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10 Tips for Creating an Agile Product Roadmap
Roman Pichler
JULY 20, 2016
1 Focus on Goals and Benefits.
Roman Pichler
When should Product Backlog Grooming Take Place?
Roman Pichler
JANUARY 25, 2017
Option 1: In the Sprint Review Meeting. Your first option is to work on the product backlog in the sprint review meeting.
Product Manager vs. Product Owner
Roman Pichler
MARCH 14, 2017
As you may know, the product owner originated from Scrum, where the role is responsible for maximising the value the product creates. This sounds like a text-book product management responsibility to me.
10 Product Backlog Tips
Roman Pichler
NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Tip #1: Complement your Product Backlog with a Product Roadmap. Use a roadmap to sketch the overall journey you want to take your product on. State the upcoming major releases with their goals or benefits.
Mixing Qualitative & Quantitative Data with Storyboarding
Speaker: Tristan Kromer, Lean Agile Coach, Kromatic
Qualitative vs. Quantitative is a silly argument. Qualitative data from UXers should not compete against the quantitative data product owners need for their business model. Both are necessary to have a complete understanding of where the desirability of the product meets the viability of the business.
The Product Roadmap and the Release Plan
Roman Pichler
AUGUST 16, 2016
What is a Release Plan? A release plan forecasts how a major release is developed. It’s a type of project plan —albeit an agile one—and it usually covers the next three to six months.
Is Scrum Right for Your Product?
Roman Pichler
SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
When is Scrum Most Helpful? A process like Scrum is a great fit for your product when it is brand-new or young, and when you extend its life cycle, as shown in the picture below.
Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders and Team Members
Roman Pichler
JULY 3, 2017
It’s a Common Challenge. You just can’t make up your mind. I really wish that for once, you gave us clear priorities,” Jane said accusingly at the end of the workshop and walked out of the room. [1] 1] It felt like a slap in the face, an unprovoked attack. How could she say something so wrong?
Mindfulness Tips for Product Managers and Product Owners
Roman Pichler
OCTOBER 21, 2016
What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment, to what is actually happening. It helps us become more aware of what we think and feel, and how we are—content, tense, relaxed, stressed, happy, angry, indifferent, restless, worried, or calm. But what’s the big deal?
Creating the "Right" Product Roadmap With Data
Speaker: Sunil Parekh, Head of Product Management, SimplyInsured
Data can be qualitative or quantitative, and comes from multiple sources: customer interviews, product usage & funnel analytics, company financial performance, and internal stakeholders. How do you use that data to create a product roadmap that is aligned with your organization’s business needs?
What is a Digital Product?
Roman Pichler
JUNE 14, 2016
Product. What is a product ? It might be tempting to say, something we can market or sell. But when it comes to digital products, this definition has only limited applicability. Take the search function on your company’s website. Is that a product? Or is the entire website the product?
Do Product Owners Need Technical Skills?
Roman Pichler
AUGUST 9, 2017
How can you tell if you would benefit from having technical skills as a product owner? To answer this question, I find it helpful to look at how the role is applied.
Should Product Owners be Servant-Leaders?
Roman Pichler
NOVEMBER 22, 2016
What Is Servant-Leadership? Servant-leadership means that “one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead,” writes Robert Greenleaf , the creator of the servant-leadership model. Servant-leaders want to “make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served” so that they “become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous.”. Sounds crazy?
Decision Time: How Decision Rules Help You Make Better Product Decisions
Roman Pichler
DECEMBER 5, 2016
Decisions, Decisions. “Is Is everybody OK with changing the release goal for Q3?”, asks Julie, the product manager. After a few seconds of silence, Julie moves on to the next topic assuming that the stakeholders agree. But most people are still thinking about the idea or oppose it.
User Story Reflections
Roman Pichler
FEBRUARY 1, 2017
Users. As its name suggests, a user story describes how a user or customer uses the product–a digital product is captured from the perspective of the users.
Connecting Analytics to Strategy - Keeping Your Corporate Objective In Sight
Speaker: Tom Evans, Senior Principal Consultant and Trainer, 280 Group
Data analytics has transformed the way many product managers approach product enhancements, creating strong demand for product managers with skills and expertise in defining and analyzing product metrics to make more valuable product decisions. But there is one essential element that is often left out of the conversation, and that is strategy. How does my product decisions support the overall strategy of the business, and am I tracking the right metrics based upon that strategy?
8 Tips for Collaborating with Development Teams
Roman Pichler
JULY 11, 2016
Manage the Product, not the Team. Focus on your job as the product manager or product owner, and manage the product, not the team. Provide guidance on the product, including its market, value proposition, business goals, and key features. But let the ScrumMaster or coach tackle people, process, and organisational issues; let the development team figure out what needs to be done to implement the user stories and other product backlog items.
Balance Your Portfolio with the Product Portfolio Matrix
Roman Pichler
JUNE 6, 2017
The Matrix Reloaded. The product portfolio matrix , also called growth–share and BCG matrix, wants to help you achieve a balanced portfolio, a portfolio that contains the right mix of young and established products.
Make Your Product Stand Out with the Strategy Canvas
Roman Pichler
JANUARY 12, 2017
The Strategy Canvas. The Strategy Canvas was developed by Kim and Mauborgne, the authors of Blue Ocean Theory. It was originally intended as a business strategy tool to discover new markets. Luckily, the canvas can also be applied to individual products, as the following example illustrates. [1].
Five Tips for Introducing Product Management to Your Company
Roman Pichler
APRIL 11, 2016
1 Establish a Clear Vision. Establish a clear vision for introducing a product management group and explore why your company would benefit from it.
Making Consensus-based Product Decisions
Roman Pichler
FEBRUARY 23, 2017
Benefits and Limitations. Deciding by consensus means that everyone required to make the decision agrees with it. Applied correctly, it results in a better decision and creates strong buy-in and shared ownership.
How Minimum Viable Products & Features Helped Me Write My New Book
Roman Pichler
MAY 10, 2016
Minimum Viable Product #1. Writing a book is a complex and at times challenging endeavour: it took me over two years to write and publish my latest book.
Power Up: Three Ways to Increase Your Product Leadership Power
Roman Pichler
APRIL 19, 2017
Increase Your Referent Power. Your first power source is your ability to influence others based on your personality and interpersonal skills. It’s the capability you can immediately boost simply by being a decent person.
Five Tips for Leveraging Empathy in Product Management
Roman Pichler
OCTOBER 4, 2017
Why Empathy Matters. Possibly the most profound challenge in product management is to understand the needs of users and customers. Without developing the right understanding, our chances of creating a successful product are slim.
Choosing the Right Planning Horizon for Your Product
Roman Pichler
SEPTEMBER 18, 2017
Planning Horizons and Planning Model. Bring me that horizon,” says Jack Sparrow at the end of the movie The Curse of the Black Pearl while steering his pirate ship into the open waters.
Managing an Existing Product: Day 1
Under10 Playbook
OCTOBER 4, 2017
An important skill for a product manager is the ability to parachute into an existing product and land on your feet. When parachuting into an existing product you have to immerse yourself in your new company and learn as much as you can as quickly as you can.
The Worst that Could Happen
Under10 Playbook
SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Do you plan for the worst? Do you list out the worst things that could happen during your release and come up with ways to mitigate the risks? Do you have contingency plans if something does go wrong?
Focus on the Metrics that Matter: Identifying Your Product’s Key Metrics and KPIs
UserVoice
JULY 28, 2017
We live and work today in a world that is increasingly data-driven, but we cannot successfully adopt a data-driven approach to decision making without first identifying the metrics that matter most.
Here’s Why Every Product Manager Must Learn to Love Data
UserVoice
JUNE 21, 2017
“Big data.” It’s one of Silicon Valley’s favorite and most annoying buzzwords, yet there’s no data shortage in sight as data companies continue sprouting (and growing) like weeds.
The Ladder of Evidence: Get More Value From Your Customer Interviews and Product Experiments
Product Talk
MARCH 8, 2017
One of the best signs of an effective product team is a regular cadence of customer interviews and product experiments. But it’s not enough to simply check the box on these activities; we need to make sure that we do them effectively.
How to Break into Product Management
Under10 Playbook
SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
At many of the meetups I attend around New York City, I meet aspiring product people, people in other functions that want to break into product management. I get asked how to become a product manager all the time. Product management is an important role and many people want to transition to it.
20 Years of Product Management in 25 Minutes by Dave Wascha
Mind the Product
AUGUST 11, 2017
Dave Wascha started as a product manager 20 years ago working on Internet Explorer 4.0.
Product Manager vs. Product Owner
Melissa Perri
JUNE 29, 2017
“What is the difference between a Product Owner and a Product Manager?” It’s an interesting question and one that takes time to unpack. Let’s look at where these terms and disciplines originated from and how some common frameworks explain them.
Building a Realistic Revenue Projection for a New Product
Mind the Product
MAY 10, 2017
Here’s a scenario nearly everyone finds themselves in at some point in this line of work: You’re psyched about a new product or feature in the works. You’ve got requirements, design vision, and even a development timeline. You’ve got feedback from potential buyers and they love it.
How aligning product and marketing teams improves customer experience
Mind the Product
OCTOBER 27, 2016
It wasn’t too long ago that designers and developers were disciples of strictly separate crafts – but today, someone who can do both well is quickly labelled a “unicorn”, and sought after by many a unicorn-thirsty start-up.
Your First 2 Weeks with an Existing Product
Under10 Playbook
OCTOBER 12, 2017
An important skill for a product manager is the ability to parachute into an existing product and land on your feet. What should you accomplish during your first 2 weeks? Step 1: Set up meetings with your product’s key stakeholders. Step 2: Find (or Create) the backlog.
Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri
Mind the Product
JULY 28, 2017
Like most of us, when Melissa Perri started as a product manager she started with giant requirements documents, dutifully recording every little detail from stakeholders and turning them into shiny docs for the developers. Then she discovered Agile and churned out features even faster.
Things Nobody Told Me About Being a Product Manager
Mind the Product
FEBRUARY 14, 2017
Shaun Russell shares his journey into product management, sketching out the well-trodden path he took to getting started – reading, taking workshops, learning from peers, and so on. But being a product manager is really hard, and nothing can prepare you for it.
How To Say “No” To A Feature Request
PM Hardcore
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
No (picture credit at the bottom). Sometimes No Is The Right Answer. Can you talk to me about a time when you had to say no to a customer? Why did you have to say no? How did you handle it?
Hiring a Product Manager: A Little Clarity Goes a Long way
Mind the Product
JULY 4, 2017
I was invited to appear before an audience of tech recruiters for a panel called: “Everything you’ve ever wanted to know from a technologist, but were too shy to ask.” I realized I needed a good way to explain what it had taken me a while to see in the world of product management.
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