Once a product is in production, that is the start of the lifecycle for that product.

Purpose of monitoring and continual improvement

The purpose of monitoring and continual improvement is to ensure that products remain effective, efficient, and aligned with user needs and business objectives after launch.

By ensuring the systematic collection and analysis of data relating to the product, PMs can identify areas for enhancement, and address issues.

We cannot let our products go stale. Continuous monitoring and improvement is essential to have a competitive edge in the market.

Guidelines for monitoring and continual improvement

Continue to monitor performance against KPIs

Monitoring of KPIs does not stop immediately after launch.

Set up automated data collection systems

Implement tools and systems that automate the collection of quantitative data. This includes:

• Analytics platforms

• Monitoring tools

• Integration with customer service systems (to automatically aggregate customer feedback, complaints, and support tickets)

Collect data from customer service centre

Regularly gather qualitative data from the customer service centre, including:

• Customer feedback: Capture insights from customer interactions, complaints, and suggestions

• Common issues: Identify frequently reported problems or questions

• Sentiment analysis: Assess the overall sentiment of customer communications to gauge satisfaction levels

Implement continuous monitoring processes

• Real-time dashboards: Create dashboards that display real-time data on KPIs for immediate visibility

• Alerts and notifications: Set up alerts for critical thresholds or anomalies in data (e.g., sudden drop in user engagement)

• Regular reports: Schedule periodic reports (daily, weekly, monthly) that summarise performance metrics and trends, and are automatically shared with all related stakeholders

Implement changes and updates

• Agile iterations: Incorporate improvements into regular development sprints

• A/B testing: Test changes on a subset of users to evaluate effectiveness before full rollout

• Documentation: Update all relevant documentation, including user stories, acceptance criteria, and design documents, to reflect changes. The documents are not static, they are living documents and should remain updated for the life of the product

Communicate with stakeholders

• Status updates: Provide regular updates to stakeholders- particularly Growth- on product performance and improvement initiatives

• Feedback loops: Share insights with the development team, customer service centre, and other relevant parties to foster collaboration

• User communication: Inform users of significant updates or enhancements to the product