You are free to download these and use them without reference. Just be aware that we are not responsible for any of your results using them!!
Below these FREE TechProdo.com items, you will find links to commercial vendors supplying additional tools that I recommend you look at to move beyond templates, documents and other simple tools and more into the real world of actively utilizing solutions to improve your efficiencies.
Be sure to link back to our discussion forum to post your own templates, best practices and other ideas as part of our community forum. Thank you!
- Requirements Engineering
Process Diagram
Simple diagram to explain to non-product managers the process that we follow to develop & engineer requirements. I find this useful when speaking to an audience that is not comfortable or familiar with SDLC or requirements engineering processes, particularly with new product development. - Business Problem Statements
Use this template and sample business problem statement document to help to define software solutions by validating the understanding of the business problem that you are building a solution for. This document is meant to be part of your requirements tracing from business problem to implementation. We include a very limited set of persona definitions in this document and focus on defining the problem and a solution approach that business stakeholders can easily understand. There is a webcast explaining the parts of this document and how it can be used here. - Requirements
Methodology
This is an Excel 2007 format for a requirements analysis weighting document which I use to describe the methodologies utilized in acquiring input for requirements from customers, partners, internal teams, etc. It is useful for tracking, tracing and weighting input factors and to show stakeholders the analytical process involved in requirements engineering.
- RACI
Template
Who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed? This is (IMHO) a crucial part of a successful project. I have used this primarily on customer-facing projects and large projects where we did not utilize a software tool for project management (i.e. Primavera). I did not author this and I could not locate the original author. But it was freely shared and the author's name may be hidden somewhere on here. I have modified it over time and you should use such a matrix for product development to establish boundaries, ownership, communication plans and an overall project understand for new product development. It is not a full org breakdown chart that you will find in advanced project management tools. But it works well in our product manager's context.
- BRD
Spreadsheet Template
For those that prefer (or are mandated) to list product requirements in a spreadsheet, this is a useful format to list requirements high level, with sub-requirements and some traceability.
- Product ROI Spreadsheet
When managing a product lifecycle, it is imperative that the product manager will use a good tool to monitor, optimize and manage the return on investments for that product. This spreadsheet is an example of examining development costs, marketing costs, addressable market, CAGR and expected ROI over 3 years. I typically do not plan beyond 3 years in the technology world.
- Sample Agile Product Management New Product Development Process Flow
Here is a spreadsheet that I used when diagramming the interactions between product management and an agile software development organization. This is necessary because you will encounter resistence in many cases, to traditional product management processes in regards to product development with software developers that feel that the agile manifesto somehow prohibits documentation and change control. Instead, I use the term "agile product management" and this type of process flow to illustrate the commonalities and functional interactions between product managers and developers that work well in an agile environment.
- Sample Marketing Plan
This is a very useful template marketing plan to use it establishing a strategy for marketing your product. Many of the features of this template are blogged about in Anne Smith's blog entries here and in the GTM forum here.
- A Sample Market Plan Outline
And here is a sample market plan outline that can help you get started in building out the pieces of a successful market plan for technology products. Many of the features of this template are blogged about in Anne Smith's blog entries here and in the GTM forum here.
- Sample Outline for Building Value Propositions
This is a template with some data from an old defunct project I worked on where we used this template to build the value propositions for a new product. I found it helpful to go through this exercise to refine the GTM messaging and building value props for sales.
- Sample Template Document for Building Your Product's Marketing Message
From a product marketing perspective, take a look at this sample template for building your GTM message based on how best to position your product in your target markets and to target personas.
