How can collaboration improve your product launch?

Creating a vision allows your team to take a top-down approach to your product's development. In other words, you begin with a high-level vision statement, then translate that vision into a strategic guide and action plan—the product roadmap.

I found The "Three Horizons" framework, explained in one of the lectures from McKinsey Product Academy quite interesting : Horizon 1 focuses on immediate customer needs, Horizon 2 explores emerging trends, and Horizon 3 envisions groundbreaking innovations. Balancing these horizons fosters both short-term gains and long-term sustainability. A strong product vision serves like a North Star, aligning teams, keeping them focussed and inspiring innovation.

Elevate your product launch with collaborative brilliance. Start by forging a shared vision among your team, making it the North Star that guides every move. It's the magnetic force pulling ideas together, turning a disjointed launch into a harmonious symphony, where every note contributes to a masterpiece.

Clarity in vision and clarity in communication ensure less bumps in the journey. Bring all stakeholders on the same page on the final objective of a feature, development or a launch. Take feedback early and solve doubts. The sooner everyone's on board, the faster and better the execution will be.

Getting and keeping ppl interested in the product is a strong collaboration strategy. Circulating a strong and inviting POC (proof of concept) from the beginning and continuing to be informative and inclusive via 1:1s, PRDs, one-pagers, product marketing decks etc., throughout the build to launch date will encourage ppl to work with you. Collaboration should happen by default because you've made your partners consistently feel that you are working on something together.

Collaboration is one of the most important skills for any product manager. More often than not Product Managers work with multiple stakeholders within the organization. Marketing teams, legal, sales, engineering, design, content and many more teams are involved in launching a successful product and on time. In this case, you should have all your teams involved right from the start and have very clear expectations on the output and timelines. Consider the situation of a rocket launch - just before the launch you ask every team, Check 1 - Ready to go? Check 2? Check 3? Likewise have all the teams ready and one after the other so that no dependence is there at the time of launch.

When the problem to be solved is identified, and the solution for it is brainstormed and received alignment on, you should create a launch plan at the start of the development. This launch can be iterated over during the development phase. It is imperative to collaborate with teams, make the teams aware of the product changes and get alignment on the launch amongst the stakeholders. This step becomes even more crucial when the product makes an impacts multiple experiences and teams. This is to keep an eye on any metrics being impacted with the new product launch changes.

In my experience one of the best collaboration tools is using a dedicated slack channel for each launch. It allows people to engage asynchronous which cuts down on meeting times and protects the team members deep work periods.

Involve your team early and often in the product launch process. This will help to ensure that everyone has a chance to contribute their ideas and feedback. It will also help to build team morale and engagement. You can hold regular team meetings to discuss progress and gather feedback. You can also create a dedicated product launch channel on your team communication platform. Additionally, you can involve your team in user testing, marketing planning, and other aspects of the launch process. -Be transparent: share information with your team early and often. -Encourage teams to share ideas and feedback. -Create a safe and supportive environment for comfortable thoughts sharing. -Recognize team members for their contributions.

In product management, involving your team early and frequently matters for several reasons: -It leverages diverse expertise, leading to better problem-solving and a holistic view of the product's feasibility. -It cultivates ownership and commitment among team members, motivating them to contribute to the product's success. This collaboration minimizes the risk of misaligned objectives and miscommunications, which can lead to conflicts and delays. -It allows for swift adaptation to market changes, enabling real-time feedback and agile adjustments. -This approach also promotes a transparent and inclusive work environment, boosting morale and team cohesion. Leverage expertise, foster commitment, reduce miscommunications, and adapt early!

The most terrible experience for a Product Manager that I've seen is when the sales team say that they won't be able to sell the product and the product has already been built ??. Such a situation usually arises when the sales and marketing teams come into the picture only at the launch time. Proper collaboration and feedback mechanism is essential for products to succeed. Seek and act upon feedback from cross functional teams is an absolute necessity in modern product building.

In addition to cross-functional team feedback, seek out stakeholders who are also users of your product (to the extent they are available). These user-employees can often share candid initial feedback about your vision, features, and even messaging and launch strategy. While these stakeholders can have invaluable input, recognize that they are also just one user and may not represent typical use cases your product launch is intended to serve.

It is imperative as a Product Manager to ensure a dual-sided understanding of your product - one side being your customers and the other being your client-facing internal stakeholders. Working with your documentation team to get the information to client-facing teams before launch is a great way to equip them with the ability to handle customer queries. Then you should ensure that your customers receive the correct notifications to help them understand your new product or feature. Having a launch checklist is a great way to ensure that you're not missing out on these critical activities.

As a PM, making cross-functional input a regular part of your process is a total game changer. Make it a habit to run concepts by engineering for technical feasibility, design for UX, support on serviceability, sales on positioning, marketing on messaging, leadership on strategy, and customer success on retention. Taking the time upfront will surface insights you would miss solo that strengthen your product - preventing headaches down the line. You gain a well-rounded product that is technically sound, usable, supportable, strategically aligned, clearly managed, and designed to satisfy customers. Cross-functional feedback fosters alignment and shared vision across teams and it's crucial for unlocking your product's full potential.

There could be multiple feedback loops that can be leveraged to strengthen and improve the product offering. Proactive application and leverage of these feedback loops ensure that the product manager gets the full perspective and makes more informed decisions.

There are two ways to go about it one prior to a product launch you can offer a unique opportunity to gather around their collective insights and preferences to launch a great product into the market. Engaging customers in the early stages by discussing ideas, feedback, and survey would help product owners connect the product to customer's needs and expectations. Customers can be invited to brainstorm ideas, review prototypes, or even take part in beta testing. This iterative approach not only fine-tunes the product but also builds anticipation and a sense of ownership among customers.

customers are the true measures of product success. Here are some thoughts on collaborating with them for strong launches: Identify target customer segments and their values early. Co-design with representatives to embed their needs. Share prototypes and demos to gather usage feedback. Iterate based on reactions. Survey for pricing sensitivity. Work with early adopters to refine pricing models. Leverage user testing to improve UX, messaging. Make it intuitive and appealing. Communicate benefits clearly based on what resonates most with customers. Involve supportive customers as launch partners, affiliates and evangelists. Monitor social media for real customer reactions. Respond promptly.

Encourage product review, or setting user groups are good avenue to get feedback.Once feedbacks are received, it's important to prioritize them to see what are those that can be resolve in short terms. And what others for longer term implementation.

Everyone seeks to be a "customer-centric" product manager or leader these days. What does it really mean? Talking to customers is 1 thing. Understanding what to involve them in, so you get the right input at the right time is a totally different thing. The key is not to ask, "What do you think about X?" Instead, inquire about what they have DONE. And why. Then YOU as a product manager can interpret their behavior in the context of your product.

However, we should consider that customers often have diverse opinions and preferences. Managing conflicting feedback and deciding which suggestions to prioritize can be complex. and we should be able to strike a balance between various customer needs and align them with the product's vision.

Product launches aren't endpoints; they're stepping stones in your product's lifecycle. Post-launch, double down on collaboration. Harvest data, derive insights, and absorb feedback. Let metrics, aligned with your product’s vision, be your compass. Revel in successes, but more importantly, dissect failures to unearth growth avenues. Iteration is the lifeblood of product relevance. With each feedback loop, refine both the product and its launch strategy. This cyclical collaboration ensures not just the initial splash, but a ripple effect of sustained product relevance and heightened customer satisfaction.

Launching a product is not a one man role, it requires different teams for the launch to be a success. For example if a network company is rolling out a 5G network in the country, you will need; 1.Customer service team to be trained on different offers and how to support the new technology. 2.Marketing to create a robust comms plan and offers for the market. 3.Sales team to sell the devices to the customers 4. Legal team to make sure you comply. 5.network and infrastructure team to make sure that all the sites are operational. This role is team that needs to be properly managed from angles to make the launch is smooth.

Pilot Feedback Validate Iterate Launch Feedback Validate Iterate Repeat... Repeat... Repeat. There is no special skill to this when you get down to basics. Try it, get the feedback, implement, try again.

The best way to learn and iterate is to start with low-fidelity prototypes. Prototyping creates clarity and measurable validation for our concepts against customer desirability and usability. It reduces funding risks and provides cross-organisational alignment, eliminating wasted time from unnecessary meetings and building confidence. If the goal is to get the best product to market in the quickest time, the solution is down the path of the prototype.

The product launch process is not a one-time event. It is important to learn from your mistakes and iterate on your plans as needed. This will help you to improve your product and your launch process over time. Track your progress and gather data on the launch process. Analyze the data to identify areas where you can improve. Make changes to your plans as needed. Be willing to experiment and try new things. By following these tips, you can create a more successful product launch. By collaborating with different teams and stakeholders, defining a clear vision, involving your team early and often, seeking feedback from others, co-creating with your customers, and learning and iterating, you can increase your chances of launching a successful

While big, splashy launches have their place, consider the power of a 'Silent Launch' for certain products or features. Release them quietly to a small user base and closely monitor the results. This allows you to make quick iterations based on real-world usage before a full-scale launch. It's a low-risk, high-reward strategy that can offer invaluable insights and even create buzz through exclusivity.

One of the top essential tip is to define the scope, roles& responsibilities and clearly outlining the expectations during the dependency teams kick off meeting. Nowadays most digital products have dependency and multiple integrations that makes dependency an unavoidable factor. To avoid chaos, unexpected surprises, delay in delivery, requirement gaps etc, it's important to clearly explain the role each person might play, their importance and expectations, so that even if they are unable to make it to follow up sessions, at least they can send their team representative. Keeping everyone informed and in the loop makes launches go smooth and more manageable.

Let's talk about some departments with whom a PM will collaborate and the launch channels. Sales enablement is key to a successful product launch. ?? As PMs, we must arm sales with knowledge and tools: - "Power hour" trainings on the product value prop ??? - Battle cards summarizing competitive advantages ?? - Presentations and demos for customer pitching ?? - Key facts/figures to close deals ?? With compelling collateral made for sellers, they can convey true differentiation.

At the outset of a product launch, it's imperative to identify the type of launch – whether it's an MVP, GA release, or a new version. Each launch demands meticulous planning and coordination. Clear delineation of roles and responsibilities for different teams should be established from the beginning, ensuring that everyone knows their part in the launch process. Preparations should commence well in advance of the launch date, allowing for a seamless and successful introduction of the product to the market.

Let's talk about some departments with whom a PM will collaborate and the launch channels. Trade shows spotlight the power of PM + PMM collaboration. ?? PMs have product expertise. PMMs excel at messaging and positioning. Together they can: - Refine messaging to stand out among competitors ? - Create compelling, differentiated demos ?? - Develop decks that convert interest into action ?? - Make the booth engaging and on-brand ?? - Equip PMs to convey key talking points ??? The combo of PM knowledge + PMM flair wins. Neither can maximize trade show success alone.