Everyone knows Newton’s First Law of Motion: An object at rest will stay at rest until moved by an external force. The same is true with products. I’ve been a Product Manager for about 15 years, working in a variety of markets, and primarily focused on B2B or niche B2C products and platforms. And the […]
I Don’t Care About Your MBA or “Certificate”
A common question that people pose when they are considering whether to pursue a career in Product Management is whether or not they should get an MBA, or at the very least obtain a certificate of some form from any of the numerous companies and institutions out there who are offering such a document. Almost […]
Show & Tell Isn’t Just for Kindergarten
Over the course of my career, I’ve had the chance to work with a wide variety of tools and methods to document how something should work, what user goals are, what the workflow should be, and generally how a user gets from point A to point B and beyond. Throughout all that time, I’ve noticed […]
Common Company Dysfunctions — And How to Combat Them
Throughout my many years as a Product Manager, and through many conversations with fellow Product Managers, I’ve come to notice certain patterns of dysfunction emerge within companies that make everyone’s job harder. Many of these dysfunctions exist due to cultural patterns within the company, and are things that have developed over time — often they […]
Scope is King – The Fallacy of the “Pyramids”
There’s not a Product Manager alive who hasn’t seen the traditional project management pyramids or triangles — it’s a very common trope of the business, focusing on Time, Scope, and Resources as the “pivot points” for hitting deadlines, or the common line of “Good, Fast, or Cheap — pick two.” The simple fact is, in nearly […]
Ask Tough Questions
Among the most common issues that Product Managers face — particularly those in smaller companies or in companies where Product Management as a discipline is a new thing — is the seemingly random collection of features, functionality, plans, “strategies”, market segments, and really everything that surrounds the role. Part and parcel of being a good […]
Take Some Time For Yourself!
I’m writing this post while sitting in a condo down at the Oregon Coast. The wind is blowing outside, the rain is pattering against the windows, and outside through the mist I can see the waves crashing against the rocks. The fireplace is glowing, and the moon is rising in the sky as I relax on […]
Managing Technical Debt
It’s one of the more frustrating parts of being a software Product Manager – you inherit a product that’s been around for awhile, and every time you want to start a new project to change and improve what’s already there, some nasty little issue crops up and takes the spotlight. Maybe the platform was never […]
Mentor Someone
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 […]