Product Consulting

This is strategy consulting and professional coaching through the lens of Product. Depending on the needs of the company and the overall technology footprint, I can bring in a collaborator or even a full team as necessary to achieve your goals.

  1. Fractional CPO:  Sometimes an organization needs product and technology leadership but isn’t ready to hire a Chief Product Officer. Sometimes this is a corporate life-stage issue, the company isn’t ready for the expense or doesn’t have a full-time need. Sometimes this is an issue of helping a founder or early hire gain the skills and understanding that they need to lead the team through the next stage. In any case, I can help.
  2. True North Planning:  True North Planning is an important exercise for any company or product as it helps to set a long-term vision and goals for the team to work towards. This process should define what the company or product should look like in 3-5 years and outline the steps needed to get there. This helps to align everyone in the organization towards a common goal and ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives.
  3. Ecosystem and Competitive Analysis:  Ecosystem and Competitive Analysis is crucial to understanding the competitive landscape and the overall ecosystem that the company is operating in. This analysis should provide a detailed understanding of the competition, their strengths and weaknesses, and any patterns that emerge. This helps to inform the product strategy and ensure that the company is making informed decisions.
  4. Market Requirements Analysis: A Market Requirements Analysis (MRA) is a process of collecting and analyzing data about the market, competitors, customers, and other external factors. The goal is to identify key market requirements that are necessary for a product or service to meet the needs of customers. Market requirements are different than product requirements, as they are collected from market analysis and customer feedback, and call out the market need, rather than defining specifically what an engineering team will build.
  5. Technical Review:  Technical Review is an important aspect of product management, as it helps to ensure that the product is technically sound and that the architecture is well-designed. This review would assess the company’s development approach and overall capabilities, and identify any areas that need improvement. This helps to ensure that the company is building products that meet the needs of its customers and that they have longevity in the market.
  6. Talent Review: Talent Review is critical to building a strong team, particularly in maker organizations like Product and Engineering. This review should assess the quality and skill level of the product and engineering leadership teams and identify any gaps in expertise that need to be filled. This helps to ensure that the company has the right people in the right roles to build great products.
  7. Product Definition: Product Definition is the process of defining what the product should be at maturity. This is a critical step in the product management process as it helps to ensure that the team is building the right product. This work-back plan should define the next few versions of the product and ensure that the team is working towards the long-term vision set out in the True North Planning document.
  8. Product Process Development: Product Process is the set of processes and tools that the product team uses to build products. This should include how the team works with engineering and operations, as well as sales, product marketing, and marketing teams. This process outlines how internal partners should expect the roadmap and communications to be managed, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.
  9. Expectation Setting & Resetting Group Dynamics: Expectation Setting & Resetting Group Dynamics is an important aspect of managing a product team. There are often natural tension points between revenue-facing teams and the builders who create the products. This can make it difficult for these teams to communicate effectively with each other. Setting clear expectations and resetting group dynamics can help to ensure that everyone is working together towards a common goal. Ideally this culminates in creating a culture of empathy and understanding between teams, as well as setting clear communication channels and expectations.