33: The “Field Of Dreams” is fiction
This is not “Field Of Dreams” and you’re not Kevin Costner. If you build it, the users will not come – unless they have a strong motivation to do so.
Win-win-win with Wigwamm – an interview with Rayhan Rafiq Omar
A London startup is attempting to disrupt the local property rentals market in a way that benefits tenants, landlords and property agents equally – a win-win-win scenario, you might say. Jock Busuttil finds out more from the man in the Wigwamm, Rayhan Rafiq Omar.
32: Be flexible
I’ve just kicked off another project through my firm, Product People Limited. With the inevitable flurry of project start-up activity, a couple of basic tasks have reminded me how important it is for product managers to be flexible, whenever possible.
31: Learn to enjoy networking
Business networking used to hold about as much appeal for me as speed-dating with alligators. It was only later that I came to tolerate it, even enjoy it, but only after I learned to think about it differently. If the prospect of a room of people at an event fills you with dread, read on, this may help.
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 article intended for people wanting to hire a product manager and, by the same token, those of you wanting to step into that role.
Product managers make GREAT dinner guests
Now that I’ve started up a product management consultancy, I’ve found myself having to explain a bit more often than before what a product manager actually is. There are, of course, eminently more articulate and relevant descriptions available of what being a product manager means. But as it’s a Monday, and we’re all need more frivolity in our lives, I’ve come to the conclusion that product managers would make excellent dinner guests. Here’s why:
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 was only my first full year of blogging – I only started I Manage Products back in February 2011. But 2012 was the year I decided to step things up a little: yes, I procured a domain name. That made it official.
Oh yes, I also started a company and wrote some articles on product management…
Credit: Trello, Inc.
My new favourite things
Over the last few weeks I’ve mostly been investigating the variety of tools available to help product managers at different stages of their product’s lifecycle. For me, the emphasis has been on speed and ease of use because my project is short-lived and I want to show some results.
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.
How to price throughout the product lifecycle
Price is absolutely critical to the success of your product.
