Product + Architecture

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Products are booming amidst pandemic waves that are still looming. The demand for online products and services fuelled by remote-working is forcing companies to look at creative ways to generate and deliver value to customers. Fintechs, start-ups and scale-ups are setting the pace of product innovation. More often than not, there are tiny pieces of software making all of this possible. They are called 'features' in the product development world. Features bring a product vision to life. They are pockets of value that when carefully planned, designed and launched, can have a profound effect on society and the environment. This function is driven by a Product Manager.

The software Product Manager(PM) is an emerging discipline and gaining momentum world-wide. As companies start to scale or large corporates try to differentiate themselves, it becomes imperative to have a blue-print of your business. Imagine stepping into your role as a PM in a new company and trying to understand the business landscape in which it operates. 

How does the business currently deliver value to its customers? How many people do you need to consult to get the big picture? It's often a run-around between sales, marketing, support and IT. Generally all you find are business-process-flow diagrams illustrating how a particular feature will work. That's only one piece of the puzzle. PM's spend unnecessary time trying to put together a puzzle of how things are done. Instead, they need to focus on developing a product strategy based on an existing view of the business. This may involve introducing new capabilities to support the strategy or understanding the impact of features on existing capabilities. It may also require performance measurement of new features at key points within the value stream.

Is this a common challenge experienced by PMs? Let me know your thoughts. In the next blog, I explain how an architectural view of your business can complement PM's in their pursuit to build great products, and why Business Architects and Product Managers should be talking to each other a whole lot more.