✓ Improve your PM skills with our trainings and coaching
✓ For all industries with software-intensive products
✓ Optimize your product management in a company-specific way

What is product management?

Product management consists of product strategy, planning and product-related orchestration of the functional areas of the company. The objective is the product’s sustainable economic success across its life cycle. The product management role requires a high degree of management competence and orchestration across organizational structures, often without a hierarchical management position. Software product management is not only utilized by software product vendors, but also by vendors of software-intensive products and services in other industries and in corporate IT organizations.

Software is special

Since software is very special and different from physical components, product management must take these characteristics into account. The combination of high complexity and frequency of change as well as the need for value-based pricing have a significant impact on the work of software product management.

What makes a good product manager?

The requirements for a product manager are high. A combination of technical and domain knowledge is needed as well as business sense, i.e. the ability to understand and influence the economic as well as the technical and domain aspects of the product, its customers and its market. For the orchestration of the functional areas of the organization, being a team player, able to communicate and able to deal with conflict are big advantages.

In our consulting projects and trainings on software product management as well as in ISPMA (International Software Product Management Association) we frequently work with successful and experienced product managers who share their experiences, tips and tricks with us; also with researchers who involve us in their projects and discuss their results with us. So we are able to expand our own expertise. Our customers and training participants benefit from this. And it is reflected in our publications.

We can help with:

• Trainings and workshops based on ISPMA (International Software Product Management Association)
• SPM Audit
• Consulting Services

combining best industry practices with 20 years of hands-on experience. Our CEO Hans-Bernd Kittlaus is internationally recognized as thought leader on SPM with a high number of publications and invited presentations.

Based on the big success of ISPMA-based SPM Foundation Level Trainings, which have been available since early 2012, and the wishes of many training participants, ISPMA has extended its Curriculum with syllabi for four Excellence Level Trainings:

Product Strategy (3 Days)

What is the right strategy for your product to achieve business success in changing times? Utilize the business model canvas to make your strategic decisions, get feedback faster and make informed adjustments.

Strategic Management (2 Days)

How can you as a product manager influence strategic decisions on the corporate or business unit level? And how do you get the market data to base your decisions on?

Product Planning (3 Days)

How can you implement your vision and strategy in a structured & efficient way? Utilize experimental approaches like customer discovery in combination with analytical approaches to make informed business choices, accelerate implementation and drive change aligned with new approaches in development like DevOps and continuous development, integration and delivery.

Orchestration (2 Days)

How can you as a product manager make sure that your colleagues in the other functional units of your company support your product in the best possible way? Learn to convince, persuade, influence and drive change through role play, based on a thorough understanding of underlying motivations.

The trainings will focus on methods and their practical application, i.e. there will be sufficient room for realistic case studies and exercises. Certification is offered for each training.

Participants can be product managers who already have the ISPMA Foundation Level Certificate or comparable SPM experience of at least 3 years. They may work in the software industry, or with vendors of software-intensive products and services in other industries, or with corporate IT organizations in all industries.

InnoTivum provides these Excellence Level Trainings both as public and in-house trainings.

This book gives a comprehensive overview on Software Product Management (SPM) for beginners as well as best practices, methodology and in-depth discussions for experienced product managers. This includes product strategy, product planning, participation in strategic management activities and orchestration of the functional units of the company. The book is based on the results of the International Software Product Management Association (ISPMA) which is led by a group of SPM experts from industry and research with the goal to foster software product management excellence across industries. This book can be used as textbook for ISPMA-based education and as guide for anybody interested in SPM as one of the most exciting and challenging disciplines in the business of software.

The authors: Hans-Bernd Kittlaus is the Chairman of ISPMA and owner and managing director of InnoTivum Consulting, Germany. Samuel Fricker is Board Member of ISPMA and Professor at FHNW, Switzerland.