It’s constantly surprising to me that people seem to have such widely different ideas of what the term “MVP” or “Minimally Viable Product” really means. Perhaps it’s a result of the term becoming an industry buzzword, or perhaps it’s because it’s used in some very different contexts, but it always baffles me that people focus […]
Five Ways to Be a PM That Developers Actually LIKE!
Product Managers sometimes have a bad reputation when it comes to Development teams — and we often unintentionally earn these reputations, by the way that we work with them. There are, however some things that Product Managers can do to build a strong relationship with their development teams — something that is, in fact, essential […]
Five Things a Clever PM Can Learn From Strategy Games
In an earlier post, I talked about five things that a PM can learn from role-playing games. Since I’m a pretty avid gamer, I realized that there are lots of things that PMs can learn from all genres of games, so I’m considering making this a recurring theme. Today’s discussion focuses on real-time strategy (RTS) […]
Five Things a Product Manager Should be Thankful For
In a time of recognition for the good things in life, and for the opportunities that life has presented us with, I thought it would be a good time to take a few moments and reflect on some of the things that all Product Managers should be thankful for. So, on this Thanksgiving week, enjoy […]
Leading Through Influence the Clever PM Way — Part 2: Effective Facilitation
In part one of this series, we discussed the concept of “social capital” and how important it is to build, manage, and spend it in the process of leading through influence. In this installment, we’re going to extend the scope of the discussion to a highly effective way of building your social capital in an […]
Five Things a Clever PM Can Learn from Role-Playing Games
I’ve been a gamer for far longer than I’ve been anything else in my life. From the early days of playing Combat on my Atari 2600, to Fastball! on my Commodore 64, all the way through to Skyrim on my PC or Destiny on my XBox One, I’ve always been interested in the cutting edge […]
Leading Through Influence the Clever PM Way — Part 1: Social Capital
It’s often stated that Product Managers “lead through influence” rather than through position. And people smile and nod, and occasionally clap their hands in agreement. But how many people really think about what this means, and how to achieve it?
Forests or Trees – The Constant Tension of Product & Project Management
It’s a rather sad fact of life that many companies, hiring managers, and even supervisory managers commonly conflate the jobs of Product Management and Project Management. I literally cannot count the number of times I’ve corrected people at a variety of companies, telling them that I’m a “Product Manager” and not a “Project Manager.” In […]
Prioritizing in an Agile World: What’s Now, What’s Next, What Else?
While helping through a transition with a PM and Dev team that I worked with on a daily basis, one of the major stumbling blocks I ran into was Release Planning and Roadmapping. When I got there, they were in many ways using all of the right Agile terms, but not really following Agile principles […]
How Technical Does a Product Manager Really Have to Be?
There’s a strong trend in Product Management circles to insist that a good Product Manager must be strongly technical in addition to having strong marketing and communication skills. And while this approach is well-meaning, it often results in a weak Product Management role that merely supports Development rather than challenge it. Now, that’s not to […]
Tending Gardens & Herding Cats: Maintaining a Healthy Rapport with Your Development Teams
Several times in my career, I’ve joked to someone or another that my next job title will be “Senior Cat Herder” rather than “Senior Product Manager” — and for good reason. Cats, for all of their cuddly cuteness, are independent problem solvers, much like most of the better developers that I’ve worked with. Add to […]
What Exactly *IS* Product Management, Anyway?
Trying to come up with a single, global definition of what “Product Management” is and what it incorporates, often seems like a massive exercise in folly. Wikipedia describes Product Management as “an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the […]