Product Management: Managing Product Development in the Era of Digital Transformation

A high percentage of failures of new products is considerably associated with management issues at the initial, with a large amount of uncertainty, stage of product development. Taking into account the fact that the characteristics and functionality of the future product are determined exactly at the initial stage, the management of the process here is of decisive importance. In the digital transformation process, companies rethink the product development management process and, correspondingly, the competence model of product managers. The purpose of the paper is to identify the key competencies (qualities, personal characteristics and abilities allowing to carry out professional activity key tasks) of the digital era product managers, as well as testing the design and project approaches in developing their competencies. Getting primary information about the main professional tasks was provided through in-depth interviews with successful product managers from the following industries: internet and telecommunications, software, pharma and finance. Two typical profiles/types of product managers were identified and called «technologically-oriented» and «business-oriented». As a result of the empirical research the key universal competencies of product managers to manage innovative products development effectively have been revealed. The partial overlap with the competences of innovation entrepreneurs, identified earlier, was discovered. for the development of key competencies, the innovation training program was developed and tested. The statistical analysis results showed that project based learning in combination with design thinking, Lean Startup & Customer Development, as well as modern digital rapid prototyping technique application, provide positive dynamics in the development of revealed key competencies for beginning product managers.