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Product Manager does not Mean Product Emperor (and other helpful suggestions for success as a Product Manager)

t's long been my opinion that the Product Manager has one of the tougher jobs in an organization (see my post: In Support of the Product Manager as MVP). This position is one of those "all of the responsibility with none of the power" roles that grind up and spit out mere mortals with alarming frequency. There are a number of common mistakes that I've observed both new and experienced Product Managers make, that if understood and avoided, might increase the survival and success rate of this endangered species. In no particular order, these common mistakes and hopefully, helpful hints, include:

By |2016-10-22T17:12:26-05:00April 24th, 2008|Product Management|0 Comments
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Read Any Good Cultures Lately? Honing an Essential Career Skill.

Every organization has a distinct culture defined by its history, norms, values, and behaviors, and every team in an organization develops its own subculture. Learning to read a culture and adapt your style to fit (or at least complement it) is essential to success regardless of your level or role. It's also something that can be honed as a skill through increased awareness and consistent application of a few basic approaches.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:27-05:00April 9th, 2008|Leadership, Product Management, Project Management|0 Comments
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The Meeting is Never for Decision-Making: A Product Management Lesson I Learned at Matsushita

While the technique or reaching agreement with your stakeholders one by one ahead of formal approval might seem a bit like playing politics, I prefer to view it as covering the bases. Leaders invest in people they trust and have a sense for, and the ceremony of a group meeting is the wrong place to try and build your trust and credibility.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:28-05:00March 18th, 2008|Product Management, Project Management|0 Comments
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Towards an Independent Product Management Organization

Product Management's position in the organization is a topic that invites vigorous debate, usually around whether marketing or development should own the function. While any debate about optimal organization structure can sound a lot like the radio and television sports shows where people argue fiercely over the greatest running back or quarterback of all time (there is no one right answer!), the PM issue merits some consideration. Of course, the right answer may be, "It depends."

By |2008-03-05T07:47:04-06:00March 5th, 2008|Product Management|0 Comments
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The Best Product Managers are in Seat 12C

As a Product Manager/Marketer, the more time you spend in the office, the less intelligent you become every day about the real situation of your offerings and your clients. You cannot build relationships, gain critical insights and frankly, grow as a professional from your office or cubicle chair. As important as all of your internal tasks are, you cannot create value for your firm by cloistering yourself in endless meetings and only gaining critical market context on the other end of a telephone.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:28-05:00February 28th, 2008|Product Management|1 Comment
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The Indomitable Spirit of the True Product Manager

Product Managers are often improperly saddled with blame for everything that’s wrong in the organization and a fair amount of what’s wrong in the world. Poor quality, revenue shortfalls, lack of leads, poor visibility, competitive encroachment, poor support, schedule delays and process deficiencies are just a few of the items that I’ve known Product Managers to be tagged with in the course of carrying out their jobs. Pretty much everything but responsibility for the Lindbergh kidnapping, and I’m sure someone tried to pin that one on an unwitting Product Manager at some point in time.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:29-05:00February 4th, 2008|Product Management|2 Comments
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Improving the Product Management and Sales Relationship

The relationship between the Product Manager (or PM team) and the Sales force is one that is filled with great potential for all parties and also prone to frequent misuse or abuse. Frankly, it is a complicated relationship that should be governed by some shared rules of engagement and some good commonsense about when to throw the rules out in support of getting the job done.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:31-05:00January 21st, 2008|Leadership, Product Management|0 Comments
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Avoiding Derailment and Disaster in Product Management

y posting, The Product Manager as MVP, offered my perspective on the potential for the professional in this role to have a material impact on a firm's success. I truly believe in the power of this function to shape firms, and for individuals and teams of Product Managers to serve valuable formal and informal leadership roles in organizations. I've also seen some remarkable wholesale failures in Product Management—at the team and individual levels. Truthfully, these failures often have their root causes at the top of the team or even elsewhere in the leadership or organizational design structure. Nonetheless, the symptoms become visible in Product Management. While we all love studying and reading about best practices and successes, in my experience, most of the best lessons come from studying the train-wrecks. Consider these as cautionary tales.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:32-05:00January 16th, 2008|Leadership, Product Management|0 Comments
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