When we think about burgers, one of the things that comes into just  about everyone’s mind is the golden arches of McDonalds. 

We think about  McDonalds as the place that we can always go to get a burger. However,  times are changing and people are starting to become more health  conscious. They are also starting to think about global warming and the  impact of raising all of those beef cattle can have on the environment.  Taken together, these are all reasons that the product managers at  McDonalds have decided that now is the time to make a change to their  product development definition. Not just a little change, but a big  change. 

They are getting ready to roll out their new “McPlant” meatless burger.

I don’t know about you, but I sure do like betting on a sure thing. 

You  know what I mean, it’s when you place a bet that you know is going to  end up being a winner. The product managers at fast food restaurants  thought that they had a sure thing to bet on: breakfast. I mean,  we all have breakfast every morning and so getting people to drop by a  fast food restaurant on their way into work and grab a quick breakfast  sure seemed like a no-brainer, right? 

Well, it turned out that this was a  good bet – until the Covid-19 pandemic hit and turned everything upside  down.

Good news for product managers – nobody likes to get old! 

In fact,  nobody really likes to look like they are getting old. What this means  for product managers is that there is a huge market for products that will allow us to avoid looking like we are getting older.  One of the most successful of these products is called Botox and it’s  an injection that you can get in your skin that will make your wrinkles  disappear. Who wouldn’t want that? The Botox product managers have had a  good run for a long time. 

However, new competitors are now  showing up and the Botox product managers are going to have to review  their product development definition and take action if they want to  remain successful.

So just imaging this scenario: you are the product manager for a wildly  successful mobile application. 

In fact, your application is so  successful that your company got bought by another much larger online  company for a lot of money just a few years ago. That was all well and  good, but the reason that you got bought was because that other company thought that you would eventually be able to make enough money to justify their investment in you. 

As a product manager, how would you go about transforming your free-to-use service into a money making machine?

When lunch or dinner rolls around and you are hungry, what do you want  to eat? 

If you are like most of us, you start looking for a fast food  restaurant where you can go get a good meal and get in and get out. A  number of possibilities come to mind: McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s,  etc. However, if you are like me, all of those possibilities are viewed as being boring and I’ve eaten there so many times my mouth does not get excited about  the prospect of eating there again. That’s when, depending on where you  live, you might start to think about Chick-fil-A.  If so, then you’d be like an increasing number of restaurant goers who  are visiting Chick-fill-A more and more. 

What is the Chick-fil-A’s  product manager’s secret to success?

Welcome to the era of Google and Facebook. 

Product managers have had to  learn to live in a world that is dominated by these firms. They control  what the users of their applications see. Their algorithms determine  what their users see in addition to all of the information that they are  getting from friends and family. What product managers need is a better  way to update their product development definition in order to get in  contact with their potential customers. 

Should we start to use email once again?

Everyone has to go out and buy groceries, right? 

Well, it turns out that  at one time that would have been a correct statement; however, these  days things have changed and now customers have many choices on how they can get the groceries that they need.  This change has hit grocery store product managers very hard. All of a  sudden they find themselves having to change their product development  definition, overhaul their operations, and having to invest in new  technologies and talent in order to find ways to keep their customers  from shopping at Amazon for their groceries. Oh, and they also have keep  food prices low because that is what their customers expect. 

How are grocery story product managers going to accomplish all of this?

Who among us could have predicted a Covid-19 pandemic would change our  world in the ways that it has? 

I’d be willing to guess that the answer  to that question is none of us. However, as much of setback as these  turns of events have been, there are some product managers who are doing well even now.  

It turns out that these product managers had been preparing their  product development definition for a different sort of future and the  Covid-19 pandemic almost played into their hands.

So what’s up with your customers? 

Why are they so touchy? It sure seems  like customers can very quickly become upset about something that wasn’t  covered in your product development, definition and then fly off the  handle and be in the streets waving signs and talking with television  stations about how bad you are all in the space of a couple of hours. It  has become clear that we product managers are now living in a different age and time than we used to. What we need to learn how to do is to deal with customers who have for some reason become very, very angry with either our product or our company. 

When this happens, just exactly what is a product manager supposed to do?

Product managers know that making our customers fall in love with our  stores, our staff, and our brand is a critical part of our ability to be  successful. 

This is why over the past few years there has been a big  push by product managers to find ways to pamper our customers. 

With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, we now have to take a step back, change our product development definition, and find ways to keep our staff safe while still trying to connect with our customers.