Product Management
A plea for b2b product managers
Too many times I have convinced myself that skipping the process of discovering the business need is worth it. After all, we have to get the project done. What good is a product if it’s not out there? If it’s not real? We don’t help anyone if we delay again— if we slow down now, suffering is assured rather than probable. I’m being reasonable and rationale — not theoretical and impractical, lost in best practice to the detriment of our progress.
Reasons product managers may be tempted to skip the business need:
- It would take forever to get the project…
Keep designs moving with this simple productivity strategy.
There’s a certain amount of tension in every design session I’ve run —unconscious and often divergent goals inform whether teams think a design is “good” or “bad.” To what end do we evaluate a design? Whether it follows design best practices with skill? Whether it has tremendous user value? Technical feasibility? Regardless of the what, these competing standards often pull meetings off track, leading to slow progress on designs and constant rework. How can product managers and larger design teams keep designs moving in a more productive way?
Some of the most effective productivity strategies are the simplest. …
Product Management
What separates product managers from product leaders
Spurred to reflect by the needless reminders of entering a new and hope laden year, I recently took an audit of every major product initiative I either lead myself or worked with a direct product manager report to build. My goal was to figure out if there was any tangible thread tying together projects that succeeded and those that did not — across years, companies, and disparate content, was there any winning strategy (other than dumb luck) that influenced whether product managers would be successful?
I thought my answer would lie with data, $$$, time, technical prowess, or some other…
Product Management
Lessons from a PM manager.
Starting out as a new product manager or product owner can be daunting. You might have questions like How much power do I actually have? How do I know whether I’m making the right decisions? How do I know what to work on next? While the art of product management is learned over years, I’ve seen some common patterns emerge especially when new PMs are just starting out. Use the following tips to help make a great start:
- Push valuable work vs. logical work
- Define a clear product vision
- Find a strong designer ally
- Base product decisions on client and…
Product Management
Dispelling the pressure to become a fantastic beast
I tend to sense in myself an abyss of emptiness and play dead like an animal when danger approaches. At least, this is how Richard Rohr describes type FIVEs in his exposition on the enneagram.¹ To my amusement, this is actually quite true. Unfortunately, it is exactly the opposite of what I am called to do as a b2b product manager — brave the storm and drive solutions to complex business problems.
The polarity between running away from problems and being called to solve them has been one of the most challenging aspects of reconciling my own personality tendencies and…
Product Management
Why fraud is an essential part of Product Management.
My boss has the unfortunate job of bringing me down from states of relative hysteria that seem to blow through like seasonal weather patterns:
“But boss, I’m not doing a good job. Everything is out. of. control. We’re not making enough progress. There are too many problems!”
While acknowledging this kind of conversation may not be commonplace (or even wise on my part), I’m always met with the same gracious response in varying forms — but dude, show me what’s going wrong. Whether it’s my own lack of awareness or my inability to see it, I cannot anticipate this response…
Product Management
Tangible Tips for Creating a Product Vision from Next to Nothing.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to take a variety of roles that inform my approach to product management. Making my way through ticket queues, redundant test plans, insatiable backlogs, less than pretty roadmaps, and now into the realm of senior management, I’ve had a valuable (albeit unwanted) friend by my side: obscurity. Without fail, every project I have ever worked on — whether self-directed or handed to me by an executive — has been laced with at least some notion of being unclear, intangible, and vague …. you know — lacking the details.
Much of the time the…
