Bridging Product Management and Innovation Management

Product management and innovation management are both critical for driving business growth, yet they operate with different approaches. In The Product Manager’s Handbook by Linda Gorchels, product management is presented as a structured framework focusing on the 4R’s (Reinforce, Renew, Resurrect, Retire) and 3C’s (Concept, Create, Commercialize) to manage products throughout their lifecycle. Meanwhile, the Innovation Management Framework by Innovation360 provides a broader perspective, encompassing not just products but also processes, organizational structures, and business models.

This article explores how these two frameworks interact. Do they overlap? Do they extend each other? Or do they conflict? And most importantly—how can companies leverage both to get better results?

Innovation vs. Product Management: Scope and Focus

The Innovation Management Framework by Innovation360 defines multiple types of innovation beyond just products:

• Products
• Processes
• Organizational Structures
• Management Systems
• Production Methods
• Business Models
• Services

This broader focus means that product management can be seen as a subset of the innovation framework. However, it’s worth exploring how each framework structures its processes, portfolios, and decision-making strategies.

Portfolio Management: Different Groupings, Same Goal

Both frameworks emphasize the importance of portfolio management but categorize their elements differently:

• Innovation360’s Horizon Model groups innovation based on uncertainty levels: Horizon 1: Incremental improvements Horizon 2: Emerging opportunities Horizon 3: Radical innovation
• Product Management Portfolio groups products by lifecycle stage: Existing products New products R&D initiatives

Although the Product Management Handbook touches on balancing breakthrough and incremental changes, it does not provide a structured way to do so. The Innovation360 framework connects this balancing act directly to innovation strategy, using tools like PESTLED, scenario planning, and InnoSurvey to assign budgets and define focus areas.

Processes: Upstream vs. Downstream Focus

The product management process is structured around two key focus areas:

• Upstream Product Management: Focuses on strategic product planning and development to define and create products before launch. Includes the Concept, Create, and Commercialize phases.
• Downstream Product Management: Manages execution and lifecycle optimization once a product is in the market. Includes Reinforce, Renew, Resurrect, and Retire phases.

The Innovation360 framework outlines three broad innovation phases:

• Imagine: Ideation and clustering
• Innovate: Developing and testing hypotheses
• Ignite: Experiments and prototypes

At first glance, these seem similar. However, Innovation360 further refines its approach with three process models:

• The Classical Process: Ideation, selection, decision-making, development, commercialization.
• The 3i Process: Designed for rapid innovation sprints.
• The 5i Process: A detailed approach incorporating Identify, Iterate, Incubate, Intensify, and Institutionalize.

Both frameworks address the full product lifecycle, but product management leans more toward managing existing products and ensuring execution, while innovation management provides structured guidance for exploring new opportunities and managing high uncertainty.

Initiating Innovation: Where Ideas Come From

In The Product Manager’s Handbook, new product initiatives are often triggered by gaps in the portfolio, lifecycle considerations, or external trends (Technology, Industry, Market shifts, Events). The book identifies 19 sources of new product ideas, emphasizing the role of lead customers in identifying potential market winners. The framework also incorporates structured research through market analysis, customer insights, and competitive benchmarking to ensure that innovation aligns with business needs.

Similarly, the Innovation360 framework initiates innovation projects through structured analysis, including PESTLED workshops and scenario planning. This helps companies proactively define problems before launching ideation campaigns. While both frameworks emphasize research-driven innovation, Innovation360 explicitly integrates scenario planning and foresight methodologies to anticipate future trends and uncertainties.

Idea Selection and Business Case Development

In the Product Management Framework, strategic filters are used to pre-screen ideas before allocating time to develop a business case. This ensures that only significant ideas receive further investment in evaluation. The business case is then used as a structured decision-making tool before major resources are committed.

By contrast, the Innovation360 framework prioritizes assumption testing first. Instead of developing a business case upfront, Innovation360 focuses on validating key assumptions through clustering, Risky Assumption Tests (RATs), hypothesis testing, and experimentation. Only after critical assumptions have been validated would a business case be developed, ensuring that investment decisions are based on real-world evidence rather than initial assumptions.

Should you want to work with a business case then the book offers multiple tools that add metrics and support choices in the business case and those are valuable. Ensure to integrate assumption testing within business cases, to prevent false investments.

Go-to-Market Strategy and Software Support

The Product Management Handbook offers general go-to-market strategies, including pricing strategies and market entry tactics. However, my online course provides a more comprehensive alternative, covering 12 lessons, 52 topics, and 100 pages on selecting the best market, industry, and entry strategy. This detailed approach ensures that companies not only develop the right product but also launch it effectively. https://business-developer.biz/how-to-find-a-best-buy-market/

Additionally, software support is essential for managing both product and innovation pipelines. The Innovation360 framework advocates for a dedicated idea repository, ensuring structured evaluation and prioritization of ideas. A Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system can also enhance downstream product management, helping track product performance, manage retirements, and optimize renewals. If radical product innovation is a priority, the Innovation360 framework provides the necessary tools to support it.

Pre-Launch Validation

The Product Management Handbook includes a 20-question prelaunch checklist (page 223), whereas the Innovation360 framework uses 55 questions, ensuring a more comprehensive validation process before launch.

Skills, Competencies, and Leadership Product management emphasizes individual competencies, listing 15 foundation skills, leadership traits, and stakeholder management techniques. However, it is unclear whether these competencies are based on peer-reviewed scientific validation.

The Innovation360 framework dedicates an entire book to organizational capabilities, innovation culture, and leadership styles, backed by InnoSurvey assessments. The book How to Assess and Measure Business Innovation also discusses The Ten Faces of Innovation by Kelley and Littman. However, it is important to note that this framework is based on IDEO’s experience rather than peer-reviewed academic research.

Using Innovation360’s Competency Analyzer, companies can measure not only product management skills but also broader innovation-related competencies. To ensure that competencies are applied effectively—and that the survey questions genuinely measure what they intend to measure—I recommend engaging a consultant. I can provide this service to help ensure accurate and actionable insights.

Conclusion: How Can You Use Both Frameworks to Succeed?

• For existing products, the product management framework is highly effective.
• For new product development, combining both frameworks provides a more robust strategy.
• For radical innovation, the Innovation360 framework is more suited.
• For overall innovation management (beyond products), the Innovation360 framework covers business models, processes, and organizational innovation.

Let’s Talk: How Can You Improve Your Product and Innovation Strategy?

If you’re struggling with balancing product portfolios, selecting the right innovation projects, or aligning upstream and downstream strategies—let’s talk.

🚀 Let’s connect and explore how you can maximize your product and innovation success!

Let’s Talk: Considering implementing new software?

If you’re thinking about software for product management, product lifecycle management, product information management or in the realm of innovation; ideation and campaign management, innovation management, or custom software development, let me know, I can help.

🚀 Let’s connect and explore how software can maximize your product and innovation management success!