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.
Product management is about allocating scarce resources across existing products/services while exploring new opportunities. We need to combine top-down, bottom-up and market-in approaches to make good decisions.
We make day-by-day or story-by-story prioritization choices without noticing the cumulative impact of those choices. But they add up. How can we easily see our implied product priorities?
Sometimes, ad-serving technology serves up exactly the wrong thing. Laugh or cry?
Team-level priorities and backlogs need to be anchored to broader technical and business goals. Here’s how one product leader is getting her various pieces lined up.
Program management tools need the output of a good product management process, but the same tools don’t work for both purposes. Some thoughts on what product managers need to make good decisions…
Scott Sehlhorst’s thoughtful diagram of strategic steps for successful products. This picture is certainly worth 1000 words.