Product Management Skills
Martin Eriksson defines product management as the intersection between business, technology, and user experience. He believes that a good product manager must be experienced in at least one of these areas and passionate about all of them. But what exact skills does a product manager need? From communication and strategic thinking to prioritisation and analytical skills, the list is long. This content looks at product management skills in different ways.
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Why Product Thinking is the Future for Product Management
I believe the future of product management is product thinking. And product coaching is how we get there. I have worked with in product for most of my career. Building products for big corporates, small startups and scale-ups. Mostly I have been on the consulting side, meaning I have always had to hand over what Read more »
We Can't Trust Technology Providers - Is It Time for a Code of Ethics?
In the day and age where data is king, users have now essentially become the product. Questionable actions by leading tech giants hit the news every other day – from Facebook spying on its users and selling data, to Apple admitting it degrades batteries on purpose to force upgrades – it seems users just cannot trust the Read more »
Silence the Squeaky Wheel through Feature Prioritization
Prioritization is challenging and stressful. Sometimes it’s because of micro-prioritization such as bug triage and moving one small fix in front of another. Other times it comes from the macro level: deciding to target new user growth versus lifetime value; spending time on user research or analytics; handling your manager’s feature request versus the tech Read more »
Product/Market Fit is Failing Because of Your Company Structure
Did you know that 42% of startups fail because no one wants to buy their product? For corporations, nearly 80% of new products fail each year for the exact same reason. So why are we still developing products no one wants? Product experts have tried to tackle this issue but they gloss over the impact a company’s structure Read more »
Want to be a Product Manager? Just get out There and Make Products
Are you trying to break into Product Management? I’ll start with the bad news. There are a huge number of motivated, intelligent people who are looking for a first step on the ladder, and very few entry-level roles to go around. These budding product managers have many things in common. Most of them are familiar Read more »
Nail your Backlog Priorities by Figuring out Return on Effort
Prioritization of work is hard: it’s often more an art than a science. Unless you work in an organization that has mastered the delicate balance of work from a prioritized roadmap as well as customer requests, you too may often be faced with squeaky-wheel prioritization: The customer yelling the loudest (or the one who last Read more »
2019 Goals Gone off the Rails? 3 Ways to get Back on Track
How are those 2019 goals and resolutions coming along? According to the US News and World Report, 80% of New Year resolutions fail by February – so if you’re like the majority of us, those well-intentioned, heartfelt goals you set a few weeks ago have become faint memories by now. Why? One key reason is simply Read more »
Is that Job too Good to be True? How to Check you’re Applying for a Product Management Role
You don’t have to look very far to find a ton of companies and organisations who are hiring for Product Management roles. If you’re lucky, you might be applying for a new job through a forward-thinking recruitment process where you see the demands of the role first-hand and can make a collective decision with your Read more »
Podcast: Marketplace Thinking and Fur Babies with Christopher Nheu
Christopher Nheu (Head of Product at Australia-based Mad Paws) came to our attention after speaking at ProductTank Sydney. His presentation, Product Thinking for Marketplace Startups, does an amazing job of documenting the differences between pipes and platforms, the three fundamental forces of marketplaces, and the specific challenges of catering to customers concerned with the well-being of Read more »
Why Listening is Crucial to Product - and How to do it Better
As a recovering product manager turned executive coach, I’ve found that there’s actually quite a bit of overlap between building and launching successful products and supporting individuals in gaining self-awareness and building leadership skills. In both worlds, it’s critical to understand the system, have a solid strategy, be able to provide ongoing support, and measure Read more »