Archives for the 'Executives' Category
Vox Mercati
How do you know when you’ve arrived as a Product Manager? When you’re in a planning meeting with your Executive team and one of them makes a statement about the Market, or what product you should make next, or what they think your customer base needs - and you stare them straight back in [...]
Problems of Estimation
If you are PM at a startup you will often find yourself being the “go to” person for all G2M activities up to and including coordinating from requirements through First Customer Ship (FCS). Even though the Product Manager isn’t/shouldn’t become a Project Manager, you will often find yourself “owning” the date. Lots of [...]
Greasing the Wheels
You are a Product Manager, and you are in complete control. You write out requirements, and development builds the product. 100% of what development does is the result of your unique insights into the market. Only…it’s not working out that way is it?
Every company has limited development resources. In order to efficiently utilize those resources, [...]
The Challenges of Overseas Manufacturing, Part III of III
This is the 3rd of a three part cross-post between Product Beautiful and Product Global about the challenges of using overseas manufacturing and design. To catch up, read Part I and Part II.
In our first two discussions about using overseas manufacturing and design resource, Aston Udall of Product Global and I talked about the [...]
When Everyone Agrees with an Idea, Shoot it in the Head
The scenario usually unfolds like this: You’re in the break room, hallway, or meeting with a group of Executives and a developer, development lead, or VP of Development. It’s 2-weeks, a month, some period of time between feature lock and your ship date, and the VP of Engineering or programmer perks up and says [...]
Jerks Rise to the Top?
New York Magazine takes an interesting look into boss psychology. The article seems to support the theory that nice guys finish last and you need a mean streak to get ahead. Is the politically correct, gender sensitive, collaborative, consensus building boss model we’ve heard about through the 90’s to today crumbling? Narcissism [...]
Product Managers Well Positioned for the Future
We in Product Management have long known that we’re a strategic asset to our companies. Thankfully, the market has recognized this and Product and Brand managers are getting their due both in salary and recognition. Money Magazine and Salary.com picked Product/Brand Manager as the top position for people who want to be paid [...]
You Might Be a Product Manager If…
You’ve created a roadmap through 2012
You can’t remember working less than 70 hours a week
You’ve lost your hair (if you haven’t consider yourself warned!)
At your annual customer summit, you stay late to setup and test products for the next day while Sales runs up a historic bar tab
You used to be a programmer but were [...]
You Can’t Start Fresh
For most Product Managers, when you come into a company, you are asked to research the Market and identify problems that can be solved within the scope of your company’s products. There is another 800lb. gorilla that is easy to overlook - the existing products you will be asked to take over and manage. [...]
Hallway Conversation
Here is a hallway conversation I had recently that sums up a difference in approach between Development and Product Management:
Paul: “Mr. Executive, did you see the latest updates to the MRD for the new product?”
Exec: “Yes, and you keep adding these requirements that are going to add at least $30 to the BOM. You [...]
