1. A Framework for Process Improvement in Software Product Management Willem Bekkers 2 september 2010 E-mail: bekkers@cs.uu.nl LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/willembekkers

2. Introduction Strategy Market trends Feature requests Technologies Bugs, Feature- requests Contracts, Partner requests Scope changes Board Market Sales Development Partners Customers R&D

3. Research Trigger Software Product Management is a key area within many software companies – Fricker, S., et al. (2010) P. Berander (2007) Product manager is “mini-ceo” of an organization – Christof Ebert, et al. (2008) Lack of education – Weerd, et al. (2006) No extensive body of knowledge exists such as PMBOK and SWEBOK – Project Management Institute (2000) Abran, et al. (2004) Problems arise when organizations want to professionalize or move from selling customized software to standard product selling – Artz (2010)

4. The SPM Competence Model

5. The SPM Maturity Matrix 012345678910 Requirements management Requirements gatheringABCDEF Requirements identificationABCD Requirements organizingABC Release management Requirements prioritizationABCDE Release definitionABCDE Release definition validationABC Scope change managementABCD Release build validationABC Launch preparationABCDEF Product management Roadmap intelligenceABCDE Core asset roadmappingABCD Product roadmappingABCDE Portfolio management Market analysis ABCDE Partnering & contracting ABCDE Product lifecycle management ABCDE

6. 012345678910 Requirements management Requirements gatheringABCDEF Requirements identificationABCD Requirements organizingABC Release management Requirements prioritizationABCDE Release definitionABCDE Release definition validationABC Scope change managementABCD Release build validationABC Launch preparationABCDEF Product management Roadmap intelligenceABCDE Core asset roadmappingABCD Product roadmappingABCDE Portfolio management Market analysis ABCDE Partnering & contracting ABCDE Product lifecycle management ABCDE Capabilities NameRequirement dependency linking WeightHigh GoalThe existence of requirement interdependencies means that requirements interact with and affect each other. Requirement dependency linking prevents problems that result from these interdependencies, and therewith enables better planning of the development process. ActionDependencies between market and product requirements are determined and registered. A dependency exists when a requirement demands a specific action of another requirement. E.g. a requirement demands that another requirement be implemented too, or that another requirement is not implemented in case of conflicting requirements. The linkage can be supported by using advanced techniques, such as linguistic engineering. Prerequisite(s)RG:A Reference(s)Dahlstedt & Persson (2003)

7. Using the Maturity Matrix The currently implemented capabilities (bold & green) The current maturity level is 2 012345678910 Product management Roadmap intelligenceABCDE Core asset roadmappingABCD Product roadmappingABCDE Portfolio management Market analysis ABCDE Partnering & contracting ABCDE Product lifecycle management ABCDE

8. Conclusions & Future research Conclusions: There is a need for such a model Solid basis for Software Process Improvement Future research: Further research into the effects of Situational Factors Further research to define the responsibilities in the grey areas International validation of the models presented here Development of Assessment Method based on the models presented here Further research to investigate the use of the Maturity Matrix structure in other research areas