Erich Stauffer

Author: Erich Stauffer

  • Time-Saving (and Money-Making) Product Improvements as a Product Manager

    Time-Saving (and Money-Making) Product Improvements as a Product Manager

    When I worked at Marine Credit Union as a business analyst, I was also a product manager for checking accounts, which included online banking, their mobile app, ACH, and debit cards. I was also responsible for the company’s CRM system (before I helped to migrate the company to Salesforce’s CRM system).

    During my time at the credit union I made several key product improvements to checking products:

    • Synergy Check Image Sync
    • New, Online Loan Payments
    • ACH Rule Automation
    • New Overdraft Protection Software
    • Automated Error Reporting
    • Loan Payments in Mobile App

    Synergy Check Image Sync

    I created a system that linked check images from the item processing system into the core software, making it easy for employees to look up check images (rather than doing manual searches), which saved time and helped customers.

    New, Online Loan Payments

    I added the ability for loan borrowers to make one-time loan payments online and by phone. Prior to this, they could only pay via mail or in person at a branch.

    ACH Rule Automation

    I helped get a module built for our core processing software that automated business rules for ACH transactions, eliminating all but the outliers, which saved the ACH department in Deposit Operations 10s of hours a week.

    New Overdraft Protection Software

    I launched a new overdraft protection software to increase revenue and decrease risk. Instead of giving everyone a flat amount, it was calculated.

    Automated Error Reporting

    And in addition to working with data analysts to create many different, new reports, I also created a system to automatically email branch, regional, and district managers in escalation when exceptions with new accounts were not resolved in a timely manner. This automation saved hours of manual intervention.

    Loan Payments in Mobile App

    And finally, I added the ability for customers to make loan payments from within their mobile app using a web page managed from the corporate website.

  • Using Middleware to Eliminate a FTE as a Product Manager

    Using Middleware to Eliminate a FTE as a Product Manager

    Sometimes a simple product improvement can lead to dramatic changes in business processes and personnel changes. This is a story about how custom middleware eliminated a FTE.

    At Skinny & Co., as a product manager, one of the products I managed was Fishbowl Inventory (along with the processes and technologies that were involved and integrated with it).

    Fishbowl Inventory was not web-based at the time, it was on-premise software running on a local server. It had file import and export capabilities, but no web-based API.

    Many of our wholesale orders came in through a web portal called Brandwise, which had a file export system where orders could be exported via PDF or as CSV files.

    It was one person’s full-time job to download orders from Brandwise and import them into Fishbowl. They typically did this via the PDF by manually typing the information into Fishbowl.

    When Processes Don’t Work

    One of the first things I did to improve this process was to train the person how to use the CSV imports from Brandwise to import the order information into Fishbowl.

    Fishbowl had a slightly different format so the order manager had to learn how to reformat the CSV file into a format that Fishbowl could accept, and then clean up any errors.

    One type of error was in the name of the customer. If the name was different in any way, Fishbowl would create a new customer record for it, creating duplicates and forking their order history.

    The other issue was that sometimes customers still used old SKUs which wouldn’t translate or import into the system. And a downfall of Fishbowl is that if any information was wrong, none of it imported.

    The order manager reasoned that the amount of time it took to do that was not worth the effort and thus they went back to manually inputting the orders from the PDFs.

    Custom Middleware

    At that point I then set about to fix the file conversion problem to make it easy for someone to be able to input a file from Brandwise to Fishbowl in the correct format without creating duplicate customer records or stopping due to a bad SKU.

    I worked with a development team to write up the use case and then test the results. We developed a system which included:

    • software on the Fishbowl server that synced the customer and product data up to the middleware web server and allowed information to be written back
    • a web interface which allowed the user to import the order file from Brandwise, search and map customer records (if exact match not found), and to search and map SKUs (if exact match not found)

    This process prevented the imports from creating duplicate customer records or failing to import due to a bad SKU.

    And while it had upfront development costs and added a new, monthly hosting fee, it allowed us to eliminate a FTE.

    Later this system was replaced with a more robust, but less custom system from Synqware. Formerly with Bizperanto, Synqware is now part of Celerant.

  • X Marks the Spot

    X Marks the Spot

    After I got laid off from my last job, I started working full time on my consulting business while applying for jobs as a product manager. I also started posting more on LinkedIn and Twitter (X) as a way to engage with the product management community.

    I’ve been following Dan Koe and Sean McCabe (formerly SeanWes), both of whom have encouraged me (through their writing) to start with writing – so I wanted to share a few thoughts on what I’ve been doing and how it’s going so far.

    A follower or connection doesn’t usually count for much of anything on its own. However, those followers only allow me the opportunity to say something interesting and possibly attract new consulting business or product manager jobs.

    Trust Beats Consistency, and Consistency Beats Message

    Ultimately, if people don’t trust what you have to say, the rest doesn’t matter. What you say needs to communicate trust. If you are consistent, you will learn what to do. Practice leads to improvement, which leads to success.

    But the main reason I want to post every day is because I believe my income depends on it. But it’s also a form of journaling, which helps me think, create new ideas and synthesize thoughts; and it helps my brain work better.

    Finding Your Voice

    Most people don’t find their voice on social media because of consistency. It takes practice and time to find your voice. It is scary to post something where your friends at the companies you are posting about might find offensive.

    Before posting, ask yourself these questions:

    • “Can my audience learn something from this?”
    • “Would I have liked to learn this earlier in my career?”
    • “Do I have something unique or different to say about this issue?”
    • “What are people in this industry thinking about but are afraid to say?”
    • “Do I have a bias here, and is it apparent to both me and the audience?”
    • “Is the intention of my feedback to tear down – or to guide improvement?”

    But generally speaking, a good rule of thumb is to stick to what you know. When you find yourself overreaching your expertise, you risk your credibility.

    My goal is to post every day at least once. Eventually, I settled into every business day posting something that I saw interesting in the industry.

    I enjoy writing, and I have for most of my life. I’ve written many blog posts here and even some books, and although there were long periods of time when I didn’t write anything, I never lost my love for writing.

    Consistency Pays Off

    So far I’m in the early stages of developing the habits of daily writing, journaling, and posting, but I’m already seeing some effects from it in the form of increased interactions and direct messages. I’m going to keep doing it.

    I don’t know exactly where I’m going to end up, but having a plan and working towards a goal with intention will put me in a better position than randomly doing things and reacting to the world around me. X marks the spot.

  • Field Notes

    Field Notes

    I spilled coffee on my Field Notes.

    It went everywhere.

    Something so simple as setting down a cup of coffee caused an inordinate amount of chaos and care to clean up.

    But it was worth it.

    Sometimes things don’t go as planned despite making a plan.

    I’m okay with that.

    The body craves novelty just as much as it craves stability.

    A week ago my job was eliminated.

    My stability was taken away, replaced by novelty.

    I had mixed emotions of fear, anxiety, joy, and excitement.

    One door had closed and another door had not yet opened. I was in the hallway. I was on my own.

    But I wasn’t alone.

    I have God, friends, network connections, my skills, time, and sheer determinism.

    I’ve been praying, reaching out to people, and applying for jobs.

    I’ve been publishing content to and interacting on social media.

    And after a week, I only have one lead from one recruiter.

    But that’s ok.

    Now I can learn from what I’ve done, analyze it, and improve it.

    I know that writing or journaling is an important part of healing, brain development, and general success in life so I’m attempting to start a daily routine of writing.

    Right now it hurts a bit because I haven’t associated dopamine with it, but I’m hoping to rewire my brain to crave it – just like it craves novelty and stability.

  • Senior Product Manager

    As part of your Shared Services Product Management team, the Senior Product Manager sits at the intersection of business revenue and expense generation operations; and delivers everything from large-scale technology solutions to small optimizations. The team is responsible for developing long-range product roadmaps and engaging in backlog grooming for the upcoming 2-week sprint. We work in lock-step with development, strategy, and engineers to deliver a portfolio of technology solutions that include a wide range of 3rd party SaaS products and custom developed applications.

    About Erich Stauffer

    As your Senior Product Manager, I will drive the end-to-end product execution and work alongside shared services and business leaders to identify and implement technology solutions that support your scaling business.  I will develop a deep understanding of your customer’s process and needs, while keeping a pulse on the broader company strategy and objectives. 

    Collaboration is a key ingredient for success, which is why I’m able to recognize key dependencies across different teams in order to coordinate a successful product launch.  I will provide product consultancy and recommendations to your business partners, helping them to better understand trade-offs, interoperability, and maintenance costs, enabling them to select the right solution that will help them meet their business objectives. I will support audit, compliance, legal, and risk business partners in developing and delivering a product roadmap to support increasingly complex and regulated lines of business.

    I Will:

    • Collaborate with key business partners and subject matter experts to translate functional challenges and gaps into strategic product requirements. 
    • Collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to define opportunity size, understand root cause of issues that help guide product planning and prioritization.
    • Working across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) – able to define the problem in discovery, draft detailed requirements (user stories), plan development sprints, develop UAT plans, and support continuous releases.
    • Implement large-scale 3rd party SaaS products, participate in RFPs, evaluate vendor demos/scorecard, create statement of work (SOW), broker detailed requirements, and develop a cutover plan.
    • Manage stakeholders by communicating progress and findings to program leaders and other key partners, via product briefs, status updates, and demos.
    • Utilize tools such as Jira and Confluence.

    Who I am

    • 3+ years’ product management experience working with corporate applications.
    • 5+ years as a Product Manager with direct product ownership, operating in an Agile development environment – experience working directly with internal and external engineering and development teams.
    • Proven track record leading cross-functional initiatives, delivering iterative value over time, experience guiding prioritization of work; ability to make trade-off decisions to meet customer needs, given technology and capacity constraints.
    • Experience supporting financial reporting processes for publicly traded companies.  Conversant in control and oversight functions such as audit, risk, and SOX compliance.  
    • Experience working in regulated lines of business like banking and financial services.

    Contact me on LinkedIn to hire me.

  • Product Manager

    A Product Manager must be passionate about defining, developing, marketing, selling, and supporting solutions in a highly competitive environment. The role includes strategic planning activities such as establishing and executing a product line vision throughout its lifecycle. It also includes hands on tactical support for customers, sales, and marketing.

    Responsibilities:

    • Analyze market research, industry data, sales results and individual product sales performance to determine product line direction and supporting product development, sales and marketing strategies.
    • Create annual revenue, product development, and supporting resource plans for assigned product line(s).
    • Perform market research, conduct customer interviews, analyze sales data, and extract sales, applications, and engineering input to identify market-driven product/service development opportunities and generate supporting business cases.
    • Partner with Engineering to create product definitions (including feature/functionality requirements, performance specifications, and COGS goals) and establish product development project plans (including determination of overall timeline and identification of key milestones).
    • Collaborate with Sales, Applications Engineering, and Communications to establish and execute new product introduction and go-to-market strategies.
    • Establish pricing strategies, tactics, and programs to drive revenue and achieve profitability goals.
    • Create sales enablement tools including customer presentations, competitor analyses, demonstration guides, etc. and provide support for customer demonstrations, customer training, tradeshows, and overall business development.
    • Collaborate with Communications and Sales on defining and implementing marketing programs and campaigns as well as sales promotions.
    • Partner with Communications to generate customer value-based marketing messaging and supporting collateral including technical articles, application notes, white papers, webinars, videos, website content, etc.
    • Manage product line roadmaps introducing and discontinuing products as they move through the product lifecycle.

    Education and/or Experience:

    Bachelor’s degree in Science and Math.

    • Greater than 3 years of Product Management or Product Marketing experience
    • Passion to continuously learn and gain industry and product knowledge
    • Experience performing B2B sales planning, sales forecasting, and competitive pricing analysis
    • Experience conducting market research and analysis of data to form strategies on existing product line extensions and/or new product development
    • Experience generating strategic product roadmaps and detailed plans
    • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
    • Proven effective organizational skills
  • What does a product manager do?

    What does a product manager do?

    A #productmanager is responsible for guiding the success of a product and leading the cross-functional team that’s responsible for improving it. Their primary role includes setting the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for a product or product line. They work closely with various teams, including strategy, development, marketing, and sales to deliver a final product that aligns with the company’s goals – which is exactly what I’ve been doing and want to continue doing more for another company.

    Key responsibilities of #productmanagers include:

    • Understanding market needs and user requirements
    • Defining and communicating product vision and strategy
    • Prioritizing features and tasks, and creating a roadmap
    • Working with cross-functional teams to ensure product development aligns with the strategic direction
    • Overseeing product launches and working with the marketing team on messaging and positioning

    If you know of a company needing #productmanagement, please contact me. Otherwise, check out how I can help your company as a director of product product management.

    I have been a Go-to-Market Product Manager at Blue Acorn iCi, a leading digital customer experience company, for over two years. In this role, I collaborated with delivery, strategy, marketing, and sales teams to bring new products and services to market with the goal of adding an additional $500M in revenue over seven years. I have a strong background in product development and user-centric thinking, allowing me to create innovative products that are market-centric and meet customer needs.

    With over 15 years of professional experience, including executive-level expertise, I am well-equipped to tackle complex and ambiguous challenges. I leverage my credentials as a Shopify+ certified professional to manage and optimize e-commerce platforms, integrate software solutions, and implement data-driven decision-making practices. I am passionate about driving innovation and growth, fostering collaboration, and promoting continuous improvement. I am seeking meaningful challenges that will offer personal and professional growth opportunities, enabling me to make a significant impact on your business.

    Contact me on LinkedIn to hire me.

  • Director, Product Management Practice

    As your Director of Product Management, I will play a pivotal role in driving your company’s growth and ensuring the successful development and launch of our top strategic investments and products. I will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Operations, to define and execute on the company’s strategy. My primary focus will be building and managing a high-performing team of product managers while establishing robust product management processes and best practices to accelerate your company’s strategy.

    Responsibilities

    A day in the life as your Director, Product Management Practice…

    Establish your Technology Product Management Practice

    • Establish processes for effective product discovery, validation, and delivery, and drive the implementation of robust product management tools and techniques
    • Establish best practices, methodologies, and tools that enable efficient and effective product management across the organization
    • Ensure that the product model aligns with industry standards, addresses the specific needs of the company, and encourages innovation and continuous improvement. Stay updated on industry trends, methodologies, and frameworks, and bring in new ideas and approaches to elevate the technology product management function
    • Promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement, encouraging the adoption of industry best practices such as Agile, Lean, or Design Thinking
    • Encourage knowledge sharing, facilitate cross-functional collaboration, and create opportunities for product managers to learn from each other and external experts to enhance their skills and capabilities

    Establish and Maintain an Enterprise Technology Roadmap

    • Create and maintain an enterprise roadmap that aligns multiple products and strategic initiatives
    • Ensure that the enterprise roadmap reflects the strategic priorities of the company and effectively balances resources, dependencies, and timelines across different product lines and initiatives
    • Collaborate with stakeholders across the organization to understand and prioritize key business objectives, market demands, and customer needs
    • Manage the interdependencies between products and coordinate cross-functional efforts to ensure a cohesive and synchronized approach to product development and delivery
    • Regularly communicates updates on the enterprise roadmap to executive leadership and other relevant stakeholders to ensure alignment and transparency throughout the organization

    Build and Lead a Team of Technology Product Managers

    • Build and lead a team of highly effective technology product managers capable of:
    • Developing Product Visions
    • Setting Product Strategy
    • Conducting Market Research & Analysis
    • Defining Product Roadmaps
    • Translating Product Roadmaps into Actionable Quarterly Plans
    • Collaborating Effectively with Stakeholders
    • Driving Product Innovation
    • Managing the Product Lifecycle
    • Balancing Trade-offs
    • Monitoring Industry and Technology Trends
    • Ensuring Customer & User Satisfaction 
    • Provide guidance, mentorship, and support to ensure the team is aligned with the product strategy, making effective decisions, and driving successful product outcomes
    • Foster a collaborative and high-performing team culture, encourage professional development, and ensure effective coordination and communication within the technology product management function
    • Establish a community of practice to connect product leaders across the company to foster a continuous learning and improvement culture

    What I’ll bring to the table…  

    • Ability to develop and articulate a compelling vision and strategy
    • Extensive product management experience
    • Leadership and team management 
    • Strategic thinking and business acumen
    • Customer / user-centric orientation
    • Communication and influencing skills
    • Innovation and adaptability
    • Agile and scaled agile ways of working


    I have…  

    • Proven track record of strategic leadership and experience in a senior product management role, preferably as a Director or Senior Director of Product Management
    • Extensive experience in developing and executing product strategies that have driven business growth and market success
    • Demonstrated success in overseeing the full product lifecycle, from ideation and development to launch and post-launch activities
    • Experience managing and leading a team of product managers and cross-functional teams
    • Strong knowledge and expertise in product management methodologies, frameworks, and best practices
    • Experience in managing multiple product lines or portfolios and balancing resource allocation and prioritization
    • Proven ability to analyze market trends, conduct competitive analysis, and identify opportunities for product differentiation
    • Track record of driving product innovation, introducing new features or products, and staying ahead of market trends
    • Experience collaborating with executive leadership, stakeholders, and customers to define product vision, strategy, and roadmaps
    • Strong understanding of user-centered design principles and the ability to translate customer needs into actionable product requirements
    • Experience in effectively communicating product strategies, updates, and value propositions to stakeholders at various levels of the organization
    • Experience working in a fast-paced, agile environment and navigating ambiguity and changing priorities
    • Knowledge of financial metrics and the ability to evaluate the financial impact of product decisions
    • Experience with product marketing, go-to-market strategies, and revenue generation
    • Experience in a relevant industry or domain is often preferred, as it provides domain expertise and understanding of specific customer needs

  • VP, Product Management

    If you’re looking for a VP, Product Management to help shape your product, solution, or join your mission, as your VP, Product Management, I’ll play a pivotal leadership role on your cross-functional teams. I’ll bring my extensive leadership experience to advise critical objectives, address challenges, and drive organizational efficiencies. With my strategic thinking and consumer product expertise, I’ll tackle your most complex and ambiguous product challenges while exercising a high level of product discretion nurturing collaborative relationships and accelerating delivery.

    As a hands-on leader, I’ll operate strategically and tactically, guiding and supporting teams while taking direct responsibility for product components. I’ll work to deeply understand your market and users, collaborating with engineers, designers, and other functions end-to-end to ensure that we develop innovative products with great user experiences that meet the diverse needs of our users worldwide. In addition, I’ll play a critical role in defining and maintaining a high-quality standard and will help us build practices that support continuous improvement.

    I’m looking to be a member of a team that highly values my expertise. I want meaningful challenges that offer personal and professional growth opportunities, enabling me to make a significant impact to your business.

    What I Will Bring to Your Company

    • My ability to advise and take direct responsibility for high-impact and complex workstreams and product areas while cultivating a collaborative and inclusive environment.
    • My skills to navigate ambiguous problems, propose innovative solutions, and execute them, ensuring measurable success.
    • Over 15 years of experience in Product, including significant leadership expertise, inclusive of experience on an executive team.
    • A wealth of people management experience, nurturing and empowering individuals to achieve their full potential.
    • A track record of working on successful consumer products with a user base of 1M+, demonstrating your ability to create products that resonate with a wide audience.
    • Experience in launching new products to market, maintaining and growing mature products, and demonstrating adaptability and longevity in the product lifecycle.
    • Expertise in identifying and leading opportunities to enhance how an organization makes product decisions, particularly within companies of a similar scale to your company, while promoting a diverse and inclusive decision-making culture.
    • Proven experience in developing other product leaders and product teams through mentorship, guidance, and inclusive hiring practices.
    • Experience as a critical contributor to strategic decisions surrounding product prioritization and the ability to draw from a deep understanding of market trends and user insights.
    • Extensive experience in running product experiments, leveraging data to drive informed decisions, and iterating on product offerings.
    • The ability to operate both strategically and tactically, seamlessly navigating between big-picture thinking and attention to detail.
    • Effective communication skills, enabling you to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders and foster understanding and collaboration.
    • A strong inclination towards data-driven decision-making, using metrics and insights to drive product direction and innovation.