Jeff Lash has been kind enough to ask me to answer another question on Ask A Good Product Manager. Question: How can we decide between focusing on the needs of many small customers with only a few users each and the needs of a few large customers with many users […]
Buyer Personas And User Personas
A lot of people stand up a variation of “If you build it, he will come” (from Field of Dreams) as a copy-writing hook for whatever they are about to tell you about creating products/services/whatever. We’re no better. We’re going to tell you that there is a big difference between […]
The Non-Customer Is Always Right
We’ve all heard the saying, the customer is always right. For most product managers, however, the non-customer is the person you should be listening to. When you hear the phrase understand your market, the goal isn’t to understand those people who’ve already purchased your product. The goal is to understand […]
Product Management Certification
Should product managers get certifications? Ask a Good Product Manager asked us to answer.
Product Management Philosophy
Adam Bullied has thrown down a “manifesto” to start a conversation on product management – and to try and help drive our community to a common definition or understanding of product management. And he’s asked for feedback. Using idea seeding, we’ll see what we can come up with in 30 […]
Defining Problems at ProductCamp Austin 1
Jun 14th was the first productcamp in Austin (and the second one anywhere). It was a great event, and here’s the presentation that I did on how to define the strategic problems that drive our products.
Technical Product Manager Tips
Are you a product manager with a technical background? Do you constantly find yourself getting dragged into tactical roles like giving demos or providing feedback on design approaches? Are you getting shut out of strategic conversations about value and objectives and “business drivers”? Or do you think on your feet […]
Use Case To Actor Mapping
We know the importance of identifying the use cases that enable our business goals. We also know the value of understanding the actors that will use our products. This article shows how to demonstrate a simple but powerful view that maps the use cases to the actors.
Defining Problems With Cause And Effect Diagrams
The Cause and Effect diagram is also known as a fish bone diagram, because it resembles the skeleton of a fish. Using a cause and effect diagram can be the most effective way to define the problems that you intend to solve with your product. Get your stakeholders engaged in […]