Product Managers sit in a very unique position in most companies — they have their hands in almost every cookie jar in the whole organization. From Sales to Marketing to Services to Development to Finance, at some point the Product Manager will directly impact each and every single function within the organization (assuming it’s being […]
Listen Twice as Much as You Talk
There’s a classic aphorism used in discussions about listening and communication that’s important for every Product Manager to think about when engaging with customers, prospects, or even stakeholders and developers: We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we speak. I know, it sounds pithy and trite, but […]
Success is a Cultural Phenomenon
Of all the things that I’ve learned over the past 15 years of being a Product Manager, the one thing that sticks with me wherever I go, whatever I’m doing, is the simple fact that success is something that is enabled (or challenged) by the culture of the organization that is trying to achieve it. […]
Curiosity NEVER Killed the PM
One of the primary predictors of successful Product Managers that I’ve seen in my time is the amount of curiosity that they are willing to express in their work and in their lives. This makes a lot of sense when you think about it, given that Product Management is all about having a broad swath […]
Your Opinion is NOT Always Irrelevant
The folks at Pragmatic Marketing have a popular saying in their training and materials — “Your opinion, while interesting, is irrelevant.” For the most part, they’re absolutely right — the point that they’re making is that, while you as a Product Manager may have knowledge of the market and of the users, you yourself are […]
Breaking Down the Agile Manifesto — Collaboration & Responding to Change
Earlier this week, I discussed the common misunderstandings related to the first two statements made in the Agile Manifesto — Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools, and Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation. In that discussion, I focused on how important it is to remember that the Agile Manifesto itself was written largely in response […]
Breaking Down the Agile Manifesto — Processes & Documentation
One of the issues that Product Managers commonly face when engaging with teams who claim to be, or who want to be, “Agile” is that most people have never really take the time to actually research the origins of the Agile movement, the principles upon which it is based, or even the histories of the […]
Building Your Product Management Toolkit
One of the challenges that we have as Product Managers is managing our own career trajectories while at the same time running the products that we are tasked with keeping alive and breathing. A wise mentor once told me that we’re all consultants in this day and age, and that we should be sure that […]