Construct a 4C's and 4P's Analysis 4Cs Analysis – is a Strategic Marketing or Management tool which follows on from the 4Ps Analysis -
• Product – how does our product compare with the competition. • Price – how do we compare on price and performance. • Placement – what is our distribution strength – how do our Routes to Market compare. • Promotion – for each Route to Market how effective is our promotion / advertising etc. The 4P’s is being replaced by the 4C’s model, consisting of – • Consumer or Capability. • Cost. • Convenience. • Communication. The 4C’s model is more consumer-oriented and fits better in the movement from mass marketing to niche marketing. The product part of the Four Ps model is replaced by consumer or consumer models, shifting the focus to satisfying the consumer. With respect to the 4P’s model, the C replacement for -
At each stage of a career, a person employs a different mix of the 4 P's. And at the same time, is developing awareness and competency in the next P in the progression. Understanding how this mix shifts over roles can be helpful to understand the differences between the kids of stages of a career. For the purposes of this discussion, I will stick to the same progression as experienced by Pat in the earlier post. Programmer - Analyst - Project Manager - Manager - Director. I know that there are Programmers who do Project Management and vice versa. My objective is not to talk to Job Title in a formal sense, but to the functional scope of a persons' role. In an ideal world, Job Titles would align with that - and since this is my blog, I'm imagining the ideal world. I've given a little thought to the different distributions at different career stages. PROGRAMMER Product: 90% Process: 10% People: 0% Politics: 0% The programmer focuses on producing quality product (on time and on budget - Hah!) This is their primary focus. However some attention needs to be given to the process side of coding and testing. So this is an area where a small part of their time is spent. Programming is more often than not an individual, not team, sport. So the need to focus on people and motivations or politics is limited or not necessary. SYSTEMS ANALYST Product: 70% Process: 30% - Developing horizon as process based activities become more prevalent People: 0% Politics: 0% The Systems Analyst is still primarily concerned with producing product. In this case the product tends to be of a more intermediary nature... requirements, architecture diagrams, specifications.... Analysts also tend to get more involved in process-oriented activities - such as system test or user acceptance testing. Here they are exposed to the need to coordinate and manage multiple activities, and the organization of people (and end-users). This exposure develops and enhances these emerging process based skills. A very experienced Analyst may be asked to move even farther into process by leading a testing phase - and thereby acting, in effect, more like a project manager. This can only happen if the Analyst's process management skills are well enough developed. PROJECT MANAGER Product: 30% Process: 50% People: 20% - emerging horizon to motivate and drive project team members Politics: 0% The Project manager is primarily concerned with the effective organization, sequencing and statusing tasks within a project plan. Having said that, a Project manager also produces deliverables such as Scope documents, Project Plan documents, Project Schedule, so there is a continuing focus, albeit reduced, on effectively creating the products of the discipline. The project manager begins to develop the people skill as the team comes together and tasks must be assigned to individuals. Good PMs have the ability to know who will best get the task done right, how how to position tasks to appeal to the person to whom it is assigned. MANAGER Product: 10% Process: 30% People: 50% Politics: 10% - Emerging horizon as increasing visibility to other organizations is provided The Manager of people has a new set of challenges. Obviously there are some deliverables this person must produce (like budgets), and the person must also understand the technology well enough to know good from bad at some level, Product is a dwindling aspect of this person's day. Process is a significant piece - in support of the project managers that work for them in the guise of mentoring, or in terms new management processes (evaluations, raises), or even leading x-functional teams to address pressing business processes. People, however, is the core value of the manager. As a manger of people, the development of direct staff is very important. The management and interfacing with customers and suppliers is equally important. The role of the manager (in part) is to understand the needs of the people around them (above, below, beside) so that they can optimize value delivery. DIRECTOR Product: 10% Process: 20% People: 40% Politics: 30% As a Director a Technology professional has many of the same kinds of investments as a Manager - after all they are still a manger of people. However there is a new dimension that enters as that person has increasing awareness of and need to manage politics. Knowing who to go to to gain support, how to position or arrange a presentation to create alignment, Developing partnerships across multiple organizations. These are increasingly a part of a Director's duty. In part this is enabled by the position in the organization -and the ability to have visibility into these different areas. The percentages above are general, and won't apply 100% in every case. I think this does provide a bit more of clarity and separation around the different ways that the 4 P's show up in the workplace. NOW IT IS 7 Ps: The introduction of a broader set of considerations is becoming more common because there is a perception that the 4 P’s are too narrowly focused.
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