Product Management

We all know the supposed purpose of Beta testing programs: to get customers to actually use about-to-be-released software, in order to find and fix problems that would not have been found by internal-only testing. So why (why?!?!) do so many

In general, I advise against pre-announcing upcoming product features until you are so close to releasing it that you can practically taste it. But your circumstances might differ, so here are the The Cons: Reasons to NOT pre-announce upcoming features

Product managers create business cases and business plans all the time. I've created and seen a bazillion of them in my day. Lots. But, alas, so many of them are weak. In particular, many use a device that

Almost every time I read about a new B2B startup or product, I get a sense of déjà vu. Alas, it's not a glitch in the Matrix. It's because pretty much every product pitch sounds exactly

A few weeks ago, I went to the pharmacy to purchase the most womanly of accoutrements. Yep, maxipads. Now, before you click away, be assured this post does have something important to say about product management. Please sit tight and

I’ve had a lot of conversations lately with product managers who are wrestling with the appliance question: Should they create a software-only product, or should they deliver an integrated hardware-plus-software appliance that contains all the underlying hardware and software

1. Don't visit customers. If customers want to talk to you, ask that instead they put their list of enhancement requests in an email or a spreadsheet. Take said list and cut/paste it into Jira. Don'

Hey congrats! You landed a new product management job! But before you accept it, consider whether you really WANT this position. Here are some tell-tale warning signs that this new product management job is gonna suck. Warning Signs 1. Product

In my last post, I mocked Crypto-Descriptions of companies and products [https://blog.sueraisty.com/product-positioning-statements-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/].  Microsoft and Oracle were the targets of my crankiness. Anyway, inspired by the ensuing discussion [http://www.theheretech.com/2010/02/mardi-gras-marketing.html], I

I wish I could start a vendetta against the Marketing Cryptospeak that is so prevalent in the software industry. You know... those meaningless, boilerplate-ish, hyper-generic, jargon-oozing, designed-by-committee, ridiculously cryptic descriptions of what a product (or company) supposedly does? Those nonsense-filled

OK, true confessions. I lust after real estate. When it comes to gawking at beautiful homes and all the fantabulous things in them, I am totally into it. And when I go away for the weekend, I am prone to

Once upon a time, long, long ago, TypicalEnterpriseSoftwareCompany had a simple little price list. It could be described in a paragraph. Buy our server and pay $XX,XXX per machine. Buy our companion client-side tool and pay $YYY per instance.

OK, you know you have to do Win-Loss Analysis. It’s one of the best ways to make sure you correctly understand the market and its problems—upon which you based, well, everything. But unfortunately, it is very difficult to

Earlier, I posted my thoughts on how to run an effective Customer Advisory Board [https://blog.sueraisty.com/on-customer-advisory-groups/] (also called Customer Advisory Groups, CAGs, or CABs). Many readers of my post then contributed their own thoughts and advice... very

Two questions from readers triggered this post: > "What is your opinion of the effectiveness of Client Advisory Groups, and do you think that PMs should organize and facilitate them?" and > "Assuming you have an existing