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Submitted by joshyeager on
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Management and Leadership

I've managed a software product development team for about seven years. My responsibilities recently expanded to include a professional services team that we created to meet the needs of customers who need help implementing our product.

This is an exciting opportunity, but I'm struggling with the difference between product development (strategic, one product that balances the needs of many customers) and professional services (tactical, each engagement is unique).

I'm reading Managing the Professional Services Firm by David Maisters, and it's been useful so far. But it seems to be focused on the strategic level of building the organization. That's good for me in the long term, but my immediate need is to manage the day-to-day operations of this new team.

Can you recommend any resources for the actual work and management of a professional services team? If it's specific to the software product industry, that would be great. But any general resources would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Josh

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Submitted by bizfay on Saturday July 6th, 2013 11:34 am

Hey, Josh,

First of all, I do not have any resources about 'Actual Work and management of a profession services team'.

I'm just thinking, to manage a professional service team, that is pushing you to keep in touch with your 'top customers' or 'big customers'.

You should have some tools, to record each activity when your team is doing services with those important customers.  So you will ask your team to report how they do services with customers, what about the 'potential' of that customer, when will that customer turn into real customer, then when they will come to a long term stable customer for your organization.

One of my friend proudly told me, He can search how his long term customer came, and who sat there the first time he met the customer, then what they talked and interested the first time - he asked himself to save those activities to the database, and also he asked his team to do so.

So in my view - be carefully record and research a customer - even send a gift when your customer is at birthday - will really move them - so that is called professional services team?

Not sure, perhaps we're talking quite different things.

Good luck to your team manager life!

Thanks,

John