State of Digital Product Management 2022: Five Takeaways

For business leaders, the choice is clear: laser focus on the customer or you’ll fall behind. To prepare, they increasingly turn to Digital Product Management (DPM).

A recent survey offers an insightful look at why this move to DPM is happening and how businesses are benefiting. Sponsored by Broadcom Software and conducted by Dimensional Research, the survey gathered insights from more than 300 IT and business executives.

Here are five takeaways:  

All companies are now software companies, which means leaders have to rethink how they run their business. The move from projects to products is a logical starting point. In the survey, 74% of respondents said their organization is making the shift from project management to product management.

Projects are great if you’re planning to, say, migrate a data center. This is an effort with a clear beginning and end. On the other hand, projects are not great for software development and delivery. These are efforts requiring constant iterations and consistent investments.

For one U.S. automaker, the shift has been profound. While it used to manage work as projects, that’s changed. Technology is an integral part of how cars are made and used. Nowadays, automobiles are euphemistically known as “computers on wheels.” Through the move to digital product management, the firm made significant strides in understanding how to better serve customers with improved efficiency and collaboration.

Moving from project to product management represents a fundamental shift, and 90% of respondents said DPM facilitates this transition. When you look at companies’ top objectives, customer needs top the list: No. 1 is delivering customer value (56%) and No. 2 is improving product quality (52%).

Fundamentally, DPM supports these key initiatives, enabling teams throughout the organization to better focus on products and customer value. With DPM, teams can gauge customer needs more quickly and optimize entire work streams to maximize value.

Many organizations have tried digital transformations, but few initiatives fulfilled the promise. However, almost nine-tenths of respondents, 89%, said DPM makes digital transformation easier.

With DPM, teams across the organization begin to have the right data. This sets the stage for much more constructive, data-driven conversations and decisions, as people see how their work connects with top objectives and customer value. Executives can move away from having to rely on subjective or piecemeal status reports. Having complete accurate data from across the business and being able to roll that up so executives can really understand what’s happening is a game changer in digital transformation.

Over the years, there’s been a lot of discussion around breaking down silos, particularly between business and engineering teams. With DPM, teams are actually making it happen. In fact, 91% said DPM improves communication between business leaders and development teams.

DPM helps create transparency. Across the organization, teams get a shared understanding of product directions. An executive at an insurance company recently said, “dashboards are the great leveler.” Leaders no longer feel like they’re in the dark. Developers understand how their work contributes to top-level strategies. Plus, everyone feels more engaged with a better understanding of what can be accomplished.

DPM initiatives aren’t a one-and-done event. They’re a journey, often part of a larger agile transformation. However, that doesn’t mean results aren’t achieved in the near term. Quite the contrary, DPM has quickly proven its value across a wide range of organizations.

In fact, 94% of businesses said their DPM initiatives are successful.

To learn more, be sure to access the report here.