A few months ago I wrote in an essay that business processes arrive in the modern age only when they have a system of record. This first started with accounting (centuries ago), which led (much more) recently to the back office and manufacturing with MRP, and then eventually ERP. The same occurred again with sales, beginning with contact managers before moving to sales force automation, and finally customer relationship management (CRM).
In the product management space, we are in the very early system of record days. Most software companies have a system for software source code changes, but almost no company has a legitimate system for product ideas and input, or front-end customer interactions (i.e., interviews, ethnology, market discovery and research). Likewise, typically there is no system of record for product marketing (i.e., value proposition, benefit statement, go-to-market plan). Instead, all of these are stored in various spreadsheets and documents, but not tracked or managed.
A product management system of record can, for example, capture the reasons behind a product decision and the thinking and justification behind that decision, such as:
- The customers that want it or will use it
- The markets it opens for us
- The themes which it helps us make progress on
- The marketing story we want to tell
- How it differentiates us from other products in our market
Not having a system of record is a big detriment when it comes to creating great products. In fact, I bet that some of the most successful products were created by companies that have a system of record. Apple, for one, comes to mind.
Benefits
So, what are the benefits of having a system of record for product management? A system of record brings:
- Transparency: Everyone can see what (and why) the product team is doing and relate it to the company strategy
- Justification: The prioritization decisions are now data driven and, therefore, the justification process is much more transparent.
- Memory: The organization can quickly understand why certain decisions were made which previously would have been simply impossible to reconstruct if the knowledge and history left the company when a PM left the company.
- Communication and collaboration: This repository of reasons for why certain features were implemented is incredibly valuable for the marketing and sales operations organization – often the marketing data sheets can be read directly off the prioritization decisions.
The Solution (Sort Of)
There are a lot of tools out there that call themselves “the system of record for product management,” but look at how much of the “record” is still stuck in peoples’ heads, especially PMs. As far as I know, there are no tools available right now that support those things I listed above.
So, given that you want to join the 21st century and have a system of record that captures all this information, how are you going to do it? Your best option today is to devise your own out of piece parts.
Given that, you get to decide what collection of systems will comprise the final system of record, and how to best manage the interactions between them so that the value is achieved.
You need to think about the questions you want to answer with the system of record. Personally, I have questions like “What customers have asked for this feature or this kind of feature”? “What features have we done in the most recent release that will please this customer I’m visiting?” and “What are the highest priority features for this customer that are NOT on the roadmap at the moment?” Your questions might be different!
The integration between the piece parts can come from the products, be done post-facto as a consulting engagement (if you need it automated), or be done manually.
It’s often worthwhile to make some parts of the process manual, if all of the following are true:
- There is no good automated alternative
- It helps people engage cognitively with the underlying problem you’re trying to solve
- It’s the right scale
An example of this might be linking user stories in the task provisioning system (i.e., Jira) to the descriptions or requirements in a wiki. This is a scalable task – at any given time the team will be working on a few dozen stories in the backlog at most (i.e., per team), and this can be managed by a single product manager.
This is actually a lot like how real tools are used. When I build shelves for my hallway, I use the table saw, biscuit joiner, nail gun and so on for various sections. The “system of record” for a woodshop is a set of key tools (saw, jointer, drill press), surrounded by other tools (biscuit joiner, nail gun, sander), in addition to other tools that allow them to all work together (miter gauge, table, dovetail jig).
Summary
The value of a system of record is immense, but at the moment you’re not going to find one system that will encompass everything for the product organization. Part of the strategy of a system of record for product is figuring out which piece parts you need, and then doing the necessary work to make sure they are well-integrated via a combination of technology and manual processes.
That’s how a real, effective product system of record can work today. And product management can definitely benefit.
Have you developed your system of record? What helped or inhibited your effort? Leave a comment and let us know.
Thanks for a great article. I like the comparison with other areas of work like accounting, manufacturing and sales. All of them have been through a transformation in how business processes were becoming supported by systems of record or tools. It could be that product management is on the same journey. There are some of the same signs, like eclectic and widespread use of very flexible tools like spreadsheets and documents. This is due to the processes being eclectic in product management.
As a supplier of a tool that aspires to be such a system of record I think that we have a symbiotic relationship. Most product managers today in my opinion are not really ready to use a product that fits all your requirements, because they work on inspiration and dedication. That produces very eclectic processes, where the product managers prioritise flexibility rather than the rigidity of a proper system of record.
Thanks again for a very insightful article
This topic is critical to product management, and “system of record” is a great term for the topic.
You mentioned that the system of record need not be a single tool, but multiple tools – integrated when necessary – that enable tracking, communication, and collaboration. There is a temptation to conclude that an all-encompassing tool is the answer, but that conclusion likely is based on little more than intuition.
In true product management fashion, let’s look at the problems we’re trying to solve (and associated nonfunctional requirements to address) with a “system of record”. Here are few off the top of my head:
1. Access (across multiple devices, by multiple people, with different permissions) to product management information.
2. Currency of product management information.
3. Flexibility and diversity in the format and style of the representation of the product management information.
4. Efficiency in accessing and modifying product management information.
To be sure, there are many other challenges (such as internal product team politics), but most of them are what people (product managers) are charged with solving.
When you look at the challenges that tools can solve, it becomes apparent that they have little to do with product management itself and are common to “systems of record”. It’s also apparent that tools such as Google docs, sheets, slides, and drawings address them all. It’s about simultaneous editing, access from multiple devices, templates for efficiency, and flexibility.
My system of record typically consists of the following tools:
1. Prospect interview notes – Google docs
2. Personas – Google slides
3. Business model (lean canvas) – Google slides
4. Experiment tracking – Google slides and Google sheets
5. Metrics – MixPanel, Google Analytics, and Google sheets
6. Conceptual models and flow charts – Lucid Charts
7. Product roadmap – Google slides
8. Backlog – Jira, Unfuddle, etc.
Note that all of these tools collectively truly constitute a system of record in the sense that they are always current, accessible by multiple team members, are efficient (when you leverage templates) , and flexible. There doesn’t seem to be a need for a magical, single, centralized tool.