Successful Product Management: Tool Box For Professional Product Management and Product Marketing 1st Edition Klaus J. Aumayr

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Klaus J. Aumayr
Successful
Product
Management
Tool Box for Professional Product
Management and Product Marketing
Successful Product Management
Klaus J. Aumayr
Successful Product
Management
Tool Box for the Professional Product
Management and Product Marketing
Klaus J. Aumayr
MSG Management Systems St. Gallen
St. Gallen, Switzerland
ISBN 978-3-658-38275-9 ISBN 978-3-658-38276-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38276-6
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023
This book is a translation of the original German edition „Erfolgreiches Produktmanagement“ by Aumayr, Klaus
J., published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH in 2019. The translation was done with the help of
artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done
primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.
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Preface to the Fifth Edition
The fast-moving and highly competitive market for IT products and digital services has
made a significant contribution to the development of agile methods. However, agility is
not only required in the IT industry today. The enormous dynamics on the markets and the
increasing competitive pressure are forcing companies from all industries to rethink and
become more agile. Agile methods are often associated with the basic principles of the
Scrum method. Iterative approach, team orientation and continuous market feedback are
important factors. The role of the product owner in the Scrum team has also helped bring
product management back into focus as an organizational principle. Agile product man-
agement is the new topic of the fifth edition. Based on the Scrum methodology, you receive
a comprehensive overview of the core elements of agile product management, which you
can use not only for product development, but also for many other fields of application
(e.g. development of market launch concepts).
St. Gallen, Switzerland Klaus J. Aumayr

January 2019
v
Preface to the First Edition
Do you work in product management yourself, would you like to enter this field or are you
planning to set up a product management department in your company? Then you will find
in this work manual the complete tools to successfully master these tasks. The information
and topics presented on product management and product marketing come from practical
experience - from my own professional practice in companies and as a management con-
sultant as well as from the practice of the participants in my seminars. They provide you
not only with the necessary concepts and models for implementation in your company, but
also with the necessary methods, tools and instruments.
You will learn how to define strategic framework conditions for your professional prod-
uct management and how to efficiently structure the areas of responsibility as a product
manager. You will learn the crucial basics for systematic product marketing and how to
plan target-oriented product strategies. Checklists and case studies facilitate the imple-
mentation in practice.
Of course, it would not make sense for you to try to apply everything presented in the
book and implement it in your company. Instead, select the topics and content on product
management and product marketing that fit your requirements and use them to develop a
tailor-made concept for your own company. The book is intended to provide you with an
overview and outline, and at the same time to provide you with a method and tool box that
will help you to efficiently deal with and solve current issues and challenges in product
management.
In the first part you will find a comprehensive compilation of all relevant aspects of
product management. Product management in a company is too important to be left to
self-organization. A clear positioning of product management in your company and a solid
strategic responsibility are prerequisites for success in today’s market and competitive
situation. Not only you as a product manager, but also your company’s top management
should work together proactively on these issues in order to bring the competencies from
product management to bear in the best possible way.
The second part is dedicated to product marketing. Here you will find structural mod-
els supplemented with helpful methods and tools to analyze your product market, develop
a strategy for your product and plan the implementation in your company. You will find all
vii
viii Preface to the First Edition
the essential information you need to put together a comprehensive business plan for your
product market. The methods, tools and instruments used are comprehensively explained
and easily adaptable for your own product.
In the third part, I paid special attention to process-oriented product management
and product marketing. In addition to the organizational structure, the corresponding
product-relevant processes and procedures must also be designed and anchored in product
management. Regardless of whether it is a question of market launch processes or innova-
tion processes, you as the product manager take on the process management and thus the
process responsibility. The relevant processes must also be regularly checked for suitabil-
ity and adapted if necessary. In addition to the presentation of the central processes and
workflows, you will again find important tips for process design with the necessary tools
and instruments.
This book is based on the practical experience of many professionals from a wide range
of industries. In this context, I would like to thank all my loyal customers and business
partners. It was their support that made it possible to write this book in the first place.
I wish you, dear readers, a stimulating read and much success in implementing it!
Contents
roduct Management: Positioning, Core Competencies and Organizational

P
Integration 1
1 A Brief Introduction to Product Management�� 2
2 Not a Clear-Cut Matter: How Functional and Product Management Differ from
Each Other�� 3
2.1 The Functional Manager�� 3
2.2 The Product Manager�� 5
2.3 Potential for Conflict Between Product and Functional Management 6
2.4 Definition of product management�� 6
3 Setting Boundaries: How Product Managers Manage Interfaces and Delegate
Tasks �� 7
3.1 Clarification of Interfaces�� 9
3.2 Reasons for Delegating Tasks�� 12
4 A Fundamental Decision: The Positioning of the Product Manager in the
Company�� 22
4.1 Positioning Possibilities for Product Management�� 22
4.2 Operational and Strategic Product Management �� 25
5 A Diverse Spectrum: Job Description and Job Profile of the Product
Manager�� 26
5.1 Job Description of a Product Manager�� 26
5.2 Other Tasks of a Product manager�� 30
5.3 Interface Definition in Product Management�� 33
5.4 Requirements Profile of Product Managers�� 36
5.5 Product Orientation and Market Orientation �� 38
6 Open on Many Sides: The Process Levels in Product Management�� 41
6.1 The Dispositive Level�� 41
6.1.1 Market Growth/Market Share Portfolio 42
6.1.2 Market Attractiveness/Competitive Position Portfolio 46
ix
x Contents
6.2 The Strategic Level�� 54

6.2.1 Product Planning 54
6.2.2 The Agreement on Goals 60
6.2.3 Strategic Conflicts 62
6.3 The Operational Level �� 63
7 A Complex Project: How to Introduce Product Management in the
Company�� 66
7.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Product Management�� 67
7.2 Success Factors for Implementation and Introduction �� 68
7.3 Recruitment of Product Managers�� 71
8 A Major Challenge: The Organizational Integration of Product
Management �� 74
8.1 Organization in Strategic Product Management�� 75
8.2 Organization in Operational Product Management �� 79
8.2.1 Assignment to Marketing/Sales Functions 79
8.2.2 Assignment to Technical Functions 80
8.3 Special Forms of Organization in Product Management�� 83
9 Often Neglected: The Definition of Strategic Responsibility in the Company 85
9.1 Basic Forms of Organization �� 85
9.1.1 The Function-Oriented Organization 86
9.1.2 The Product-Oriented Organization 86
9.1.3 The Market-Oriented Organization 87
9.1.4 The Regionally Oriented Organization 89
9.2 Definition of Strategic Responsibility �� 90
9.2.1 Alternatives to Strategic Responsibility 92
9.2.2 Criteria for Determining Strategic Responsibility 98
10 Product Versus System? The Way to System Product Management�� 103
10.1 From Marketing Management to System Product Management�� 103
10.2 Basic Principles of System Product Management�� 108
11 What Will the Future Bring? Current Trends and Developments
in Product Management�� 114
11.1 The Product Manager as a Profit Center�� 114
11.2 The Use of Product Management Teams�� 117
11.3 Centralization of Competences in Product Management�� 119
11.4 Service Orientation in Product Management�� 123
12 The Implementation: Checklist for the Identification of Optimization
Potentials�� 124
Contents xi
Product Marketing: Structures, Success Factors and Practical Tools 127

1 Setting the Stage: How Product Managers Structure Complex Markets�� 127
1.1 Market Segmentation�� 128
1.1.1 Market segmentation Criteria 128
1.1.2 Market Segmentation Strategies 132
1.2 Product Segmentation�� 138
1.2.1 Product Hierarchies 138
1.2.2 Revenue and Contribution Margin Analysis (ABC Analysis)140
1.3 Product Market Matrix�� 144
1.3.1 Product Market Coverage Strategies 146
1.3.2 Product Market Growth Strategies 150
1.4 Function Technology Matrix �� 153
2 Relevant for Success: The Most Important Control Variables for Product
Marketing�� 155
2.1 Product and Brand Awareness �� 158
2.2 Product Brand and Brand Image �� 159
2.2.1 Number of Relevant Alternatives 159
2.2.2 Building a Product/Brand Image 161
2.2.3 Market Segmentation and Product/Brand Image 164
2.3 Performance Advantage and Product Benefit�� 167
2.3.1 Price or Performance Orientation 167
2.3.2 Product Benefit Analysis 171
2.3.3 Quality Function Deployment (QFD) 179
2.3.4 Practical Applications 181
2.4 Price as a Decision Criterion �� 185
2.4.1 The Price-Performance Ratio 186
2.4.2 The Cost-Benefit Ratio 192
2.4.3 Target Costing and Target Pricing 193
2.5 Relationship Management �� 195
2.6 Customer Satisfaction�� 197
3 Clarity Through Numbers: How the Product Manager Determines Relevant
Key Figures�� 202
3.1 Compilation of Market and Sales Figures �� 203
3.1.1 Calculation of Market Figures 203
3.1.2 Calculation of Sales Figures 206
3.1.3 Product Planning and Strategic Priorities 210
3.2 Structure of the Contribution Margin Calculation�� 213
3.2.1 Return on Sales (ROS) Method 214
3.2.2 Return on Investment (ROI) Method 214
3.2.3 Break-Even Point (BEP) Method 215
xii Contents
4 Thinking Strategically: The Use of Strategic Analysis Tools by the Product

Manager�� 217
4.1 The SWOT Analysis�� 217
4.2 Creation of an Influence Matrix�� 225
5 Gaining Market Share: How Effective Product Strategies Are Developed �� 227
5.1 Setting the Product Market Goals�� 227
5.2 Basic strategies in Product Marketing �� 228
5.2.1 Overview of the Strategy Elements 230
5.2.2 Strategy Development Using the Strategic Toolbox 231
5.3 Marketing Mix Strategies�� 232
5.3.1 Pricing Strategies 234
5.3.2 Distribution Strategies 236
5.3.3 Assortment Strategies 238
5.3.4 Other Marketing Mix Strategies 238
5.4 Evaluation of the Strategy Alternatives�� 240
6 The Result: Content and Structure of a Product-Related Business Plan �� 242
7 The Implementation: Checklist for the Identification of Optimization
Potentials �� 244
rocess-Oriented Product Management: Work Processes, Process-Oriented
P
Marketing and Innovation Management 247
1 Creating Clarity: How Product Managers Make Their Work Process-
Oriented �� 247
1.1 Temporary Work Processes�� 248
1.2 Permanent Work Processes�� 250
2 Always on the Ball: The Development of Measures for the Design of the
Product Life Cycle�� 253
2.1 The Life Cycle Model�� 253
2.2 Product Versus Market Life Cycle �� 256
2.3 Age Structure Analysis of Products �� 258
2.4 Marketing Mix in the Product Life Cycle�� 261
3 The Supreme Discipline: Active Purchase Process Management by the Product
Manager�� 265
3.1 The Customer Buying Process�� 265
3.2 Analysis of the Purchase Process�� 269
3.3 Determining the Marketing Mix Specific to the Purchasing Process�� 274
4 On Course for Growth: Developing Innovative Products and Successfully
Launching Them on the Market�� 277
4.1 The Innovation Process�� 277
4.2 Situation Analysis/Problem Identification �� 280
4.3 Idea Collection/Generation�� 281
4.4 Systematic Idea Acquisition/Storage �� 282
Contents xiii
4.5 Idea Evaluation/Selection and Decision�� 284

4.6 Market Launch Concept and Plan�� 286
5 Maintaining an Overview: Using Roadmaps as an Important Communication
and Control Tool�� 289
5.1 Purpose of a Product Roadmap�� 289
5.2 Roadmap Contents �� 289
5.3 Roadmap Types�� 291
5.3.1 Product Roadmap 292
5.3.2 Technology Roadmap 293
5.3.3 Market/Strategy Roadmap 293
5.3.4 Development Roadmap 294
5.3.5 Vision/Mission Roadmap 294
5.4 Target Groups for Roadmaps (Internal/External Roadmaps)�� 295
5.5 Legally Binding Nature of Roadmaps �� 295
5.6 Hybrid Roadmaps�� 296
6 Agile Product Management: Product Development and Further Application
Possibilities�� 296
6.1 Reasons for the Use of Scrum�� 298
6.2 The Basic Idea of Scrum�� 298
6.3 Participants in the Scrum Process�� 298
6.4 Main Elements in the Scrum Process�� 300
6.5 The Scrum Process�� 303
6.6 Tasks of the Product Owner in the Scrum Process�� 304
7 The Implementation: Checklist for the Identification of Optimisation
Potentials �� 305
Further Reading 307

Index309
About the Author
Klaus J. Aumayr born in 1958, is a trained engineer, busi-

ness economist and graduate of the University of Toronto
(Canada) and Johannes Kepler University (Austria). He
began his career as a product manager, then moved into sales
and key account management, and finally became managing
director of a service company. Since 1995 he has been a
founding partner of the management consultancy MSG -
Management Systems St. Gallen. Through an early and clear
focus in both consulting and training on the topics of product
management and key account management, MSG achieved a
high degree of recognition as a competence center for these
topics in the German-speaking world. In the training area, Klaus J. Aumayr works together
with renowned management institutes; in the consulting area, he supports customers in the
introduction/optimization of product and key account management as well as in the devel-
opment of product and customer strategies. If you would like to contact the author,
please contact:Klaus J. Aumayrklaus.aumayr@msgag.com Further information about his
fields of activity can also be found at: www.msgag.com.
xv
Product Management: Positioning, Core
Competencies and Organizational
Integration
What distinguishes successful companies? Certainly the ability to develop products, suc-
cessfully launch them on the market and optimally design the product life cycle. To build
these capabilities, companies use many strategies, concepts and programs. But all these
approaches remain largely ineffective if solid organizational conditions are not created.
One of these organizational structures that has prevailed to this day is product manage-
ment. In the many years of its existence, product management has constantly adapted to
the new market and competitive conditions. Changes in the companies have intensified
this dynamic. Today, product management is still a central topic for almost all companies.
In this part you will learn,
• how product management came into being.

• how product managers manage interfaces and delegate tasks.
• how product management can position itself within the company.
• what job descriptions and requirement profiles of product managers look like.
• how different process levels influence your work.
• what to look out for when introducing product management in your company.
• which organizational forms are possible for the product management department.
• the importance and impact of strategic responsibility for you as a product manager.
• where product management is heading and what consequences this has for your posi-
tion as a product manager.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 1

GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023
K. J. Aumayr, Successful Product Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38276-6_1
2 Product Management: Positioning, Core Competencies and Organizational Integration
1 A Brief Introduction to Product Management
The concept of product management was developed at Procter & Gamble (USA) in 1927.
A new skincare range with the brand name “Camay” was unable to establish itself on the
market and largely failed to meet revenue expectations and market share targets. Problems
in the market were exacerbated by internal conflicts and could not be overcome from the
perspective of the individual functional areas of the company. Different priorities and
functional optimization approaches (“silo thinking”) prevented a satisfactory overall solu-
tion. To clarify and solve the problems that arose, a young manager (Neil H. McElroy, later
CEO of the company) was assigned to the product group with the task of coordinating all
external and internal product-related activities and matters (operational and strategic).
This approach quickly led to the desired success, and the company decided to introduce
this approach company-wide. For this purpose, the products were divided into product
groups (including individual products) and product managers were assigned accordingly.
Product management was established and became widespread throughout the con-
sumer goods industry in the following years. Other industries also adopted this approach,
so that today product management is a widespread management concept and is used as the
dominant organizational form in various companies. In recent years, smaller and medium-
sized companies have also begun to explore the use of product management, and it is
becoming increasingly popular there (despite resource constraints). The basic principle of
product management is that a product manager is assigned to individual products or prod-
uct groups with the task of coordinating and controlling all product-related topics across
functions. This creates a matrix organization within the company (see Fig. 1).
MD/CEO
Marketing Sales Production R&D ...
PM
PM
PM
PM
Fig. 1 Product management and matrix organization (basic principle)

2 Not a Clear-Cut Matter: How Functional and Product Management Differ from Each… 3
Product management is in this regard not a substitute for functional management (e.g.
marketing, R&D, sales, etc.), but an additional management level that is used in the com-
pany. The link between functional management and product management is established
via the matrix organization.
2 Not a Clear-Cut Matter: How Functional and Product

Management Differ from Each Other
In order to ensure the functioning of this system in your company as well, a clear assign-
ment of interfaces and demarcations between product management and functional man-
agement is required. You can make the necessary delimitation for this according to the
principle of core competencies.
The functional manager is:
• Functional specialist
• Product generalist
• Resource manager
The product manager is:
• Product market specialist

• Functional generalist
• Product market manager
This distinction is explained in detail below, as it is of particular importance for successful

product management, also in your company.
2.1 The Functional Manager
The functional manager is a functional specialist and thus possesses comprehensive spe-
cialist knowledge in his field and area of responsibility. This specialist knowledge is to be
illustrated using the example of two functional areas (sales and development). It should be
noted, of course, that the listing of the areas of competence in both examples is only a
small excerpt.
The sales department is a specialist (professional)
• in negotiations with the customer

• in customer relationship management
• in negotiations on prices, terms and conditions
• in contacting customers
• in route planning and route optimization

• in customer selection and customer prioritization
• in the analysis of the decision-making structures at customers
• in the development of a customer strategy
• in the management of purchasing processes with customers
• in the development of personal networks
The development (R&D) department is specialist (professional)
• in the evaluation and selection of technologies

• in the project management of product development projects
• in the selection of suitable materials
• for the reverse engineering of competitor products
• in the selection of suitable components and assemblies
• in the development of product specifications
• in the estimation of development times and costs
• in the selection and use of development tools
• in the design and optimization of development processes
• in the preparation and implementation of preliminary studies
Resources and budgets are also allocated in the functional areas (e.g. sales employees,
sales tools and sales budgets). Allocating the functional budgets to the individual products
and product groups is a particular challenge for product management in the annual budget-
ing processes. Here, the different priorities of the functional and product areas become
particularly apparent.
However, functional areas should also be product generalists. Fundamental knowledge
in the functional areas about the company’s products is necessary and must be ensured by
you as product manager. This aspect, which is also called “internal marketing” in some
companies, is one of the important tasks of a product manager. The topics that this product
generalist knowledge can include are listed below as examples.
Product generalist knowledge may include:
• Knowledge of the structure of the entire product range

• Clarity about the company’s internal product priorities
• Knowledge of the key USPs of the most important products/product groups
• Clarity about product strategies and product focus
• Overview of priority measures in product marketing
• Knowledge of revenue and contribution margin situation of the most important products
• Knowledge about market share and market position of the products
• Overview about important competitors and competitive products
• Knowledge of central product innovations
• Knowledge of product modifications and relaunches.
2 Not a Clear-Cut Matter: How Functional and Product Management Differ from Each… 5
2.2 The Product Manager
As a product manager, you are a product market specialist and thus possess comprehensive
specialist knowledge about the product market. In recent years, the focus has shifted from
the product to the market, so that your role in product management today can rather be
seen as that of a market specialist for the product. The following overview shows in detail
what this market specialization can look like.
As a product market specialist you know
• the product market in detail.

• the current customer needs, problems and purchasing criteria.
• the key future market developments and trends.
• the future relevant customer needs, problems and purchasing criteria.
• the competitor products (at least of the main competitors!).
• the advantages and disadvantages of the products in a competitive comparison.
• the key opportunities and threats in the product market.
• the buying processes and buying process phases at the customer.
• the instruments used to control the purchasing process.
• the product-related marketing mix of the competitors.
• the product-related marketing strategies of competitors.
In order to be able to coordinate and control the product-related activities across functions,
you must also have sufficient generalist knowledge from the functional areas. It is there-
fore advisable to train a product manager in the most important functions before deploying
him or her as a generalist. Job rotation programs and seminars are suitable for this purpose.
Job rotation programs are particularly well suited for this purpose because the product
manager not only receives functional input, but can also build a network of relationships
with the functional areas and learn about the company-specific characteristics of the func-
tional areas (processes, procedures, tools, etc.). Building and maintaining relationship net-
works are particularly important for you as a product manager because you do not have
hierarchical access to the functional areas and therefore depend on personal contacts and
relationships, especially in planning and implementation.
Therefore an important tip

Consistently develop your contacts and relationships in all important areas and hierarchi-
cal levels in the company. Cultivate especially the contact to leadership and manage-
ment levels!
Focus of the Focus of the

functional areas product manager
• Short-term orientation • Long-term, strategic orientation

Sales • Incoming orders • Optimization of sales and contribution margin
• Sales promotion • Market position of the product
• Long production lead times • Short production lead times

Production • No model changes • Frequent model changes
• Small product range • Extensive product range
• Technical capabilities • Market requirements

Research and
• Product features • Orientation to customer benefit
development • Optimal product for introduction • Time to market
Finance and • Liquidity • Investment in the market

accounting • Cost recovery, price surcharge • Competitive pricing strategies
Fig. 2 Conflict potential between product and functional management
2.3 Potential for Conflict Between Product

and Functional Management
Of course, there is a pronounced potential for conflict between the functional areas and
product management. In your daily practice, you experience this directly. The functional
areas focus on their own function and try to optimize it. As a product manager, you take
the product perspective and try to do everything possible to improve the performance of
the product or product group. With these different interests, there is bound to be friction.
Figure 2 shows some examples of this.
Due to the cross-functional approach of the product manager, these conflict potentials
become clearly apparent.
2.4 Definition of product management
Based on the previous descriptions, product management can be defined as follows:
Product management
is a management concept that focuses on the need for cross-functional and cross-divisional
control and coordination of products or product groups. While maintaining the existing verti-
cal structure (functional structure), product management has the task of ensuring a horizontal
structure (product-related structure). This results in a matrix organization in the company,
which is formed by functions/divisions and products/product groups. In addition to the func-
tional alignment of the functional areas, product management must ensure the product-related
alignment. This means that product management controls and coordinates all product-related
issues (from procurement to marketing and sales) for the assigned products/product groups.
As a product market specialist and functional generalist, product management is thus a kind
of information, coordination and control platform for all product-relevant topics within and
outside the company.
3 Setting Boundaries: How Product Managers Manage Interfaces and Delegate Tasks 7
What the customer As relayed by the How it was

wanted to have. sales department. constructed by R&D.
How it was delivered How the service As promoted

and assembled. still got it right. by marketing.
Fig. 3 Coordination function of the product manager
In short, as a product manager, you have to make sure that what is shown in Fig. 31 does
not happen in your company.
3 Setting Boundaries: How Product Managers Manage

Interfaces and Delegate Tasks
A central challenge is the problem of delegating tasks to the product manager by the func-
tional areas. As already shown, the specialist knowledge should be anchored in the func-
tional areas. In many cases, however, tasks that should actually be performed by the
1
Despite intensive research, I have not been able to locate the source of this illustration. Should you
know the illustrator, please let me know.
specialists in the functional areas are delegated to product management. This leads you to
being confronted with tasks for which you
• do not have specialist knowledge.

• have no resources.
• were not hired.
• will not be paid.
Shifting functional tasks to product management leads to an overload of the product man-
ager – one reason for the relatively short lengths of stay of product managers in this role.
Figure 4 shows the basic principle of task delegation to the product manager.
This fundamental problem arises in many companies and represents one of the main
causes of poorly functioning product management. Practical experience shows that tasks
from almost all functional areas can be found in product management. An explorative
survey conducted by MSG Management Systems St. Gallen among companies in German-
speaking countries shows the frequency of delegation of different functional tasks to prod-
uct management (see Fig. 5).
Tasks from the functional areas of marketing, sales and development are those that are
most frequently performed in product management. The reasons why these tasks end up in
product management will be discussed in detail below.
The following case shows how such a delegation of tasks looks in practice.
Example: Delegation of tasks to the product manager

The product manager of an industrial automation company needed a supplier part for the
modification of one product (control unit). By integrating this part, the functional scope of
MD/CEO
Marketing Sales Production R&D ...
PM
PM
PM
PM
Fig. 4 Delegation of tasks to product management

Marketing
Sales
Development
Production
Purchasing
Logistics/Warehouse
Finance
Other
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Fig. 5 Frequency of delegated tasks to product management
this product was to be expanded according to market and customer requirements. The product
managers contact with the purchasing department was unsatisfactory. The purchasing depart-
ments opinion was, that the product manageris responsible for the success of the products,
therefore the product manager should also take care of the purchase of this part. The product
manager then handled the entire procurement process-from supplier search to supplier selec-
tion. The purchasing department issued the order form!
If you as a product manager get into such a situation, you have to be very careful. If such
processes become ingrained in the company, a return is very difficult and time-consuming.
The argument “We’ve always done it this way, why should we change it now?” is not
uncommon.
3.1 Clarification of Interfaces
As a product manager, you should vehemently prevent attempts by functional areas to

delegate tasks to the product manager! Should you nevertheless find yourself with tasks
that are not to be assigned to product management, the following procedure has proven to
be expedient:
Step 1: Identify Your Current Activities with Time Expenditure

Using time sheets, diaries, project plans, etc., you can identify the activities you have car-
ried out as a product manager (e.g. in the last six months). Create a list of your activities
and tasks and allocate the time budget of 100% to these activities and tasks. The result can
be displayed graphically and gives a quick overview of the situation. Figure 6 shows an
example of a task analysis of a product manager from a company in the construction sup-
ply industry.
Time required (in %)

Activities 0 10 20 30 40
ACTUAL
1. Quotation creation TARGET
ACTUAL
2. Handling orders TARGET
ACTUAL
3. Technical information TARGET
ACTUAL
4. Material orders TARGET
ACTUAL
5. Stock optimization TARGET
ACTUAL
6. Invoice control TARGET
ACTUAL
7. Product marketing TARGET
ACTUAL
8. Product optimization TARGET
Fig. 6 Task analysis in product management (excerpt)
In this case, the product manager has only about 30% of his time available for product
optimization (e.g. product relaunch) and product marketing. Clearly too little for the spe-
cific market and competitive situation of this company. A competitor regularly manages to
be on the market significantly earlier for product relaunches and new product launches. A
comparison of the product marketing is also in favor of the competitor.
Step 2: Identify Critical Activities with Targets

In the next step, you should determine the critical activities that definitely do not belong to
your tasks as a product manager and have arisen through delegation from the functional
areas. This result should also be represented graphically.
Figure 7 shows an example of a task analysis with determination of the critical activi-
ties with target setting of a product manager from a company in the construction supply
industry. The critical activities and tasks are marked with a lightning symbol in this
example.
Step 3: Delegate Back the Critical Activities

Discuss the tasks identified as critical in individual discussions and team meetings (pos-
sibly with coaching support) with the functional areas concerned. Based on this, the pro-
cesses and task delimitations can be redesigned and the implementation prepared. The new
arrangements should be assessed and reviewed in a follow-up meeting after three months.
A regular review (quarterly or half-yearly) is sensible and recommended in any case.
In the case described above, the following priority measures were developed and imple-
mented over a period of two years:
Time required (in %)

Activities 0 10 20 30 40
ACTUAL
1. Quotation creation TARGET
ACTUAL
2. Handling orders TARGET
ACTUAL
3. Technical information TARGET
ACTUAL
4. Material orders TARGET
ACTUAL
5. Stock optimization TARGET
ACTUAL
6. Invoice control TARGET
ACTUAL
7. Product marketing TARGET
ACTUAL
8. Product optimization TARGET
Fig. 7 Task analysis, critical activities and target setting (extract)
Quotation Creation The creation of standard quotations has been completely handed
over to sales. Special offers are created by sales (according to corresponding specifications
by the product manager) and released by product management.
Result: The time previously used was reduced by 50%.
Handling Orders Standard orders are processed entirely by the sales staff. Special orders
and orders from defined key accounts (key customers) are checked and released by prod-
uct management.
Technical Information A separate position for managing “technical information” was

created, which could partly handle the customer’s technical inquiries. As the company
changed strategy (from product sales to system sales), only a small part of the tasks could
be diverted from product management.
Result: The time previously used was reduced by a third.
Material Orders All material orders could be delegated back to the warehouse and logis-
tics department. In addition, some improvements were made to the company’s warehouse
management, especially the IT-supported warehouse management systems were adapted.
Result: The previous time expenditure could be completely eliminated.

Warehouse Optimization The changeover from product sales to system sales also
resulted in a restructuring of the warehouse management. This resulted in product man-
agement retaining a relatively high proportion of tasks due to the complexity of the
systems.
Invoice Control The tasks related to accounting control were completely taken over by
the finance and accounting department. This was also the functional area in which the
repatriation of tasks was easiest to carry out.
Result: The previous time expenditure could be completely eliminated.
Product Marketing By streamlining tasks between product management and the func-
tional areas, it was possible to more than triple the time budget available for product mar-
keting tasks. As a result, the company was able to achieve some considerable successes
over the competition in some product/system areas.
Product Optimization Product optimization, which had previously been somewhat

neglected, was improved. A long-overdue product program streamlining was carried out,
and some products were better positioned on the market by means of a relaunch. The sys-
tems business was tackled proactively in line with the company’s new strategy.
Of course, it is nonsensical to assume that all operative tasks can be removed from
product management. The product manager must monitor the product-related tasks in the
functional departments and thus ensure that deadlines, budgets, milestones, etc. are met
and, if necessary (e.g., in the case of bottlenecks), also temporarily take over partial tasks.
The key here is to find the right balance. If this leaves too little time for product manage-
ment, this can be seen immediately in the results.
3.2 Reasons for Delegating Tasks
There are many reasons why such task delegation to product management occurs. The
most common reasons for task delegation are:
• Functional areas delegate “on purpose”.

• There is a lack of clarity about the tasks and responsibilities of a product manager.
• The product manager cannot “let go” of former functional tasks.
• Functional areas lack expertise/resources.
As can already be seen, the causes lie partly in product management itself, partly in the
company’s own functional areas and in the companies top-management. Let us briefly
address the individual causes here:
The Functional Areas Delegate “on purpose”

Professional “task delegators” can be found in many areas. You will also find them in your
company. Functional tasks are delegated to product management for a variety of reasons.
The most common reasons for delegating tasks to product management include:
• Time saving
• Acquisition of additional resources
• Avoidance of unpleasant tasks
• Resource bottlenecks in the functions
• Avoidance/deferral of responsibility
The following practical example illustrates this procedure.
Example: Delegation of tasks by sales representatives

A sales representative of a financial services company calls the company’s product man-
ager at the beginning of the week. The sales representative has an important customer appoint-
ment on Friday that several people at the customer are scheduled to attend. The product
manager seems to be the only suitable additional person who can attend this appointment
together with sales. The product manager confirms the appointment and enters it in his diary.
On Wednesday, the sales representative calls the product manager again to inform him that
there is another important customer to be dealt with, unfortunately he has only been able to
arrange this new customer appointment at the same time as the already scheduled appoint-
ment on Friday. The product manager is asked to make the first appointment alone.
This tactic, which was widely used in this company, allowed the sales representatives to
expand their capacity and integrate product managers more and more into sales activities.
With serious consequences for the company. Product development and product modifica-
tion fell by the wayside and the company lost market share relative to the competition in
some product areas. It was later found that a product manager even misused up to 60% of
his capacity by performing sales tasks.
Of course, your job as a product manager is to support sales. However, this does not
mean that you immediately take over the tasks of the sales department. However, among
other things, you ensure that
• the sales department receives product-related training.

• a product presentation (master presentation) is available.
• reference documents (reference lists, customer case studies) are ready for use.
• a sales manual (product comparisons and arguments) is created.
• a list of frequently asked questions (with answers) is available.
• a product brochure or a product folder is created.
• a product video is ready for use.
• a technical documentation is available.
• an instruction manual is available for the user.
• special product documentation (e.g. application instructions) is available.
• all sales documents are available in a structured form.
The product managers from a company in the automotive supply industry provide the sales
department, in addition to other support tools, with a comprehensive sales manual (includ-
ing training) with the following contents:
Example: Contents of a sales manual
• Product description (incl. product service)

• Technical product data and technology used
• Scope of functions and services of the product
• Market situation (market, segments, customers)
• Target segments, target customers and sales targets
• Applications and target applications
• Competitor products (advantages/disadvantages)
• Price-performance positioning
• Prices, pricing strategy and terms/conditions
• Sales arguments, objection handling and USPs
• Frequently asked questions with answers
• Sales process and tools
• Marketing and communication strategy
• References, test reports, press releases …
However, a joint customer visit with the sales department may be necessary in individual
cases (e.g. for strategically important key customers).
However, customer contacts for obtaining market and competitor information are
important in order to fulfill your role as a product market expert. Especially to special
customers and customer groups (innovators) the product manager should build up contacts
in order to obtain this information by means of expert interviews, innovation workshops,
application observation, etc. However, product sales is definitely not the main focus during
such activities.
There Is a Lack of Clarity About the Tasks of a Product Manager

Which tasks a product manager is supposed to perform in the company and what he has to
take care of is largely unclear in many companies. Product managers are hired, but a clear
positioning and an associated assignment of tasks (which also makes sense!) are rarely
made. This situation will be illustrated by an example.
Example: Lack of clarity of tasks on the part of management

The CEO of a company in the IT industry, when asked how product management was
positioned in his company, responded with the following answer: “Our product managers are
chief cooks and bottle washers.” He also demanded that his product managers be with cus-
tomers 80% of their time selling. When asked what his sales force was doing, he then
replied:“Our sales managers are doing the same.”
This situation probably also contributed somewhat to the fact that this company disap-
peared from the scene in recent years. The product manager who does all the strategic
work (as “chef”) and then can also take over the operational implementation himself (as
“dishwasher”) has yet to be born.
This, by the way, is an illusion that many companies succumb to. The frustration on
both sides usually leads to the complete abolition of product management. The following
list shows some examples of tasks and activities that definitely do not belong to product
management.
The following activities are not part of product management:
• Complaint handling
• Invoice control
• Technical application advice at the customer
• Project management for development projects
• Sales activities
• Implementation of sales promotions
• Quotation
• New customer acquisition
• Order processing
• Inventory control
• and much more
If such activities are demanded of you on a large scale, this is a clear indication that the
principle of product management is not yet understood or clearly anchored in your
company.
A company from the automotive supply industry shows a different conception of the
topic of product management. Here, product management is already seen in an entrepre-
neurial role.
Example: Product management from the point of view of the management of a company
(shortened statement)
“Our product managers bear full responsibility for their products. This includes not only
revenue and contribution margin, but also market share and market position. The product
manager is the right hand of the management. He is an entrepreneur in the company and spe-
cializes in a product or product group.”
The Product Manager Cannot “let go” of Former Functional Tasks

Another common phenomenon is that product managers cannot tear themselves away
from their former positions in the functional areas. These product managers are specialists
in the respective functional area. The new position as product manager, however, requires
that he now no longer performs these tasks himself, but that they are implemented in the
functional area. The product manager must prepare an appropriate “briefing” for the exe-
cution of the task for the functional area concerned, monitor and control the implementa-
tion of the measures in the functional areas and release the results achieved. This procedure
is to be understood as shown in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8 Briefing by the

product manager
Implementation
Briefing concept
(PM) (functional
area)
Product managers from a consumer goods company use the following briefing content
for briefing an advertising agency or their own communications department.
Example: Briefing contents for advertising agency/marketing communication
• Brief description of the product

• Communication and communication measures
–– What communication measures are planned?
–– What measures have already been implemented?
–– Which topics/contents should be communicated?
–– Are there any other points that should be considered?
–– Are there already existing images, texts, slogans etc.?
• Description product/service
–– What are the benefits of the product?
–– For what reason was the product developed?
–– What are the advantages and disadvantages of the product compared to the
competition?
–– What are the three most important unique selling points (USPs)?
–– Where is the competitive differentiation (product, service …)?
–– Is the product a real innovation?
• Description of the target market
–– Local, national, international market?
–– Which market segments/customer groups exist in the target market?
–– How do the market segments/customer groups differ?
–– How big is the market and how is it developing?
–– What competitors are there in the target market?
–– What are the communication priorities of the competition?
• Description of the target group
–– Who is involved in the purchase decision process and how?
–– What does the purchase decision process look like?
–– What is the buying behavior in the product market?
–– Where and how do customers inform themselves about the product?
• Price and pricing strategy
–– What is the product price or the price of the competing products?
–– What is the pricing strategy and how is the product positioned (price-performance)?
–– What pricing models (e.g. discount systems) are there?
–– Do the price differences correspond to the performance differences?

• Sales and marketing
–– How is the product sold (benefit vs. price)?
–– Which distribution/sales channels are used?
–– Which sales and marketing measures are used?
–– What other framework conditions need to be taken into account?
• Budget situation
–– What is the communications budget?
–– What does the budget include and how was it determined?
–– Is the budget project-based or period-based (e.g. annual budget)?
• Communication task of the agency/communication department
–– What are the communication goals in detail (e.g. product awareness)?
–– What exactly is the agency/communications department supposed to do?
–– What specific creative task is expected?
–– Which media mix should be used?
–– What are the design specifications (e.g. corporate design)?
–– What is the timetable and schedule?
The functional areas (marketing, sales, development, etc.) create an implementation con-
cept based on the product manager’s briefing. In addition to the content-related topics, this
implementation concept also contains the necessary budget. It makes sense to coordinate
the implementation concept (including budget) with product management and release it
for implementation by the functional areas. The implementation results are compared with
the briefing contents. Using the example of a product development, the procedure is shown
in Fig. 9.
As the product manager, you create the market specification (briefing) for the new
product to be developed. According to standards and norms, the market specification con-
tains the entirety of the demands of the product market on the product. In general, it
describes the immediate objectives, tasks, functions, performance expectations and
requirements of the market as well as other key data for the desired product. The contents
of the market specification should be quantifiable and verifiable. This makes it easier for
you to carry out product tests later on. In addition, the market situation, the internal com-
pany conditions (e.g. processes, systems, procedures …), time factors and the anticipated
costs and prices are also presented. The market specification is primarily a description of
Fig. 9 Specifications in the

context of product
development Market Product
specification specification
(PM) (R&D)
the problems, requirements and the goal. It does not include a technical solution to the
problem or specific steps to solve the problem or achieve the goals. It describes the WHAT
and not the HOW.
The market specification

is a description of the requirements and the goal!
The following example shows the contents of a market specification from an environmen-
tal engineering company.
Example: Contents of a market specification
• Product description and project structure

• Competitor information (product comparison, prices …)
• Market data (market volume, market share …)
• Market and customer segments
• Applications and fields of use
• Market requirements and development goals
–– Operating conditions and environmental requirements
–– Main requirements (hardware, software, service …)
–– Options and additional requirements
–– Interface requirements
–– Lifetime requirements (life cycle and roadmap)
–– Security requirements
–– Standards, patents, guidelines, test methods
• Profitability from the market and customer perspective
• Economic efficiency from the manufacturer’s point of view
–– Price and cost targets
–– Sales targets and break-even point calculation
–– Investment targets and return on investment (ROI)
–– Product contribution margin, profitability calculation …
–– Development project costs
• Know-how requirements
• Schedule and timetable (including launch date)
The following example shows the contents of a market specification from an IT company.
Example: Contents of a market specification
• Product drivers
–– Purpose of the project
–– Client, customer and other stakeholders
–– Users of the product
• Product/project constraints
–– Mandated constraints
–– Naming conventions and definitions
–– Relevant facts and assumptions

• Functional requirements
–– The scope of the work
–– The scope of the product
–– Data requirements
• Non-functional requirements
–– Look and feel requirements
–– Usability and humanity requirements
–– Performance requirements
–– Operational requirements
–– Maintainability and support requirements
–– Security requirements
–– Cultural and political requirements
–– Legal requirements
• Product/project issues
–– Open issues
–– Off-the-shelf solutions
–– New problems
–– Tasks
–– Cutover
–– Risks
–– Costs
–– User documentation and training
–– Waiting room
–– Ideas for solutions
A market specification should be available in a standardized form. A clear numbering of

the requirements makes it easier for you to refer to the specification item later. To make the
market specification clear, it is written in short text and supplemented with tables, graphics
or drawings. Since it is often the case that not all requirements can be implemented in a
product or that various requirements can be contradictory, it makes sense to subdivide the
compiled requirements into mandatory and desirable requirements (prioritization). In
addition, you should concretize the requirements with quantitative specifications.
Some preparatory work is necessary for the creation of market specifications. Detailed
knowledge of the product market is crucial here. This is where you can make full use of
your competence as a product market expert.
A company in the medical technology sector has developed a four-stage process for
this, which the product manager goes through together with the product team.
Example: Process steps for the development of market specifications
• Process step 1: Market analysis

This process step involves a thorough analysis of market requirements. Competitor prod-
ucts are examined, complaint statistics are evaluated, application observations are carried out
at customers, product innovation workshops are held with users and customer problem analy-
sis are carried out.
• Process step 2: Collection and preparation of requirements
Here, a systematic and structured compilation of market and customer requirements takes
place. The requirements are grouped, summarized and formulated according to existing clas-
sification criteria.
• Process step 3: Prioritization
During prioritization, attention is paid to whether requirements influence each other or
even conflict with each other. The product team uses the quality function deployment (QFD)
methodology here. Subsequently, the requirements are differentiated into mandatory and
desirable requirements. A particularly important point in this process step is the quantification
of the requirements!
• Process step 4: Creation of market specification
In addition to the market requirements, further information is collected and processed in
this step (e.g. market and competitive situation, financial and economic aspects, time and
deadline situation, etc.). The market specification is completed and can then be discussed with
the management.
Based on the requirements from your market specification, the development department
(R&D) creates a product specification. In the product specification, the product concept is
technically described down to the level of the assemblies and individual parts (e.g. dimen-
sions, weight, functionality, design, quality …). The statements about the sales targets are
supplemented by concrete cost and profitability calculations. The production concept is
defined, e.g., with regard to the plant technology, the use of machines and the suppliers.
The specifications contain concrete, detailed contents and procedures for solving prob-
lems and achieving goals.
The product specification

describes the technical problem solution and the achievement of the goals!
The following example shows the contents of a product specification from an industrial
automation company.
Example: Contents of a product specification (excerpt)
• Requirements for function and structure

• Product functions and features
• Technology used
• Specification of technical data
• Detailed performance data (dimensions, design …)
• Hardware and software
• Tolerance ranges for production and quality assurance
• Requirements for components, assemblies and individual parts
• Determination of development tools
• Determination of costs according to the sales estimate
• Determination of the development budget
• Examination of the technical feasibility

• Determination of the necessary capacities
• Implementation steps, sub-activities and time targets
• Determination of standards and test specifications
• etc.
The reconciliation of the market specification with the product specification by product
management together with R&D is critical. Development begins, on the basis of the prod-
uct specification, which usually ends in a prototype, as an intermediate stage. You compare
this prototype with the market specification and, if everything is fulfilled, release it for
series production/pre-series production.
Errors in the market specification inevitably have an impact on product success, as the
following case from the consumer goods industry shows.
Example: Consequences of faulty specifications

A product manager of a company from the consumer goods industry was responsible for
the development of a new ice cream. In addition to the actual product development, which in
this case was rather simple, packaging also had to be developed that would meet both logisti-
cal and marketing requirements. A market specification for the packaging was developed. An
external service provider as packaging specialist developed a “market specification” for the
packaging and created the prototype. The prototype was insufficiently tested due to time
constraints. The product was introduced to the market and achieved good sales in the first few
weeks. After that it only went downhill. The reason was quickly found through a customer
survey. The packaging did not fit into the standard freezer compartment of a refrigerator. The
fault was in the market specification. This specific requirement was missing!
Of course, the creation of the market specification is associated with effort on your side.
The subsequent coordination processes with the functional areas or even with external
institutes and service providers are also time-consuming and resource-intensive. Some
product managers now start to carry out these activities themselves again, possibly because
they have the corresponding expertise from previous positions. With negative conse-
quences, as the following example shows.
Example: Not being able to let go of former functional tasks

A product manager at a company in the packaging industry was recently “promoted” to
product manager. His former area of responsibility was in the company’s R&D department.
There he dedicated himself to new packaging technologies in recent years. As a product man-
ager, he now found himself in the situation of developing and marketing a new product for the
establishment of a new business division. After the corresponding market analysis, a market
specification document was drawn up. The briefing of the R&D department for the creation
of a product specification was unsatisfactory, so that the product manager decided to carry out
the development of the product himself. Due to the neglected strategic positioning and mar-
keting of the product, the market launch of the product was a flop.
The functional areas of the company represent important resources and competencies for
you as a product manager. Not using these resources usually means having to invest your
own time in them. In doing so, you run the risk of not being able to perform important
tasks in product management, or only being able to perform them inadequately.
Functional Areas Lack Expertise/Resources

There is a bigger problem for you if the functional areas of your company cannot provide
the necessary expertise or resources.
Example: Lack of expertise in the functional departments

A company from the fastening technology sector built up a new business division. In this
new business area, new products of the connectivity technology as well as new technologies
were used. The products were developed and in parallel the market launch was prepared.
Product managers were assigned to the new products and began their work. At a certain point
in time, the product documentation had to be developed. The briefing for the product docu-
mentation department was prepared and provided to the department. The department reacted
with the following statement: It was not there to come up with anything (as requested in the
briefing), but had so far only compiled texts and pictures in a desktop publishing program.
This department had neither the resources nor the specialist knowledge to produce profes-
sional technical texts, technical drawings and industrial photographs. The problem could
be solved in this case by outsourcing to a professional service provider.
Unfortunately, the reasons described above usually occur in combination in companies.
The drift of the product manager into functional areas endangers the fulfillment of the
strategic responsibility for the product or product group. As a product manager, you have
a clear management function as the person strategically responsible. This management
function is clarified in the next step and a demarcation of the product management from
the operational business is carried out.
4 A Fundamental Decision: The Positioning of the Product

Manager in the Company
The positioning of product management in your company is one of the essential fundamental
decisions that management (MD, CEO, business unit management) has to make at your
company. Based on this positioning, all further topics for the successful implementation or
optimization of product management can be derived. This fundamental decision clarifies in
your own company whether you, as a product manager, will be positioned as a management
function with strategic responsibility for the product or product group, or whether you will
be anchored in the company merely as a coordination and support function.
4.1 Positioning Possibilities for Product Management
Product management is essentially positioned according to the assignment of strategic

and/or operational tasks to product management. Figure 10 shows the basic possibilities of
positioning.
4 A Fundamental Decision: The Positioning of the Product Manager in the Company 23
Fig. 10 Positioning of product Strategic tasks

management (high)
Management
function
Operational tasks
(high)
Operational tasks
(low)
Coordination/
support/
service function
Strategic tasks
(low)
The different types of positioning of the product manager according to this matrix can
be understood as follows:
The Product Manager as a “heavy worker”

• Strategic tasks: High
• Operational tasks: High
This “product manager” is certainly not to be envied. Strategically responsible, he must

also perform all operational implementation tasks. This situation, which usually arises
from the delegation of tasks, is not a sensible positioning for either the product manager or
the company. Product managers in such situations usually have a short length of stay in the
position or in the company. It is also interesting to note that companies usually do not have
the entire product management team in this positioning. Some product managers always
manage to assert themselves against task delegation. This is an indication that the person-
ality traits of the product managers play a crucial role, even if the general conditions and
the technical skills are mostly the same.
The “leisure-oriented” Product Manager

• Strategic tasks: Low
• Operational tasks: Low
This positioning of the product manager is not found in practice (possibly to your chagrin).
The Product Coordinator

• Strategic tasks: Low
• Operational tasks: High
This “product manager” is clearly operationally oriented. Although he or she is often

called a product manager in practice, he or she is not. Companies that use this form of
“product management” tend to use rather the following designations:
• Product coordinator
• Product specialist
• Product support
• Junior product manager
• Product assistant
Since these “product managers” have no strategic responsibility for the product or product
group, they cannot be held responsible for the result (e.g. revenue, market share, contribu-
tion margin …) and thus cannot be “paid” according to these performance criteria.
However, among these “product managers”, there are numerous areas of focus in terms of
operational orientation and operational responsibility. Some are more operational in the
technical areas, others have more of a focus on marketing and sales. These focal points
have an impact on the organizational integration of this form of “product management”.
The “real” Product Manager

• Strategic tasks: High
• Operational tasks: Low
The real product manager! He or she is rightly called a product manager. As the holder of a
strategically responsible management position, he or she is fully responsible for the result of
the products/product groups. This product manager should also be paid according to the
appropriate performance criteria. With his or her strategic task profile, he or she can signifi-
cantly shape and influence the success of the product. This positioning of product manage-
ment is increasingly gaining acceptance in companies. Figure 11, based on an explorative
survey by MSG Management Systems St. Gallen, shows the current situation of strategic
Fig. 11 Situation of strategic responsibility

4 A Fundamental Decision: The Positioning of the Product Manager in the Company 25
positioning in product management. This figure illustrates the situation in the industrial sec-
tor in German-speaking countries. The percentage of companies that have a strategically
aligned product management is still relatively low. Although many companies strive for a
stronger strategic positioning, the implementation success is still relatively limited.
4.2 Operational and Strategic Product Management
Of course, the distinction between operational and strategic product management cannot
be made 100% in practice. The classic 20:80 rule also applies here. Furthermore, even in
the work processes of a strategically oriented product manager, there are times and situa-
tions in which an operationally oriented activity makes sense, if not a prerequisite for
success. In addition, even if you are strategically positioned as a product manager, you
must constantly manage, coordinate, control, and optimize day-to-day operations.
Figure 12 shows the temporal focus of the operational activity of a product manager in the
context of the product launch.
In the product introduction phase, the first phase in the life cycle of a product on the
market, it often makes sense to provide operational support to the functional areas. This
support is especially needed in sales, since new products, despite extensive product train-
ing, are not yet as firmly anchored in the sales mindset as existing products.
Example: Operational deployment of a strategically oriented product manager

A company in the consumer goods industry had revenue problems with the market launch
of a new product. Despite product training for the sales team, many sales representatives had
great difficulty selling the new product, which required explanation, to the customer. Further
Sales
Introduction Growth Maturity Saturation Decline
Launch
Timeline
Intensive operational use of the
product manager in the introduction phase
Fig. 12 Operational focus of a product manager

complicating the situation was the fact that a new technology was being used for the new
product. The product manager, who was anchored in this company as a strategic management
position, had to increasingly support the sales department during the introduction phase in
order to ensure a successful launch of the product on the market.
This included the following operational activities:
• Accompanying sales reps during customer contacts (selective)

• Coaching of sales reps by telephone e-mail, etc.
• Presentation of successful reference examples to customers (key accounts)
• “Retraining” of individual sales employees
However, operational sales support activities should clearly be limited in time and scope.
Support after the introduction phase of a product should be limited to a few special cases.
You must set limits here!
In addition, there are also situations where the resources are not available in the com-
pany for the operational handling of tasks. In larger companies with several hundreds of
sales representatives, it does not make sense for the product manager to carry out product
training. Here, there are usually separate departments that handle this operational activity.
While the product manager will be involved in creating the training program and will
likely be at pilot events, the implementation will be done by that department. However, if
your company only has a few sales representatives, it may well be necessary for you as the
product manager to carry out the operational activity of product training.
5 A Diverse Spectrum: Job Description and Job Profile

of the Product Manager
The job description and requirements profile of product managers naturally depend on the
positioning of product management in the company. In the following, these differences
will be worked out in detail.
5.1 Job Description of a Product Manager
The operational or strategic focus of a product manager is usually defined in the job
description. You can clearly see the differences between strategically oriented and opera-
tionally oriented product managers from the following job descriptions. The term product
coordinator was chosen here for the operationally oriented form of product management,
while the term product manager was assigned to the strategic form of product management.
5 A Diverse Spectrum: Job Description and Job Profile of the Product Manager 27
Example: Job description of a product coordinator
• Job title: Product coordinator

• Supervisor: Product manager
• Objectives:
–– Support in the management, coordination and implementation of product-related mea-
sures and activities within and outside the company
–– Support of the product manager in strategic product management and in operational
implementation
–– Ensuring product information and product consulting of the respective departments
(sales, R&D, marketing, application technology, service …) in the company
–– Ensuring technical coordination between the company’s functional departments
• Tasks:
–– Support in carrying out market and competitor analysis as well as trend analysis
–– Collection, processing and archiving of market and competitor information
–– Forwarding/distribution of important information to the relevant departments and
stakeholders
–– Carrying out technical analysis of competitors’ products
–– Participation in the creation of market and product specifications as well as in the
development of market launch concepts/plans and product market plans or sales plans
–– Participation in the elaboration of the product development strategy together with the
development department
–– Participation in the development and conception of the product-specific manufacturing
network together with R&D, production and application technology departments
–– Definition of requirements for quotation and processing systems, logistics systems,
quality systems, controlling systems, etc.
–– Product-related support of sales and key account management in the operative business
–– Creation of sales-oriented product documentation and the necessary sales documents
(sales manual, reference examples …)
–– Analysis and development of measures to reduce product costs/manufacturing costs
together with R&D, production and application technology
–– Implementation of sales-related product training for internal (sales, key account man-
agement) and external sales partners
–– Collaboration in the development, conception and implementation of operative mar-
keting and sales measures
–– Preparation and optimization of product controlling for product management
From this example, you can see that the objectives and tasks are operational in nature.
Although the product coordinator collaborates on strategic tasks, the strategic responsibil-
ity lies with the product manager. The operational goals for the product coordinator are
agreed upon together with the product manager.
Example: Job description of a product manager
• Job title: Product manager

• Supervisor: Business unit manager
• Subordination: Product coordinator
• Objectives:
–– Strategic product leadership and optimisation of the implementation management of
the assigned product/product group
–– Optimization of revenue, contribution margin and cost management of the product/
product group
–– Optimization of the control, coordination and implementation of all product-related
measures and activities within (management, business unit management, functional
areas) and outside the company (agencies, service providers, sales partners, cus-
tomers …)
–– Optimization of product-related information management within the company and
with the respective market partners
• Tasks:
–– Securing/obtaining product-relevant market and competitor information as well as rel-
evant trends and developments on the product market
–– Positioning of the products in the product market (price-performance positioning)
–– Determination of the advantages and disadvantages of the products in a competitive
comparison as well as the value position of the products
–– Creation of requirement profiles (market specifications) for new products or product
modifications
–– Approval of the product specifications prepared by R&D (in terms of costs)
–– Development of market launch concepts/plans and longer-term product strategies
(business plan)
–– Development of product market plans on an annual basis in terms of target plans,
action plans, budget plans, schedules …
–– Coaching of R&D in the product development phase. Participation in important mile-
stone meetings in the product development process
–– Implementation of product controlling (controlling cycle) on a monthly basis
–– Analysis of revenue development, product profitability and market share development
–– Compilation of the marketing mix strategies in detail (pricing strategies, assortment
strategies …) as well as determination of marketing and sales relevant focus measures
–– Management of the entire product life cycle (life cycle management) with regard to
innovation, market launch, product modification (relaunch) and product elimination
–– Ensuring sales support with regard to product-specific sales documents and sales-
supporting documents (sales manuals, argumentation aids …)
–– Compilation of the marketing mix in detail (mailing campaigns, trade fair appearances,
advertising measures …)
–– Budgeting of measures and budget control
–– Provision of market- and competition-oriented information for the business unit man-
agement and the management for the product portfolio
–– Participation in the product portfolio management of the company/business unit
In this example, you can see the strategic orientation of the product manager. Both the
objectives, which include responsibility for revenue and contribution margin, and the
tasks, which include strategy development and conception, are strategic in nature.
The different positioning possibilities of product management lead to a clear demarca-
tion in terms of objectives and tasks within the company. However, these demarcations
also lead to the fact that the product manager is very strongly integrated into the strategic
processes of the company, while the product coordinator, or generally the operationally
oriented product manager, is more involved in the operational implementation/execution
processes.
This integration into the different processes is important for a well-functioning product
management in your company. Both levels, the strategic as well as the operational level,
have to be managed successfully to ensure product success. Therefore, both forms of prod-
uct management can exist in your company and work together successfully.
The example of a company with international product management shows this coopera-
tion between operational and strategic product management (see Fig. 13).
This company with the head quarter HQ in the United States has appointed an interna-
tional product management (IPM) for the main products and product groups, referred to as
“mega brands”. The international product managers are strategically responsible for rev-
enue and also for the contribution margin situation of the product or product group world-
wide. In the operational implementation, the IPM is supported by a national product
management (NPM). The national product management is assigned for all important
countries. The NPM for the respective country has operational implementation responsi-
bility and is not strategically responsible for the product.
The following tasks are assigned to the IPM:
• International product positioning

• Brand management
• Product strategy worldwide
• Determination of country priorities (country portfolio)
• Product differentiation by country
• Product planning worldwide (top-down)
• Determination of the marketing mix strategies (global)
International product management (IPM)
National National National National National

PM (NPM) PM (NPM) PM (NPM) PM (NPM) PM (NPM)
Fig. 13 International/national product management

The following tasks are assigned to the NPM:
• Implementation of the product strategy in the countries

• Product planning (bottom-up) for the country
• Adaptation of the product strategy to country requirements (in consultation with
the IPM)
• Controlling of the implementation in the countries
• Collection and processing of country-specific market data
• Monitoring of country-specific trends and developments
• Implementation of the marketing mix at country level
The operational objectives between IPM and NPM are coordinated once a year as part of
a goal agreement process.
5.2 Other Tasks of a Product manager
In addition to the actual tasks of a product manager already described, you must also take
care of issues that are not in your original area of responsibility as part of your job descrip-
tion. This means that you must also assert product-related interests in the functional areas.
Although you usually do not have line authority in this context, you must nevertheless
succeed, through appropriate intervention, in ensuring that product-relevant topics are
taken into account early and sufficiently in the functions. In sales, for example, these can
be the following topics.
Example: Product-related interests in the functional area (sales)
• Evaluation of the sales organization

• Evaluation of distribution channels (in terms of suitability, performance)
• Enforcement of product training
• Design of sales controlling (customer and product related!)
• Design and assignment of sales costs to products
• Optimization of sales efficiency (product-related)
• Influence on sales management (e.g. opinion leader focus in the context of the product
launch phase)
• Product-related sales promotion for the sales force
• Ensuring product priorities
• Establishment of own customer contacts (for market research purposes)
• Participation in the filling of vacancies for sales representatives
At first glance, it is obvious that these topics are the responsibility of the sales manager or
sales management. However, as a product manager, you must intervene here in a targeted
manner to ensure that your product or product group is sufficiently considered in the rel-
evant decisions. If this is not done, serious problems can arise, especially during
implementation.
Example: Lack of enforcement of product-related interests

A company in the industrial automation sector introduced a new product group. With this
new introduction, a technology change in the company was carried out at the same time. With
the previous products, the respective product function was performed mechanically. With the
new product generation, the product function was implemented electronically. An additional
advantage was that the new product group could be adapted practically at will to the respec-
tive customer requirements due to the possibility of programming. The product was devel-
oped and introduced to the market at great expense. Unfortunately, however, the product
management had neglected to check the product-related general conditions, especially in the
sales department. The sales representatives in the sales offices had previously sold mechanical
products. However, selling electronic products required knowledge of electronics and also a
different approach to the customer. The company was forced to secure this necessary sales
know-how relatively quickly by hiring and training new sales representatives. However, this
delayed the launch of the new product group by almost a year.
Product managers must understand how to consciously shape the company’s internal
resources and frameworks. In some cases, this can be done very quickly and easily because
you have access to the resources within your own sphere of influence. In other cases, it
takes longer and requires more effort because the responsibility and the implementation
are not within your own control. Another example from the construction supply industry
shows a successful intervention of a product manager.
Example: Enforcement of product-related interests

A product manager from a company in the construction supply industry had the task of
launching a new product. The company was a late entrant to the market in this product area.
The established competitors had already well secured and delineated their market positions.
In order to break the competitors’ position, the product manager tried a penetration-price
strategy as a key strategy element. The product price (list price) was to be set well below that
of the other suppliers and increased at six-monthly intervals. This strategy was intended to
build up a high market share in the short term. The penetration-price strategy was developed
in close cooperation with the company’s sales management. In addition, a premium system
for sales was developed and implemented by product management for the introduction phase.
Although the sales management was responsible for the development of sales-related pre-
mium systems, a common working basis was quickly found for this purpose through the good
cooperation between sales and product management.
The premium system developed in this company by product management for the duration
of the introductory phase was necessary because in recent years the company’s sales rep-
resentatives had sold more and more on the basis of price. Product benefit arguments were
poorly communicated, if at all. As a consequence, this approach led to shrinking margins
and price erosion. In order to prevent this phenomenon and to set clear limits to the
penetration-price strategy, the premium model was developed as shown in Fig. 14.
In addition to the list price, a discount model was developed. With this model, the sales
department had room for negotiation with the customer. Within the quantitatively oriented
discount framework, qualitative elements for pricing were also integrated (relationship
pricing). The sales controlling system of this company was designed in such a way that an
Upper price limit
Premium level 5
Premium level 4
Premium level 3 Room to negotiate
Premium level 2 Average price
Premium level 1
Lower price limit
Fig. 14 Product-related premium model
average price per month, per product group and per sales representative could be calcu-
lated. In order to bring this average price as high as possible, the maximum price (upper
price limit) and minimum price (lower price limit) were calculated. This negotiation range
(room to negotiate) was divided into five segments and premium levels were assigned.
Sales representatives whose average price was in premium level one received no addi-
tional premium. Premium level five provided a considerable incentive. Here, the progres-
sive premium increase took full effect.
It is precisely the activities that do not directly belong to the product manager’s area of
responsibility that are sometimes critical to success. Product managers often tend to ignore
these areas of responsibility.
Product managers, of course, provide many justifications for this:
• “That’s not my responsibility.”

• “The functions have no interest in that.”
• “The expense of that is too great for me.”
• “I don’t want to go through that frustration again.”
• “I can’t do it with Mr. X, he’s not a good fit for me personally.”
However, an entrepreneurial and strategically oriented product manager personality must

learn to deal with such situations in order to be successful. Withdrawing from or avoiding
these tasks is neither advisable for your personal development as a product manager nor
for product success. In doing so, don’t let the functional areas scare you away. You can
accomplish a lot with perseverance and staying power! Stay on the ball, even if you have
to repeat your interventions more often.
However, it can happen that frustrating individual experiences depress the mood (see
Fig. 15).
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gradually passed from the pine-tree country into such scenery as I have
already described as characterizing the southern mines.
I went on the next morning to San Andres by a road which wound
through beautiful little valleys, still fresh and green, and covered with large
patches of flowers. In one long gulch through which I passed, about two
hundred Chilians were at work washing the dirt, panful by panful, in their
large flat wooden dishes. This is a very tedious process, and a most
unprofitable expenditure of labor; but Mexicans, Chilians, and other
Spanish Americans, most obstinately adhered to their old-fashioned
primitive style, although they had the example before them of all the rest of
the world continually making improvements in the method of abstracting
the gold, whereby time was saved and labor rendered tenfold more
effective.
I soon after met a troop of forty or fifty Indians galloping along the road,
most of them riding double—the gentlemen having their squaws seated
behind them. They were dressed in the most grotesque style, and the
clothing seemed to be pretty generally diffused throughout the crowd. One
man wore a coat, another had the remains of a shirt and one boot, while
another was fully equipped in an old hat and a waistcoat: but the most
conspicuous and generally worn articles of costume were the colored cotton
handkerchiefs with which they bandaged up their heads. As they passed
they looked down upon me with an air of patronizing condescension,
saluting me with the usual “wally wally,” in just such a tone that I could
imagine them saying to themselves at the same time, “Poor devil! he’s only
a white man.”
They all had their bows and arrows, and some were armed besides with
old guns and rifles, but they were doubtless only going to pay a friendly
visit to some neighboring tribe. They were evidently anticipating a pleasant
time, for I never before saw Indians exhibiting such boisterous good humor.
A few miles in from San Andres I crossed the Calaveras, which is here a
wide river, though not very deep. There was neither bridge nor ferry, but
fortunately some Mexicans had camped with a train of pack-mules not far
from the place, and from them I got an animal to take me across.
CHAPTER XXI
IN LIGHTER MOOD
I F one can imagine the booths and penny theaters on a race-course left for
a year or two till they are tattered and torn, and blackened with the
weather, he will have some idea of the appearance of San Andres. It was
certainly the most out-at-elbows and disorderly looking camp I had yet seen
in the country.
The only wooden house was the San Andres Hotel, and here I took up
my quarters. It was kept by a Missourian doctor, and being the only
establishment of the kind in the place, was quite full. We sat down forty or
fifty at the table-d’hôte.
The Mexicans formed by far the most numerous part of the population.
The streets—for there were two streets at right angles to each other—and
the gambling-rooms were crowded with them, loafing about in their
blankets doing nothing. There were three gambling-rooms in the village, all
within a few steps of each other, and in each of them was a Mexican band
playing guitars, harps and flutes. Of course, one heard them all three at
once, and as each played a different tune, the effect, as may be supposed,
was very pleasing.
The sleeping apartments in the hotel itself were all full, and I had to take
a cot in a tent on the other side of the street, which was a sort of colony of
the parent establishment. It was situated between two gambling-houses, one
of which was kept by a Frenchman, who, whenever his musicians stopped
to take breath or brandy, began a series of doleful airs on an old barrel-
organ. Till how late in the morning they kept it up I cannot say, but
whenever I happened to awake in the middle of the night, my ears were still
greeted by these sweet sounds.
There was one canvas structure, differing but little in appearance from
the rest, excepting that a small wooden cross surmounted the roof over the
door. This was a Roman Catholic church. The only fitting up of any kind in
the interior was the altar, which occupied the farther end from the door, and
was decorated with as much display as circumstances admitted, being
draped with the commonest kind of colored cotton cloths, and covered with
candlesticks, some brass, some of wood, but most of them regular
California candlesticks—old claret and champagne bottles, arranged with
due regard to the numbers and grouping of those bearing the different
ornamental labels of St. Julien, Medoc, and other favorite brands.
I went in on Sunday morning while service was going on, and found a
number of Mexican women occupying the space nearest the altar, the rest of
the church being filled with Mexicans, who all maintained an appearance of
respectful devotion. Two or three Americans, who were present out of
curiosity, naturally kept in the background near the door, excepting two
great hulking fellows who came swaggering in, and jostled their way
through the crowd of Mexicans, making it evident, from their demeanor,
that their only object was to show their supreme contempt for the
congregation, and for the whole proceedings. Presently, however, the entire
congregation went down on their knees, leaving these two awkward louts
standing in the middle of the church as sheepish-looking a pair of asses as
one could wish to see. They were hemmed in by the crowd of kneeling
Mexicans—there was no retreat for them, and it was extremely gratifying to
see how quickly their bullying impudence was taken out of them, and that it
brought upon them a punishment which they evidently felt so acutely. The
officiating priest, who was a Frenchman, afterwards gave a short sermon in
Spanish, which was listened to attentively, and the people then dispersed to
spend the remainder of the day in the gambling-rooms.
The same afternoon a drove of wild California cattle passed through the
camp, and as several head were being drafted out, I had an opportunity of
witnessing a specimen of the extraordinary skill of the Mexican in throwing
the lasso. Galloping in among the herd, and swinging the riata round his
head, he singles out the animal he wishes to secure, and, seldom missing his
aim, he throws his lasso so as to encircle its horns. As soon as he sees that
he has accomplished this, he immediately wheels round his horse, who
equally well understands his part of the business, and stands prepared to
receive the shock when the bull shall have reached the length of the rope. In
his endeavors to escape, the bull then gallops round in a circle, of which the
center is the horse, moving slowly round, and leaning over with one of his
fore-feet planted well out, so as to enable him to hold his own in the
struggle. An animal, if he is not very wild, may be taken along in this way,
but generally another man rides up behind him, and throws his lasso so as to
catch him by the hind-leg. This requires great dexterity and precision, as the
lasso has to be thrown in such a way that the bull shall put his foot into the
noose before it reaches the ground. Having an animal secured by the horns
and a hind-foot, they have him completely under command; one man drags
him along by the horns, while the other steers him by the hind-leg. If he
gets at all obstreperous, however, they throw him, and drag him along the
ground.
The lasso is about twenty yards long, made of strips of rawhide plaited,
and the end is made fast to the high horn which sticks up in front of the
Mexican saddle; the strain is all upon the saddle, and the girth, which is
consequently immensely strong, and lashed up very tight. The Mexican
saddles are well adapted for this sort of work, and the Mexicans are
unquestionably splendid horsemen, though they ride too long for English
ideas, the knee being hardly bent at all.
Two of the Vigilance Committee rode over from Moquelumne Hill next
morning, to get the Padre to return with them to confess a Mexican whom
they were going to hang that afternoon, for having cut into a tent and stolen
several hundred dollars. I unfortunately did not know anything about it till it
was so late that had I gone there I should not have been in time to see the
execution: not that I cared for the mere spectacle of a poor wretch hanging
by the neck, but I was extremely desirous of witnessing the ceremonies of
an execution by Judge Lynch; and though I was two or three years cruising
about in the mines, I never had the luck to be present on such an occasion. I
particularly regretted having missed this one, as, from the accounts I
afterwards heard of it, it must have been well worth seeing.
The Mexican was at first suspected of the robbery, from his own folly in
going the very next morning to several stores, and spending an unusual
amount of money on clothes, revolvers, and so on. When once suspected,
he was seized without ceremony, and on his person was found a quantity of
gold specimens and coin, along with the purse itself, all of which were
identified by the man who had been robbed. With such evidence, of course,
he was very soon convicted, and was sentenced to be hung. On being told
of the decision of the jury, and that he was to be hung the next day, he
received the information as a piece of news which no way concerned him,
merely shrugging his shoulders and saying, “’stá bueno,” in the tone of utter
indifference in which the Mexicans generally use the expression, requesting
at the same time that the priest might be sent for.
When he was led out to be hanged, he walked along with as much
nonchalance as any of the crowd, and when told at the place of execution
that he might say whatever he had to say, he gracefully took off his hat, and
blowing a farewell whiff of smoke through his nostrils, he threw away the
cigarita he had been smoking, and, addressing the crowd, he asked
forgiveness for the numerous acts of villainy to which he had already
confessed, and politely took leave of the world with “Adios, caballeros.” He
was then run up to a butcher’s derrick by the Vigilance Committee, all the
members having hold of the rope, and thus sharing the responsibility of the
act.
A very few days after I left San Andres, a man was lynched for a
robbery committed very much in the same manner. But if stringent
measures were wanted in one part of the country more than another, it was
in such flimsy canvas towns as these two places, where there was such a
population of worthless Mexican canaille, who were too lazy to work for an
honest livelihood.
I went on in a few days to Angel’s Camp, a village some miles farther
south, composed of well-built wooden houses, and altogether a more
respectable and civilized-looking place than San Andres. The inhabitants
were nearly all Americans, which no doubt accounted for the circumstance.
While walking round the diggings in the afternoon, I came upon a
Chinese camp in a gulch near the village. About a hundred Chinamen had
here pitched their tents on a rocky eminence by the side of their diggings.
When I passed they were at dinner or supper, and had all the curious little
pots and pans and other “fixins” which I had seen in every Chinese camp,
and were eating the same dubious-looking articles which excite in the mind
of an outside barbarian a certain degree of curiosity to know what they are
composed of, but not the slightest desire to gratify it by the sense of taste. I
was very hospitably asked to partake of the good things, which I declined;
but as I would not eat, they insisted on my drinking, and poured me out a
pannikin full of brandy, which they seemed rather surprised I did not empty.
They also gave me some of their cigaritas, the tobacco of which is aromatic,
and very pleasant to smoke, though wrapped up in too much paper.
The Chinese invariably treated in the same hospitable manner any one
who visited their camps, and seemed rather pleased than otherwise at the
interest and curiosity excited by their domestic arrangements.
In the evening, a ball took place at the hotel I was staying at, where,
though none of the fair sex were present, dancing was kept up with great
spirit for several hours. For music the company were indebted to two
amateurs, one of whom played the fiddle and the other the flute. It is
customary in the mines for the fiddler to take the responsibility of keeping
the dancers all right. He goes through the dance orally, and at the proper
intervals his voice is heard above the music and the conversation, shouting
loudly his directions to the dancers, “Lady’s chain,” “Set to your partner,”
with other dancing-school words of command; and after all the legitimate
figures of the dance had been performed, out of consideration for the thirsty
appetites of the dancers, and for the good of the house, he always
announced, in a louder voice than usual, the supplementary finale of
“Promenade to the bar, and treat your partners.” This injunction, as may be
supposed, was most rigorously obeyed, and the “ladies,” after their fatigues,
tossed off their cocktails and lighted their pipes just as in more polished
circles they eat ice-creams and sip lemonade.
It was a strange sight to see a party of long-bearded men, in heavy boots
and flannel shirts, going through all the steps and figures of the dance with
so much spirit, and often with a great deal of grace, hearty enjoyment
depicted on their dried-up sunburned faces, and revolvers and bowie-knives
glancing in their belts; while a crowd of the same rough-looking customers
stood around, cheering them on to greater efforts, and occasionally dancing
a step or two quietly on their own account. Dancing parties such as these
were very common, especially in small camps where there was no such
general resort as the gambling-saloons of the larger towns. Wherever a
fiddler could be found to play, a dance was got up. Waltzes and polkas were
not so much in fashion as the lancers which appeared to be very generally
known, and, besides, gave plenty of exercise to the light fantastic toes of the
dancers; for here men danced, as they did everything else, with all their
might; and to go through the lancers in such company was a very severe
gymnastic exercise. The absence of ladies was a difficulty which was very
easily overcome, by a simple arrangement whereby it was understood that
every gentleman who had a patch on a certain part of his inexpressibles
should be considered a lady for the time being. These patches were rather
fashionable, and were usually large squares of canvas, showing brightly on
a dark ground, so that the “ladies” of the party were as conspicuous as if
they had been surrounded by the usual quantity of white muslin.
A pas seul sometimes varied the entertainment. I was present on one
occasion at a dance at Foster’s Bar, when, after several sets of the lancers
had been danced, a young Scotch boy, who was probably a runaway
apprentice from a Scotch ship—for the sailor-boy air was easily seen
through the thick coating of flour which he had acquired in his present
occupation in the employment of a French baker—was requested to dance
the Highland fling for the amusement of the company. The music was good,
and he certainly did justice to it; dancing most vigorously for about a
quarter of an hour, shouting and yelling as he was cheered by the crowd,
and going into it with all the fury of a wild savage in a war-dance. The
spectators were uproarious in their applause. I daresay many of them never
saw such an exhibition before. The youngster was looked upon as a perfect
prodigy, and if he had drunk with all the men who then sought the honor of
“treating” him, he would never have lived to tread another measure.
CHAPTER XXII
SONORA AND THE MEXICANS
F ROM Angel’s Camp I went on a few miles to Carson’s Creek, on which

there was a small camp, lying at the foot of a hill, which was named
after the same man. On its summit a quartz vein cropped out in large
masses to the height of thirty or forty feet, looking at a distance like the
remains of a solid wall of fortification. It had only been worked a few feet
from the surface, but already an incredible amount of gold had been taken
out of it.
Every place in the mines had its traditions of wonderful events which
had occurred in the olden times; that is to say, as far back as “ ’49”—for
three years in such a fast country were equal to a century; and at this place
the tradition was, that, when the quartz vein was first worked, the method
adopted was to put in a blast, and, after the explosion, to go round with
handbaskets and pick up the pieces. I believe this was only a slight
exaggeration of the truth, for at this particular part of the vein there had
been found what is there called a “pocket,” a spot not more than a few feet
in extent, where lumps of gold in unusual quantities lie imbedded in the
rock. No systematic plan had been followed in opening the mine with a
view to the proper working of it; but several irregular excavations had been
made in the rock wherever the miners had found the gold most plentiful.
For nearly a year it had not been worked at all, in consequence of several
disputes as to the ownership of the claims; and in the meantime the lawyers
were the only parties who were making anything out of it.
On the other side of the hill, however, was a claim on the same vein,
which was in undisputed possession of a company of Americans, who
employed a number of Mexicans to work it, under the direction of an
experienced old Mexican miner. They had three shafts sunk in the solid
rock, in a line with each other, to the depth of two hundred feet, from which
galleries extended at different points, where the gold-bearing quartz was
found in the greatest abundance. No ropes or windlasses were used for
descending the shafts; but at every thirty feet or so there was a sort of step
or platform, resting on which was a pole with a number of notches cut all
down one side of it; and the rock excavated in the various parts of the mine
was brought up in leathern sacks on the shoulders of men who had to make
the ascent by climbing a succession of these poles. The quartz was then
conveyed on pack-mules down to the river by a circuitous trail, which had
been cut on the steep side of the mountain, and was there ground in the
primitive Mexican style in “rasters.” The whole operation seemed to be
conducted at a most unnecessary expenditure of labor; but the mine was
rich, and, even worked in this way, it yielded largely to the owners.
Numerous small wooden crosses were placed throughout the mine, in
niches cut in the rock for their reception, and each separate part of the mine
was named after a saint who was supposed to take those working in it under
his immediate protection. The day before I visited the place had been some
saint’s day, and the Mexicans, who of course had made a holiday of it, had
employed themselves in erecting, on the side of the hill over the mine, a
large cross, about ten feet high, and had completely clothed it with the
beautiful wild-flowers which grew around in the greatest profusion. In fact,
it was a gigantic cruciform nosegay, the various colors of which were
arranged with a great deal of taste.
This mine is on the great quartz vein which traverses the whole State of
California. It has a direction northeast and southwest, perfectly true by
compass; and from many points where an extensive view of the country is
obtained, it can be distinctly traced for a great distance as it “crops out”
here and there, running up a hillside like a colossal stone wall, and then
disappearing for many miles, till, true to its course, it again shows itself
crowning the summit of some conical-shaped mountain, and appearing in
the distant view like so many short white strokes, all forming parts of the
same straight line.
The general belief was that at one time all the gold in the country had
been imbedded in quartz, which, being decomposed by the action of the
elements, had set the gold at liberty, to be washed away with other debris,
and to find a resting-place for itself. Rich diggings were frequently found in
the neighborhood of quartz veins, but not invariably so, for different local
causes must have operated to assist the gold in traveling from its original
starting-point.
As a general rule, the richest diggings seemed to be in the rivers at those
points where the eddies gave the gold an opportunity of settling down
instead of being borne further along by the current, or in those places on the
highlands where, owing to the flatness of the surface or the want of egress,
the debris had been retained while the water ran off; for the first idea one
formed from the appearance of the mountains was, that they had been very
severely washed down, but that there had been sufficient earth and debris to
cover their nakedness, and to modify the sharp angularity of their
formation.
I crossed the Stanislaus—a large river, which does not at any part of its
course afford very rich diggings—by a ferry which was the property of two
or three Englishmen, who had lived for many years in the Sandwich
Islands. The force of the current was here very strong, and by an ingenious
contrivance was made available for working the ferry. A stout cable was
stretched across the river, and traversing on this were two blocks, to which
were made fast the head and stern of a large scow. By lengthening the stern
line, the scow assumed a diagonal position, and, under the influence of the
current and of the opposing force of the cable, she traveled rapidly across
the river, very much on the same principle on which a ship holds her course
with the wind abeam.
Ferries or bridges, on much-traveled roads, were very valuable property.
They were erected at those points on the rivers where the mountain on each
side offered a tolerably easy ascent, and where, in consequence, a line of
travel had commenced. But very frequently more easy routes were found
than the one first adopted; opposition ferries were then started, and the
public got the full benefit of the competition between the rival proprietors,
who sought to secure the traveling custom by improving the roads which
led to their respective ferries.
In opposition to this ferry on the Stanislaus, another had been started a
few miles down the river; so the Englishmen, in order to keep up the value
of their property and maintain the superiority of their route, had made a
good wagon-road, more than a mile in length, from the river to the summit
of the mountain.
After ascending by this road and traveling five or six miles over a rolling
country covered with magnificent oak trees, and in many places fenced in
and under cultivation, I arrived at Sonora, the largest town of the southern
mines. It consisted of a single street, extending for upwards of a mile along
a sort of hollow between gently sloping hills. Most of the houses were of
wood, a few were of canvas, and one or two were solid buildings of sun-
dried bricks. The lower end of the town was very peculiar in appearance as
compared with the prevailing style of California architecture. Ornament
seemed to have been as much consulted as utility, and the different tastes of
the French and Mexican builders were very plainly seen in the high-peaked
overhanging roofs, the staircases outside the houses, the corridors round
each story, and other peculiarities; giving the houses—which were painted,
moreover, buff and pale blue—quite an old-fashioned air alongside of the
staring white rectangular fronts of the American houses. There was less
pretence and more honesty about them than about the American houses, for
many of the latter were all front, and gave the idea of a much better house
than the small rickety clapboard or canvas concern which was concealed
behind it. But these façades were useful as well as ornamental, and were
intended to support the large signs, which conveyed an immense deal of
useful information. Some small stores, in fact, seemed bursting with
intelligence, and were broken out all over with short spasmodic sentences in
English, French, Spanish, and German, covering all the available space save
the door, and presenting to the passer-by a large amount of desultory
reading as to the nature of the property within and the price at which it
could be bought. This, however, was not by any means peculiar to Sonora
—it was the general style of thing throughout the country.
The Mexicans and the French also were very numerous, and there was
an extensive assortment of other Europeans from all quarters, all of whom,
save French, English, and “Eyetalians,” are in California classed under the
general denomination of Dutchmen, or more frequently “d—d Dutchmen,”
merely for the sake of euphony.
Sonora is situated in the center of an extremely rich mining country,
more densely populated than any other part of the mines. In the
neighborhood are a number of large villages, one of which, Columbia, only
two or three miles distant, was not much inferior in size to Sonora itself.
The place took its name from the men who first struck the diggings and
camped on the spot—a party of miners from the state of Sonora in Mexico.
The Mexicans discovered many of the richest diggings in the country—not
altogether, perhaps, through good luck, for they had been gold-hunters all
their lives, and may be supposed to have derived some benefit from their
experience. They seldom, however, remained long in possession of rich
diggings; never working with any vigor, they spent most of their time in the
passive enjoyment of their cigaritas, or in playing monte, and were
consequently very soon run over and driven off the field by the rush of
more industrious and resolute men.
There were a considerable number of Mexicans to be seen at work round
Sonora, but the most of those living in the town seemed to do nothing but
bask in the sun and loaf about the gambling-rooms. How they managed to
live was not very apparent, but they can live where another man would
starve. I have no doubt they could subsist on cigaritas alone for several days
at a time.
I got very comfortable quarters in one of the French hotels, of which
there were several in the town, besides a number of good American houses;
German restaurants, where lager beer was drunk by the gallon; Mexican
fondas, which had an exceedingly greasy look about them; and also a
Chinese house, where everything was most scrupulously clean. In this latter
place a Chinese woman, dressed in European style, sat behind the bar and
served out drinkables to thirsty outside barbarians, while three Chinamen
entertained them with celestial music from a drum something like the top of
a skull covered with parchment and stuck upon three sticks, a guitar like a
long stick with a knob at the end of it, and a sort of fiddle with two strings. I
asked the Chinese landlord, who spoke a little English, if the woman was
his wife. “Oh, no,” he said, very indignantly, “only hired woman—China
woman; hired her for show—that’s all.” Some of these Chinamen are pretty
smart fellows, and this was one of them. The novelty of the “show,”
however, wore off in a few days, and the Chinawoman disappeared—
probably went to show herself in other diggings.
One could live here in a way which seemed perfectly luxurious after
cruising about the mountains among the small out-of-the-way camps; for,
besides having a choice of good hotels, one could enjoy most of the
comforts and conveniences of ordinary life; even ice-creams and sherry-
cobblers were to be had, for snow was packed in on mules thirty or forty
miles from the Sierra Nevada, and no one took even a cocktail without its
being iced. But what struck me most as a sign of civilization, was seeing a
drunken man, who was kicking up a row in the street, deliberately collared
and walked off to the lock-up by a policeman. I never saw such a thing
before in the mines, where the spectacle of drunken men rolling about the
streets unmolested had become so familiar to me that I was almost inclined
to think it an infringement of the individual liberty of the subject—or of the
citizen, I should say—not to allow this hog of a fellow to sober himself in
the gutter, or to drink himself into a state of quiescence if he felt so inclined.
This policeman represented the whole police force in his own proper
person, and truly he had no sinecure. He was not exactly like one of our
own blue-bottles; he was not such a stoical observer of passing events, nor
so shut out from all social intercourse with his fellow-men. There was
nothing to distinguish him from other citizens, except perhaps the unusual
size of his revolver and bowie-knife; and his official dignity did not prevent
him from mixing with the crowd and taking part in whatever amusement
was going on.
The people here dressed better than was usual in other parts of the
mines. On Sundays especially, when the town was thronged with miners, it
was quite gay with the bright colors of the various costumes. There were
numerous specimens of the genuine old miner to be met with—the miner of
’49, whose pride it was to be clothed in rags and patches; but the prevailing
fashion was to dress well; indeed there was a degree of foppery about many
of the swells, who were got up in a most gorgeous manner. The weather was
much too hot for any one to think of wearing a coat, but the usual style of
dress was such as to appear quite complete without it; in fact, a coat would
have concealed the most showy article of dress, which was a rich silk
handkerchief, scarlet, crimson, orange, or some bright hue, tied loosely
across the breast, and hanging over one shoulder like a shoulder belt. Some
men wore flowers, feathers, or squirrel’s tails in their hats; occasionally the
beard was worn plaited and coiled up like a twist of tobacco, or was divided
into three tails hanging down to the waist. One man, of original ideas, who
had very long hair, brought it down on each side of the face, and tied it in a
large bow-knot under his chin; and many other eccentricities of this sort
were indulged in. The numbers of Mexican women with their white dresses
and sparkling black eyes were by no means an unpleasing addition to the
crowd, of which the Mexicans themselves formed a conspicuous part in
their variegated blankets and broad-brimmed hats. There were men in
bonnets rouges and bonnets bleus, the cut of whose mustache and beard
was of itself sufficient to distinguish them as Frenchmen; while here and
there some forlorn individual exhibited himself in a black coat and a stove-
pipe hat, looking like a bird of evil omen among a flock of such gay
plumage.
CHAPTER XXIII
BULL FIGHTING
A COMPANY of Mexican bull-fighters were at this time performing in

Sonora every Sunday afternoon. The amphitheater was a large well-
built place, erected for the purpose on a small hill behind the street.
The arena was about thirty yards in diameter, and enclosed in a very strong
six-barred fence, gradually rising from which, all round, were several tiers
of seats, shaded from the sun by an awning.
I took the first opportunity of witnessing the spectacle, and found a very
large company assembled, among whom the Mexicans and Mexican women
in their gay dresses figured conspicuously. A good band of music enlivened
the scene till the appointed hour arrived, when the bull-fighters entered the
arena. The procession was headed by a clown in a fantastic dress, who acted
his part throughout the performances uncommonly well, cracking jokes
with his friends among the audience, and singing comic songs. Next came
four men on foot, all beautifully dressed in satin jackets and knee-breeches,
slashed and embroidered with bright colors. Two horsemen, armed with
lances, brought up the rear. After marching round the arena, they stationed
themselves in their various places, one of the horsemen being at the side of
the door by which the bull was to enter. The door was then opened, and the
bull rushed in, the horseman giving him a poke with his lance as he passed,
just to waken him up. The footmen were all waving their red flags to attract
his attention, and he immediately charged at one of them; but, the man
stepping gracefully aside at the proper moment, the bull passed on and
found another red flag waiting for him, which he charged with as little
success. For some time they played with the bull in this manner, hopping
and skipping about before his horns with so much confidence, and such
apparent ease, as to give one the idea that there was neither danger nor
difficulty in dodging a wild bull. The bull did not charge so much as he
butted, for, almost without changing his ground, he butted quickly several
times in succession at the same man. The man, however, was always too
quick for him, sometimes just drawing the flag across his face as he stepped
aside, or vaulting over his horns and catching hold of his tail before he
could turn round.
After this exhibition one of the horsemen endeavored to engage the
attention of the bull, and when he charged, received him with the point of
his lance on the back of the neck. In this position they struggled against
each other, the horse pushing against the bull with all his force, probably
knowing that that was his only chance. On one occasion the lance broke,
when horse and rider seemed to be at the mercy of the bull, but as quick as
lightning the footmen were fluttering their flags in his face and diverting his
fury, while the horseman got another lance and returned to the charge.
Shortly afterwards the footmen laid aside their flags and proceeded to
what is considered a more dangerous, and consequently more interesting,
part of the performances. They lighted cigars, and were handed small pieces
of wood, with a barbed point at one end and a squib at the other. Having
lighted his squibs at his cigar, one of their number rushes up in front of the
bull, shouting and stamping before him, as if challenging him to come on.
The bull is not slow of putting down his head and making at him, when the
man vaults nimbly over his horns, leaving a squib fizzing and cracking on
each side of his neck. This makes the bull still more furious, but another
man is ready for him, who plays him the same trick, and so they go on till
his neck is covered with squibs. One of them then takes a large rosette,
furnished in like manner with a sharp barbed point, and this, as the bull
butts at him, he sticks in his forehead right between the eyes. Another man
then engages the bull, and, while eluding his horns, removes the rosette
from his forehead. This is considered a still more difficult feat, and was
greeted with immense applause, the Mexican part of the audience
screaming with delight.
The performers were all uncommonly well made, handsome men; their
tight dresses greatly assisted their appearance, and they moved with so
much grace, and with such an expression on their countenance of pleasure
and confidence, even while making their greatest efforts, that they might
have been supposed to be going through the figures of a ballet on the stage,
instead of risking death from the horns of a wild bull at every step they
executed. During the latter part of the performance, being without their red
flags, they were of course in greater danger; but it seemed to make no
difference to them; they put a squib in each side of the bull’s neck, while
evading his attack, with as much apparent ease as they had dodged him
from behind their red flags. Sometimes, indeed, when they were hard
pressed, or when attacked by the bull so close to the barrier that they had no
room to maneuver round him, they sprang over it in among the spectators.
The next thing in the program was riding the bull, and this was the most
amusing scene of all. One of the horsemen lassoes him over the horns, and
the other, securing him in his lasso by the hind-leg, trips him up, and throws
him without the least difficulty. By keeping the lassoes taut, he is quite
helpless. He is then girthed with a rope, and one of the performers, holding
on by this gets astride of the prostrate bull in such a way as to secure his
seat, when the animal rises. The lassoes are then cast off, when the bull
immediately gets up, and, furious at finding a man on his back, plunges and
kicks most desperately, jumping from side to side, and jerking himself
violently in every way, as he vainly endeavors to bring his horns round so
as to reach his rider. I never saw such horsemanship, if horsemanship it
could be called; nor did I ever see a horse go through such contortions, or
make such spasmodic bounds and leaps: but the fellow never lost his seat,
he stuck to the bull as firm as a rock, though thrown about so violently that
it seemed enough to jerk the head off his body. During this singular
exhibition the spectators cheered and shouted most uproariously, and the
bull was maddened to greater fury than ever by the footmen shaking their
flags in his face, and putting more squibs on his neck. It seemed to be the
grand climax; they had exhausted all means to infuriate the bull to the very
utmost, and they were now braving him more audaciously than ever. Had
any of them made a slip of the foot, or misjudged his distance but a
hairbreadth, there would have been a speedy end of him; but fortunately no
such mishap occurred, for the blind rage of the bull was impotent against
their coolness and precision.
When the man riding the bull thought he had enough of it, he took an
opportunity when the bull came near the outside of the arena, and hopped
off his back on to the top of the barrier. A door was then opened, and the
bull was allowed to depart in peace. Three or four more bulls in succession
were fought in the same manner. The last of them was to have been killed
with the sword; but he proved one of those sulky, treacherous animals who
do not fight fair; he would not put down his head and charge blindly at
anything or everything, but only made a rush now and then, when he
thought he had a sure chance. With a bull of this sort there is great danger,
while with a furiously savage one there is none at all—so say the bull-
fighters; and after doing all they could, without success, to madden and
irritate this sulky animal, he was removed, and another one was brought in,
who had already shown a requisite amount of blind fury in his disposition.
A long straight sword was then handed to the matador, who, with his
flag in his left hand, played with the bull for a little, evading several attacks
till he got one to suit him, when, as he stepped aside from before the bull’s
horns, he plunged the sword into the back of his neck. Without a moan or a
struggle the bull fell dead on the instant, coming down all of a heap, in such
a way that it was evident that even before he fell he was dead. I have seen
cattle butchered in every sort of way, but in none was the transition from
life to death so instantaneous.
This was the grand feat of the day, and was thought to have been most
beautifully performed. The spectators testified their delight by the most
vociferous applause; the Mexican women waved their handkerchiefs, the
Mexicans cheered and shouted, and threw their hats in the air, while the
matador walked proudly round the arena, bowing to the people amid a
shower of coin which his particular admirers in their enthusiasm bestowed
upon him.
I one day, at some diggings a few miles from Sonora, came across a
young fellow hard at work with his pick and shovel, whom I had met
several times at Moquelumne Hill and other places. In the course of
conversation he told me that he was tired of mining, and intended to
practice his profession again; upon which I immediately set him down as
either a lawyer or a doctor, there are such lots of them in the mines. I had
the curiosity, however, to ask him what profession he belonged to,—“Oh,”
he said, “I am a magician, a necromancer, a conjuror!” The idea of a
magician being reduced to the level of an ordinary mortal, and being
obliged to resort to such a matter-of-fact way of making money as digging
gold out of the earth, instead of conjuring it ready coined out of other men’s
pockets, appeared to me so very ridiculous that I could not help laughing at
the thought of it. The magician was by no means offended, but joined in the
laugh; and for the next hour or more he entertained me with an account of
his professional experiences, and the many difficulties he had to encounter
in practicing his profession in such a place as the mines, where complete
privacy was so hard to be obtained that he was obliged to practice the most
secret parts of his mysterious science in all sorts of ragged canvas houses,
or else in rooms whose rickety boarded walls were equally ineffectual in
excluding the prying gaze of the unwashed. He gave me a great insight into
the mysteries of magic, and explained to me how he performed many of his
tricks. All the old-fashioned hat-tricks, he said, were quite out of the
question in California, where, as no two hats are alike, it would have been
impossible to have such an immense assortment ready, from which to select
a substitute for any nondescript head-piece which might be given to him to
perform upon. I asked him to show me some of his sleight-of-hand tricks,
but he said his hands had got so hard with mining that he would have to let
them soften for a month or two before he could recover his magical powers.
He was quite a young man, but had been regularly brought up to his
profession, having spent several years as confederate to some magician of
higher powers in the States—somewhat similar, I presume, to serving an
apprenticeship, for when I mentioned the names of several of his
professional brethren whose performances I had witnessed, he would say,
“Ah, yes, I know him; he was confederate to so-and-so.”
As he intended very soon to resume his practice, he was on the look-out
for a particularly smart boy to initiate as his confederate; and I imagine he
had little difficulty in finding one, for, as a general thing, the rising
generation of California are supernaturally smart and precocious.
I met here also an old friend in the person of the Scotch gardener who
had been my fellow-passenger from New York to Chagres, and who was
also one of our party on the Chagres River. He was now farming, having
taken up a “ranch” a few miles from Sonora, near a place called Table
Mountain, where he had several acres well fenced and cleared, and bearing
a good crop of barley and oats, and was busy clearing and preparing more
land for cultivation.
This Table Mountain is a very curious place, being totally different in
appearance and formation from any other mountain in the country. It is a
long range, several miles in extent, perfectly level, and in width varying
from fifty yards to a quarter of a mile, having somewhat the appearance,
when seen from a distance, of a colossal railway embankment. In height it
is below the average of the surrounding mountains; the sides are very steep,
sometimes almost perpendicular, and are formed, as is also the summit, of
masses of a burned-looking conglomerate rock, of which the component
stones are occasionally as large as a man’s head. The summit is smooth, and
black with these cinder-like stones; but at the season of the year at which I
was there, it was a most beautiful sight, being thickly grown over with a
pale-blue flower, apparently a lupin, which so completely covered this long
level tract of ground as to give it in the distance the appearance of a sheet of
water. No one at that time had thought of working this place, but it has since
been discovered to be immensely rich.
A break in this long narrow Table Mountain was formed by a place
called Shaw’s Flats, a wide extent of perfectly flat country, four or five
miles across, well wooded with oaks, and plentifully sprinkled over with
miner’s tents and shanties.
The diggings were rich. The gold was very coarse, and frequently found
in large lumps; but how it got there was not easy to conjecture, for the flat
was on a level with Table Mountain, and hollows intervened between it and
any higher ground. Mining here was quite a clean and easy operation. Any
old gentleman might have gone in and taken a turn at it for an hour or two
before dinner just to give him an appetite, without even wetting the soles of
his boots: indeed, he might have fancied he was only digging in his garden,
for the gold was found in the very roots of the grass, and in most parts there
was only a depth of three or four feet from the surface to the bedrock,
which was of singular character, being composed of masses of sandstone
full of circular cavities, and presenting all manner of fantastic forms, caused
apparently by the long-continued action of water in rapid motion.
CHAPTER XXIV
A CITY BURNED
W HILE I was in Sonora, the entire town, with the greater part of the
property it contained, was utterly annihilated by fire.
It was about one o’clock in the morning when the fire broke out. I
happened to be awake at the time, and at the first alarm I jumped up, and,
looking out of my window, I saw a house a short distance up the street on
the other side completely enveloped in flames. The street was lighted up as
bright as day, and was already alive with people hurriedly removing
whatever articles they could from their houses before the fire seized upon
them.
I ran downstairs to lend a hand to clear the house, and in the bar-room I
found the landlady, en deshabille, walking frantically up and down, and
putting her hand to her head as though she meant to tear all her hair out by
the roots. She had sense enough left, however, not to do so. A waiter was
there also, with just as little of his wits about him; he was chattering
fiercely, sacréing very freely, and knocking the chairs and tables about in a
wild manner, but not making a direct attempt to save anything. It was
ridiculous to see them throwing away so much bodily exertion for nothing,
when there was so much to be done, so I set the example by opening the
door, and carrying out whatever was nearest. The other inmates of the house
soon made their appearance, and we succeeded in gutting the bar-room of
everything movable, down to the bar furniture, among which was a bottle
labelled “Quisqui.”
We could save little else, however, for already the fire had reached us.
The house was above a hundred yards from where the fire broke out, but
from the first alarm till it was in flames scarcely ten minutes elapsed. The
fire spread with equal rapidity in the other direction. An attempt was made
to save the upper part of the town by tearing down a number of houses
some distance in advance of the flames; but it was impossible to remove the
combustible materials of which they were composed, and the fire suffered
no check in its progress, devouring the demolished houses as voraciously in
that state as though they had been left entire.

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Successful Product Management: Tool

Box for Professional Product

Practical Product Management for Product Owners 1st

Strategic Product Management according to Open Product

Product Lifecycle Management (Volume 1): 21st Century

Lean Product Management Successful Products from Fuzzy

Product Management in Practice, 2nd Edition Matt Lemay

Innovation Management and New Product Development 7th

Decode and Conquer Answers to Product Management

Strategize Product Strategy and Product Roadmap

ISBN 978-3-658-38275-9 ISBN 978-3-658-38276-6 (eBook)

St. Gallen, Switzerland Klaus J. Aumayr

 roduct Management: Positioning, Core Competencies and Organizational

6.2 The Strategic Level������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 54

Product Marketing: Structures, Success Factors and Practical Tools 127

4 Thinking Strategically: The Use of Strategic Analysis Tools by the Product

4.5 Idea Evaluation/Selection and Decision������������������������������������������������ 284

Further Reading 307

Klaus J. Aumayr born in 1958, is a trained engineer, busi-

• how product management came into being.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 1

1 A Brief Introduction to Product Management

Marketing Sales Production R&D ...

Fig. 1 Product management and matrix organization (basic principle)

2 Not a Clear-Cut Matter: How Functional and Product

The product manager is:

• Product market specialist

This distinction is explained in detail below, as it is of particular importance for successful

2.1 The Functional Manager

• in negotiations with the customer

• in route planning and route optimization

The development (R&D) department is specialist (professional)

• in the evaluation and selection of technologies

• Knowledge of the structure of the entire product range

2.2 The Product Manager

• the product market in detail.

Therefore an important tip

Focus of the Focus of the

• Short-term orientation • Long-term, strategic orientation

• Long production lead times • Short production lead times

• Technical capabilities • Market requirements

Finance and • Liquidity • Investment in the market

Fig. 2 Conflict potential between product and functional management

2.3 Potential for Conflict Between Product

2.4 Definition of product management

Based on the previous descriptions, product management can be defined as follows:

What the customer As relayed by the How it was

How it was delivered How the service As promoted

Fig. 3 Coordination function of the product manager

3 Setting Boundaries: How Product Managers Manage

• do not have specialist knowledge.

Example: Delegation of tasks to the product manager

Marketing Sales Production R&D ...

Fig. 4 Delegation of tasks to product management

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Fig. 5 Frequency of delegated tasks to product management

3.1 Clarification of Interfaces

As a product manager, you should vehemently prevent attempts by functional areas to

St. Gallen, Switzerland Klaus J. Aumayr

roduct Management: Positioning, Core Competencies and Organizational

6.2 The Strategic Level�� 54

Product Marketing: Structures, Success Factors and Practical Tools 127

4 Thinking Strategically: The Use of Strategic Analysis Tools by the Product

4.5 Idea Evaluation/Selection and Decision�� 284

Further Reading 307

1 A Brief Introduction to Product Management

2 Not a Clear-Cut Matter: How Functional and Product

2.1 The Functional Manager

2.2 The Product Manager

2.3 Potential for Conflict Between Product

2.4 Definition of product management

3 Setting Boundaries: How Product Managers Manage

3.1 Clarification of Interfaces

3.2 Reasons for Delegating Tasks

4 A Fundamental Decision: The Positioning of the Product

4.1 Positioning Possibilities for Product Management

4.2 Operational and Strategic Product Management

5 A Diverse Spectrum: Job Description and Job Profile

5.1 Job Description of a Product Manager