. How easy or tough is it to enter and sustain?
3. Will your customers be willing to pay for your Product/service?

Keeping Score –

As a Product Manager, you should know when to stay put and when to pull out. It’s important to  understand the numbers and reassess decisions and commitments at every point. Zoom in and Zoom Out. Keep the ball rolling. Or not.