Article archives
Here you can find links to all the articles published on this website.
30: Reserve time for housekeeping
Like doing the washing-up, vacuuming under the sofa or cleaning your windows, housekeeping tasks with your product can get neglected because they’re tedious, not as interesting as new features and so on. However, if you’ve ever found yourself eating breakfast cereal out of an oven tray with a serving spoon because every single item of cutlery and crockery is festering in a pile in your sink, it should be apparent there is inherent value in tackling housekeeping tasks bit by bit over time.
UPDATED – 10th December: How to run effective usability testing @GA_London
UPDATED – I’m giving a talk with General Assembly London on December 10th, 6.00pm to 7.30pm! Learn how to run effective usability testing with me, sign up at .
Read more › UPDATED – 10th December: How to run effective usability testing @GA_London
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 to craft a long, occasionally sarcastic, cutting BUT ENTIRELY JUSTIFIED reply explaining precisely why you think that person is a complete and utter d**k. Hmmm? Here’s why it may not be a great idea to send it.
Read more › 29: Never commit to written word something you’ll be ashamed of later
Top tip: fixing broken dynamic content in WordPress admin dashboard
If you change your self-hosted WordPress install so that it starts using SSL to secure the Admin interface, you may have noticed that some dynamic elements are no longer working, such as the Jetpack site stats graph or the fold out sub-menus on the main menu. Here’s how to fix it.
Read more › Top tip: fixing broken dynamic content in WordPress admin dashboard
Link of the day: Agile Product Ownership in a nutshell
If you’ve got 15 minutes handy, here’s an engaging and useful overview of Agile Product Ownership by Henrik Kniberg over on Crisp’s Blog.
Read more › Link of the day: Agile Product Ownership in a nutshell
28: What’s the big idea?
I always used to think that I needed to have that one BIG IDEA to change the world before starting my own company. Turns out I couldn’t be further from the truth.
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 ones using them. From our discussions, it’s clear that the best web APIs share some common traits. Would you like to know what’s going to make yours more successful?
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 often have a jarring relationship. This is far from ideal. By looking at where things go wrong we can identify a better way of working with each other. The prizes on offer: shorter sales cycles, more easily achieved targets and customers who are always happy to hear from you.
Read more › Why sales needs to align with product management to win more business
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 extra pair of hands to help you when you’re busy by providing product management, mentoring and copywriting services.
27: Don’t be scared of angry customers
At some point in your product career, you’re going to piss someone off. It will be unavoidable. Hopefully it will not have been the result of, say, supergluing a pound coin to the desktop of your alpha sales guy. It might be a customer who’s annoyed with you, perhaps because of an otherwise well-intentioned change to your product. Is this a problem? Not yet. Let me explain why.
import.io – Live from Big Data London & Strata
I’m blogging live from the O’Reilly Strata conference venue, at the Big Data London meetup. I’ve just been listening to David White launching import.io and wanted to share how excited I am about what they’re doing. Get articles when they’re … import.io – Live from Big Data London & Strata Read More »
26: The customer is king
By failing to grasp the demographics of their customer base, Demon Internet appears to have scored a convincing customer service own-goal with their email upgrade.
18th October: How to Run Effective Usability Testing
I’m giving a talk with General Assembly London on October 18th, 2012, 7.30pm to 9pm! If you’d like to learn how to run effective usability testing with me, sign up at http://usabilitytesting.eventbrite.com/. Get articles when they’re published My articles get published irregularly (erratically, … 18th October: How to Run Effective Usability Testing Read More »
Read more › 18th October: How to Run Effective Usability Testing
Link of the Day: Pricing your product – it doesn’t have to be so complicated
Lovely article from Joel Gascoigne about why startups should just start charging from the outset, and why it’s not that big a deal to evolve and change pricing later on – as long as you don’t screw over your existing … Link of the Day: Pricing your product – it doesn’t have to be so…
Read more › Link of the Day: Pricing your product – it doesn’t have to be so complicated
Link of the Day: LaunchRock
Set up a “Launching Soon” page in minutes. Collect interest, increase sharing and build your audience. Take a look at LaunchRock! Get articles when they’re published My articles get published irregularly (erratically, some might say). Never miss an article again … Link of the Day: LaunchRock Read More »
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 habit. I learned about this most through my time at university training to fly with the Royal Air Force. Let me explain how it applies.
Link of the Day: Kano tutorial via Mountain Goat Software
An intriguing and nonintuitive aspect of customer satisfaction is that sometimes the feature that provides the most satisfaction is one that customers didn’t know they wanted until they saw it. – Mike Cohn For how long have you been prioritising … Link of the Day: Kano tutorial via Mountain Goat Software Read More »
Read more › Link of the Day: Kano tutorial via Mountain Goat Software
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 that Facebook was essentially playing an elaborate version of the drinking game of “I Have Never…”. All is explained after the break.
Read more › Facebook is like the drinking game “I Have Never…”
24: Variety is the spice of life
Sometimes when I’m stuck doing the same thing at work I joke that the repetition is causing my brain to harden. Turns out this isn’t so far from the truth. Here’s why it’s important to keep challenging yourself and learning new things.
What questions do YOU have about product management?
It’s one of the most basic aspects of product management: understanding what your customers need. As my customers, I’d like to turn the microphone round and ask you what questions you have about product management! If you have any gnarly … What questions do YOU have about product management? Read More »
Read more › What questions do YOU have about product management?
Link of the day: Klok – free time tracking software
Android app is still in beta, but worth a quick look. Handy if you’re a freelancer, or just need to keep tabs on your multitasking! Free Time Tracking Software – Klok Free and Klok Pro. Get articles when they’re published … Link of the day: Klok – free time tracking software Read More »
Read more › Link of the day: Klok – free time tracking software
How to double the speed of your WordPress site in 3 easy steps
With the investment of a few hours’ effort, I doubled the speed of this WordPress blog and no coding was needed. This is great news if you’re a little intimidated by performance tuning. In this article I’m going to walk you through the steps I took.
Read more › How to double the speed of your WordPress site in 3 easy steps
Link of the day: Product Focus’s journal
Product Focus do a nice line in journals covering particular topics such as pricing and business cases. They’re clear, easy to read and immensely practical, so well worth a look. Find them at productfocus.com Get articles when they’re published My … Link of the day: Product Focus’s journal Read More »
23: Too much choice can be overwhelming
As the Olympics approached, I was salivating greedily about the twenty-four live streams of coverage the BBC would be providing. As I’m not on cable or satellite, this ended up being just three. You’d think I would be disappointed but I’m not – this is going to improve my enjoyment immeasurably as a result. Here’s why.
22: Blow your own trumpet
As a product manager, people will take credit for your hard work – unless you trumpet your own successes!
21: Seven KPIs for customer insight
Knowledge is power for product managers, but you have to gather and interpret the right metrics. Here are seven suggested KPIs that you can use to expand your customer insight and to drive better performance.
Big data – big deal?
Everyone seems to be hyping Big Data right now. I think we’ve reached that slightly scary point where CEOs are aware of Big Data and are beginning to think it a panacea for all business ills. But I’m asking the question: what’s the big deal with Big Data?
Cookie cookie cookie COOOKIE
I enjoy a good cookie, particularly the slightly squidgy ones with huge chunks of chocolate in. Sadly, this isn’t about highly-calorific comestibles, but about information this site will store in your browser.
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 you can get done in a given amount of time
19: How to regain control of your inbox
Product managers just loooove solving problems and answering questions. Emails present us with an enticing list of both, which is why we find it so hard to tear ourselves away from them. I reveal how you can regain control of your inbox after the break!
18: Five ways to manage distractions better
As product managers, our workload intensity tends to be cyclical and sometimes these cycles can stack up. Distractions can seriously dent your ability to Get Stuff Done™, so here are five things you can try out to manage distractions more effectively.
17: Remember your manners
My folks brought me up to remember my manners. I consider I’ve perhaps taken this a little too far when I find myself apologising to people in London who have just shoulder-barged me into the path of an oncoming bus. But manners are important, especially for a product manager, where your success relies on the help of many others.
Link of the day: MindJet Connect
MindJet has made a free, cloud-based version of its mindmapping tool available and it’s lovely to use. It’s now a much better alternative to FreeMind (sorry guys), and being browser-based, avoids any corporate IT restrictions on installing software.
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 your product prevents this happening, take some advice from Joni Mitchell: you need to save your client the heartache of loss by helping them remember how much they value what they have now so that they don’t take it for granted.
Read more › 16: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone – Joni Mitchell
15: Product management is selling
Contrary to what you may think, most of product management is actually selling. You are continually selling new product concepts, ideas for improvement as well as pitches for projects. What you may not realise is that what most people think is selling isn’t actually selling.
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 the lifecycle of your product and why they’re so interested in the first place.
Last time we covered the steps from idea through to convincing people to part with some cash to build it. Now we’re going to look at building it and onwards through launch to review.
Read more › Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 2
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 for the slightly frazzled person with the longest to-do list and a determined look in their eye.
While I think we generally enjoy keeping ourselves busy, I’ve often noticed over a beer with colleagues that we (myself included) also quite enjoy having a bit of a moan over how much there is to do and that the work is never-ending.
Read more › 14: There is always more work to do. Don’t burn yourself out
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 do that you can feel at a loss for where to begin. But did you know that ancient Greek philosophers contended with the same problem?
Read more › 13: You’ve got to start the race before you can finish it
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 … 12: Keep it simple, stupid Read More »
Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 1
Do you spend more time writing documents about your product than actually managing it?
Many companies with some kind of product management function become all caught up in the process, drowning themselves in increasing numbers of documents. These rapidly become overwhelming to manage, contain duplicated detail and ultimately obscure the real objective of product management, namely to create successful products.
Read more › Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 1
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 › 11: You are allowed to say ‘no’ – it’s strategic
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 natural tendency towards being erratic. I’m not talking about endearing (to me at least) eccentricities, more about practical things such as a rubbish memory for dates and poor time management. Throw in a crisis and I could generally be found running around with my head on fire.
Read more › 10: Give yourself time to think in a straight line
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 … Book recommendation – The Case for Working with Your Hands Read More »
Read more › Book recommendation – The Case for Working with Your Hands
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 it’s a development project, a product launch, or a new starter in your team, you can be reasonably certain that each will benefit from a good start in life.
Read more › 9: Everything benefits from a good start in life
8: Empathise, empathise, empathise
Empathy is something every product manager needs to be able to do their job well. Without it, it’s impossible to be sure what matters most to your target market and how valuable a solution to their problems will be. Empathise!
Live on ProdMgmtTalk July 25/26 – the love/hate relationship with Sales
Love them or hate them, you won’t have a successful product without your sales force. So if you’re at a loose end on Monday night, come join me to discuss the relationship between Product Management and Sales on @ProdMgmtTalk.
In the UK, if you want to share your views, you’ll need to stay up past your bedtime on a school night. The tweet chat is early Tuesday 26 July, midnight – 1:00 AM BST.
For the US, it will be Monday 25 July, between 4:00 – 5:00 PM PT
And for Australia it will be Tuesday 26 July 9:00 – 10:00 AM ET
Read more › Live on ProdMgmtTalk July 25/26 – the love/hate relationship with Sales
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 at the prospect at standing up and speaking in front of colleagues or strangers, it is a skill that can be acquired. As you become more proficient, you’ll be able to control your nerves better before a presentation and you may even come to enjoy it. Here are some suggested tips:
Read more › 7: Public speaking is as much about how you say it as well as what you say
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 point during your career as a product manager. Some people dislike presenting more than others; that’s natural. Whether you love or hate the sound of your own voice, try some of the following tips to ease some of the stress of presenting.
Read more › 6: Good presentation skills are not the same as good PowerPoint skills
Lean, green, micro machines
I’m still hunting for a replacement firewall server and some low-power desktop machines, without necessarily compromising on performance. Mind you, I’m looking for a Linux-based firewall, not a gaming machine, so ‘performance’ may be overstating things. A quick hunt on the internet later and I’m amazed by how quickly the micro PC market is continuing to evolve. I thought I’d share with you a couple of the most desirable green machines I’ve found so far.
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 proportion of our time making compromises. We very rarely get the opportunity to deliver everything we need in a product in the best possible way.
Read more › 5: The best possible way may not necessarily be the right way
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 and diligent approach. Sometimes, though, we allow ourselves to be constrained by habitual thinking, inhibiting true innovation. What’s stopping you?
3: Know your subject matter
So much of being a product manager depends on successfully persuading and influencing others. Whether you’re presenting your product strategy, presenting a business case to the Board or talking with your customers, you need to know your subject matter: to demonstrate a good knowledge of your products and market to ensure that you come over as authoritative and credible.
2: Find problems rather than guess solutions
When we start thinking about the requirements for a new product version, I bet we all make the same mistake when deciding what goes in: we guess solutions rather than find problems.
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 a translator between different groups of people. Sometimes this can be in a literal sense, if your responsibilities span different countries, but more generally this means translating between the market, Sales, Marketing and Development as a minimum.
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 trying to kill our older products off.
Read more › OMG EOL – LOL (or: How to take a product to end of life)
Painting the Forth Bridge
There is a popular myth that in order to protect its metalwork from the salty ravages of the nearby North Sea, the Forth Bridge needed to be painted to keep it proofed against corrosion. The task took so long that, by the time the painters finished one job, it was immediately time to begin over.
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 of how to run the tests and how to interpret and act on the results.
* It all depends on your perspective
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 you need to do to prepare for your usability tests.
Lo-fi usability testing – Part 1: Background
You can run lo-fi usability testing in a single afternoon that will uncover 80% of the problems your product has, with only a pen, some paper and access to the software or website.
What will your leaving speech sound like?
A good friend and colleague recently left our firm to take on a more senior product management role elsewhere. His boss and his boss’s boss stood next to him and gave him a glowing and sincere send-off, with the leaving speech striking that good balance between “we’re sad to see you leave” and “go out, excel and make us proud”.
New WordPress theme
As you may have gathered, I’ve been tinkering with the WordPress theme of this site. Still early days yet and I’ve a bit more tinkering to do, but I think it’s an improvement.
For those who are interested, I’m using Duster by Automattic.
How to get your sales team selling value instead of discounting
Does your sales team sell your products (like, in exchange for money), or does it give them away as generous sweeteners to guarantee the sale of something else that will hit their targets? Or to put it in another way, does your salesforce truly understand the value of your products and can it articulate the benefits to the customer?
Read more › How to get your sales team selling value instead of discounting
Link of the day: The Equity Kicker
While I was working at a former start-up called Zeus Technology (now doing rather well for itself, thank you), one of the investors was a chap called Nic Brisbourne. He writes a blog called The Equity Kicker.
ProductCamp London: Why product managers and entrepreneurs need to be more alike
Here’s a round-up of some of the presentations and discussions I attended at the recent ProductCamp London, with links to the slide decks and recommended reading where applicable.
Read more › ProductCamp London: Why product managers and entrepreneurs need to be more alike
Pre-empting customer churn
How much would you invest to prevent a mass customer exodus? Everything Everywhere, the merged T-Mobile / Orange behemoth, was happy to spend £150 per customer to shore up its customer base following the post-merger restructuring.
What did it gain? A reduction in monthly churn from 1.7% to 1.3%, significant given their customers number well into the millions, plus an additional 300,000 customers locked into long-term contracts in place of short-term pre-pay contracts.
What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?
What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?
Read more › What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?
Link of the day: Buzz Marketing for Technology
Someone I’ve come across recently and would recommend is Paul Dunay (@PaulDunay) and his Buzz Marketing blog. He specialises in B2B marketing and has particular insight into harnessing the power of Social Media. Well worth a read.
7 guiding principles for product install / upgrade usability
I was discussing recently the importance of getting a product installation or upgrade process right for customers. Here are some guiding principles from a usability perspective that you may wish to consider when defining your product’s requirements.
Read more › 7 guiding principles for product install / upgrade usability
Easier product forecasting
Do you find it difficult to set appropriate financial targets for your product?
33 cut-out-and-keep usability requirements for your product
I strongly believe that all software companies should have a manifesto or a set of guidelines for usability.
Read more › 33 cut-out-and-keep usability requirements for your product
DIY Eco Linux Fileserver (part 2)
Earlier this month, I was attempting to appease my wife by reducing my server’s power consumption physical footprint. In this follow-up, I’ll give you an update on how I got on and pass on a few tips if you’re planning to do the same.
Normal I Manage Products service will be resumed in the next article!
DIY Eco Linux Fileserver (part 1)
Every now and again, I undertake a DIY tech project. I think it’s because I’m a geek at heart and I like to think to myself a little smugly, “still got it”. This time the brief actually came from my lovely wife: shrink the physical footprint and electricity consumption of the servers running 24/7 in the home office. The beige boxes are going green!
The thorny issue of pricing
Ah, pricing. Always a thorny topic for product managers as it’s one those more subjective areas of the job. I’d love to have some kind of oracular spreadsheet that foresees how much customers would be willing to pay for my new product. Ironically, I would pay good money for such a thing…
The problem with successful products
A product manager who thinks they’ve got an easy ride because their product is a cash cow is probably missing the point. While failing or unpopular products have a more obvious set of problems to tackle, successful ones have a different set of arguably trickier problems
Net Promoter EU Conference 2010
A few months ago, I co-presented a short speaking slot at this year’s SatMetrix Net Promoter European Conference. I’ve reproduced an excerpt from their official blog of the event for posterity.
You can see the full article in its original form at Net Promoter – Blogs – European Conference Blog 2010.
Why aren’t sales selling my new product?
There are many reasons why Sales may be holding back on your new product. As we all know, Salespeople are by nature shy, retiring types, who need constant reassurance. You need to encourage and nurture them, delicate little flowers that they are. Or at the very least, restrain the urge to run screaming at them with a baseball bat held aloft.
Ill communication
Ah, emails. How did we manage without them? Personally, I think quite well. Now we appear to be unable to tear ourselves away from them.
They taunt us in our inbox, begging for attention. They follow us on our mobile devices, so there is no respite. Most importantly, they’re categorically not suited to all situations. Move a bit closer to the screen – I have some valuable advice for you…
“Why the heck should I upgrade?” – 4 things you’re probably missing
You expend a lot of effort getting people to buy your product and they’re happy with it.
Time passes.
You then go back to your satisfied customers and tell them what they have is now mediocre, so they have to move onto your latest and greatest product version. You see this everywhere, from washing powders to family cars, so it must work for enterprise software, right? So why are your no-longer-happy customers now chasing you with pitchforks and burning torches?
Read more › “Why the heck should I upgrade?” – 4 things you’re probably missing
Positive procrastination
Everyone but the most tirelessly(and tiresome) self-motivated has at one point or another procrastinated in the face of some worthy activity. I think I’ve found a way to use procrastination for profit and gain; read on to see whether I have…
4 key ways to spot a successful product manager
As a product manager, how do you know you’re doing your job well? This article outlines the problem with traditional metrics for product managers and offers some better alternatives for measuring success: communication, ideas, roadmapping, launch and end-of-life.
Context is everything
Your developers may be happiest when they’re hacking gnarly code, leaving you to get on with engaging with the market, but this doesn’t mean you can ignore their need for context – the ‘why’ of their project.
Hello. I’m new.
I remember once starting a product manager job where it took me two hours to establish where my desk was.
On the plus side, I gained a valuable insight into how NOT to manage a new starter. Here are three basic lessons I’ve learned, so that hopefully you won’t be the subject of a similar blog post some time down the line.
Questions you need to be asking
There are many questions you need to be asking to determine the best course of action or to analyse underlying motivations. Of them, I use the following three questions most often:
1. So what?
2. Why?
3. What’s stopping us?
Pay attention to local requirements
If you want to succeed in global markets with a ‘one size fits all’ approach, you may want to reconsider that strategy. Pay as much attention, if not more, to getting the local details right.
By way of an introduction
Why write a blog? Up until recently if someone had suggested that I start writing a blog I would most likely have unfurled my ‘To Do’ list with a flourish, watched the unrolling end bounce off the floor and gestured vaguely into the distance. So what’s changed?
- PRODUCTHEAD: On OpenAI’s ideological conflict
- PRODUCTHEAD: Should you do custom features for paying clients?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Don’t wait. Just find out.
- PRODUCTHEAD: AI is word of the year
- PRODUCTHEAD: How product teams can measure discovery
- PRODUCTHEAD: Sunsetting a product or feature
- PRODUCTHEAD: Becoming a service organisation
- PRODUCTHEAD: Empathy with engineering (or avoiding developer disengagement)
- PRODUCTHEAD: Empowered teams can’t simply do whatever they like
- Getting your first job as a product manager
- PRODUCTHEAD: Training wheels and learned helplessness
- PRODUCTHEAD: Is there a standard product development life cycle?
- PRODUCTHEAD turns 3 🎂 / The changing realities of product management
- Force multipliers
- PRODUCTHEAD: Charting your career path
- PRODUCTHEAD: Who’s in charge? You or the process?
- 91: How to sharpen up your vision and strategy
- PRODUCTHEAD: Wartime vs peacetime product leadership
- PRODUCTHEAD: The value of a drink in the desert
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to align vision, strategy and action
- PRODUCTHEAD: Defending against ‘Dawn of the Dumb’ product ideas
- PRODUCTHEAD: Exploiting inertia for fun and profit
- PRODUCTHEAD: Traditional, SaaS, usage and surge pricing models
- 90: Always have a plan B
- PRODUCTHEAD: Product-led growth
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to evaluate product opportunities
- PRODUCTHEAD: There’s hope for us (and AI) yet
- PRODUCTHEAD: Seeking control in a crisis
- PRODUCTHEAD: What do you worry about on a Sunday night?
- PRODUCTHEAD: ‘Better’ decision making
- 89: What games taught me about customer onboarding
- PRODUCTHEAD: Games and customer onboarding
- PRODUCTHEAD: How technical does a product manager need to be?
- PRODUCTHEAD: 3 ways to handle team conflicts
- PRODUCTHEAD: The strange attraction of desire paths
- Should I take a product manager job in a sales-led company?
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to transcribe and analyse your user research recordings
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to record your user research interviews
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to plan a user research interview
- PRODUCTHEAD: Trade-offs and negotiation
- 88: Control your narrative
- PRODUCTHEAD: The perils of pitch presentation culture
- PRODUCTHEAD: What can product managers learn about discovery from a superhero costume maker?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Everyone is losing their mind over ChatGPT
- Why can’t I rely on user research from other departments?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Place your bets, please
- PRODUCTHEAD: More than making the right moves with frameworks
- PRODUCTHEAD: This article was NOT written by AI
- PRODUCTHEAD: Choose your own adventure
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to protect your startup’s product idea
- PRODUCTHEAD: 2022 in review
- Will platforms conquer the world?
- PRODUCTHEAD: The demented game show
- PRODUCTHEAD: Writing a product manager job description
- PRODUCTHEAD: Trust and transparency
- As head of product, should I be a player-manager, or hire and delegate?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Empathy with the engineering team
- PRODUCTHEAD: Products with a fatal flaw ☠️
- PRODUCTHEAD: Understanding the user’s perspective
- PRODUCTHEAD: Do the hard work to make it simple
- Thank you for 10 years of support
- PRODUCTHEAD: Setting up a product support team
- PRODUCTHEAD: Playing Whack-a-mole with symptoms
- Billion-dollar platforms — how they did it
- PRODUCTHEAD: Communication toolkit recap
- PRODUCTHEAD: It’s okay to be proud of your achievements
- PRODUCTHEAD: Bad communication — how to annoy and alienate your users
- PRODUCTHEAD: Will platforms conquer the world?
- 87: An exercise in stakeholder alignment
- PRODUCTHEAD: Back to school
- PRODUCTHEAD: Should I retire … (my product)?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Strongly-held beliefs
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to influence stakeholders
- PRODUCTHEAD: Conversion funnel analysis — down the rabbit hole
- PRODUCTHEAD: Presenting to inform, educate and entertain (communication toolkit #5)
- PRODUCTHEAD: Efficient note-taking (communication toolkit #4)
- PRODUCTHEAD: Writing for the needs of your audience (communication toolkit #3)
- 86: The 4 unintended side-effects of risk aversion and what to do about them
- PRODUCTHEAD: How to read more effectively (communication toolkit #2)
- PRODUCTHEAD: Active listening (communication toolkit #1)
- What’s the difference between ‘measures of success’ and ‘definition of done’?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Dropping the masks at work
- PRODUCTHEAD: The difference between good and bad strategy
- PRODUCTHEAD: A primer on analytics for beginners
- PRODUCTHEAD: Defining services
- 85: The agency trap
- PRODUCTHEAD: Component teams, feature teams and centralised skill teams
- PRODUCTHEAD: The hidden patterns within design systems
- PRODUCTHEAD: Performance appraisals are underperforming
- PRODUCTHEAD: Service mapping for product managers
- Whatever this is, this web3 product manager role is not a product manager
- PRODUCTHEAD: Outcome-driven product roadmaps
- PRODUCTHEAD: More product coach, less line manager
- PRODUCTHEAD: Async working and communication
- PRODUCTHEAD: 3 product leaders share what they’ve learned
- Sorting the signal from the noise — a guide to fact-checking
- PRODUCTHEAD: The ethics of information (data ethics)
- What’s the difference between a growth hacker and a growth product manager?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Product ops — cynical rebrand or division of labour?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Exploring the solution space with prototyping
- 84: Start building a community of practice with the 3 minute challenge
- PRODUCTHEAD: The joy of metrics
- PRODUCTHEAD: Obtaining an optimal organisation
- PRODUCTHEAD: Dealing with discomfort
- PRODUCTHEAD: When your product is a blank canvas
- Should a growth product manager even be a thing?
- PRODUCTHEAD: The rise of the growth product manager
- PRODUCTHEAD: Managing mature products
- PRODUCTHEAD: New year’s resolutions
- 6: 6 tips for presenting slides that don’t suck
- My boss wants to set me an OKR on revenue growth. Is this right?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Your favourite articles of 2021
- PRODUCTHEAD: Dear Santa …
- PRODUCTHEAD: Incentives and behaviour
- PRODUCTHEAD: John Cutler’s North Star Metric
- PRODUCTHEAD: To specialise in product management?
- 83: 5 tips to ace your first impression at a new job
- PRODUCTHEAD: Prize winners / reinventing HR
- PRODUCTHEAD: Dear younger me …
- PRODUCTHEAD: Win a VIP ticket to #ProductCon Online
- PRODUCTHEAD: Tsundoku (piles of books waiting to be read)
- PRODUCTHEAD: Facilitating workshops
- PRODUCTHEAD: Product management in charities
- 82: Replatforming the cash cow
- PRODUCTHEAD: Rapid prototyping
- PRODUCTHEAD: Working well with user researchers
- PRODUCTHEAD: Becoming a product leader
- PRODUCTHEAD: Should we be saying no or not?
- PRODUCTHEAD: 9 of the best product management podcasts
- 81: The unifying principles of product management
- PRODUCTHEAD: (Re)discovering discovery
- PRODUCTHEAD: Acting like a startup seeking funding
- PRODUCTHEAD: Starting your next role in product
- PRODUCTHEAD: Success theatre
- What to do when service transformation goes wrong
- PRODUCTHEAD: Basics of finance for product managers
- PRODUCTHEAD: 5 product strategy tips
- PRODUCTHEAD: To err is human
- PRODUCTHEAD: Better than okay OKRs
- PRODUCTHEAD: Pimp my system
- I’m overwhelmed — can you help?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage
- PRODUCTHEAD: Everyone needs coaching
- PRODUCTHEAD: Product management post-COVID-19
- PRODUCTHEAD: World Product Day 2021
- How do you find the balance between autonomy and focus for PMs you’re managing?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Stakeholders are people too
- PRODUCTHEAD: “Don’t f**k up the culture”
- PRODUCTHEAD: Service design and product management
- PRODUCTHEAD: Ethical product management
- 80: The neverending quest for product-market fit
- PRODUCTHEAD: User personas or creepy caricatures?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Trust and customer success
- PRODUCTHEAD: Why do my houseplants keep dying?
- Mission to Mars
- PRODUCTHEAD: What’s the fuss about Jobs To Be Done?
- PRODUCTHEAD: The new lamplighters
- PRODUCTHEAD: Recruiting the right stuff
- 79: The product leader’s guide to interviewing product managers
- PRODUCTHEAD: When did storytelling become so hard?
- PRODUCTHEAD: It’s payback time on technical debt
- Should a product manager have responsibility for profitability?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Wrap your ears around these podcasts
- PRODUCTHEAD: The what, why and how of user research
- 78: How to start a new product manager job
- PRODUCTHEAD: Remind me, what am I meant to be doing?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Rethinking product roadmaps
- What technical skills do I need to be a product manager?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Creativity is borne of constraints
- PRODUCTHEAD: Pricing – everything and nothing has changed
- 77: The only article you’ll ever need on prioritization
- PRODUCTHEAD: The good, the bad and the ugly of machine learning
- PRODUCTHEAD: Better teams need better leaders
- What lessons from antiquity would you apply to product management?
- PRODUCTHEAD: There are only 5 product strategies
- 76: Manage the whole product
- PRODUCTHEAD: Being able to see the chessboard
- PRODUCTHEAD: Digital inclusion and accessibility
- Managing product managers
- What’s the difference between a product manager and a business analyst?
- PRODUCTHEAD: Content design
- PRODUCTHEAD: Rearranging the deckchairs
- 75: The dirty little secrets of decision making
- PRODUCTHEAD: Have you been having visions?
- PRODUCTHEAD: The plummeting price of power
- Misunderstood metaphors: Product manager as conductor
- PRODUCTHEAD: Hardware’s harder to manage
- PRODUCTHEAD: Hieranarchy
- Growing together: developing and retaining your product team
- PRODUCTHEAD: A single point of failure
- Podcast: Voxgig Fireside for professional speakers
- PRODUCTHEAD: Introverts, extraverts and just a smidge of pseudoscience
- Open, honest and always improving
- PRODUCTHEAD: Tricksy interviews
- 74: The black art of content design
- PRODUCTHEAD: Living your brand values
- PRODUCTHEAD: Finding the positives
- Saving yourself from product management hell
- 73: You wouldn’t drive blindfolded – why you need user research
- Upcoming live talks – September and October 2020
- 5 product leadership lessons learnt from the UK’s Ministry of Justice Digital team
- How do I make my product manager CV stand out?
- How to measure product management – ProductBeats talk
- 72: All the world’s a stage – how to launch a product
- What’s the best way to focus teams on outcomes not outputs?
- Upcoming live talks – July 2020
- What’s the name for ‘continuing to find product-market fit’?
- Reading aloud
- 71: The PMO strikes back
- What does a product manager do (and not do)?
- 70: You need a delivery manager on your team
- May you live in interesting times
- 69: It matters what you say and what you do
- 68: 4 common user persona mistakes
- 67: Why cake is important for product leaders
- 66: Show the thing
- Podcast: Learning Product Leadership
- What exactly is a “Freelance Head of Product”? (Interview for Working Products conference)
- What makes a good UX designer? (from a product manager’s point of view)
- Speaking at DevTalks Romania 2019
- Can I pick your brain about product roadmaps?
- 65: The secrets of meaningful product roadmaps (redux)
- Speaking at Landing Festival Berlin 2019
- Should I take a different role before applying to become a product manager?
- How do you establish an effective product management team?
- Threads II – The Sequel
- Speaking at ProductCamp L’viv
- Product management has evolved. Has your company?
- What skills do I need to be a freelance product manager?
- 64: Good product management
- Speaking at DevTalks Bucharest in June
- How do I make myself more suitable for a senior product role in UK government?
- I need a product manager with specific experience, can you help?
- 63: The whole agile thing
- How on earth am I going to start managing a second product?
- 62: How to measure product manager performance
- 61: The 16 most important technical skills every product manager needs
- 60: The 12 most important soft skills every product manager needs
- 59: Find the tipping point in your user research
- How did you get into product management?
- What’s the one thing retailers are doing wrong in ecommerce?
- 58: What Eurovision taught me about product management
- 57: Cut through red tape
- How do you keep user needs front and centre?
- The secret behind meaningful product roadmaps
- 56: The coffee shop problem
- The benefits of open and transparent data
- What sources of information should people use to build products?
- What user trends do you see?
- What kinds of questions should I be asking in discovery?
- How UK government digital services gather and use evidence
- How closely aligned should product organisations be with marketing and personas?
- Why we can’t help jumping to conclusions
- How much evidence is sufficient for decision-making?
- Expensive and risky assumptions (and why you should check them)
- How do I get my waterfall organisation to be more agile?
- How do I distil users’ wish lists of requirements to a core handful?
- 55: How to beat writer’s block
- Modernising your product in 2017 – webinar for Logi Analytics
- Starting with a guess: how to use data creatively
- Building a product community in government
- 54: How to stop common B2B dysfunctions in the product team
- How product managers can build a healthier relationship with the sales team
- 53: THIS is what product-market fit looks like
- 52: It only takes one bottleneck
- The £20 bottle of Blue Nun
- 3 ways to build a better sales team
- Should I start a bank?
- How to show your team the benefits of experimentation
- 51: Assemble the right product team
- Getting better at public speaking
- 6 simple rules of product management
- 50: A novice’s introduction to service design for product managers
- 49: How to prioritise your product portfolio
- 48: Mac or PC? You don’t have to pick a side
- Making myself redundant
- Interview with Wade Danielson of The Entrepreneurs Library
- I’m about to launch a website. Any advice?
- Becoming a product manager at MOJ Digital
- Want a free copy of ‘The Practitioner’s Guide …’?
- What’s it like working as a product manager at a startup?
- The Practitioner’s Guide… a best seller and selling out fast!
- The Practitioner’s Guide To Product Management – out tomorrow
- 47: How I learned to stop hating job interviews
- Link of the Day: Data-driven products now! (by @mcfunley)
- 46: How to qualify yourself for a product management job
- 45: Three ways you’re DEFINITELY doing MVPs wrong
- Analytics and decision-making on Mind the Product
- Should the product manager and product owner be the same person?
- Guard against the SSLv3 Vulnerability (“POODLE”) in Zeus Web Server
- 44: A good picture can save 1,000 words
- ‘I Manage Products’ now 14% more efficient!
- 39-43: Four more things I’ve learned about product management
- Change management and product management on Mind the Product
- 10 top tips for reading your users’ minds – talk at Product Management Festival 2014
- 38: Product managers learn by doing
- Product roadmapping, prioritisation and portfolio management on Mind the Product
- B2B Product Management on Mind the Product
- A day in the life of a product manager – guest post for Silicon Milkroundabout
- Product Management and the Internet of Things on Mind the Product
- 14th May: The $100 million assumption – MVP down under
- 37: Unexpected delights – a geek’s guide to the Kano model
- Product Management in Commerce on Mind the Product
- 2nd March: Calling all entrepreneurs – Cofounders Bootcamp
- Back(log) to the Future – story arcs, roadmaps and product themes
- 24th February: How to build a minimum viable product (MVP) at General Assembly London
- 24th January: How to build a minimum viable product (MVP) at General Assembly London
- 36: Product roadmaps are like DVD box sets
- Product Management in Online Payments on Mind the Product
- 35: Product management skills to pay the bills
- Happy Christmas + where I’ve been hiding
- Product Management and the Internet of Things on Mind the Product
- 34: Pick your battles
- 4th November: How to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) @GA_London
- Link of the day: The Agile Business Gap by @brainmates
- Ich bin Produktmanager: round-up from inaugural Product Management Festival 2013 in Zürich
- Join me to learn Product Management with General Assembly
- Cycles within cycles
- Crack out the Ferrero Rocher*
- Needs, features and benefits
- Blast from the past
- Fun, fun, fun at ProductTank London!
- 33: The “Field Of Dreams” is fiction
- Win-win-win with Wigwamm – an interview with Rayhan Rafiq Omar
- 32: Be flexible
- 31: Learn to enjoy networking
- What you should expect when recruiting a product manager
- Product managers make GREAT dinner guests
- 21st February: Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) @GA_London
- Don’t look back in anger – 2012 round-up
- My new favourite things
- 30: Reserve time for housekeeping
- UPDATED – 10th December: How to run effective usability testing @GA_London
- 29: Never commit to written word something you’ll be ashamed of later
- Top tip: fixing broken dynamic content in WordPress admin dashboard
- Link of the day: Agile Product Ownership in a nutshell
- 28: What’s the big idea?
- The 8 traits of a successful web API
- Why sales needs to align with product management to win more business
- Introducing Product People — interim product management, coaching, training and content creation
- 27: Don’t be scared of angry customers
- import.io – Live from Big Data London & Strata
- 26: The customer is king
- 18th October: How to Run Effective Usability Testing
- Link of the Day: Pricing your product – it doesn’t have to be so complicated
- Link of the Day: LaunchRock
- 25: “Don’t let roUtINe draw U IN to danger!”
- Link of the Day: Kano tutorial via Mountain Goat Software
- Facebook is like the drinking game “I Have Never…”
- 24: Variety is the spice of life
- What questions do YOU have about product management?
- Link of the day: Klok – free time tracking software
- How to double the speed of your WordPress site in 3 easy steps
- Link of the day: Product Focus’s journal
- 23: Too much choice can be overwhelming
- 22: Blow your own trumpet
- 21: Seven KPIs for customer insight
- Big data – big deal?
- Cookie cookie cookie COOOKIE
- 20: Leave work when you’re meant to
- 19: How to regain control of your inbox
- 18: Five ways to manage distractions better
- 17: Remember your manners
- Link of the day: MindJet Connect
- 16: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone – Joni Mitchell
- 15: Product management is selling
- Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 2
- 14: There is always more work to do. Don’t burn yourself out
- 13: You’ve got to start the race before you can finish it
- 12: Keep it simple, stupid
- Drowning in product documentation? Start swimming – Part 1
- 11: You are allowed to say ‘no’ – it’s strategic
- 10: Give yourself time to think in a straight line
- Book recommendation – The Case for Working with Your Hands
- 9: Everything benefits from a good start in life
- 8: Empathise, empathise, empathise
- Live on ProdMgmtTalk July 25/26 – the love/hate relationship with Sales
- 7: Public speaking is as much about how you say it as well as what you say
- 6: Good presentation skills are not the same as good PowerPoint skills
- Lean, green, micro machines
- 5: The best possible way may not necessarily be the right way
- 4: Don’t focus on what’s stopping you
- 3: Know your subject matter
- 2: Find problems rather than guess solutions
- 1: Be fluent in the language of your audience
- OMG EOL – LOL (or: How to take a product to end of life)
- Painting the Forth Bridge
- Lo-fi usability testing – Part 3: Ten top tips
- Lo-fi usability testing – Part 2: Preparation
- Lo-fi usability testing – Part 1: Background
- What will your leaving speech sound like?
- New WordPress theme
- How to get your sales team selling value instead of discounting
- Link of the day: The Equity Kicker
- ProductCamp London: Why product managers and entrepreneurs need to be more alike
- Pre-empting customer churn
- What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?
- Link of the day: Buzz Marketing for Technology
- 7 guiding principles for product install / upgrade usability
- Easier product forecasting
- 33 cut-out-and-keep usability requirements for your product
- DIY Eco Linux Fileserver (part 2)
- DIY Eco Linux Fileserver (part 1)
- The thorny issue of pricing
- The problem with successful products
- Net Promoter EU Conference 2010
- Why aren’t sales selling my new product?
- Ill communication
- “Why the heck should I upgrade?” – 4 things you’re probably missing
- Positive procrastination
- 4 key ways to spot a successful product manager
- Context is everything
- Hello. I’m new.
- Questions you need to be asking
- Pay attention to local requirements
- By way of an introduction