What is the product life cycle and what are its stages?

The product life cycle is a fundamental concept in product management, outlining the various stages a product goes through from inception to withdrawal. Different models exist, each with its unique perspective. Here's an overview of the stages used at Coach PMs:

1. Conception and Creation: This initial stage focuses on innovation, positioning, and investment. The leading stakeholders are Research, Development, Marketing, and regulatory bodies, emphasizing defining the product's problem space and drafting a business model.

2. Market Introduction: The focus shifts to launching the product, capturing market share, and securing investment for growth. Marketing and Sales become primary stakeholders, ensuring effective market entry and initial sales enablement.

3. Growth: In this stage, the product aims to gain market share and broaden its functionality. The key stakeholders include Research, Development, Marketing, and Sales, as they work to refine the roadmap, grow the ecosystem, and advocate for the product within the company's portfolio.

4. Maturity: Here, the product becomes a "cash cow," focusing on sustaining revenue and offering services. Sales, Services, and Support stakeholders manage customer retention, risk, and service strategy.

5. Decline: The product enters its declining phase, aiming to retain customers and minimize costs. Marketing, Sales, and Support focus on strategies for maintaining a steady revenue stream while reducing expenses.

6. Withdrawal: The final stage involves exiting the market while retaining existing customers and reducing costs. Marketing takes the lead, managing this transition smoothly.

   
   

Each phase involves unique product management activities that shift focus from innovation to market strategies, revenue generation, customer retention, and eventually product withdrawal​​. Understanding where your product stands in this cycle helps plan and act accordingly​​.

A few observations:

• Some products never make it to growth!

• You can think of a PMs job as getting a product to growth, detecting Decline, and getting the product back to Growth (or starting the process to withdraw it from the market)

• Growth, Maturity, and Decline are based on market response to the product; the other phases represent decisions.