Archives for the 'Theory' Category
Triumph’s Product Development Process
I’ve been out of pocket for awhile and unfortunately too busy to post! As I try to get back in the swing of things, I’ve begun to look at the products from companies I most admire. Triumph is British manufacturer of classic cruisers (think: Harley’s), tourers, and crotch rockets (if the Japanese companies [...]
Positioning Tools
Positioning is a funny thing. Something about that word makes people roll their eyes as if to say “there go the marketing people again…” Those people are wrong - positioning is not fluffy marketing-speak. It is important, and as a product manager you are CEO of your product, so you had better [...]
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 [...]
Trading in Secrets
While you are waiting for The New Rules of Marketing & PR, you can sink your teeth into another great e-book that David M. Scott and my favorite team over at Pragmatic Marketing collaborated on, The Secrets of Market Driven Leaders, How Technology Company CEO’s Create Success (and why most fail) (PDF).
First of all - [...]
What Problem Do You Solve?
This may be semantic but recently I’ve been reflecting on a key foundation of Product Managment - the mantra “What problem are we solving?” After spending the majority of my career managing B2B Enterprise software and services, a year ago I went to a B2C (indirect) company focused on entertainment. After consideration, I [...]
Nintendo Changes the Game
By now, everyone has heard of the awesome success that Nintendo is having with the Wii game console. My wife bought a Wii and after playing with it, and seeing my parents play (and enjoy) it, it deserves a closer look.
Nintendo recognized that they were playing a losing game by continuing to spin in [...]
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 [...]
Resturant Service as a Metaphor for Product Management
Last night my wife and I hit our favorite tex-mex diner for some enchiladas (for her) and fajitas (for me). They’re a family owned and operated business so I cut them a lot of slack in their service since some of their kids work as wait staff. However last night everything seemed like a metaphor for Product Management.
Dell Outsourcing Product Management to Its Customers
Dell has made a habit out of bucking the system with their unique business model. They have made a lot of money driving the cost out of servers, PC’s and laptops by cutting out the middlemen like CDW and selling direct. Most of Dell’s major innovations have been in operational improvements like supply chain management, packaging efficiency, and squeezing suppliers. This is part of the reason their performance has been suffering.
Paul’s 3rd Postulate of Product Management
This is the 3rd in my series of The Postulates of Product Management. Closely related to an earlier post about accuracy in scheduling, this also deals with Development:
Development’s initial estimate of time to develop a product or feature will be at least 50% aggressive or 50% conservative.
The fun thing about Product Management is you [...]
