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Measure Measure Measure!

April 20th, 2009 | Product Management

First thought, “the most important ingredient in any recipe is the one you forgot to put in!” - Strategy and the Fat Smoker; Doing What’s Obvious But Not Easy is a book written by David H. Maister.

Second thought, “#prodmgmt is such a metrics based role – counting, comparing, analyzing for trends and optimizations.” – Me!

Why these two thoughts? I was reading an article from The McKinsey Quarterly, Strategic Planning: Three Tips for 2009, and the second tip was intensify monitoring. It suggests the development of plans to monitor the performance of suppliers, customers and competitors. Early intelligence helps you plan or react to change (that will happen).

How is the first thought relevant? If you are not watching it, there is a good chance that it is the most important metric you are not watching.

I know this is not for everyone (eventually it will be), but I think revenue is the the strongest metric you can track.

What are you monitoring today and how?

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    • http://productmantra.blogspot.com Darayush Mistry

      Good post. Do you define “strongest” as most trackable or most beneficial or best indicator?

    • http://www.strategicproductmanager.com/ Stewart Rogers

      Good question. I think it can be the best indicator of performance. Unless you work for a non-profit, the goal of the company is to sell product. As a product manager, this needs to be a primary metric you monitor. If sales are through the roof, find out why and do more. If they are flat or slowing, then find out why and correct it. Other factors are interesting and more than likely relevant, but I would start with revenue and add others are necessary.

      Stewart

    • http://www.strategicproductmanager.com/ Stewart Rogers

      Good question. I think it can be the best indicator of performance. Unless you work for a non-profit, the goal of the company is to sell product. As a product manager, this needs to be a primary metric you monitor. If sales are through the roof, find out why and do more. If they are flat or slowing, then find out why and correct it. Other factors are interesting and more than likely relevant, but I would start with revenue and add others are necessary.

      Stewart

    • http://www.strategicproductmanager.com/ Stewart Rogers

      Good question. I think it can be the best indicator of performance. Unless you work for a non-profit, the goal of the company is to sell product. As a product manager, this needs to be a primary metric you monitor. If sales are through the roof, find out why and do more. If they are flat or slowing, then find out why and correct it. Other factors are interesting and more than likely relevant, but I would start with revenue and add others are necessary.

      Stewart

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