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4 minute read
It's no secret that managing product development is a complex process. You may have dozens of team leads or executives to check in with and keep informed. You could be working with one prototype product or managing an entire portfolio of product lines from original models to brand new launches.
As the product manager, your workload can vary depending on the company's size. While you are probably highly organized and have developed a system to ensure you meet deadlines, communicate with the stakeholders, and follow the product roadmap, we're here to tell you there is a better way of doing things that will save you mountains of time and save your company money.
What is this secret tool? Well, it's not a secret at all. We're talking about product roadmap management software. The makers of Gocious found a significant void in the software options for product managers, so they decided to create a tool specifically designed to accommodate your unique requirements. Here are seven advantages that deserve highlighting.
Facilitating the Flow of Information
Communication is vital to the success of any project. The more people and teams involved in a goal, the more opportunities for miscommunication and confusion arise. Your role as the product manager is to keep everyone on track and on time. To do this, you must be in constant communication with the leaders of each department and phase of the product's development, from the idea and design phase to the final manufacturing of the end product.
Using Gocious allows all your teams to see the progression of each product in the portfolio. When everyone sees the same reports and data, there is less opportunity for misinformation. It also allows for better decision-making across the board. With Gocious you can easily export data into easy-to-read reports to present to anyone who needs them.
Encouraging Communication
Communicating swiftly with everyone on your team is vital to sharing information. As the product development manager, you need to report the progress of each plan effectively to your company's executives. Knowing the numbers helps you demonstrate the accurate reasons for successes and failures. The stats can also support your requests from upper management if you require more support or additional funding. When you have the right software tool at your disposal to support your presentation, you'll feel more confident giving recommendations based on the evidence rather than your gut feeling. In turn, your superiors will feel well informed and confident in your abilities.
If a change arises in the production, it will likely affect every subsequent step. Knowing how and when to alert the other departments is crucial. The sooner the others know to adjust their plans, the less time gets wasted. When channels of communication are open, the people you coordinate are more likely to reach out to you with essential updates. A product management software tool, such as Gocious, can drastically improve communication by providing messaging channels regarding each product, offering real-time comments and updates, and allowing everyone to see the same data.
Plan Successful Launches
Plans help us stay focused on a target and avoid forgetting important steps along the way. Having a management tool that can map out the activities of multiple product lines helps you clearly visualize the roadmap to launching each product. The closer to a launch, the less flexibility there is, but in the early stages of your plan, rearranging or doubling up tasks might save a product, whereas if you didn't have the management tool, you might not have realized the possibility.
It's essential to have a program that makes it easy to adjust and tweak schedules as changes arise. Having one management tool that lays out the roadmap, shows your projections, facilitates communication, and tracks KPIs of all your products, makes your job as product manager much smoother.
Accurately Track KPIs in Real-Time
The more data you have at your fingertips, the better informed your decisions would be. Using management software that tracks your KPIs in real-time helps you stay informed every step along with the roadmap. Having accurate KPIs can help you spot bottlenecks, recognize correlations in performance, and helps you present your decisions to management. It also enables you to predict your results faster and adjust your goals to be more realistic. A management tool such as Gocious allows you to compile your KPI data into easy-to-read reports, which you can share with others in your company or print out for presentations.
Visualize Each Product Line
Do you know that expression "out of sight, out of mind"? Well, it's true to the extent that if you do not continuously see the process of each product, you're more likely to miss something important. Gocious PRM software allows you to see each product in your portfolio whether you want a quick overview of its progress or want to dig deeper into its exact progress status. Having all the pieces in one place visually facilitates more effective management for everyone involved.
Track Progress
As the manager, you know at all times the development process of your product. What about everyone else involved? Seeing the progression of your work is not only motivating; it builds confidence and pride. Sure, you can send out periodic updates notifying all your team leads of the product's status, but that takes time to compile and design. Having a product management tool allows all the team leads to see the progress in real-time. When you use Gocious, the product overview is simple to navigate.
Another advantage of tracking progress is to support accountability and monitor performance. If one department is falling behind, you and that team's leader can communicate faster what support might be needed to get the phase back on track or discuss alternative solutions that allow for faster course corrections.
Set Better Goals
Having clear data from each product roadmap allows you to apply the valuable lessons learned during the launch of one product and apply them to the rest. If one model faces delays due to a shortage in materials in the market, you can easily make notes on other models to prepare for similar challenges.
Each department involved in the making of a product can also leave comments and make notes regarding what goes well and what obstacles they encounter along the way, rather than waiting until the end result. With portfolios of multiple products, the development roadmaps often overlap. Knowing the valuable lessons sooner allows for faster incorporation into the other plans. It also allows you to set better goals for future launches.
Product Management Software That Does It All
It's time to ditch the spreadsheets and document files and start using a dashboard designed with your specific needs in mind. To learn more about how Gocious can support your company, book a demo with us to see all the features in action.