Product management in the digital workplace: five key takeaways 

Managing the digital workplace is both fascinating and challenging in equal measures. It’s also a constantly evolving space where there are new learnings and practices emerging. Part of DWG’s role is to help equip digital workplace leaders and teams with the knowledge to succeed, and that includes capturing, detailing and relaying back those emergent industry practices and examples.

The latest area of digital workplace management to come under the spotlight of DWG’s innovative research programme is product management. Although the report ‘Digital workplace product management: Roles, structures and practices’ is for DWG members only, anyone can download the Executive Summary. In this post we’re going to explore five takeaways from the report.

There are multiple ways to look at product management

Product management is a topic that has become increasingly prevalent in conversations with digital workplace teams across our members. The research report primarily considers product management as a series of tools, practices and approaches that digital workplace teams can leverage to help them better manage their digital workplaces.

However, it also looks at product management through a number of different lenses, such as:

• a job title trend, popular within technology functions
• the restructuring of technology teams, so individual roles and teams are aligned to specific tools and products, moving away from a more project-oriented approach
• the process of having more focused ownership and accountability relating to different digital workplace products
• formalizing digital workplace product-related processes to be less ad hoc and more standardized and repeatable
• the upskilling of digital workplace teams so they can successfully coordinate a wider group of activities inherent in managing a product
• a move from larger digital workplace projects to more iterative, incremental and regular patterns of development
• what you need to do to deal with the increase in the number of vendor-led products that are mainly hosted in the cloud.

Product management involves a wide variety of activities

In the research, we try to define the activities that teams need to carry out in order to support a product management approach. These are widespread and reflect the broad remit that many digital workplace teams have. The report identifies the following activities, falling under four main headings:

Product strategy and planning

• Defining and articulating a product strategy and vision.
• Making the business case for investment.
• Defining a product roadmap and related release schedule.
• Managing your product backlog to support your roadmap.

Management through the lifecycle

• Selecting a product vendor or implementation partner.
• Being involved in product design.
• Undertaking business analysis and documenting product requirements.
• Being involved in project management and Agile development, depending on your organization’s approach.
• Developing specific technical and product knowledge.
• Retiring a product when it reaches end of life.

Stakeholder engagement and communication

• Managing stakeholders across multiple business functions and groups.
• Undertaking user research and improving the user experience.
• Undertaking product launch and ongoing communications.
• Change management.
• Driving user adoption and support.

Measurement

• Undertaking measurement, reporting and value assessment for a product across its lifecycle.
• Carrying out cost analysis and budgeting as appropriate.

In the report we also attempt to define a composite job description of a digital workplace product manager, using generative AI to analyse and synthesize a number of real job descriptions into one aggregated whole.

Digital workplace management is product management

In the digital workplace we constantly work with products – both managing the applications, channels and tools in-house as internal-facing products, but then also working with vendors who manage the software products on which we rely. Of course, one of these vendors is Microsoft. In many respects, a lot of the tasks involved in product management – from undertaking product research to managing roadmaps to driving adoption – are already being undertaken by digital workplace teams.

Typically, intranet and digital workplace teams also carry out a wide range of different activities, often having to wear multiple hats and draw on a range of skills. Even if a digital workplace team is not explicitly carrying out ‘product management’, it’s actually very likely that this already falls within their daily activities. In many respects, digital workplace management is product management.

Product management approaches can be inconsistent within an organization

One perhaps rather surprising conclusion from the research is that the maturity and extent of product management practices can vary not only from organization to organization, but also from team to team within a business. In the research, we cover three case studies from leading organizations as well as referring to numerous other examples; for some, product management is fully embedded, while for others it is still relatively nascent.

Product management tends to be driven through IT teams – and when the digital workplace team belongs to the technology organization, then this approach is likely to be formalized with the digital workplace team. However, within some functions, such as HR, a true product management approach is less common, even if it is mature within IT.

Product management involves managing relationships

When you’re a product manager, you’re often the front person for that product – maybe developing it, making the business case for investment, driving adoption and managing it across the lifecycle.

Inevitably this means interfacing with other business stakeholders, as well as various groups, specialists and experts throughout the organization.

Digital workplace product leaders and owners also often work with other product owners in integrating their applications into a cohesive digital employee experience – the ‘single pane of glass’ often sought by digital workplace teams.

Managing and nurturing relationships across the business is critical for successful product management. This is not only with other stakeholders, but with end users and networks of digital champions too. Vendor management is also key, particularly as most of the digital workplace is now made up of products, with customization kept to a minimum. Those digital workplace product managers who can successfully manage relationships will find themselves at an advantage.

Download the free Executive Summary

Digital workplace product management: Roles, structures and practices

Categorised in: Digital workplace, Strategy & governance