On March 28, Brian Lawley from 280 Group presented a great webinar on how to optimize product management at your company. The recorded webinar (along with audio and slides) can be found here.

Below are some of the questions and comments that came out of the webinar:

· Why are product managers put into product janitor roles?

@PmDude replies that it may have to do with the lack of clarity on the roles of Product Management. I agree, and the fact that Product Management comes from development, typically a fulfillment role, rather than what a product manager needs to do, which is make the decision on what gets built as well.

· How does the Optimal Product Process from 280 Group handle Agile? Does it apply to non software products?

Yes, the process does support any product, software or not. And from an Agile standpoint, more frequent iterations don’t replace the need for marketing and business planning. Something always needs to drive the prioritization of requirements in a backlog, and it’s not ad-hoc that’s necessarily the best approach.

· What type of education (certification, MBA, etc.) can help my product management career?

This is always a tough one, I personally did my MBA and find it gave a great foundation for learning and business knowledge, but I also find PM certifications help with focused, day-to-day tasks.

· What type of product management software or tools are available out there?

Definitely check out FeaturePlan, from Ryma, which provides a full product management software solution, including our new Document Center, which will support the 280 Group templates right inside the application. I had some questions on if it’s applicable to small or large companies, and it definitely is applicable for both. Many product managers use it individually, and the functionality scales very well for larger group needs in a business unit, product management team or even across the company.

What do you think about growing the product management practice at your company? Let me know!

-Hakan