Last Updated: 28 July 2023

What Is Lean Product Management?: A Beginner's Guide

Lean product management encompasses the whole life cycle of a product and it can be very beneficial to your business. Learn all the basics!

Keyword(s): lean product management

According to a 2016 survey conducted by Pragmatic Marketing Inc, only 28 percent of a product manager's time is spent on strategising, while the other 72 percent of their time is spent on tactics and execution.

Many surveyed agreed that they would have liked to spend more time strategising to ensure the product was more successful.

But what is lean product management? And how can your products be more successful and beneficial to your business? Keep reading to learn the basics of lean product management.

What is Lean Product Development and Management?

Lean product development and management are ensuring that a product is right and ready for the market and your audience. Using digital product management methodology lean product management focuses on making your product as successful as possible.

Implementing the most up-to-date product management techniques, lean product management focuses on the complete life cycle of a product. It does this by applying several lean product processes such as lean startup, lean, customer development, business modelling, financial viability, outcome-drive innovation, and behavioural economics and strategy.

Lean product and process development help businesses work out what the right thing to do is and for how long for. Over time products change and the market changes, so it is very important that your strategy takes this into consideration.

Why is lean product development and management important? Because 21 percent of products fail to meet customer's needs. Your business is only successful if your products are what your customer needs. To meet your customer's needs you need to know what the problems are for your customers and how your product can solve them.

What Does Product Management Methodology Entail?

There's a lot more to product management methodology than meets the eye. The process is very thorough and covers a whole range of areas. All of these are essential for ensuring that a product is successful for the duration of its life cycle.

Lean Startup

The first part of the methodology is lean startup. This includes creating business models, planning customer development, and validating learning. The lean startup also involves building, measuring, and learning about the product and processes.

Some businesses also choose to include innovative accounting and minimum viable product processes to lean startup development.

Ideation

The next part of the methodology is ideation. This includes processes such as prioritising ideas and getting to grips with the environment, i.e. working out how the product will be received by customers.

Problem and Solution

The third part of the methodology looks at discovering the problem and coming up with a solution. This is an in-depth exploration of the customer and the market. You should look at who your customers are and what their needs are. Focus your research on problems your customers have and how your product can add value and a solution to their lives.

Then you need to figure out if there is scope in the market for your product. You can do this by looking at the types of products that are similar to yours that already exist and by experimenting to see if customers need your product.

Product and Market

The next step in the lean product management methodology is further evaluating whether your product fits in the market. This includes conducting a minimum viable product exploration and experimenting with your product.

Survey your potential customers and get their feedback on your product. Give your potential customers a prototype product to test and see if it can help their problems. Then you need to compile all your data and analyse your lean product information.

Strategy

The fifth part of the methodology focuses on strategy. You need to make sure you spend plenty of time creating a solid business strategy and an excellent product strategy.

You also need to make sure your approach is innovative and is something different. Having innovative strategies will help you stand out from your competitors and will drive more sales to your business.

Work out the Scale

The final part of the methodology looks at the scale of your product. You need to work out the scale of your product team, the details of your lean product roadmap, and the scale and outcomes of your product development.

Product managers need to make sure they are prioritising their techniques and implementing the right ones at the right time. You can use your lean analytics to establish the scale of your product and see how well it is performing and why.

What Are the Benefits of Lean Product or Agile Management?

There are many benefits of implementing lean product or agile management principles. For example, following the methodology ensures that you have satisfied customers from the beginning. This helps with your brand and customer loyalty. It also helps you save time because you don't need to go back and change your product or processes.

Another benefit of lean product management is that you get a faster return on investment. Every step of your project is carefully analysed and planned, which means you know how your customers feel about your product. This real-time response can help to ensure your product is marketed quicker and with fewer problems.

Another benefit is that there is less risk of failing. Many start-ups and small businesses fail within the first year or first few years. This is because they don't conduct enough research on their products. Analysing each process will ensure there is less risk of your business completely failing.

Discover more benefits of implementing agile values and principles for project managers.

Find Your Lean Product Management Course

Now you know more about the basics of lean product management, why not take it a step further and find a course that suits you? Having a full understanding of lean product management can be the difference between a potential product being successful or being a disaster.

Contact us to find out more about our lean agile programs and how they can help you.

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FAQ

1. What is Lean Product Management?
   Lean Product Management is an approach to product development that focuses on minimizing waste, maximizing customer value, and continuously improving the product based on customer feedback. It involves iterative cycles of build, measure, and learn to create products that better serve customer needs and achieve business goals.
2. How is Lean Product Management different from traditional product management?
   Traditional product management often focuses on extensive planning and detailed specifications, while Lean Product Management emphasizes short, iterative cycles to test and validate hypotheses. This allows for faster feedback, quicker pivots, and reduced risk when compared to traditional methods.
3. What are the key principles of Lean Product Management?
   The key principles of Lean Product Management include:
   - Eliminate waste: Focus on activities that deliver value to customers and minimize non-value-added tasks.
   - Build-measure-learn: Use iterative cycles to build a minimum viable product (MVP), measure customer feedback, and learn from the results.
   - Continuous improvement: Regularly update the product based on feedback to better serve customer needs and achieve business goals.
   - Customer-centric focus: Prioritize the customer's needs and preferences throughout the product development process.
4. What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
   A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to gather valuable feedback from early customers. It enables teams to test their assumptions and learn about customer needs with minimal effort and resources.
5. How can I implement Lean Product Management in my organization?
   To implement Lean Product Management, follow these steps:
   - Understand and define customer needs and problems.
   - Develop hypotheses about potential solutions and prioritize them.
   - Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test these hypotheses.
   - Gather customer feedback and analyze the results.
   - Use the insights gained to iterate on the product or pivot to a different solution if necessary.
   - Repeat the process as needed to continuously improve the product.
6. What are the benefits of using Lean Product Management?
   The benefits of Lean Product Management include:
   - Faster time to market: By focusing on MVPs and iterative cycles, products can be launched more quickly.
   - Improved customer satisfaction: A customer-centric focus ensures that products are developed based on real customer needs and preferences.
   - Reduced risk: Regular testing and validation reduce the chances of developing a product that does not meet customer expectations.
   - Cost efficiency: Minimizing waste and focusing on value-adding activities can lead to reduced development costs.