What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?

What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?

Happy New Year!

I was recently asked what I saw as the major trends, changes, challenges and opportunities for product managers in 2011.

Product managers working in different market sectors, countries and sizes of company will have their own take on this, so here’s my Top 5 from the perspective of a large-ish Business Services company operating in the UK.

I think there are some emerging trends and technologies that will affect everyone’s approach, even if fairly indirectly. These are:

  1. Social Media as a way for organisations to engage with their customers / citizens / audience
  2. Related to this is social capital / influence of individuals acquired through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. (think PeerIndex)
  3. Openness and availability of data (think Bundle.com, Timetric.com, data.gov.uk, opencorporates.com)
  4. Rich internet experience more widely available on location-aware handhelds (phones and tablets)
  5. Continued marketing in a recessionary environment – how is this affecting your company and your customers?

What do you think?


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The Practitioner's Guide to Product Management book cover

The Practitioner's Guide To Product Management

by Jock Busuttil

“This is a great book for Product Managers or those considering a career in Product Management.”

— Lyndsay Denton

Jock Busuttil is a freelance head of product, product management coach and author. He has spent over two decades working with technology companies to improve their product management practices, from startups to multinationals. In 2012 Jock founded Product People Limited, which provides product management consultancy, coaching and training. Its clients include BBC, University of Cambridge, Ometria, Prolific and the UK’s Ministry of Justice and Government Digital Service (GDS). Jock holds a master’s degree in Classics from the University of Cambridge. He is the author of the popular book The Practitioner’s Guide To Product Management, which was published in January 2015 by Grand Central Publishing in the US and Piatkus in the UK. He writes the blog I Manage Products and weekly product management newsletter PRODUCTHEAD. You can find him on Mastodon, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Agree? Disagree? Share your views: