Product Management Skills

I recently read a write-up of what looked like a very interesting roundtable discussion with product leaders in London. The last of the four topics particularly caught my eye: “how do you increase the commercial acumen of product managers?”. The article suggested that “product people (especially those in Europe) are weak commercially”, which “can lead to Read more »

For the past year, as Director of Training Products for Mind the Product, I’ve been creating a training platform and service. During this time I’ve worked with dozens of companies and hundreds of product managers; hearing about their challenges, and working with them to set game plans for shifting practices. The one theme that has Read more »

“There is a way to do it better. Find it!” Thomas Edison Here’s the thing with innovation, you can’t just tell people to be innovative. A great idea doesn’t always come when you’re sitting at your desk between 9:00am and the end of your working day. Here at etventure we’ve tried various approaches to innovation Read more »

I recently had a call with the CEO of a company that I thought would be a great channel partner for my company. I’d been looking forward to the conversation; we’d convinced a few similar firms to partner with us recently and I was hungry for some momentum. When the call kicked off, I fully expected Read more »

Let’s assume you have a great idea that requires some of your colleagues to take action to move it forward.  You introduce it and they agree that it sounds good.  A couple of weeks later, you ask how things are progressing and they haven’t had time to start yet.  A few more weeks pass… still Read more »

A Rude Awakening There is a change coming. A movement in motion, and like the majority of technological disruptions the earliest adopters are greasing the gears in the silicon communities. You won’t have had to dig very deep recently to have picked up on an increasing sense of rebellion against what used to be the Read more »

  Google Analytics as Your Default Platform? Sure, if it’s 2010… A product manager’s role as an analyst is sometimes forgotten or not recognized. As a product manager, the impact of your business decisions will be measured by your product’s front-end data. It is your obligation to be able to implement an analytic platform, analyze Read more »

Data is the world’s most valuable resource, according to The Economist, and the companies that primarily deal in data  – Google, Amazon, Facebook and the like – are among the most valuable in the world. Data and data products have been part of my professional career for a long time – from advising telco providers Read more »

Over the past couple of years, there has been something of a trend in product management circles for criticizing (or at least challenging) the value of an MBA. As a current MBA candidate, here’s why I think this is misguided. A couple of years ago an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere which highlighted the Read more »

I think of high-performing teams like a personal best on a run: they don’t happen overnight or by accident, but they’re worth it. As product managers, we’re often on point for building team culture. And we really feel the benefit of it when teams are working well together: a team that can move fast, understand Read more »