Let’s Get It Done – What Do You Do?

Play out this scenario. You are a product manager. A senior executive in your company has an idea about what your product needs to do. S/he has sufficient understanding of the product and the market. S/he speaks with as many customers as you do if not more. If s/he happens to be in charge of engineering and product development, they also know the technology, effort, complexity. The edict is passed down – “We need to do X. Let’s get it done.” and this generates a perfect maelstrom of activity. You are the product manager. What do you do?

Please share your thoughts in the comments. Trying out a new format for a post, but this is a real situation for many product managers.

What Does It Mean to be a Big Data Product Manager

Last week while driving to a meeting, I had an epiphany. Those familiar with the state of highways in the Bay Area in the morning rush hour can relate to this. I had to be in Burlingame on the water’s side of 101 at 9:30am. However, it was 8:30am before I could leave from Sunnyvale near 280 south of 85. At that time, no matter which highway I took (280, 85, 92, 101) one hour to get to Burlingame was an impossible task. Yet with real time traffic updates on the GPS and timely decision making about getting off and back on the highways at the right exits, I was able to make it to the cafe in Burlingame at 9:20am. Phew! Well let me assure you that it was no small feat. Now to the epiphany. Continue reading “What Does It Mean to be a Big Data Product Manager” →

The Insanely Great Product Manager – Part 4: Communicate Value

After understanding value, creating value, and capturing value, we now come to the next part of the value journey, i.e. communicating value.

A product manager has to be an effective communicator. Effective communication is timely, concise, and inspiring, yet with a lot of empathy. In the daily grind of the job, there are numerous things that pull a product manager in many different directions, yet, the opportunity to communicate with different stakeholders is always welcome. Continue reading “The Insanely Great Product Manager – Part 4: Communicate Value” →

How Will You Measure Your Life…and Build Great Products?

At first glance, it seems counter-intuitive that the two parts of the question would be related to each other.

How Will You Measure Your Life?, written by Clayton Christensen, is about how one can be successful, and happy in one’s career; how can relationships be a source of continuing happiness; and how can one live a life of integrity.

Continue reading “How Will You Measure Your Life…and Build Great Products?” →

The Insanely Great Product Manager – Part 2: Create Value

In Part 1, we looked at the first step of the value journey, Understand Value. In part 2, we will look at the next step, Create Value, and the product manager’s role in this step. As we did in part 1, we will look at this in the context of one insanely great product manager, Steve Jobs, as well as some other examples. Continue reading “The Insanely Great Product Manager – Part 2: Create Value” →

The Pentagon Wars – A Product Management Disaster

The Pentagon Wars, made as an HBO movie in 1998, is based on a book of the same name by Col. James Burton (retd). The film depicts the development of the Bradley fighting vehicle. Col Burton was appointed by Congress as an outsider to oversee the testing of new weapons in development, including the Bradley. In order to get up to speed with the development history of the Bradley, Burton dives into the mountain of paperwork documenting it’s development. This is where we pick up the movie below for a 11-min scene that takes us through the “product development process” in flashbacks. Continue reading “The Pentagon Wars – A Product Management Disaster” →