Product Layers

Starting with the presentation layer, this layer represents all aspects of a product that inform and support the public regarding that product. This includes everything that sits above the product, notwithstanding the product itself.

These are some of the Presentation Functions I deem Critical to Success.

• Marketing – Manages Advertising, Supports Sales, develops Product Collateral (w/Product Team) & Support Resources (w/Product & Customer Teams)
• Advertising – Generates product awareness and leads via targeted ads/messages on marketing channels
• Sales – Nurture customer relationship, provides second layer of product awareness and outreach via sales channels, Lead Follow-Up
• Product Collateral – Frontend website, LPs, messaging, brochures, sell sheets, ads, videos, newsletters, whitepapers, eBooks, etc.
• Support Resources – Guide and show users how to best utilize the product: Virtual Tours, In-App ‘Get Started’ tutorials, Video HowTo’s, Support Articles
• Customer Self-Service – 1st level of account management and customer assistance, it is 100% automated and performed online
• Customer Service & Support -The 2nd level of account management and customer assistance, it is performed by real people

The product layer sits between the presentation layer and technical layer of a product. It is the layer of the product the user sees when interacting with the product, it contains the core functions of the product and it is the main driver of customer value.

These are the product functions I deem critical to success:

• Product Team – Default lead on all Product Initiatives, deep understanding of product usage and vision for what can be improved, by customer segment, to drive increased customer value
• User Experience – Owns the User Interface design and User Experience across all products, customer segments (user types), product delivery mechanisms, and presents what’s important to you
• Customer Value – Ensures, ‘I can’t live without this’ value is present in all products, and always looking to improve
• Functionality – Manages existing feature sets, usefulness, feature changes/upgrades, new features, feature deprecation
• New Product Proposals – Identifies new product opportunities and customer segments (is an opportunity identification source)
• Feedback / Engagement & Analysis – Leverage (internal|external) user feedback and engagement data to power product management decision making
• Competitive Landscape – Monitor and document competitors’ activity, manage accounts on competitors’ platforms, apply actionable intel where applicable

The technology layer sits below the presentation and product layers, it is the engine room that powers the technical functions required to successfully run the product.

The Technology functions I deem critical to a products success include:

• IT/MIS Team – Primary lead on all technical aspects of our products
• Programming & Dev – Manages the development process and programming of new or existing products/features, works closely with Product Leaders, utilizes modular code whenever possible
• Data – The core of our business and a primary driver of customer value
• Integrations – Cross product connections, 3rd party/external services linking, APIs, middleware, internal tools, etc.
• Security – Ensures the safety and security of all data in our systems, protects against attacks, data leaks, protects user data with privacy controls, permissions, etc.
• DevOps – Testing and Staging environments providing: Rapid Prototyping, Organized / documented / versioned code, modern frontend framework
• Technology Stack – Should utilize modern frontend & backend frameworks, on-demand scalable application hosting and DB