Product Management of Internal Applications
In anticipation of the upcoming BMPA presentation on the topic “Product Management of Internal Applications,” I spoke with presenter Justin Donlon, VP Process Innovation and Analytics at CarGurus, to get a bit of a preview of what attendees can expect.
My first question for Justin was “Why an internal product manager?”. I mean, it’s not like there is some internal community of application users whose needs are not being met, right?
In response, Justin pointed out that, in fact, that is exactly the case. Justin described a typical scenario in many organizations where internal enterprise applications are introduced to meet a particular need, e.g., Salesforce for the sales organization, or perhaps Marketo for marketing, only to find that, over time, that need changes and expands. As users become familiar with these applications, they discover the need for additional functionality that better reflects company operations. The development team assigned to support and maintain these applications is suddenly faced with a continuous stream of feature and functionality requests with no system or structure in place to manage what gets built and when. Prioritization, as is the case with any product development process, is the key and the methodology for assigning and managing priority in many instances doesn’t exist.
In an attempt to respond to the needs of internal users, the development team is left with the most readily available strategy, i.e., responding to the loudest voice or most important person in the room. The resulting experience could be haphazard and less than satisfactory for all involved, both for users, who were not getting fully realized or functional solutions, and developers who were rushing to produce code that did not meet the need.
But why, you might ask, should the company care about this problem? Does it even show up on the radar? In most companies, it’s the revenue-related issues that get the attention. Internal organizational and process issues should be resolved internally, by existing staff. After all, that’s why we have managers, right?
As Justin points out, the inefficiency and reduced productivity resulting from the unmet needs of internal enterprise users has a direct impact on the company’s ability to respond to the needs of prospects and customers, and as such, directly impacts revenue.
So, what’s the solution, you might ask.
Justin explains that the solution already existed within the organization. CarGurus has a strong Product Management organization applying rigorous methodologies to their product management and product development process. Application of that same product management discipline to the enterprise application dilemma was just the right fix. The quantification of user need in the form of epics, backlogs and user stories, and the prioritization inherent in the backlog grooming process would turn an out-of-control development environment into a process that could rapidly turn out enhancements of greatest value to those internal users in the most timely fashion. Another indirect benefit of applying a standardized methodology across functions is the breaking down of silos within the company, resulting in more communications, and ultimately, greater productivity.
But who would put such a process in place?
It turns out that Kimberly Menapace, Sr. Product Manager at CarGurus and co-presenter with Justin at the upcoming BPMA event, volunteered for the job. An experienced, and successful product manager, Kimberly took her well developed product management skills and applied them to this internal problem that was crying out for just such a solution. While initially allocating only fraction of her time to issues of internal product management, Kimberly eventually took on the internal product management role as her primary focus, and with very positive results.
My last question to Justin was why, if the solution sought was the application of agile methodology to internal development, wasn’t the preferable choice of practitioner someone with the title of business analyst or scrum master. Justin pointed out, without hesitation, that the secret sauce the product manager brings to the table is the ability to represent stakeholders “not in the room,” and the willingness to say no.
So, join your product management colleagues on Wednesday, February 24 and sign up to hear how Justin and Kimberly applied product management methodology, as well as having devised some new best practices, in this creative and forward-thinking way, and learn about what might be a viable career option for you!
About the Author
Larry Kerstein has been a working product manager for more than 15 years, starting with his first assignment helping to roll out X.25 networks while working for Bolt, Beranek and Newman. He was also instrumental in brining one of the first telemedicine offerings to market in the early 2000’s. Larry is an adjunct lecturer at Northeastern University, focusing on Internet technologies and data analysis and management. As a member of the BPMA web content committee, Larry helps get the BMPA message out to members and other interested parties.