Chapter Summary

• Product management is the comprehensive set of activities required to create and sustain winning solutions.

• Creating the first version of a software product begins with a concept proposal that justifies the product and ends with a launch plan. These processes are larger and more comprehensive than similar software development processes. The processes for creating subsequent releases are lighter and build upon the materials created during the first release.

• Well-run product development processes are characterized by a stringent "go/kill" decision at every stage. They are augmented and improved by successive freezing, change management protocols, and an idea recycle bin.

• The business plan is the central document that justifies a product's ongoing development.

• The four Ps of marketing are: product (offering), price (and the business model), place (distribution), and promotion (advertising, marketing communications).

• The total available market is all of the customers who could possibly use your good or service.

• The total addressable market is the subset of the total available market that you can reach.

• A market segment is a group of customers who share specific characteristics, chief of which is that they must communicate with each other.

• The adoption of innovations, such as a new product or the new release of an existing product, follows an S-shaped curve. Key adopter categories within this curve are the innovators, the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and the laggards.

• The concept of the whole product comprises the generic product, the expected product, the augmented product, and the potential product. The target product is the specific product being offered to a specific market segment.

• Position is an objective and accurate assessment of how your customers currently categorize or perceive your product. Positioning is a strategic, managed effort to create and defend a distinctive concept that your customer can care about and remember. Your "main message" is a short (one- or two-phrase) statement that creatively captures positioning.

• Your brand is the promise you make to a customerIt is why people care. Everything you and your company do is reflected in its brand.