The business intent of Product Management is to increase an organization's competitive advantage through various product initiatives. Competitive advantage is defined by product differentiation and process efficiency. An XY chart displays a competitive advantage score in terms of differentiation and process efficiency.  This type of score card provides actionable information that a Product Management team can use for self-diagnostic in process improvement initiatives, and for performance comparisons between business quarters, or between different teams within the same organization. Standard charts enable comparisons across an industry.

You can use this score card as a sample. Create one table for each of the Seven Pillars. You will want to adjust the strategies to be in context of each pillar. Take the aggregated scores for each of the Pillars and combine them into one score for Differentiation. Computing a percentage achieved out of total possible will make your graphic representation easier to read and comparisons more meaningful.

After  you've completed the assessment in each Pillar you switch and take a look at process efficiency. We use the same Seven Pillars to establish business goals. The objectives of processes within each Pillar are listed at the end of this post for reference. Remove the ones not valid for your organization. For each remaining objective, you'll need to identify specific strategies your team is performing to accomplish the specific objective.

At this point your ready to identify metrics and conduct the self assessment of process efficiency.

Aggregate your scores as you did for Differentiation. When you have your percentage, take it and subtract it from 1. This converts a high score, which is bad in performance, into a low Efficiency score. When you're done you'll have two scores, one for Differentiation and one for Efficiency. We map these on an XY diagram as shown here.

You can use this diagram to compare snap shots of your team's product management over time, or at one time compare different teams within the same organization. The closer you are in the upper right quadrant, the better your Product Management Team is doing.

Efficiency Objectives

Market Sensing

• Market sensing through market analysis methods
• Market sensing through competitive analysis methods
• Market sensing through customer satisfaction methods
• Market input selection through consensus & voting methods
• Market input selection through analytical scoring & portfolio balance methods
• Market input selection through qualitative assessment methods

Problem Definition

• Conceptualization methods used for problem definition
• Analysis methods used for problem definition
• Refinement methods used for problem definition
• Target market sampling methods used for problem validation
• Deductive reasoning and test methods used for problem validation
• Expert opinion methods used for problem validation

Opportunity Definition

• Conceptualization methods used for opportunity definition
• Analysis methods used for opportunity definition
• Refinement methods used for opportunity definition
• Tracing methods used for strategic alignment
• Scoring methods used for strategic alignment
• Decomposition methods used for strategic alignment
• Direct and proxy approval methods used for buyer-gate management
• Analytical scoring & portfolio balance methods used for buyer-gate management
• Modeling and forecasting methods used for buyer-gate management
• Consensus & voting methods used for opportunity selection
• Analytical scoring & portfolio balance methods used for opportunity selection
• Qualitative assessment methods used for opportunity selection

Feature Definition

• Conceptualization methods used for feature definition
• Refinement methods used for feature definition
• Analysis methods used for feature definition
• Target market sampling methods used for feature validation
• Deductive reasoning and test methods used for problem validation
• Expert opinion methods used for problem validation

Roadmap Definition

• Conceptualization methods used for roadmap definition
• Refinement methods used for roadmap definition
• Analysis methods used for roadmap definition
• Direct and proxy approval methods used for buyer-constraint management
• Analytical scoring & portfolio balance methods used for buyer-constraint management
• Modeling and forecasting methods used for buyer-constraint management
• Demand driven methods used for resource planning
• Resource Driven Methods used for resource planning
• Portfolio Driven Methods used for resource planning
• Consensus & voting methods used for roadmap selection
• Analytical scoring & portfolio balance methods used for roadmap selection
• Qualitative assessment methods used for roadmap selection

Requirement Definition

• Conceptualization methods used for requirement definition
• Analysis methods used for requirement definition
• Refinement methods used for requirement definition
• Target market sampling methods used for requirement validation
• Deductive reasoning and test methods used for requirement validation
• Expert opinion methods used for requirement validation
• Expert opinion methods used for requirement estimation
• Modeling methods used for requirement estimation
• Historical comparison methods used for requirement estimation

Launch Definition

• Conceptualization methods used for launch definition
• Refinement methods used for launch definition
• Analysis methods used for launch definition
• Target market sampling methods used for launch validation
• Deductive reasoning and test methods used for problem validation
• Expert opinion methods used for problem validation
• On-Demand methods used for launch execution
• Calendar paced methods used for launch execution
• Milestone paced methods used for launch execution