Project Management for the 21st Century, Third Edition
A modern, proven approach to project management that has the potential to supply structure, focus, and control to drive work to success.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Project Management for the 21st Century, Third Edition
Chapter 12: Product Management
WHAT IS A PRODUCT?
A product is an item such as a car, a consumer item, a service, or something that people can use over time. Products and services have to be designed, developed, marketed, enhanced, and eventually replace new products. In a book on project management, you might wonder why product management appears here. First, product and project management have much in common. Second, the development of a product requires a project effort. Third, many projects such as business-to-consumer E-Business involve products.
There can be both product managers and project managers. A product manager oversees the product through its life cycle, concentrating on the product after development. The project manager oversees the development of the product.
Unlike a project that eventually ends, a product continues after development. This is a major difference between products and projects. This chapter explores product management from a project management viewpoint. This will also shed more light on project management. There is no attempt to explore all of the details of product management; rather, we will examine aspects of product management contained within project management.
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison is viewed as the individual responsible for applying the generation of electricity to consumer and commercial applications and products. The interpretation by many is that he was a theoretical inventor and spent his time doing nonapplied work. This could not be further from the truth. When electricity was demonstrated and explained, many people did not think much of it. After all, what could it do?
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