Product management evangelist and guitar player.
...is a challenge. If everything is "must have", how can you choose?
http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2010/01/priorities.html
I'm often saddened by the infantilizing effect of high technology on adults. From being in control of their world, they're thrust back to a childish, medieval world in which gremlins appear to torment them and disappear at will and against which magic, spells, and the local witch doctor are their only refuges.
Seems that loads of people have scorn for the new iPad but... are you the target persona? This article suggests that the iPad is for people who struggle with computers... and that's not you. The iPad is for all the people in your life that don't understand folders. It's for people who have all their files on the desktop. And why do we need files anyway? or Folders?
What have you done to understand personas and their goals? Are you programming to yourself and your developers and your sales people? Or are you programming to the personas?
ProductCamp is a free collaborative, user-organized conference, focused on product management topics including, but not confined to, product marketing, development and management.
I'm headed to pCamp in Minneapolis. www.pcampmn.org
c u there?
I don't quite know how to respond to this email. What's my action item?
In the old days we had the 5 second rule but with today's concern about sanitation and safety, we need to take a little more time analyzing the situation. Good news! Here's a flow chart to help.
Source: San Francisco Food Blog
I was asked recently about the best practices in integrating two companies' products into a unified product suite.
I posted a note to Twitter and got these replies:
@ditkis: Banks? JP & Mutual, Wells and Wachovia.. for geo coverage & service diversification
Three out of four acquisitions fail; they destroy wealth for the buyer's shareholders, who end up worse off than they would have been had the deal not been done. But it doesn't have to be that way, argue the authors. In evaluating acquisitions, companies must look beyond the lure of profits the income statement promises and examine the balance sheet, where the company keeps track of capital. It's ignoring the balance sheet that causes so many acquisitions to destroy shareholders' wealth
Product management leadership is all about action. It’s converting the theory of product management into sustainable methods. It’s organizing, guiding and enabling a team and teaching them a common language that builds momentum as a team, creates consistency in your activities and ensures product management maintains a level of credibility across organization and with executive management.
My friend Jim Holland hits the nail on the head: product management isn't about meetings and emails and artifacts; it's about learning from the market and turning those observations in action.
What are you doing this week?
I'm somewhat of a Beatles-maniac. This amazing chart reveals how much (and how little!) The Beatles collaborated.
More at http://www.mikemake.com/#72772/Charting-the-Beatles
Data visualization is fascinating, isn't it?
