As we are about to enter into 2023 amidst the anxiety of layoffs from big tech, perhaps a little worried about the future, one thing is sure. The future of organizations is going to be led by product thinking. Product-led Growth (PLG) has already demonstrated its impact since 2021, with around 91% of companies planning to increase the budget on PLG in 2022. This trend is the most significant one we will see in the product management trends in 2023.
The PLG trend indicates the increasing criticality of product management functions in the B2C and B2B sectors. With the digital tools available today, it is effortless to create products. If, in 2011, 30000 consumer products were launched every year, the number must have increased significantly by now. However, the number of failures too will be high, from 30% in 2011. Apart from the complete failures, Gartner predicted that around 45% of product launches are delayed, adversely impacting business strategies.
Given the critical nature of the product management function, the high probability of failure, and the extent of impact any failures or delays can have on business strategy, it is critical as a product manager to understand the areas where you need to focus in 2023.
Key Product Management Trends for 2023
1. Tools will assume greater importance in the product manager’s arsenal.
The use of no-code or low-code tools is increasing significantly. Gartner predicts that by 2024, 65% of application development will depend on no-code or low-code tools. Organizations are equipping their product teams to use these tools to increase turn-around time, get better feedback quickly, and reduce costs. These tools have also enabled organizations to hire for the product manager role even from non-tech backgrounds.
These tools (we will use just the no-code terminology) also help solve a critical issue. Product development teams’ most significant challenge is identifying user requirements without investing too much time and effort. The no-code tools provide a quick and effective way for product managers to get the user’s needs and wants right.
2. Product Ops will assume great significance.
It is natural that as the PLG takes centerstage, you will need people to focus on the Product Ops aspects. The primary responsibilities of the Product Ops teams are to support customers with their ongoing product usage and help product managers with analytics that can lead to better decision-making about product features. In addition, these teams ensure that the products are running smoothly; from that perspective, they may take up more responsibilities. In 2022, around 32% of product-led companies have dedicated Product Ops roles. As the organizations and products grow, that percentage rises to 45%.
The product ops role is crucial for the product team’s autonomy. According to the research, autonomous product teams perform much better on all three aspects of product development speed, cost, and overall product success. That is why over 55% of product teams in product-led organizations work in autonomous teams.
3. Product Management will get even more data-driven.
How product managers use the data and analytics to understand their customers and their usage of the product will determine how well can they can plan the roadmaps. As the tools become more capable of determining usage patterns and drawing smarter inferences, the data will help product managers with strategic decision-making. Personalization is an area where we will see the most impact, given the availability and analysis of data.
The importance of data is what led product managers to believe that Data Analysis is one of the most critical skills to acquire for the next decade.
4. Product Management & development frameworks will evolve.
Product managers have relied on agile frameworks to develop software. These frameworks have helped them improve the product’s quality and make it available faster. However, as Jeff Patton has described, the Agile thought processes will need to evolve from the definition of 2001. While the focus of frameworks like Scrum and Kanban has been delivery, discovery is the most critical aspect of product development. As outcome-focused work becomes the key to success, dual-track Agile gathers momentum, allowing discovery work to align with the delivery frameworks.
Another area where we will see the greater focus is prioritization. Product Managers are already using multiple prioritization frameworks to get better outcomes. Inspecting the priorities from multiple dimensions using various tools helps product managers discover biases and blind spots in one approach.
5. Product Management will be more collaborative across the organization.
As the PLG becomes more critical, there will be more collaboration between the PMs and other stakeholders. Cross-functional teams will need to collaborate more and exchange more information and insights. For example, the product management teams need to increase collaboration with customers, but sales, marketing, and support teams will be critical sources of customers’ needs and wants. The product teams that could leverage these insights better will be able to make better product decisions.
Leaders will need to structure their organizations to facilitate such collaboration. Effective collaboration, external and internal, will provide product managers with valuable insights. Such insights will result in ideas that will give the product and the company a competitive edge. In addition, the collaboration will be the foundation of meaningful customer connections and will ensure that you are getting constant feedback that, in turn, helps you improve your product.
Conclusion
While many other aspects will change and evolve in 2023, we have discussed five critical dimensions of product strategy and surrounding organization structure that leaders need to know. Focusing on these dimensions will strengthen your product teams and help your organizations by effectively managing your product development & operations.
Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash
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