My #1 hiring criterion for (senior) product management roles is previous product management experience. Responding to a Medium post by David Cancel, here’s some of my thinking.
Thanking people for their good work is one of the most powerful, least used tools we have at the office. Here’s one organizationally-minded way to share appreciation.
VPs of Product Management have to create the conditions for individual product managers to succeed. This includes organizational, process, hiring/mentoring and cross-functional leadership — plus buy-in at every level. What goes on a new VP’s checklist?
From Forbes’ Leadership blog: my comments about the impending Unicorn Apocalypse. What happens when a few highly visible startups stumble and funding slows down?
Appreciative hat tips to bloggers, events, podcasts and product-specific tools that caught my eye during 2015. An embarrassment of riches!
There are a lot of inputs to product strategy including advisory boards, customer forums, sales teams and ROI prioritization algorithms. None are sufficient on their own: we have to develop and apply strategic judgment, and test that in the marketplace.
The software bits we release are not the whole product, but a part of the product. We need to make sure we ship a whole product, which includes a compelling story of interest to customers. Strategy, segmentation and customer joy matter.
If all of the profits are in the nth copy of software that we sell, we need to understand the Law of Build Once, Sell Many. Building for market segments is different (better) than custom development or professional services.
It’s a fact: your development team will never, ever, ever be big enough. As a software executive or product lead, how should knowing that change your actions or decisions?
In a job search, *you* are the product that you’re trying to market. Look for ways to apply your product management skills to yourself: segmentation/targeting, turning features into benefits, and solution selling. Become your own demo.