Disrupt the Process rather than the Product–Product Manager’s role in disruptive market forces

Nearly three decades after the theory of disruption was introduced in business, entrepreneurs, marketers, and design engineers are still grappling to find the correct definition and implementation for it.

Disruptive innovation is broadly defined as designing a novel product or service that addresses the needs of some niche customers and then is scaled up to challenge the established players in the market. Gartner defines it as, “The process of conceiving, defining, delivering, monitoring and refining products in, and withdrawing products from, a market in order to maximize business results.”

The architect of disruption theory, Clayton M. Christensen, and his co-authors say that if product managers fail to understand the disruption theory and are unsuccessful in applying its tenets correctly to their product, then the whole business strategy of a company or business goes haywire.

Disruptive Innovation

What is moot to the whole disruptive debate and the concomitant disruptive innovation is that it is a process. According to Christensen, healthy “disruption” is not confined to end products, but it disrupts the processes that lead to the end product and creates lasting value for the business.

Innovative disruption is routinely used for any situation that disrupts an industry leader’s position in the market. This means that no distinction is made about the innovation’s impact on a particular industry or situation.

What needs to be kept in mind is that industry disruptions are ongoing conditions and not sudden transient happenings that disrupt and disappear.

Organizations that have agile teams have a competitive advantage, and those who don’t, should focus on building one so that they can become resilient and adapt to a rapidly changing environment.

Product Manager’s Role in Changing Processes

Product managers many times fail to use innovations in the correct context. Conventional product management isn’t geared towards seamless experiences for the customers or giving agile holistic solutions for any disruptive market problems.

Today, product managers are expected to leverage their skills across the board of a product life cycle to impact an organization’s development and strategies.

They have evolved from being mere departmental heads to be now known as the “ground level CEOs” involved in driving a company’s core policies.

Transition to this position by enrolling in product management courses in India and honing your skills. Create strategic value and solutions at both the product level and the processes that shape it.

Customer-centric

This highly data-driven field is customer-centric. Product managers keep an eye on the evolving market and changing customer needs. The pandemic has brought about sweeping changes in customer behavior, Pre-Pandemic, there were clear signals about market trends and customer behavior patterns to follow, but the pandemic has been a great disruptor with consumers demanding easier, accessible, cheaper, and faster products. According to research by Accenture, there was a 30 percent increase in disruption levels between 2011 and 2018, in the consumers’ goods, service, and retail sectors. Post-pandemic, this figure is bound to cross 50 percent.

Multi-focus

They need to have in-depth knowledge of the product’s life cycle so that they can immediately adapt and change courses to meet any unexpected market disruptions.

A product manager needs to be fully conversant with design, engineering, sales, customer services, marketing, budgeting, and product compliance needs. It is a collaborative and interdisciplinary process.

He collates and collaborates between various verticals and streamlines processes involved in bringing the product from the research table to the retail shelves or the end-user.

According to the Product Management Trends and Benchmark Report 2020, company profits can increase by 34 percent with a fully optimized product manager.

The Disruptive Process

Product management is an iterative process that depends on making decisions based on data analysis, feedback, and outcomes.

Product managers need to be data-driven to separate fads or transient trends from true disruptions. Data analysis helps to identify and anticipate market conditions or potential value additions for future product success.

The product management approach is about building product road maps for better strategies. It is about taking a holistic approach to a problem by making use of cross-functional teams focused on outcomes. This ensures a solution-focused approach that transforms disruptions into opportunities.

Companies with this approach can afford to build on long-term growth goals without being affected by any sudden upsets in the market.

This is because the roadmap works on building processes that can withstand sudden headwinds and ride the tailwinds in the market.

If you want to be a part of the process and meet the challenge of being a mini CEO, join our product management course.