The product lifecycle and what it means for product managers
The product lifecycle can be broken down into five key stages – but there’s so much more to the process than this simplification implies. Understanding the product manager’s role at every stage of the product lifecycle can be critical to any successful product. Irene Liakos, Product Leader and Training Facilitator at PM-Partners, explains everything you need to know.
What is the product lifecycle?
The product lifecycle is the progression of a product through distinct stages from its conception and launch to its eventual decline. Understanding this journey helps businesses manage a product over time to achieve key goals such as market share growth, revenue growth or profitability. Customers pay and stay for products that solve their problems, and when a product is well-designed, they tell others about it and bring new users to your product. How a product is managed by the product manager, is largely determined by which stage of the lifecycle the product is in.
Throughout every stage of the lifecycle, the product manager works to balance meeting customer needs with achieving business objectives, all while outperforming competitors in the market. At every stage, the definition of product success changes. What may indicate success in the launch phase – such as customer acquisition – may shift to a focus on profitability or maintaining market share in later stages.
Why is the product lifecycle important?
Understanding which stage of the product lifecycle your product is in, is arguably the most important factor for a product manager to effectively support their product. It provides the context to highlight what your product needs at each stage of its lifecycle to maximise potential.
With this picture, you can better understand your product in relation to business objectives, market conditions and user feedback and make sure it’s shaped to address real customer pain points and achieve company goals.
The lifecycle also helps product managers allocate their resources more efficiently and mitigate potential risks during the development and launch phases, which can reduce costly mistakes and delays. Post-launch, the iterative nature of the lifecycle allows product managers to continuously refine the product based on customer data and market insight, ensuring the product stays relevant and competitive in an ever-changing market.
The 5 stages of the product lifecycle
It’s easy to break down any product lifecycle into five key stages:
- Development
- Introduction
- Growth
- Maturity
- Decline
Within these five stages, there may be many activities, such as ‘customer discovery’, ‘validating with experiments’, ‘pricing strategy’, ‘partnership agreements’, ‘positioning and messaging’, ‘planning go-to-market’, ‘exiting’ activities and more that the team will work on. Moreover, activities will differ depending on your channel to market, whether your product is a digital app, physical product, or sold through partners or direct to end users.
1. Development
During the development stage, the focus is on discovery, ideation and defining success through market research and identifying customer needs. The product manager works with the team to plan, test and develop a minimum viable product (MVP) through experiments. It’s a collaborative process involving engineering, design and other teams to create a prototype. The product manager takes the lead in defining what success looks like with the product vision and strategy, making sure business goals and customer needs are aligned. During this stage, costs are high, and there are rarely any sales as the product is not yet available on the market.
2. Introduction
With the product ready for market, the focus shifts to successfully launching it and getting traction from customers. The product manager, collaborating with marketing, will focus on positioning, messaging, pricing and launch campaigns. They will set success metrics for the product and track them in the form of objectives and key results (OKRs). The product manager will engage with stakeholders to communicate the product’s value and ensure organisational support. Additionally, they work with marketing and sales to educate potential customers, aiming to optimise for product-market fit (PMF). Sales growth is typically slow during this stage, and the product is not yet profitable as the costs of development and marketing are still being recouped.
3. Growth
In this stage, the product starts to grow a little more effortlessly. PMF has been achieved when customers are telling others about it and awareness of the product has increased. All efforts are directed towards expanding the product’s customer base and maximising its market share. The product manager will execute strategies that scale the product, responding to customer feedback, removing friction in the product experience and adding experiences that support growth. Customer and market data is used to identify opportunities and inform strategic decisions. This stage often features increased competition as other companies start to notice the successful product and create their own versions.
4. Maturity
As the product matures, growth slows and the focus shifts towards maximising its profitability and maintaining market leadership. The product manager will work on ways to boost retention, profitability and market share, looking at new market opportunities or channels. They will also focus on optimising the product roadmap based on market changes and any new competitive pressures. Marketing strategies might shift to differentiating the product from similar products. The team widens to include expertise from operations, finance, accounts and data analysts – all of whom feed information to the product manager to help improve the product. At this stage, profit percentage is usually high, as is competition.
5. Decline
Eventually, the product faces a decline in interest and sales. This could be due to market saturation, newer and better products entering the market, or changing consumer preferences. Companies might reduce costs associated with the product, consider updating or re-launching it, or decide to phase it out. It is at this stage that the product manager will be looking for opportunities to pivot, reinvent or ‘sunset’ the product. This decision will ultimately come down to the cost of maintaining the declining product versus the return. Crucially, reverse go-to-market activities are needed to manage the product’s exit and support customers who are transitioning to alternative solutions. Product managers may also work with R&D teams to explore potential opportunities for repurposing the product, and see if there are new markets to invest in or different applications for the product.
The product manager’s role in the product lifecycle
Product managers are there to ‘shepherd’ products through the entire product lifecycle, from inception to retirement. Here is a summary of some of their primary responsibilities at each key phase:
- Planning and development: During the development phase, product managers can work together with cross-functional teams to translate the product’s vision into an actionable plan. Customer discovery is important here to ensure that the right problem is chosen to be solved. Experiments are planned and prototypes are built. Based on data, the product manager assesses the most appropriate product experience that has the highest likelihood of solving the customer problem and creating value for the business. They work closely with engineering, design and other teams, and manage the relevant stakeholders (both internal and external) to execute the product roadmap.
- Launch and go-to-market: At this stage, product managers work collaboratively with the product team, including the marketing and sales teams. The emphasis is on getting the messaging, positioning and pricing right to help with conversion during the product’s launch and go-to-market strategy. To achieve PMF, product managers need to monitor customer feedback, learn from user behaviour, gather data from sales, support and the market so the product can better serve customer needs.
- Post-launch: After the product is launched, the product manager’s role doesn’t end. Learning starts at launch. Embracing an agile mindset means the product manager will be looking at ways to gather these learnings and improve the product, boost its value and maximise customer appeal. This might include tasks like addressing customer issues and tweaking the product strategy based on customer insights, new market dynamics and competitors.
Throughout the entire product lifecycle, product managers aim to create customer value while achieving viability for the business. This means balancing customer needs with business objectives to drive the product’s success. Unlike product owners who focus on execution within the development process and project managers who oversee specific project timelines and budgets, product managers seek to solve problems for the business using the product as a vehicle to create value for customers.
Product lifecycle challenges
While each product’s lifecycle will come with different challenges depending on the business, the industry in which it operates and the product itself, some of the most common pitfalls occur due to the way product teams are structured: whether they are set up in a BAU (business as usual), mercenary or silo structure.
BAU team challenges: BAU teams may sometimes start to neglect their product, especially when routine tasks start to overshadow product innovation. To help address this common issue, product managers need to foster a culture of innovation, encouraging continuous learning and experimentation. Regular reviews and feedback sessions can help realign the product with customer needs and technological advancements.
Mercenary team challenges: Mercenary teams, which are typically made up of temporary or contract workers, can often lead to unsustainable products (e.g. tech debt) due to a lack of alignment with the product’s long-term vision. Product managers can avoid this by clearly communicating the goals for the product and involving team members in vision-building to help foster commitment. Performance metrics can also be used to emphasise long-term success and avoid short-sighted decision making.
Silo structure challenges: In a silo structure, poor communication and collaboration can lead to disjointed products with subpar experiences. Cross-functional collaboration, shared goals and transparent communication channels are critical here for product managers. Organising regular cross-departmental meetings and setting shared objectives can help facilitate better coordination across teams.
Product lifecycle training
If you’re interested in switching careers into product management or advancing in the profession, product lifecycle training is something you can – and should – invest in. Upskilling can not only expand your skill set but also boost the capabilities that are crucial for success as a product manager.
PM-Partners’ Product Management Certification is a comprehensive training program that covers key aspects of the product lifecycle. The course will provide you with practical insights from industry experts and see you become an ICAgile Certified Professional in Product Management (ICP-PDM). With structured learning experiences and industry-recognised certification, you’ll get the knowledge, confidence and marketability to become an effective product manager.
Next steps for aspiring product managers
If you are interested in the product manager role and what a career in product management looks like, you can take several actionable steps to deepen your understanding of the field:
- Continuous learning: Engage in ongoing learning through books, blogs, podcasts, and online courses to stay updated on industry trends and best practices. Everything from Marty Cagan’s Inspired and Melissa Perri’s Escaping the Build Trap, to podcasts like One Knight in Product from Jason Knight and Lenny’s Podcast: Product | Growth | Career. Or learn live from Product Leaders at Product Circle Chat.
- Networking: Connect with experienced product managers, join industry forums and attend networking events to gain insights and mentorship. You can also network with product groups on digital meetup platforms like ProductTank.
- Hands-on experience: Seek opportunities for hands-on experience, such as internships, side projects or freelance work. This can help you apply your theoretical knowledge in a practical scenario.
- Join communities: Engage with product management communities on platforms like Medium or Substack. Irene Liakos, for example, writes on Substack as The Product Venn, and you can attend fortnightly virtual meetups with industry experts on her Product Circle Chat Community.
- Feedback: Get feedback from your peers and mentors to identify areas for improvement and refine your approach to taking products through the product lifecycle.
A product goes through several important stages to move from an idea to something in the hands of the customer. Mastering the product lifecycle is essential for product managers who are trying to overcome the complexities of bringing a successful product to market. From development to decline, understanding each stage will help empower you to make the most informed decisions that drive innovation and market success. Our Product Management Certification Course is a great way to get comprehensive training and equip yourself with the skills and knowledge needed to excel as a product manager.
Call our development team on 1300 70 13 14 or contact us online to find out more about switching into a product manager role and enrolling in our Product Management course. Unlock your true potential to drive innovation and make a lasting impact in the world of product management.
Irene has more than 20 years’ experience in all aspects of product management, product marketing, pricing and partnership strategy. An innovative problem solver with outstanding engagement skills, she has worked successfully throughout her career to lead agile product teams, solve problems for organisations and customers, and create products that customers love, designed with in-built virality.
As a coach and consultant, Irene has set up product capability and practices, helped organisations transition to agile product management and improve their product maturity. PM-Partners' new ICAgile Certified Professional in Product Management (ICP-PDM) course has been developed in concert with Irene. This practical, hands-on course combines Irene’s expertise with the latest product thinking to teach you how to bring products to market that meet customer needs and business goals.
