{"id":737,"date":"2018-02-04T19:04:20","date_gmt":"2018-02-04T18:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/silta.es\/dixIT\/reflexiones-IT\/?p=737"},"modified":"2018-02-04T19:04:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-04T18:04:20","slug":"from-projects-to-products-by-productfocus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/from-projects-to-products-by-productfocus\/","title":{"rendered":"From projects to products (by @ProductFocus)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.productfocus.com\/from-projects-to-products\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Product Focus blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transitioning from a project to product orientation isn\u2019t without pain but it will lead to better long-term outcomes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Faster, more reliable deliveries of product<\/li>\n<li>Better alignment and efficiency across the business by selling what\u2019s available and delivering what\u2019s been sold<\/li>\n<li>Taking control of the product strategy rather than being led by the customers who shout first or loudest<\/li>\n<li>Better profits through fully embracing the \u2018build once, sell many times\u2019 philosophy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Are you working in a business where single customer deals are driving priorities in development?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We see this happening in start-ups where the next deal results in a \u2018pivot\u2019 that sets the business in a new direction (as does the next deal and the next\u2026). But <em>it also happens in mature businesses where the next deal is a big chunk of money\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Whilst we all want a \u2018can do\u2019 culture in which<\/strong> <strong>we are responsive and agile, going down the custom route provides short-term gain whilst storing up pain for the future.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Each custom deal, taken in isolation, might make sense. <em>It means a new contract has been signed which brings in some money and makes people feel good, it keeps a customer happy and maybe even gives you a new reference for future deals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>But it\u2019s too easy to ignore the downsides\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Development of \u2018product\u2019 needed for multiple customers (maybe existing customers) gets delayed\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A culture of \u2018customer-first\u2019 means Sales don\u2019t have to learn what\u2019s possible or best for the business but feel free to sell whatever their customer wants\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Deployment and support must deal with yet another variant which is <\/em>time consuming<em>, messy and expensive\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Profitability on these bespoke deals either doesn\u2019t get measured or is measured incorrectly\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>There are 5 key things to get right:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>The culture must change<\/strong>: <em>The culture that allows Sales (or Senior Management) to sell whatever the customer requests needs to go.<\/em> \u2026 There has to be a realization that saying Yes to something means saying No to something else.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>Measure behaviour<\/strong>: The <em>shift from selling projects to selling products needs to be measured and rewarded<\/em>\u00a0.\u2026It needs to be made harder for the front end of the business to persuade the business to create a custom project than it is for them to sell what\u2019s already available. <em>Review the real costs and profitability<\/em> of those large complex deals \u2026 they <em>may be high revenue, but what about margin and the impact on the wider business?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>Improve your sales training and support<\/strong>: Whoever is doing the selling needs to know the portfolio, to be able to position and sell the value of what\u2019s available. \u2026 The product managers\u2019 role is to instill enthusiasm in Sales to sell the product and then equip them to\u00a0do so.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>Put product people in the driving seat<\/strong>: A common factor we see <em>in <\/em>project oriented<em> businesses is that product managers are bypassed.<\/em> We often see Sales people going directly to Development to get an estimate for effort and delivery timescales. \u2026\u00a0Product managers might or might not get told what\u2019s happened but even if they are, it\u2019s often too late to influence the decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>Get ahead with your market understanding<\/strong>: You should be doing <em>proactive research to<\/em> try and<em> understand where the market is heading in advance<\/em> of these customer requirements coming in. This <em>allows you to create the governance where you can say \u2018no\u2019 to things that are only relevant to a few customers and focus on things that are valued by the wider market<\/em> where the opportunity is much bigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>via Product Focus blog. Transitioning from a project to product orientation isn\u2019t without pain but it will lead to better long-term outcomes: Faster, more reliable deliveries of product Better alignment and efficiency across the business by selling what\u2019s available and delivering what\u2019s been sold Taking control of the product strategy rather than being led by  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-project-management"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}