Product management evangelist and guitar player.
First, let me speak to my fellow product managers: You are not the right tool for finding solutions to problems! Your job is to find the problems people are willing to pay for to solve. You need to define what constitutes an acceptable solution and let the experts get to work. If you're not talking to the market and finding out what your company should do next, who is?
Use the right "tools" and you'll be delighted with the results. Developers are problem-solvers; product managers and CEOs and sales people aren't. Nice post from "Tim The PM."
Thinking about this question, I recommend product management start with Market Authority. Why?
Market Authority is the foundation of sustainable product vision and all the moving parts that follow. While I placed Product Vision first in my post, I stated, “Product management has a great influence on product vision. Driving strategy as a leader begins with knowing your markets.”
My pal Jim Holland has a nice post on getting started--and maintaining your relevance--in product management. You have responsibility and accountability. But market knowledge is the source of authority.
If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?
I hope so. If not, you're wasting away.
No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there's a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.
Hurry, go do that.
Opportunity is everywhere. Hurry. Go do that.
There is an adage in graphic design that goes something like this:
If you want to make something stand out in your design, make it big. If it needs to stand out even more, make it bold. Still not enough? Make it red.
Big and bold and red epitomize the lazy designer because it always works but shows no imagination. Marketing is usually full of big and bold and red.
If you have to shout, then you don't really have the buyer's attention.
"Subtlety is not a virtue of our culture, but it appeals to me and always has.
The two most popular passwords used today are '123456' and 'password.' Scary.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/12/13/the-top-50-gawker-media-passwords/
If yours is in this list, maybe you should start 2011 off with a stronger password.
In some kind of weird founder solidarity, the slide was originally posted on Twitter by MyBlogLog founder Eric Marcoullier.
Roadmaps and other internal documents have a way of getting out. Here, Yahoo accidentally announces the end-of-life for some acquisitions. As I point out in our Roadmapping seminar, confidential documents, particularly roadmaps, easily escape the building, so I try to write all documents as if they will not remain private. (Thanks to Jeff for the link).
Pragmatic Roadmapping at www.pragmaticmarketing.com/seminars
