At what point during feature development should product marketers get looped in on what's changing?

The answer you’ve probably heard many times before (but I will say it again because I believe it): I believe PMM should be a critical partner to product as early as the product requirement definition stage (or however way you kick off planning).

What value can PMM add so early on? You can add value in so many ways! Write the story you want to tell when you launch, so product builds a compelling enough feature. Lend your expertise on the competitive landscape. Define the various use cases and best practices on how the feature is used (not just what it does).

Sounds dreamy. How do you get there? When you join an early-stage PMM team, it’s really common for PMM to be “looped in” when the feature was ready to launch. At every company I’ve been a PMM at, I’ve had to work my way to be “looped in” earlier in the feature development process. You have to earn it. No PM or engineer is going to care about your opinions and POV if you don’t develop your knowledge about the product and space, and that takes time. If you’re looped when things are ready to launch, push to get involved in the beta. When you’re looped in during the beta, push to get involved during beta planning. When you’re looped into beta planning, push to get involved in user research…so on, so forth. Just keep inching your way earlier in the process one step at a time.

Really early :). When the release is just a twinkle in the PM’s eye :). The way to do this is to set up a formal PMM:PMM partnering system where each individual PM is partnered with 2-4 PMs, and they all focus on the same area of the product. The PMM meets regularly with their PM partners. The baseline topic (in addition to other selected topics of conversation) is always: what’s coming down the pipe? What was recently prioritized on the roadmap? Who will the new product be for, and what need does it serve? How will it work? Does the PM have any thoughts about key considerations that will need to be addressed as the product goes to market?

As the PMM continually gathers this info about upcoming releases, they assign launch sizes to the releases (see more about this in my answers to other questions), and, for the releases with larger launch sizes, they start the process of considering what the product positioning / launch messaging should be, forming a launch plan (drafting the launch guide), assembling the launch team, etc.

It’s all in the name of avoiding the situation that many PMMs have encountered, when a release gets thrown over the transom to them by a PM with “hey, I wanted to let you know that this release is going live next Monday. Could you, like, market it?” :)

I always tell my PMs that the earlier PMM is looped into feature development planning, the better. Of course, we want enough lead time to prep for a successful launch. But even before we think about the launch, PMM should bring their insights to the table when the team is in the planning stages. This allows us to bring feedback from the field and customers, as well as share any market or competitive trends we have discovered.