Product Management University

MARCH 23, 2023

If you’re a pre-sales solution consultant or sales engineer, falling into the trap of telling vs selling can happen before you even know it, even though your intentions are always on the mark to start the demo. Selling Demos The selling demo on the other hand, is an exercise in customer value themes and storytelling.

Demo 243

Demo Product Research Systems Review Workshop 243

Product Innovation Educators

JANUARY 29, 2024

Dr. Emily Anhalt is a psychologist, emotional fitness consultant, and the co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Coa, your gym for mental health. No matter how healthy we might be, we’re all going to be in a position at some point where we need to draw on our emotional resources to get through a tough time.

Leadership 98

Leadership Product Research Product Management Product Manager 98

Business of Software Conference

JUNE 21, 2019

From page 1 of Obviously Awesome: How To Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It , it was clear that the team at Business of Software needed to read April Dunford’s new book. As an executive consultant, April Dunford brings 25 years of marketing experience to the table with this book.

Positioning 56

Positioning Books User Testing Weak Development Team 56

The Accidental Product Manager

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting – Your Source For Real World Product Management Skills Question For You: What’s the best way for a product manager to find out if their product meets the needs of older customers? This is the position that the Peloton product managers found themselves in just before the pandemic hit.

User Testing 104

User Testing Customer Experience Product Management Product Manager 104

280 Group

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

He knew my strengths from working with me previously on the portfolio planning and prioritization exercises. It took stamina to stay excited, positive, and optimistic. 280 Group is the world’s leading Product Management training and consulting firm. He put me in the right product area, on the right team, with the right manager.

Research Software 317

Research Software Product Research Product Management Product Manager 317

The Review by First Round

JANUARY 13, 2022

For the past 7 years, she’s helped hundreds of companies build their positioning and brands from the ground up, both as our Marketing Expert in Residence here at First Round and in her own consulting work. Today’s episode is with Arielle Jackson. Read This First. Today’s episode is with Arielle Jackson. Read This First.

Branding 52

Branding Startups Marketing Consulting 52

The Product Coalition

MARCH 10, 2021

Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash A team working agreement is essentially a documented set of ground rules that a team creates to hold each other accountable to positive behaviors. It could be the creative assets of a marketing team or the process improvement planning of a consultancy. The Personal Map exercise by Management 3.0.

Research Software 148

Research Software Webinar Product Research User Testing 148

Mironov Consulting

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

  (Agilists state this in the positive: “start less, finish more.”) ”)  Building software is a complex intellectual team exercise, not simply reading specs or typing.    We have to support our PdMs when they take strong positions.    “ How hard could it be? 

Reporting Tools 105

Reporting Tools Software Review Technical Review Weak Development Team 105

The Product Coalition

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

He didn’t realize this at the time, but he was actually exercising a product manager mindset for the first time. Michael soon found a job at a management consulting firm as a Business Analyst working with different technology companies from startups to large enterprises. It taught him “how to communicate in every way”, Michael says.

Research Software 158

Research Software Analytic Tools Product Management Product Manager 158

Mironov Consulting

MAY 21, 2023

 So plan something every day that’s fun or life-affirming: get some exercise, visit a museum, take your kid to a NWSL or UEFA game, study Portuguese or jazz or ikebana , take a walk in the sunshine.  Whatever  Part-time, consulting or side gigs are OK while you're looking for a full-time thing.  Short-term

Marketing 65

Marketing Customer Experience Product Research Banking 65

280 Group

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Give meaningful and constructive feedback : most Product Managers I have worked with appreciate not only positive feedback, but also honest feedback on how they can improve. If it’s done well, it provides several different approaches to learning, as mentioned above, and will use exercises to help deepen the learning during the course.

Weak Development Team 185

Weak Development Team Certifications Reporting Tools Feedback Software 185

The Product Coalition

APRIL 22, 2021

In our specially designed auditions, product managers perform real-world exercises to assess how they think about problems in an environment where nobody from the company knows anything about their experience, their background, or their formal education. Design a new type of exercise equipment for people under the ages of 15.

Analytic Tools 130

Analytic Tools Research Software Feedback Software Product Management 130

The Product Coalition

DECEMBER 19, 2021

Most companies hire a product manager (and other positions) too late. This is one of the most popular questions I receive from my consulting customers as well as CPO Bootcamp participants. It takes time, but from my experience, great people are quick learners, so that it could turn into a positive ROI quickly.

Product Management 176

Product Management Product Manager User Testing Weak Development Team 176

The Product Coalition

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

How do we build and position a product that is nearly irresistible for the people we want to serve? Over time, as the process has become a ‘framework,’ I’ve seen JTBD employed as a “problem-finding” exercise, focusing on how people use products. We need to understand more than problems.

User Testing 146

User Testing Product Research Research Software Customer Experience 146

Product Innovation Educators

JANUARY 3, 2022

These include roles at Motorola and AT&T along with dozens of companies as an innovation and product development consultant. Using the focus matrix is a collaborative team exercise. Learn more about Gary, Dorian, and their consulting company, Auxilium. Next, look at user stories and physical attributes of the product.

Agile 112

Agile Development Feedback Software User Testing 112

UX Studio: Product Management

NOVEMBER 19, 2021

There is no exact science to getting through the first stage without ups and downs leading to better results, but exercising empathy can help. Tools to analyze the exercise of empathy. Maintain a positive attitude that gives you confidence and security. Empathy is the giant post-it note which says “You are not your user.”

UX 93

UX Customer Experience User Testing Data Visualization 93

The Product Coalition

APRIL 11, 2023

That is until I got a chance to participate in a mindfulness exercise. I learned that with a quick mindfulness exercise, I could shift my perspective, silence the doubts and concentrate on the possibilities instead. It’s one of the reasons professional consultants only take on a limited number of projects at one time — focus.

Positioning 154

Positioning Product Strategy Strategy Presentation 154

Pragmatic Marketing

JANUARY 10, 2017

Before exploring any session content, make sure everyone introduces themselves—CAB member attendees, host-company executives and third-party consultants. Collaboration Exercises. While the meeting content and feedback is fresh in everyone’s minds, hold a post-meeting debrief with all host-company attendees and third-party consultants.

User Testing 70

User Testing Customer Feedback Feedback Software Customer Experience 70

Mironov Consulting

JANUARY 24, 2024

But I rarely see the right person in the right position, empowered by the CEO, politically astute, experienced in multiple functions, and with enough gravitas to keep everyone playing along.  I think of this first as an organizational and company culture question, not first as a Porter -meets-slideware-meets-research exercise. 

Strategy 119

Strategy Product Strategy Onboarding KPIs Data Visualization 119

Mind the Product

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

As a result, a lot of promising candidates are being lost to more traditional graduate careers that require similar skills, such as consultancy. Consequently the majority of technology companies are not in the habit of offering graduate-level positions, or recognising the student community as a potential source of new Product Managers.

Technical Advisors 109

Technical Advisors Software Engineering Technology Positioning 109

The Product Coalition

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Regular people looking to do more exercise. They see regular exercise as a way to increase the years and quality of their life. (2) Instead of focusing on different types of exercise (as a gym might do), focus on the activities they do every day? Make tracking exercise that is already being done easy to do.

Airlines 60

Airlines Strategy User Friction Analytic Tools 60

PMLesson's Ace the PM Interview

MAY 19, 2020

As a Product Marketer, you partner with Product teams to bring the voice of the user to the product development process, determine the positioning of the product to the user, and develop and execute the go-to-market plan for new products and features. How could this inform the product's positioning? How would you market them?

Product Marketing 52

Product Marketing User Testing Marketing Technical Review 52

Product Innovation Educators

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

He is a well-known product management trainer, consultant, and speaker. Once we’ve figured out how we’re going to be better or different, we need to figure out how to position and message our product. When I do this exercise, people get so fired up. Dan Olsen is a returning guest to the podcast.

User Testing 102

User Testing Product Management Product Manager Data Visualization 102

Modus Create

APRIL 4, 2019

At the start of our first session, Cindy explained that she had just been promoted into a new position and her responsibilities had dramatically expanded. Over the next two days, I walked Tim and Mark through some structured exercises to brainstorm different markets. At Modus, we use the RACI model to do this.

User Testing 81

User Testing Feedback Software Research Software Product Research 81

Mind the Product

JANUARY 4, 2018

The best way to build muscle or to diet is not by reading articles about it or inputting and checking your data; it’s by doing the exercise and eating well. The reward doesn’t need to be tangible, it can be as simple as positive encouragement – “Good job!” Create your vision statement and communicate that in every touchpoint.

User Testing 118

User Testing Customer Experience User Experience Customer Feedback 118

The Product Coalition

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

<insert long list of common business terms preceded by positive verbs> All of that is true. And finally, Christina Buch-Petersen , Product Management Consultant (formerly Asos, Which?, To successfully become a better product leader, I recommend treating the exercise the same way you would a new feature in your product.

Data Visualization 154

Data Visualization Reporting Tools Embedded Analytics Feedback Software 154

The Product Coalition

AUGUST 29, 2019

Liberating Structures Daily Scrum Strings For this meetup, I chose two new LS microstructures that have the potential to support the Development Team to clear its path to achieve the Sprint Goal: Troika Consulting The first choice was Troika Consulting, a way to “ Get Practical and Imaginative Help from Colleagues Immediately.”

Agile 60

Agile Product Research Onboarding KPIs Consulting 60

Mind the Product

DECEMBER 7, 2016

I adjusted some of the labels to be more relevant to team function rather than product function and I walked my team through the exercise. The vision board exercise goes a long way in helping to shape the strategy, it outlines the who and the what – next you need to figure out the how. Nurture a culture of feedback.

Product Research 70

Product Research User Testing Development Product Management 70

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 10, 2019

We were a very successful company for a very short time in the late ’90s, and after we shut down, I was a solo consultant for better part of a decade, and I did some more writing. I see creating conference programs or an editorial agenda for a line of books as definition exercises. So that’s what Argus did.

UX 168

UX Research Software Reporting Tools Analytic Tools 168

Brian Balfour

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

On the flip side, I’ve interviewed many candidates who make the mistake of relying purely on “gut feel,” rather than consulting behavioral user data to guide their decision making process. When answering case exercises, explain how you would use the given data and ask for any data that seems important but hasn’t been shared.

User Testing 65

User Testing Product Research Customer Feedback Customer Experience 65

280 Group

JUNE 20, 2023

Later I worked in a technology consulting firm, and that’s where I started to move into Product Management as a career. I have a personal operating manual exercise I run with my teams to build that awareness right out of the gate. That’s at the core of the personal operating manual exercise.

Analytic Tools 156

Analytic Tools Product Management Product Manager Data Visualization 156

The Product Coalition

JANUARY 29, 2019

Of course, this is not an airy exercise, it has to be based on solid data. This is the case for many that work at generalist consultancies; and, in fact, it has facilitated the transition of many who had tech company assignments to get into product positions. But there are many who originate in generalist consultancies.

Research Software 60

Research Software Analytic Tools Product Management Product Manager 60

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 26, 2018

In reality, you may not see a positive return from a new hire for 12 to 18 months. About five years ago, I had a couple other SaaS products in the survey space, and at the time getting things related to SaaS metrics was an exercise in futility with lots of Excel spreadsheets or hacking to get these little internal tools.

Feedback Software 137

Feedback Software Analytic Tools User Testing Product Research 137

ProductPlan

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

When a company hires a fancy management consulting firm to help them “optimize” operations, one of the first things they’ll do is document how things are currently being done. One inevitable outcome of any process mapping exercise is uncovering missing parts of the process that aren’t otherwise obvious.

Document 70

Document Roadmap Data Visualization Research Software 70

Mironov Consulting

MARCH 12, 2017

What looked like a weekend exercise (“how hard could it be?”) Restating the above in a positive way, we get the ongoing stream of improvements that our vendor is building for thousands of existing customers. (“Look: they have reporting APIs and opened-email statistics. has grown into an ongoing engineering investment. Sound Byte.

Reporting Tools 73

Reporting Tools Development Customer Experience Data Visualization 73

Roman Pichler

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

This individual leads the product team, not by being the boss but by exercising emergent leadership. The vision describes the ultimate purpose for creating the product and the positive change it should bring about. To effectively staff the product team, I recommend including the people shown in Figure 1. [1] Let’s take a look at them.

Reporting Tools 343

Reporting Tools User Testing Customer Experience Product Research 343

Business of Software Conference

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

There are some exercises, they’re called productive disruptions because I think you get more stuff done when you’re stuck by disrupting the patterns and habits that keep you stuck going for a walk, drawing, doing a creative writing exercise. They weren’t plank position. Um, yeah. And in that space. News at 10.

Reporting Tools 49

Reporting Tools Technical Review Software Review User Testing 49