Article archives
Here you can find links to all the articles published on this website.
You can also view the PRODUCTHEAD newsletter archive.
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What you should expect when recruiting a product manager
After my slightly frivolous post last time, I wanted to follow up with a more practical…Read more →
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Product managers make GREAT dinner guests
Now that I’ve started up a product management consultancy, I’ve found myself having to explain a…Read more →
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Don’t look back in anger – 2012 round-up
2012 was a real roller-coaster ride for me, both personally and professionally. Surprisingly (to me), it…Read more →
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My new favourite things
Over the last few weeks I’ve mostly been investigating the variety of tools available to help…Read more →
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30: Reserve time for housekeeping
Like doing the washing-up, vacuuming under the sofa or cleaning your windows, housekeeping tasks with your…Read more →
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How to price throughout the product lifecycle
Price is absolutely critical to the success of your product.Read more →
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29: Never commit to written word something you’ll be ashamed of later
You know how sometimes you read an email that incenses you so much that you have…Read more →
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28: What’s the big idea?
I always used to think that I needed to have that one BIG IDEA to change…Read more →
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The 8 traits of a successful web API
I’ve been talking to web developers, engineers and product people about APIs. After all, they’re the…Read more →
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Why sales needs to align with product management to win more business
Despite relying on each other for the success of their products, the Sales and Product teams…Read more →
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Introducing Product People – interim product management, coaching, training and content creation
I’m extremely excited to announce my new company, Product People. Our aim is to be that…Read more →
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26: The customer is king
By failing to grasp the demographics of their customer base, Demon Internet appears to have scored…Read more →
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25: “Don’t let roUtINe draw U IN to danger!”
One of the easiest traps for a product manager to fall into is unquestioning routine or…Read more →
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Facebook is like the drinking game “I Have Never…”
Last night at ProductTank I was chatting to some other delegates. We came to the realisation…Read more →
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24: Variety is the spice of life
Sometimes when I’m stuck doing the same thing at work I joke that the repetition is…Read more →
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23: Too much choice can be overwhelming
As the Olympics approached, I was salivating greedily about the twenty-four live streams of coverage the…Read more →
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22: Blow your own trumpet
As a product manager, people will take credit for your hard work – unless you trumpet…Read more →
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21: Seven KPIs for customer insight
Knowledge is power for product managers, but you have to gather and interpret the right metrics.…Read more →
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Big data – big deal?
Everyone seems to be hyping Big Data right now. I think we’ve reached that slightly scary…Read more →
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Cookie cookie cookie COOOKIE
I enjoy a good cookie, particularly the slightly squidgy ones with huge chunks of chocolate in.…Read more →
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20: Leave work when you’re meant to
Here’s how to sleep more soundly at night and avoid setting unrealistic expectations about how much…Read more →
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19: How to regain control of your inbox
Product managers just loooove solving problems and answering questions. Emails present us with an enticing list…Read more →
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18: Five ways to manage distractions better
As product managers, our workload intensity tends to be cyclical and sometimes these cycles can stack…Read more →
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17: Remember your manners
My folks brought me up to remember my manners. I consider I’ve perhaps taken this a…Read more →
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16: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone – Joni Mitchell
People value something most when they’ve just lost it or come close to doing so. If…Read more →
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15: Product management is selling
Contrary to what you may think, most of product management is actually selling. You are continually…Read more →
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Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 2
We’re looking at the kinds of information that specific groups of people need to know during…Read more →
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14: There is always more work to do. Don’t burn yourself out
One of the easiest ways to spot a product manager in the wild is to look…Read more →
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13: You’ve got to start the race before you can finish it
Sometimes the role of product management can be a little overwhelming. There’s often so much to…Read more →
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12: Keep it simple, stupid
I’m writing about 100 things I’ve learned as a product manager. Don’t make things any more complicated than they need to be. Keep it simple. (That is all) Get articles when they’re published My articles get published irregularly (erratically, some might say). Never miss an article again by getting them delivered direct to your inbox…
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Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 1
Do you spend more time writing documents about your product than actually managing it? Many companies…Read more →
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11: You are allowed to say ‘no’ – it’s strategic
Product managers hate saying ‘no’. It’s not in our nature to disappoint people.Read more →
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10: Give yourself time to think in a straight line
One of the many personal challenges I’ve faced in my working life was to overcome my…Read more →
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Book recommendation – The Case for Working with Your Hands
The Case for Working with Your Hands: or Why Office Work is Bad for Us and Fixing Things Feels Good by Matthew Crawford (Amazon) I appreciate that it is somewhat perverse to recommend a book to you that ostensibly advocates ditching the desk job in favour of more creative and rewarding manual labour. Bear with…
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9: Everything benefits from a good start in life
Don’t you find that it is always so hard to recover something that started badly? Whether…Read more →
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8: Empathise, empathise, empathise
Empathy is something every product manager needs to be able to do their job well. Without…Read more →
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7: Public speaking is as much about how you say it as well as what you say
Closely related to presenting well is the art of public speaking. While not everyone is thrilled…Read more →
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6: Good presentation skills are not the same as good PowerPoint skills
It is inevitable that you will need to stand up and give a presentation at some…Read more →
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Lean, green, micro machines
I’m still hunting for a replacement firewall server and some low-power desktop machines, without necessarily compromising…Read more →
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5: The best possible way may not necessarily be the right way
We product managers are a surprisingly upbeat bunch considering that we seem to spend a good…Read more →
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4: Don’t focus on what’s stopping you
Product managers can be creatures of habit. Some habits are good and give us a consistent…Read more →
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3: Know your subject matter
So much of being a product manager depends on successfully persuading and influencing others. Whether you’re…Read more →
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2: Find problems rather than guess solutions
When we start thinking about the requirements for a new product version, I bet we all…Read more →
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1: Be fluent in the language of your audience
One of the roles a product manager or product marketing manager plays is to act as…Read more →
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OMG EOL – LOL (or: How to take a product to end of life)
Product managers are full of contradictions: if we’re not busting a gut to launch something, we’re…Read more →
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Painting the Forth Bridge
There is a popular myth that in order to protect its metalwork from the salty ravages…Read more →
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Lo-fi usability testing – Part 3: Ten top tips
In the thrilling* conclusion to this lo-fi usability testing trilogy, we get down to the nitty-gritty…Read more →
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Lo-fi usability testing – Part 2: Preparation
In this second instalment of this series on lo-fi usability testing, I’ll be showing you what…Read more →
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Lo-fi usability testing – Part 1: Background
You can run lo-fi usability testing in a single afternoon that will uncover 80% of the…Read more →
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What will your leaving speech sound like?
A good friend and colleague recently left our firm to take on a more senior product…Read more →
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