Surprisingly, the very group that would benefit most from a robust Product Lifecycle process is not the one that always champions its implementation.

Surprisingly, the very group that needs a PLC is not always the organization to drive a PLC process. Product Managers and leaders often get caught up in the day-to-day of working on a list of projects and priorities and fail to see the big picture – that their success is hobbled by the lack of a PLC process. In fact, I see a lot of problems that Product Management has to address constantly that are specifically the result of a lack of a PLC process. Ask yourself if you see any of these in your organization:

  1. There is no roadmap.
  2. The roadmap changes rapidly to the consternation of Sales and Marketing teams.
  3. The roadmap’s priorities don’t seem in line with market needs.
  4. A disproportionate number of priorities involve internal enhancements or operational improvements that don’t directly or indirectly benefit customers.
  5. Dates shift constantly.
  6. Sales is banging down the door for new capabilities.
  7. It’s been over a quarter since any significant launch was done with none coming on the immediate horizon. 
  8. Projects can come out of the blue and land as a priority, pushing projects already underway into a hold status.
  9. Teams seem to be in a constant state of reaction with changing priorities, and not working toward a common meaningful objective.
  10. Product Managers don’t operate and speak the language of a PLC process. Instead, they operate purely on a tactical level accomplishing disparate tasks.
  11. There is a disconnect in what Product Management leadership is thinking and what Product Managers are actually working on.
  12. Teams that should be consulted and onboard with a given launch are instead, in the dark and not consulted. The result is launches where operations, support or other teams have no idea how to support the new offering.
  13. Launch efforts are mismatched with the market appeal, or lack thereof, of the offering.
  14. Leadership steps in regular to make course adjustments (not corrections though) as a sort of “Executive Override.”
  15. Your Product Management leader seems de-linked from happenings by their Product Managers.
  16. There is no formal EOL process in place.
  17. Sales complains about the roadmap changing regularly and has lost confidence in it and the team behind it,
  18. Product Marketing and Sales Enablement efforts are usually delayed several times in the course of a launch because of delays.
  19. Teams such as Sales. Marketing, Support and others receive conflicting information and updates on readiness for a given launch. 
  20. A recently launched offering has to be re-launched due to ongoing issues.
  21. The actual go-to-market marketing launch is done in fits and starts because information is not readily available on the new offering.

This list can go on and on because the lack of a PLC process, in my opinion, is the single largest contributor to issues that befall Product Management and how Product Management, Engineering, Support, Marketing, Sales and other teams work together to get a new offering to market.

Establish an agreed-to PLC process and watch a shift as your biggest issues become not about navigating the many issues above and instead, becomes about moving new offerings and enhancements to new offerings through the PLC process and to market. 

Check out our landmark post – How to Put a PLC Process in Place