If you haven’t picked up on it by now, I’m a firm believer in the theory of the five “Whys” — that is, whenever you’re engaged in a conversation about your product with a customer, and you start to dig down into the details about a new feature request or just trying to understand how […]
Common Dysfunctions of “Scrum” Teams — Part 2
In the first part of this series, I talked about how many teams who try to transform into “Agile” teams fail because they don’t actually understand what being “agile” is all about, or because they try to cut corners by not fully embracing (at the outset, at least) the fundamental requirements of the methodology that they have […]
Common Dysfunctions of “Scrum” Teams — Part 1
I started this out as a single post, but it’s become far too unwieldy for a single day. Thus, I’m breaking this up into two segments — one focusing on missing the point, the other on finer mistakes that sink potentially “good” teams moving into Agile processes. It’s still one of my longest posts here, […]
What’s Obvious to You Might Not Be to Others
It’s a common situation that all of us face in our lives — we look at something, draw conclusions that seem “obvious” or “common sense” and then we’re astounded when other people look at the same situation and act in direct opposition of that “obvious” conclusion. In most circumstances, this isn’t all that big of […]
Products At Rest Tend to Stay At Rest
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 […]
Being an Agent of Change
One of the most important parts of being a Product Manager is becoming an agent of change in your organization. Unless by some absolute miracle you’re working for a company that has everything figured out, has no conflicts at all, and is able to go from theory to strategy to tactics to release smoothly every […]
How to Be Successful as a Non-Technical Product Manager
There seems to be a strong bias in many large companies toward assessing a product manager’s ability to perform based as much (if not more) on their technical ability, background, and knowledge as their real-world, market, and user experience. To me, this is an entirely backward way of approaching the problem, as the entire purpose […]
Pulling Yourself Out of the Fires
If you’re like most Product Managers, you find yourself constantly struggling to manage incoming priorities, especially when there are problems that directly impact your clients, customers, and ongoing plans. It’s way too easy to wind up getting caught up in the constant firefighting efforts that happen on a day-to-day basis, and extricating yourself from the […]
Better Brainstorming – A Framework for Success
I know, we’ve all been in a “brainstorming” session which devolves into either a pointless series of discussions that never goes anywhere, or which are code for “let the executives speak, and follow their lead.” The simple fact is that most people aren’t trained to work in a true brainstorming fashion, and that most businesses […]