Let's say that you're a junior-ish Product Manager. Your product is NOT killing it (not yet, anyway). You have stiff competition. Your product is missing key capabilities that the market demands -- perhaps because this technology looks to fundamentally disrupt your product's market or because a competitor already (or imminently) »
Originally published in 2010. Updated and republished in May, 2015. A reader asks: "Can you please enlighten me on the art of pricing?" At the risk of misinterpreting, I believe the reader is asking specifically about enterprise software, where price lists are usually secret, transaction volumes are relatively low, and »
This is my youngest son. He's 4 years old and is a total goober. Let's call him "J". J is probably going to be a sales person when he grows up. He is extroverted, charming, funny, naturally positive, and when he wants something he goes after it with dogged persistence »
Ah, the Sinister Sales Engineer. Many companies have one. Early in my career, when I was not even a "Senior" Product Manager yet, this guy scared the bejeezus out of me. Let's just say that this guy was from the Bronx and had an, ahem, "way with words." Especially four-letter »
Once upon a time, when I was a wee lass (25 years old, to be precise), and not yet a product manager but a code warrior-ess (or whatever it is that you call female warriors), I did that clichéd, hackneyed Silicon Valley stunt: co-founding a tech startup with three other »
Summarized from a discussion I had in the comments on Quora. Original Question: How could Y Combinator be more female-friendly? This isn't so much about how YC treats women once they get in, but about ways to balance the gender ratio. The Discussion One answerer suggested setting up processes that »
I've encountered lots of software startups that want to start up a Product Management function, even though they don't really understand what the Product Management role is or its activities. (I guess that's why they ask for my help). I've learned this is really common. Software is full of people »
Sometimes I help companies (usually startups) kickstart their Product Management function. These companies often know they WANT Product Management, even though they often don't have a clear idea of what Product Managers actually do. In another post, I speculate about why this widespread ignorance of Product Management exists. But for »
Sales people are known for having a short-attention span -- they are always focused on the needs of their in-progress deals. Many won't put in the time to learn all about the competition until they absolutely need to. So, you need a way to get them up-to-speed on the competition »
What do you do when you have an important customer who is experiencing serious issues with your software -- issues so serious that they can't successfully use the product? I'm not talking about customers who need a little hand-holding and training. Customer Support can handle them. I'm talking about situations »
You Should Use Frameworks & Templates When Developing Your Product Strategy To develop a product strategy, most PMs use two or more strategic frameworks to make sure they’ve considered the business environment and potential futures from all angles. Many PMs also use product strategy templates and checklists.(See footnote »
A new, original cartoon for your enjoyment. Inspired by countless product roadmap presentations that I have slept through over the years. (TIP: Telling customers & prospects about features that are not for them or that they don't care about undermines their confidence in your product. They'll think you're not focused »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Is a product manager responsible for product documentation? My Answer: Product managers are typically responsible for the "whole product" -- which means the product itself, documentation, packaging, pricing, positioning and sometimes also the promotion of those products. But being responsible for documentation does »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Why should I remove features that are not popular? I've read many articles that suggest that product managers should be removing features that are not used by users. If the team has already invested resources into building a feature that is not that »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: How does the work-life balance of product managers compare to that of software engineers? I am trying to decide between a software engineering and a product manager position at Microsoft, and to me, work life balance is an important factor. How about Amazon? »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What level of coding experience should a good product manager have? My Answer Caveat: I'm assuming we are talking about software products. In THEORY, actual coding experience should be irrelevant to the hiring decision of a product manager. As Steve said, a product »
Behold, a visual guide to the inside of a Sales Rep's brain! Or more specifically, an Enterprise Software Sales Droid's brain, as viewed from Product Management. Please do not show to any sales people unless you are sure they have senses of humor. (But you are probably OK, since most »
I read too many blogs that say "ALL product managers should do X". Having worked with so many companies, I can usually think of plenty of cases where it makes sense to break the "rule." But despite my distaste for such posts, I'm just gonna do it. I'm going to »
*Question was originally posted to Quora on 2 Mar 2014. As a startup, if no ownership shares have been issued and no documents have been signed by any founder yet, but a lawyer has incorporated the business and drafted the legal documents for review, can the majority push founders out »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer The most obvious answer: Fewer and fewer girls are studying math and computer science in college, and Of those women who do graduate in those fields, and who even become programmers, they are likely to leave the field after a few years. »
Don't know about you, but I'd read it.... »
Don't just look at your competition's website and read a few articles. For a fuller view, try these information sources: The competitor's website -- including hidden pages, all images, and any uploaded documents (PDF, DOC, XLS) Former & current customers of your competitor Win-Loss interviews with lost prospects & won »
Acting like a Requirements Monkey. Punting on strategy. Not focusing on a particular target market. Not meeting with enough customers often enough. Not meeting with prospects and non-customers (aka potentials) often enough. Not truly understanding the real problems faced by your target market. Hearing only what you want to hear. »
Ever wonder why so many startup entrepreneurs put out misguided and doomed products, even after attempting to take four steps toward an epiphany and reading the "Lean Startup"? *Face Palm* Alas, I have witnessed similar "attempts" at market validation too many times to count. Maybe a product manager could help »
Economics are a big deal when deciding whether to go with a NoSQL, NewSQL, MPP DBMS, or traditional RDBMS. Many of the products (in all four of these categories) claim that economics are on their side, because either… Their products are ultimately cheaper than the alternatives, or Their products produce »
When I tell people I’m a Product Management Consultant, it sometimes throws them. “Product Management Consultant? I haven’t heard of that,” they say. Then, “how does one use a consultant to help with product management? Isn’t product management too strategic to not be in-house?” So first off, »
My answer, originally published on Quora Q: What are the disadvantages of being a female in a male-dominated CS/engineering university? My Answer The other answers to this question are all spot-on and great. I will just add one more. When a technical woman gets older, say around age 35, »
Most product managers and product marketers I know have a fear of — or at least a strong dislike of — selling. They find selling unpleasant and often think they are bad at it. Especially the closing the deal part. Alas, this fear/revulsion of selling is perhaps the biggest obstacle that’ »
A colleague asked me this the other day: *If a company is pursuing a “freemium” business model, how should they determine the optimal mix of features to offer in free vs. paid software? * It’s a good question. Freemium – where a product is made available in both a free and »
I love it when a gnarly technical concept can be elegantly explained via a good analogy. In fact, I have found myself searching for these perfect analogies throughout my career. I’ve been working on NoSQL projects of late, and found the following two articles – both with brilliant analogies — to »
This post is about a serious topic - how a DECENT company deals with the death of one of its employees. My husband and I have both had some first-hand experience with this. Both incidents were long ago, but the wounds are still fresh. Let's just say that both employers »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What is the best way to visually present a product roadmap to executive stakeholders? What are some effectively ways to communicate a product roadmap to executives clearly and concisely? My Answer My facetious answer is to use powerpoint with lots of superfluous animation »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Should I finish a degree in CS if I don't really want to be a software engineer? Some context: I started a degree in engineering, did well in it academically (marks wise, I was typically in the top 10% of the class; not »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Is there a market for fractional or part-time product management? Thesis: Early stage startups could use dedicated product managers, but often can't afford one or don't have the resources to support a full-time PM. From all the conversations I've had with early stage »
Content Management is huge in enterprise software, and thus the Content Manager Pattern is one of the most important high-level Product Patterns. Content management is the primary function of most software described as a platform, server, or online service. It’s not just limited to the realm of official “Content »
In my posts about Product Patterns, I’ve mentioned the word “content” a lot. I’ve even mentioned a few high-level product patterns called the “Content Manager” and “Content Authoring Tool.” This is an important product pattern because basically every piece of software that touts itself as a “platform” or »
Since I’ve become attuned to Product Patterns (buckets of software functionality that appear in product after product), I’ve noticed dozens of them. Some are big, top-level patterns. And some are really sub-patterns, that exist in the context of a larger pattern. I’m going to start with a »
Over the past 10 years, I’ve probably done hands-on analysis the functionality and usability of over 300 software products and online services (not including mobile apps). Why so many? Because playing with software is not just my job, but also my weird hobby. I’m always on the hunt »
You've heard that old chestnut. You've seen it in a million articles. The big advice Sales Reps offer to Product Management is "Don't just talk about features. Tie the features to benefits." And whenever I see Yet Another Article offering this advice, I think, "Doesn't every product manager already know »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer The Must-Read Books for Product Managers For product managers working on business-to-business high tech products and early technologies, the following are absolute must-reads: Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, by Geoffrey Moore. This book was pivotal in »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: Does Apple get too much credit for its UI design? Why does everyone treat Apple UI like god? My Answer Apple deserves the credit. First they discovered UI metaphors that are so intuitive that they seem to be hard-wired into our brains. And »
My answer, originally published on Quora. My Answer I've worked with dozens of software / online service companies and helped them recruit product management candidates. None of them care about the PMI certification, and in fact it might be seen as a sign that an applicant does not understand that the »
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 so-called Beta testing programs seem explicitly designed to PREVENT this »
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 You could stall the sales process. Instead of buying what »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Q: What Kellogg MBA classes have students found to be the most useful and why? My Answer From the vantage point of someone who has been out of Kellogg for over a decade, here are the classes that have proven the most useful in »
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 is one of my pet peeves. It's the "one percent of the »
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 the same. Watered down, generic, and 100% free of taste. A grinder is at »
Below is an online Q&A from a presentation I gave on Agile Product Management. Just wanted to share…. Q: How do you deal with a management team that is entrenched in the Waterfall method and a development team that is Agile from a roadmap and planning perspective? Sue »
My answer, originally published on Quora. Answer: Don't hide that you are married. And if you are a guy, don't hide that you have kids. But if you are a mother, the answer is more complicated. Unfortunately, there is a strong bias against female founders (and executives) with kids. In »
We Product Manager sometimes can't understand why the product bugs we complain about so vociferously take so long for Engineering to fix. Well, here is the developer's point of view when faced with a nasty bug. It's an extremely well-written guest post by an engineer who is a fan of »