Why Does Product Development Take So Long in Our Company?
Before blaming engineering, determine whether the schedule is absorbing decisions that should have been made earlier.
Read the AnalysisPublished works
Ideas for leading product businesses.
A complete archive of Doug Ringer’s published work on strategy, customer value, commercialization, and execution.
Current Product-Business Perspectives
Analysis of consequential product-business questions facing presidents, general managers, and product leaders.
Time to Market Is Not the Finish Line
Launch closes only one of the three clocks that matter to a product investment — cost to market, time to market, and time to profit. Why the business case should stay alive long after the product ships.
Read the AnalysisHow Do I Know Which New Product Investments Are Worth Funding?
A good product idea is not yet a good product investment. How to evaluate new product commitments with discipline.
Read the AnalysisYour Product Business Is One System — Even if Your Organisation Isn't
Every function can perform well and the product business can still underperform. Why product-business results are created in the connections between decisions, not inside any one department.
Read the AnalysisWhy Is My Product Business Not Growing?
The first explanation is usually a hypothesis, not a diagnosis. How to find the real root cause of a product business growth problem.
Read the AnalysisPublished Work Archive
13 published works
Product Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Take control of your products: How to unleash your expertise to create dynamic growth
Doug Ringer · CompanyWeek ·
This piece asks how a product strategy should connect corporate direction, product-line expertise, customer needs, and the value proposition. Its…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
High Rewards Do Not Have to Mean High Risk
Doug Ringer · Money Inc. ·
This article challenges the assumption that meaningful rewards require accepting uncontrolled risk. For product and portfolio leaders, the practical…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Risk Management Planning: 5 Risks Businesses May Face
Doug Ringer · American Express OPEN Forum ·
This article examines the kinds of operational, financial, market, and strategic risks businesses need to recognize before they become disruptive. Its…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Global Business Innovation: Finding Solutions to Common Challenges
Doug Ringer · American Express OPEN Forum ·
This article considers how businesses can approach common challenges with innovation that is grounded in real market conditions. For product leaders, the…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
The Five Most Important Phases of the Product Lifecycle
Doug Ringer · Money Inc. ·
This article frames the product lifecycle as a sequence of management phases that require different decisions and priorities. Today, lifecycle discipline…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Investors want to see character, accomplishments before they will invest in CEO
Doug Ringer · FierceCEO ·
This FierceCEO piece addresses what investors look for in a chief executive beyond a title - character, judgment, and demonstrated accomplishment. The…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
CEOs owe it to company to be technically savvy
Doug Ringer · FierceCEO ·
This FierceCEO piece addresses how technically informed a CEO should be in a technology-dependent business. The product-business question is how executives…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Three Problems Caused by Diffusing Product Leadership
Doug Ringer · Design World ·
This article addresses the consequences of spreading product leadership across multiple functions without one accountable owner. The management question…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Great Product Management Is About Process, Not Content
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article asks what product management is responsible for when strong functional experts already exist across the company. It positions product…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
If You Don't Control Your Products, You Aren't in Control of Your Company
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article asks who is truly in control of the company when product ownership is fragmented. Its relevance today is portfolio governance: when no one…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Leave Product Strategy to the Experts
Doug Ringer · Industrial Equipment News ·
This article separates the roles of executives and product experts in creating product strategy. The current management question is still critical:…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
Product Specification: If You Don't Have a Destination, No Route Will Get You There
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article treats the product specification as a business blueprint, not merely a technical requirements document. It connects customer and market…
Read publication contextProduct Strategy & Portfolio Performance
3 Reasons Why Product Development is Important
Doug Ringer · Product Design & Development ·
This article asks why product development deserves strategic attention and frames it as the mechanism for creating new customer value and sustaining company…
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