St. Louis Product Management Group

The St. Louis Product Management Group meets the second Tuesday of the month at 6pm at SAVVIS.

Meeting are open to everyone — there is no charge to attend, RSVPs are not required.

The November 2008 meeting was held on Tuesday, November 11, 2008.

November’s topic: Accelerating innovation: An overview and discussion of NPD and project management life cycle models.

About this presentation: This presentation provided an overview and discussion of integrated new product development and project life cycle models for best practice approaches to successful innovation and accelerated time to market. Download the presentation slides (2.6MB PPS file).

About the presenter: Robert Grupe has over 20 years international experience in sales, marketing, support, and product management of high tech products and Internet services.

Here’s the details:

• 5:30pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 6:00pm: Meeting begins
• 7:30pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• Directions from the West:
  • Take 64/40 East to Woods Mill / Highway 141 (Exit 22)
  • At the end of the exit ramp, go straight (parallel to 64/40)
  • Move to the right, following signs for South Outer Forty
  • The SAVVIS building will be on your right; turn right after you pass it and park in the main parking lot on the South side of the building
  • Follow signs in through the main entrance
• Directions from the East:
  • Take 64/40 West to Woods Mill / Highway 141 (Exit 22)
  • Move to the right and follow signs for South Outer Forty
  • You will make a U-turn under the highway, and then move to the right, following signs for South Outer Forty
  • The SAVVIS building will be on your right; turn right after you pass it and park in the main parking lot on the South side of the building
  • Follow signs in through the main entrance
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this training!

The St. Louis Product Management Group is pleased to announce this special event…

ZIGZAG Marketing is coming to St. Louis November 18-19 to present Product Management University. You can register online or get more information below.

Course Overview

Learn the what, why, who, how and when of product management and marketing. It’s your ticket to growth.

All growth initiatives begin with your products. This workshop offers a hands-on walk-through of a growth framework centered on your products. We’ve made it easy to understand and easy to practice because it’s all about reality. Best of all, it’s easy for your entire organization to understand and embrace which makes everyone’s load a little lighter. The result is a market-driven organization that grows faster.

New product managers and marketers will get a big picture perspective on the entire process and walk away with tools and techniques for the tasks at hand to get quick successes. Experienced product managers and marketers will learn how to refine their routine and get better results with less effort.

Our October meeting was be a special event, as we joined forces for the Inaugural PDMA St. Louis Chapter Meeting!

The PDMA is an organization dedicated to those creating new products and services, whether it be a consumer packaged good, financial service, or software.

This was the first ever meeting of the PDMA St. Louis chapter, and those associated with the St. Louis Product Management Group were invited to attend this special joint meeting. PDMA meetings normally have a cost to attend, though the PDMA St. Louis Chapter agreed to waive the fee for those associated with the St. Louis Product Management Group.

Here’s the details:

• Tuesday, October 14, 2008; 5:30pm
• Event Agenda
  • Dave Smoller, President of Research Biotechnology, Sigma-Aldrich: Opening remarks and welcome message
  • Tricia Sutton, PDMA Regional Director, Sutton Enterprises: The PDMA Lifestyle: How the PDMA can help you achieve deep impact for your career and your firm
  • Kevin Krosley, VP Process Innovation, Sigma-Aldrich: Achieving Great Heights; a brief overview of innovation and product development at Sigma-Aldrich
  • St Louis PDMA: Chapter discussion of exciting upcoming events
  • Sigma-Aldrich Innovation Center Tour
• Location: Sigma-Aldrich; 2909 Laclede, St. Louis, MO, 63103. (Google map to Sigma-Aldrich)
  • From the West:
    • Take Hwy 64 / 40 East to exit 38C (Jefferson)
    • Turn Left on Jefferson
    • Turn Left on Market
    • Turn Right on N. Ewing (just past Wachovia)
    • Left on Laclede
  • From the East:
    • Take Hwy 64 / 40 West to exit 34B (Garrison Lane)
    • Go straight on Garrison Ln. past Market
    • Dogleg right onto Laclede
    • Building on left

The St. Louis Product Management Group meets the second Tuesday of the month at 6pm at SAVVIS.

The September 2008 meeting was held on September 9, 2008 and the topic was Voice of the Customer and Voice of Sales for Product Development, presented by Jorge Restrepo from Express Scripts. In this presentation, Jorge talked about work at a former company where he developed a survey to understand how clients and the sales organization viewed the company’s products compared to the competition. He reviewed the results and discuss how they were used to drive changes to existing products as well as for new Product Development. You can download the slides from the meeting (PDF).

Here’s the details:

• 5:30pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 6:00pm: Meeting begins
• 7:30pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. Enter through the main doors, take a left at the top of the stairs, and the meeting room is the last set of doors on your left. If the main doors are locked (they shouldn’t be), please buzz to security and let them know you are here for the St. Louis Product Management Group Meeting.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

NOTE: Registration is now closed!

On Friday, September 26, 2008, the St. Louis Product Management Group hosted a free three hour training seminar — Product Management: Five Fundamentals of Market Leadership — facilitated by John Mansour, Founder and Managing Partner of ZIGZAG Marketing.

• Download a PDF brochure about this training

Product Management: Five Fundamentals of Market Leadership
If you want a better understanding of product management and how it can elevate the performance of your company, this 1/2 day briefing is ideal for gaining a fresh perspective.

• Executives & Senior Managers will learn why product management has a greater impact on the top line than any other function in the company and how to get the most out of it.
• Product Management & Marketing Professionals will learn what it takes to be one of those people everyone — including executives — looks to for direction.
• Engineers & Developers will learn how strong product management eliminates distractions and improves focus on designing and building better products.
• Managers & Team Leads will learn what product management is, what it isn’t and how each functional area of the organization needs to be part of the team.

5 Good Reasons to Attend

• There is a perception that product management is nothing more than “the enhancement list department”
• Trying to be everything to everyone is not a sustainable business model
• Revenue pressures are forcing you to take bad business too often
• Beyond revenue and profit goals, there is no master plan
• Sales, marketing and product teams are out of sync

Topics & Discussion Points

• Market Assessment – Why defining and prioritizing target markets is the single most important decision in your company and a simple approach to get it done at a product or company level.
• Strategy & Org Structure – How a single company strategy and a well balanced product team can simplify everything for everyone while growing revenue and customer references
• Product Release Planning – How to get away from product planning silos and plan around higher value solutions consisting of multiple products
• Product Design & Development – Pre-emptive techniques for improving product usability, eliminating re-do’s and keeping development projects on schedule
• Sales & Marketing – How to increase the average sale by marketing and selling solutions instead of products

The St. Louis Product Management Group meets the last Tuesday of the month at 5pm at SAVVIS.

The July 2008 meeting was held on July 29, 2008 and was a Product Management Advice Session. Having issues, problems, questions, or challenges related to product management? We discussed topics that YOU — the attendees — chose, giving everyone a chance to talk with other product managers and get their advice and suggestions.

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. Go in the main entrance, up the stairs, and turn left. The meeting is in the last room at the end, on your left. Just follow the signs for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Group Meeting.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

The St. Louis Product Management Group meets the last Tuesday of the month at 5pm at SAVVIS.

The June 2008 meeting was held on June 24, 2008 and the topic was Customer Councils. In this presentation, Jennifer Ruffino discussed how she set up a customer council for the web site product that she manages.  She reviewed the lessons learned from initiation to execution.  She shared video clips and presented a how to guide for establishing a customer council for your product. You can download the (PPT) slides from the meeting.

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. If doors are locked (they shouldn’t be), please buzz to security and let them know you are here for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Association Meeting. Sign in as a visitor to the front desk for this meeting and reception will point you in the direction of the meeting room, which will be close to reception.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

The St. Louis Product Management Group normally meets the last Tuesday of the month at 5pm at SAVVIS — however, in May 2008, we had a special meeting in coordination with the Pragmatic Marketing training being held in St. Louis on May 19-21.

Stacey Weber of Pragmatic Marketing was our special guest speaker, talking about The Strategic Role of Product Management.

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. If doors are locked (they shouldn’t be), please buzz to security and let them know you are here for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Association Meeting. Sign in as a visitor to the front desk for this meeting and reception will point you in the direction of the meeting room, which will be close to reception.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

Presentation summary

Product management is often ill-defined and misunderstood in typical technology companies. Yet the role can be one that propels the company to the next level of performance. Rather than running the business like a hobby, effective product managers focus on the business aspects of defining and delivering products to market. Stacey Weber explores the strategic role of product management using the Pragmatic Marketing Framework. Also included are action items for reviewing and assessing the product management role at your company.

About Stacey Weber

Stacey Weber is an author, speaker, and instructor for Pragmatic Marketing. She specializes in developing and delivering market-driven technology products. An accomplished product manager who has successfully launched many products, she has used the Pragmatic Marketing Framework to help increase market focus and dramatically increase revenue. Stacey now helps other companies reap those benefits through her role at Pragmatic Marketing.

Prior to joining the company, Stacey was a director of product management at Business Objects. She began her technology career as a software tester in a privately held company and soon learned that her passion was for product management. She moved into a product specialist position and worked her way up through product manager, product line manager, department manager, and director. Over this period, she brought many new products to market, managed products in late-life maintenance, and ushered products out of the market at obsolescence. She is particularly interested in the dynamics of market-led organizations, and the interactions between Product Management and Development.

Stacey has the experience and knowledge to view situations from a myriad of perspectives. This, coupled with her ability to understand details and communicate vision, have been key to Stacey’s many successes.

The St. Louis Product Management Group is pleased to announce this special event…

Pragmatic Marketing is coming to St. Louis May 19-21 to present the well known Practical Product Management and Requirements That Work seminars. Designed for IT professionals, product managers and other members of the product team, these seminars define the role of technology product management, providing tools, processes and real-world techniques to get products to market more efficiently. You can register online or get more information below.

In addition, the instructor, Stacey Weber, will be giving the keynote presentation on May 19 at a special meeting of the St. Louis Product Management Association.

Seminar descriptions and recommended attendees for each session:

• Practical Product Management (PPM), 2-day: Delivers a market-driven model that provides the tools for managing and marketing technology products that the market will embrace. PPM includes the Pragmatic Marketing Framework, a model for finding and solving pervasive market problems profitably. Ideal for Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers, Technical Product Managers, Architects, Marketing Communications, Development Leads, Sales Operations, and anyone associated with product direction.
• Requirements that Work (RTW), 1-day: Focuses on how Product Management communicates requirements to Development. The approach uses personas and Use Case Scenarios to describe what needs the product satisfies and whom it will benefit. In addition, requirements are prioritized, based on market need and impact. The goal is to create product plans that developers will embrace for solutions the market will buy. This approach produces clearer requirements and leads to quicker time-to-market and better solutions. It can decrease ramp up time for new staff, by using a consistent methodology for to document requirements. Ideal for Product Managers, Technical Product Managers, Architects, Development Leads, and anyone associated with product definition and direction.

You can also sign up to be notified of upcoming Pragmatic Marketing Events in the area

The first official meeting of the St. Louis Product Management Group was Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at SAVVIS. We had a great group of about product managers and some excellent discussion about what we each want to get out of — and contribute to — the group. Notes from the meeting are available (PowerPoint). Attendees included:

• PJ Farmer, SAVVIS
• Suvit Nopachai, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Mark Dickinson, SAVVIS
• James Fisher, CitiMortgage
• Stephen Thomson, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Ceci Bartels, Naked Branding
• Scott Rismiller, Monsanto
• Jennifer Ruffino, Monsanto
• Hugues Belanger, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Vivek Talyan, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Jeff Lash, Elsevier