Product Management During Post-Launch Phase
From Product Management School
The Post-Launch Phase is nearly always the longest phase of the Product Lifecycle. Assuming that you have launched a viable product into the market place!
The Post-Launch Phase contains many activities right through to when the decision is made to discontinue/phase out the product.
The main act of the Post-Launch Phase is the actual running of the business. Post-launch, it is important to have a process of debriefing for the project so that lessons can be learned.
Post-Launch Review
This lesson learned review or post-launch review should be formed of two parts:
Audit
It is very important to carry out an impartial audit of the project. This needs to be completed by someone who was not part of the project team for impartiality.
This audit should take place somewhere between 30 days to 9 months after the launch. Their brief is to look at all the project plans and documentation. They then need to analyze whether or not the plan was achieved and what disconnects there were.
They normally also discuss the project with the individual members of the project team to ascertain their views of the process.
The review will look at whether each goal describe across each document was met. It will also talk to whether or not the assumptions that were made in the business case proved to be correct. The financial performance of the product is also reviewed against the forecasts made.
Lessons Learned
Once the audit is completed and documented, the results are shared throughout all levels of the project team. Cross-functional team meetings or workshops should be held to discuss the lessons that need to be learned.
A collaborative effort has to be made to implement any changes needed in the process in order to close any gaps highlighted. This provides the ability to continuously improve the processes within the New Product Development cycle.
Running the Business
The running of the business is very much like the running of any business with all the day to day operational and monitoring processes that that involves. The product goes through four stages during the Post-Launch Phase:
- growth;
- maturity;
- decline; and
- exit.
Taking the "exit" out of the equation, because it is a topic that needs to be covered in depth - during these stages, product management involves:
Managing the brand – promoting the product externally with press, customers, and partners.Supporting the sales team, attending industry conference, forums, events and writing articles or white papers.
Financial management – monitoring marketing mix strategies optimization; oversight of P&L, balance sheet and cash flows.
Product portfolio management – reviewing, sustaining and extending the product as necessary and monitoring the market and competitors.
Servicing and supporting customers – conducting customer feedback, visiting customers, acting as a point of contact for issues arising.
