Guerilla Product Management

gorilla *(scroll to the bottom and come back)

Guerilla Product Management (pdf) is an article available from Sequent Learning Networks, written by Steven Haines. (Hat tip to brainmates for finding it)

Steven’s pdf includes 17 golden rules for achieving product management success(no, we won’t do 17 articles on each of them). Many of them are relevant in any consultative or sales role. We’ve bolded our favorites, and you’ll have to check out Steven’s article for the details on each point he makes

  1. Know what has to get done and when.
  2. Know how the company works and who is responsible for what.
  3. Make friends.
  4. Get cake or cookies…
  5. Do research – all the time.
  6. Learn to share.
  7. Get a thick skin.
  8. Learn to make fun of yourself.
  9. Show your enthusiasm all day long.
  10. Learn the numbers.
  11. Communicate.
  12. Take a hike.
  13. Keep excellent records.
  14. Strengthen your bond with marketing and R&D.
  15. Do good deeds.
  16. Don’t wait for orders.
  17. Build a community.

Steven Haines

Conclusion

Steven shares several good ideas about how to be a great consultant. And these are key elements of succesfull product management. It can be easy to focus on prioritization and completeness and traceability and schedules. That stuff all falls under the “be competent” part of product management. The people relationships and consulting work is what drives the next level of success.

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* Yes, I know – gorilla guerilla – I’ve never stopped laughing at Martin Short’s line from Captain Ron – “There are no gorillas in the Caribbean!” Besides, we’re all getting tired of that ‘big ten’ logo anyway.

  • Scott Sehlhorst

    Scott Sehlhorst is a product management and strategy consultant with over 30 years of experience in engineering, software development, and business. Scott founded Tyner Blain in 2005 to focus on helping companies, teams, and product managers build better products. Follow him on LinkedIn, and connect to see how Scott can help your organization.

2 thoughts on “Guerilla Product Management

  1. Hey Tyner, I was impressed that you had linked to the new site even before it was launched!! But now it is so I can thank you for the Hat tip.
    –nick coster
    brainmates – Product Management People

  2. Nick,

    There are so few good blogs on product management, that I’ve developed the habit of just digging around for them. Glad I found yours. Thanks for the comment, and keep on posting – I’ve got you in my feed reader.

    Scott

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