Product Book Template Set of slides produced by the Product Manager Regularly kept up to date e.g. monthly Benefits Product Manager is prepared at short notice to contribute as ‘subject matter expert’ on their product in strategic/senior-level meetings If product manager is ill or suddenly leaves the business – the Product Book acts as an emergency handover document Forces a discipline on the product manager to maintain an overview of their whole product N.b. some of the Product Book contents may be standardised across a department but to be useful it should contain slides that a Product Manager needs to use day-to-day when talking about their product

Product Book Contents Dashboard (one-page status) Product Description Availability Propositions The numbers Who does what, team structure, reporting line Roadmap Key issues Strategy/vision

Product Dashboard Used as a tool by senior management to check on product performance Needs to be adapted to the company and product e.g. international businesses may split some or all of the info by country Opportunity for product managers to communicate up the chain – however often not much space to explain what’s going on Good discipline to keep track of what’s happening KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) often used as a way of tracking important metrics RAG (Red, Amber, Green) system used to flag status – also known as traffic lights What would you use as KPIs for your product?

Product Description Words, charts, diagrams - over a number of slides that describe the product e.g. What it does Pricing How is it sold

Product Availability Where is the product available (geography), any plans to expand etc. Restrictions? Variations? TIP – Excel / G Sheets both now have Mapping capabilities

Product propositions Words, charts, diagrams - over a number of slides that describe the propositions You may need different propositions for Each market segment targeted The different types of customer buyer in each segment They should answer the customer question ”Why should I buy your product / service”

Competitive status Who are the key competitors? Words, charts, diagrams - over a number of slides that describe the competitive landscape Who are the key competitors? What are their strength and weaknesses etc.?

Product Financials Words, charts, diagrams e.g. Sales figures to date and against forecast Revenue for year to date

Who does what? Business Analyst Cathy Young Support Team Brian Jones Project Manager Ali Sofa Change Request Mgmt Andy Williams Project X Development Project Office John Noakes Development Director Rob Green Product Manager You Commission Janice Joplin Development Team Ian Brown/Lisa Burroughs Commercial Pricing Team Sales Director Shaun Lewis Sales Customer Support Legal Tom Brown (Lead) – also Jane Townsend Professional Services Tim Riceman/Theo Linn Saves Team Peter May Jo Smith Contact Centre Jill Sinclair/Paul Jones Your company may have a launch process which should include all the elements you need to consider … but remember every launch project is different so you need to check that everything is covered We provide a check list which you can use A good tool to set up the initial plan is a bubble chart like the one above How is launching done in your business?

Contacts Name Title Email Number Cathy Young Business Analyst cathy.young@xyz.com 0777 567 6781 Ali Sofa Project Manager ali.sofa@xyz..com 0778 333 6783 Janice Joplin Commissions Mgr janice.joplin@xyz.com 0777 568 6010 etc.

Team Structure Person X Head of Prod Mgmt Person A Team Leader Team Leader E Team Leader Person H Title Person I Title Person B Title Person F Title You Title Person G Title Person J Title Person D Title Your company may have a launch process which should include all the elements you need to consider … but remember every launch project is different so you need to check that everything is covered We provide a check list which you can use A good tool to set up the initial plan is a bubble chart like the one above How is launching done in your business?

Reporting line Biggest boss Chairman and CEO Bigger boss Director of ….. Big boss Head of … Team Leader Team Leader Team Leader Your company may have a launch process which should include all the elements you need to consider … but remember every launch project is different so you need to check that everything is covered We provide a check list which you can use A good tool to set up the initial plan is a bubble chart like the one above How is launching done in your business?

Roadmap Example showing platform updates, major features and maintenance releases

Key issues List of key issues for the product (with suggested mitigations/actions) e.g. Customer Service training required Now funded & scheduled for Q1 Review pricing levels To be presented for sign off at next pricing meeting Project X delay Technical work around being investigated, proposals to be reviewed by end of month No reporting available on costs Finance to have resolved by Q2

Strategy/vision One page description/elevator pitch