February 2009 "Hot Button" Survey Results

Our February Hot Button survey asked “What is your role in developing business cases for new products?”

Be prepared, and run the numbers. That’s the advice of product managers who present business cases. Two thirds of last month’s survey respondents do, and two thirds of those consider their presentations successful overall. What else can you learn from these peers?

Everyone agrees that turning a good idea into a compelling business case is challenging. It’s seldom easy to estimate costs, pricing and customer demand, when there’s little or no historical data to back up your assumptions.

"Successful business cases take thorough research, teamwork, and revising, revising, revising the presentation," advises a survey respondent. Once the plan seems solid to you, it’s time to get it in front of each key stakeholder.

"I attribute my success to previewing the plans to exec team, one by one, prior to the official meeting," says one product manager. "In other words, no surprises."

This process will test your financial assumptions from every angle, so it’s important to have credible figures. How much detail is the right amount? Enough to support your assertions, and not so much that you lose your audience.

When your hours and weeks of work culminate in that moment of truth, you can achieve your objective when you know how to persuade busy, skeptical executives. As one product manager puts it: "I get results with conservative projections based on real world numbers presented in a short, concise manner."

Thanks to everyone who responded and commented!