Product Management Life Cycle

What is the product life cycle?

Before we dive into product life cycle management, we need to understand the product life cycle. The product life cycle describes the journey of a new product from its initial introduction to consumers until the point it is discontinued and taken off the market.

The product life cycle concept was first developed by Raymond Vernon in 1959. He found that, in general, products had some similar characteristics as they move through the different stages of their life cycle. 

There are four stages in the product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

1. Introduction: A product may spend a considerable time in development, but the introduction stage comes when the company believes it’s ready to be released to customers. The product is introduced to them with as much marketing and promotion as possible. While the product introduction won’t necessarily determine the eventual success of the product, the introduction is nonetheless a high-pressure time for most companies as they hope to make a splash in the market. 
2. Growth: During the growth phase of the product life cycle, customers begin to notice and buy the product. Hopefully, as the product becomes more popular, sales will increase and marketing will continue to focus on growing the market share for the product. 
3. Maturity: When sales begin to slow, that is a signal that the product has reached maturity, and the market has become saturated. Competitors who have been less successful tend to drop out of the market at this point, and marketing remains targeted at fending off competition and ensuring pricing is competitive. Companies may even begin to alter the product to gain more attention or create new iterations of the product using updated technology.
4. Decline: Decline is almost inevitable for most products on the market, and happens when sales slow and market share shrinks. Marketing during decline tends to focus on existing, loyal customers. Many, if not most, products are eventually retired from the market following a prolonged decline in sales. 

It is vital for product managers to understand the various and complex components of the product life cycle to successfully manage a product as it journeys through these product life cycle management stages.

What is product life cycle management?

PLM, product life cycle management, is a management process that helps companies oversee the entire product life cycle, from idea to launch. PLM involves all areas of a product, including planning, design, marketing, manufacturing, managing resources and people, and any software required for the product’s management or production. For each company, however, PLM will look a bit different. For example, a software company will have a very different product life cycle management process than a company that produces toothpicks.

Why is managing the product life cycle important?

The product management life cycle system provides obvious benefits to a company by offering a framework to manage every aspect of a product’s life. Without basic product management, product marketing would likely be haphazard — products might stay on the market too long or at a non-competitive price or be retired from the market without a replacement in stream. Here are just some ways managing the product life cycle is critically important for a company’s strategic decision-making. 

1. Improved product forecasting: A thorough knowledge of the product life cycle can make product forecasting, planning, and estimation far more realistic, and therefore more successful. Understanding the various phases will help with forecasting revenue, customer base, profit margins, and target market size. 
2. Improved marketing planning: Understanding the product life cycle allows teams to plan their marketing activities more successfully. The product’s specific phase in the product life cycle will determine the activities a marketing team needs to engage in. For example, during the introduction phase, the marketing team will find ways to get customers excited about the product. During the maturity phase, on the other hand, marketers are tasked with offering discounts to keep the product moving.  
3. Enhanced communication: Because product life cycle management brings together various departments (including design, engineering, marketing, sales, support, and more), it inherently brings teams together and increases communication. Good product life cycle management will enable these teams to collaborate better as the product manager encourages working together through the various product phases. 
4. Future product planning: Finally, understanding the product life cycle will give you a clear picture of how other products fit into the overall product plan. If one product is maturing and nearing decline, there should be another product in the pipeline to take its place and shore up the revenue stream. 

PLM can also help improve product quality, reduce waste, cut prototyping costs, and enable the brand to manage seasonal market fluctuations. These benefits clearly make a case for product life cycle management, but what’s the best way to put it into practice?

Software for managing PLM

Project life cycle management is a framework designed for product optimization and dealing with increasing product design and engineering complexities. Product managers require software to help them oversee the process. PLM software should allow a company to manage the information and processes throughout every phase of the product life cycle. 

Product teams use PLM software as a single platform to keep track of data, documents, requirements, and workflows, as well as resources, parts, and products. In addition, robust PLM software will allow a company to manage the ideation and design process, in addition to marketing, sales, and analytics. 

Wrike can help you manage PLM by bringing your entire operation onto a single platform, increasing communication within and between teams, and ensuring all documents, data, and analytics are stored in an easy-to-access location.