1. Product Activities Framework
Strategic Product Activities
-working out what the right product is for the business
Getting Insight
Analysis
Giving Direction
Market research
Market analysis
Product & portfolio strategy
Customer & sales feedback
Developing propositions
Roadmaps
Competitive research
Business cases
Evangelising
Product performance
Pricing
Resolving issues
Inbound Activities
Outbound Activities
-helping the business to deliver the product
-helping the business to sell the product
Writing requirements
Launch (go-to-market)
Supporting development
Product promotion
Project & supplier management
Developing sales support material
Rollout & trials
Supporting sales channels

2. Product Activities Framework Exercise
The objective is to identify gaps, overlaps and issues in product activities at your business. For each activity in the framework identify who’s accountable, who’s responsible and how good your company is at doing the activity.
There should be one person accountable for any single activity
Many people may be responsible for doing the work
Notes on Accountability: The accountable person has an obligation to ensure an activity meet business needs. They can change the activity if necessary and are held accountable for the sign-off, performance and approval of the activity.
Activity
Tick here if you’re accountable for the activity area
Tick here if someone you can name is accountable
Tick here if accountability is split between different people
Tick all that apply
Major concerns
Some concerns
No concerns

3. How good is it at your company?
1 of 5
Strategic Product Activities
-working out what the right product is for the business
Accountable
Responsible
How good is it at your company?
Getting insight
Someone you can name
Others you can name
Description
You
You
Summary
Split
Market research
Having insight into the market for your product
Having insights from existing customers, sales & support
Having insight into competitive products and companies
Understanding how the product is currently performing
Sponsoring or running market research projects. Gathering expert opinion, market data and market research. Tracking market drivers such as technology developments and changes to legislation.
Sponsoring or running research on your existing customers. Getting feedback from sales, support and other channels about issues and opportunities. Win/loss analysis.
Initiating and sponsoring competitive research, tracking competitor activity, getting feedback from sales and other channels. Understanding their strengths, weaknesses and direction.
Reviewing regular reports on product performance, tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as revenue & market share. Getting insights from sales and support. Gathering usage analytics
Customer and sales feedback
Competitive research
Product performance

4. How good is it at your company?
2 of 5
Strategic Product Activities
-working out what the right product is for the business
Accountable
Responsible
How good is it at your company?
Analysis
Someone you can name
Others you can name
Description
You
You
Summary
Split
Market analysis
Generating ideas and developing propositions
Producing business cases for the product
Setting pricing for the product
Understanding markets and potential opportunities
Analysing market, customer and competitor research to understand market problems and opportunities. Identifying and targeting market segments. Buyer and user personas, understanding the buying process.
Creating and capturing new ideas. Analysing and building propositions for your product. Producing variants for different target market segments, buyer and user profiles.
Producing business cases for product opportunities as a basis for investment. Producing forecasts and financial models. Getting impact estimates and buy-in from various departments.
Developing pricing strategy and tactics. Competitive pricing analysis. Dealing with internal positioning and pricing bundles. Implementing new pricing and discounting structures.
Developing propositions
Business cases
Pricing

5. How good is it at your company?
3 of 5
Strategic Product Activities
-working out what the right product is for the business
Accountable
Responsible
How good is it at your company?
Giving Direction
Someone you can name
Others you can name
Description
You
Split
You
Summary
Product and/or portfolio strategy
Developing and communicating product and portfolio plans to the business
Developing roadmaps for the product
Evangelising the product within and outside the business
Resolving product issues
Developing product and portfolio strategy and plans including updates to management and the wider business. Includes portfolio positioning, release planning and stakeholder management.
Deciding on future developments and creating a roadmap as a vision for the product. Communicating internally and externally.
Selling and presenting the product to internal audiences such as Sales, Development and Marketing. Representing the product externally at conferences, exhibitions, with the press and industry analysts.
Answering questions and sorting out product issues e.g. sorting out internal process issues, resolving sales queries, making trade-offs and priority calls.
Roadmaps
Evangelising
Resolving issues

6. How good is it at your company?
4 of 5
Inbound Activities
- helping the business to deliver the product
Accountable
Responsible
How good is it at your company?
Inbound
Someone you can name
Others you can name
Description
You
You
Summary
Split
Writing requirements
Creating product requirements
Supporting the development of the product
Managing the product development project and/or suppliers
Rolling-out the product to the business and managing trials
Gathering, analysing, prioritising and documenting product requirements. Defining users and use scenarios. Producing the product backlog as the Product Owner in Scrum. Providing product context for developers.
Helping to develop the product e.g. discussing requirements with Development, making feature and design trade-offs, performing tests, sprint reviews.
Managing the overall development for the product, reviewing milestones with stakeholders. Handling the development process and resolving project issues. Managing and/or negotiating with suppliers.
Managing the roll-out of the product within the business e.g. system and process updates. Communications and training to all appropriate areas e.g. support Managing internal and external trials.
Supporting development
Project and / or supplier management
Rollout and trials

7. How good is it at your company?
5 of 5
Outbound Activities
- helping the business to sell the product
Accountable
Responsible
How good is it at your company?
Outbound
Someone you can name
Others you can name
Description
You
You
Summary
Split
Launch (go-to-market)
Producing and implementing launch plans
Producing and implementing promotional and marketing plans
Producing sales and support material
Supporting sales calls and events
Creating and running launch and go-to-market plans. Selecting launch dates, ensuring training is rolled-out to sales channels, support and others. Communications and building momentum across the business.
Creating product promotion plans and campaigns e.g. thought leadership, lead generation, acquisition, retention, market communications. Tracking effectiveness.
Writing and developing sales and sales support material e.g. collateral, case studies, FAQs, white-papers, training, websites, sales tools and presentations.
Supporting sales calls. Attending or presenting at user groups, sales and channel events as the product representative.
Product promotion
Developing sales support material
Supporting sales channels

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