Unlocking Value with Agile Product Management

By Lee Boon Kee, Senior Lecturer and Consultant, Product & Project Management

In 2001, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPod with the slogan “1000 songs in my pocket.” 

In simple five words, Jobs defined his vision for that little device. This tagline also clearly informs of the iPod’s value – it wasn’t just about the product, but more importantly, the experience this music player can deliver. “This amazing little device holds a thousand songs, and it goes right into my pocket,” he famous said.

Jobs didn’t attempt to wow customers by bombarding them with technical specifications, or tell them why they should buy it. Instead, he simply told them the experience he knew would be of interest and value to them – he highlighted a pain point in his life that he wanted to solve, and that problem was a similar one for the next ten million people. 

The power dynamics between the customer and business has shifted in this digital age –it’s no longer a user’s job to understand what a technology can offer. Rather, the technology has to deliver what the user wants. It is therefore crucial to demonstrate understanding of and empathy with your consumers, and there lies in the importance of the product manager. 

With digital transformation disrupting both software development and business processes, and tech teams embracing agile development methods, the role of the product manager is not unaffected by the changes. In fact, the nature of the role fundamentally changes. 

Faced with a rapidly changing landscape, in which a technological change can shake up an entire industry, agile product management can help you keep up with the disruption and develop strategies in real time. 

The bridge between users and engineers 

Traditionally, a product manager is someone who seeks potentially profitable market problems and describes them to the engineers, who will materialise the solution. 

They are responsible for defining the “what” and the “why” of the product that the developer team will build. They also lead cross-functional teams and oversee a product’s conception through its entire lifecycle. But what’s crucial is that a product manager is the bridge between identifying a need of the user – often un-communicated – and satisfying it. 

In meetings with the development team, the product manager represents the customer. They focus on defining and prioritising the customer’s problem to the developers, not on designing a solution. 

On the customer front, the product manager needs to be able to create stories that a user can understand – and is willing to pay money for. The value of your product should be put forth in a way that is accessible to the users, without the need for an interpreter. Steve Jobs’ iPod slogan makes a good example. 

Ultimately, the problem that you need to identify, is one that people will pay money for you to solve.

Addressing the problem of speed and scale  

But what happens when the customers’ needs are in a constant flux and unpredictability? They themselves are facing the same uncertainties and disruption, of which speed and scale are the two key elements. Users don’t want to be stuck with custom-built systems that cannot be upgraded easily. Products therefore need to offer scalability. 

However, traditional heavyweight software development methodologies are prescriptive, over-managed and notoriously difficult to change. This waterfall model, though simple to implement due to rigidity of the model, can take a long time, if at all, to deliver.

An agile framework, on the other hand, allows for teams to respond quickly to the present. Moreover, agile product management is based on an empirical approach. Feedback on prototypes and early product increments are gathered to enable the team to adapt the product accordingly. Employing an empirical method also means that instead of individual client requirements, the product is addressing a market gap.  

The advantages of this include shorter time-to-market, and lower development and maintenance cost. With modular implementation, the working software gets pushed out to market earlier. This fast and frequent delivery lends the product a competitive edge, also allowing the product to evolve based on customer and user feedback.  

Plan, do, inspect, adapt

At the core of agile product management, is the cyclic process consisting of the steps – plan, do, inspect and adapt. 

The process starts with a clearly defined problem and a set of aims. Elimination of vagueness helps to minimise understanding and wastage of time and effort; so that the group knows exactly what to do, and how to do it. 

Outcomes of the planned tasks are then verified against the expected output. This process helps the team to fix issues and make minor changes according to feedback and move ahead. The inspection and adaption help the team to ensure they staying relevant to the customers’ needs, so as to meet the changing demands.  

Change is the only constant 

The paradigm shift from traditional to agile product management embraces an ancient Greek wisdom: change is the only constant. It’s a simple concept yet there are many obstacles in the way. The benefits of agile in software development are clear, but in order to unlock the full potential of the agile framework, it has to involve the whole organisation. 

However, agility is not simply a methodology, neither is it a set of processes. Rather, it is a mindset that values communication, be it across the different functions of the business, or with the customers. Understanding is the key to unlocking the value that agility can bring, and the product manager is therefore in an important position to deliver this collaboration.