Lean Product Management: A Beginner’s Guide In 2021

Introduction

If you wish to know all about lean product management, then we have you covered. Lean product management is an evolution of several years in the development of digital products. It traces its origin right from when the concept of a brand manager was formed all through the technical product management phase, which works in a combination of agile, lean, and lean start-up methods.

Lean management is necessary for every organization today because even though many years of product development have gone by, its success rate is still low. Most start-ups fail, and almost 70% of the new products fail to get the desired market attention. This clearly shows that something is wrong regarding how the organization structure, people, and processes are being used.

1. What is lean product management and development?
2. The product management methodology
3. Benefits of lean product management

1. What is lean product management and development?

Lean product management is the complete life cycle management of a product that applies the practices and the principles of the lean, lean startup, business modeling, customer development, financial viability, behavioral economics, and outcome-driven innovation. It is basically about doing the correct thing, in the correct measure and at the correct time. This means that businesses have to be clear of their model, their objectives, and how it can measure their progress. Lean agile product management connects the strategy and the development of the company.

Lean product management and development ensures that the product is ready and right for the market and the target audience. Making use of digital product management, lean product management makes the product successful.

The lean product and process development method implements the best product management techniques and focuses on the product’s entire life cycle. The lean product and process development help the business to work out what is the right thing to do and how long should it be done. The product changes, and so makes its market demand. Thus the lean strategy must be considered.

Lean product development and management are crucial, and this is because most of your product fails to meet the consumer’s needs. To make your business successful, you need to develop products that your customers need. And to understand what your customer needs, you need to understand their problems and how you can solve them.

2) The product management methodology

Several things go behind the product management methodology. The process is in-depth and covers a range of areas. All of these are crucial to ensure that your product is successful for its entire life cycle.

• Lean Startup is the first part of the method that creates business models, plans the customer development, and validates learnings. It also involves measuring and understanding the process and the product. Some companies would also include minimum viable product and innovative accounting in their lean startup development.
• Ideation is the next stage which includes the process like getting grips and prioritizing the ideas which are basically about analyzing how the market would receive the product.
• Problem and Solution is the third part that dictates the problem and then comes with a solution for the same. This is an in-depth study of the consumer as well as the market. The research focuses on how the product can add value to the consumers’ life. It also figures out if there is any scope for the product in the market. This can be done by understanding your competitive products and their demand in the market and if customers would need your product.
• Product and Market is a step that evaluates whether the product fits into the market. This is where a minimal viable product exploration is done, and the product is experimented with. It involves a survey done to understand the customers’ feedback. The data is compiled and analyzed for lean product information.
• The strategy is the next stage of the methodology to create a solid business plan and an excellent product strategy. You need to have an innovative approach that lets you stand ahead of your competitors and drive in more sales for your business.
• Work out the Scale is the last part of your method where you look at the scale of the product. You need to work on the product teams’ scale and the details of the lean product roadmap. It also measures the scale and outcome of product development.

It is important that the product manager prioritizes the technique and implements the right strategy at the correct time. Lean Analytics is used to understand the scale of the product and to find out how it is performing and the reason behind its performance in the market.

3) Benefits of lean product management

Lean principles have many benefits. It ensures that your customers are satisfied right from the start, which in turn increases customer and brand loyalty. It saves time since you do not have to go back and change your product.

Lean product management also gives a fast return on your investment. When you analyze and plan each step of your process, you understand your customers’ feelings towards your product. This is a real-time response that ensures that your product will market faster and with fewer problems.

A major advantage of lean management is that it reduces your chances of failing. Without enough research, companies tend to shut down soon. When you analyze each step, then there is a shallow risk of your business failing.

Conclusion

Now that you understand what lean product management is and its benefits to your organization, why not apply it to your business. A complete understanding of lean product management can make the difference in making a potential product successful or ending up being a complete disaster.

Incorporating lean product management is thus vital to any organization. Lean product management studies the product right from its development stage, ensuring that it hits the market with complete confidence and quickly captures a huge market share.

Interested to learn all about Product Management from the best minds in the industry? Check out our Product Management Course. This 6-month-long program takes place online through live instructor-led sessions. It is the only program in India that offers the ‘Bring Your Own Product (BYOP)’ feature so that learners can build their product idea into a full-blown product, and go through an entire Product Development lifecycle.

Not only this, but this is the only program in India with a curriculum that conforms to the 5i Framework. Post completion, learners receive a joint certification from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, and Jigsaw Academy.