Author Archive
Effectively Communicating Product Requirements
I was just looking at a video of Lizzie O’Leary (Bloomberg) on Alltop.com discussing how to effectively tell a story with numbers. What an important skill for product managers. As the leader of your product it’s not only critical that you have data to back-up your decisions regarding product futures, but that you [...]
Before You Say Yes…
David Radzialowski and Joshua Steffan of B2B Product Makers have posted a great piece titled “So You Got the Product Manager Position – Should you take it?” It got me reflecting on the same question, so I’ve added some to their excellent list of issues to consider before you say “yes”.
Budget. David & [...]
More Thoughts on Product Naming
After fielding several comments on my last post regarding product naming (”What’s in Name?“), I realized that I had over simplified the problem some. I’m going to add some necessary follow-up thoughts here.
I was previously considering the product naming exercise from the point of view of a start-up. A catchy name works for [...]
What’s in a Name?
Tips for product naming.
Product Management Belongs in the Marketing Organization
I recently started a new job, so I’m a little late picking up this conversation . It’s such an interesting topic that I just have to chime in.
Saeed from On Product Management asked if Product Managers and Product Marketing Managers in technical companies should be a part of a single “Products Organization.” [...]
How Strategic is Product Management?
In a recent post on his blog, Product Management Consultant, Derick Workman, poses the question “What is the Purpose of Product Management?” I certainly agree the premise of the post; that Product Managers must focus on strategy, as opposed to just being task doers. I would, however, emphasize more strongly the strategic [...]
Size Matters: Creating Optimally Sized User Stories
In Agile development methodologies, User Stories express desired product functionality from the perspective of a given persona. It’s these User Stories that the development team will estimate and ultimately implement as part of a development iteration/sprint. As a product manager, if you want predictable results and a steady burn-down from your development team, [...]
Use Kano Analysis to Prioritize the Product Backlog
Deciding which features to put into the next release is one of the more agonizing decisions that a product manager has to make. If you are like most, you’ve got a list of desired features which far exceeds the time and resource constraints under which your next release will be created. Leaving some [...]
Utilize Patterns to Catalyze Innovation
Well managed, innovative R&D can lead a company to amazing technological breakthroughs, market dominance, and financial success. Poorly managed attempts at innovation, however, can take the company down a much uglier path. So, how do you harness the creative potential of you customers and employees to innovate for success? Utilize time tested patterns to catalyze innovation.
