Good Morning Product Manager

 Repeat, again, and again, and ......again      I repeat myself constantly as a product manager. Often in one meeting I will say the same thing 3 times. I don't like doing this, but I'm going to let you in on a secret.  Everyone listens, but not everyone is good at it. 😲      Yup, have you noticed that a lot of people wait for any break in the conversation to interject their thoughts? This means they probably aren't listening to you. If you're finding yourself cut off or feeling ignored, this is when you need patience the most as a product manager. Between you and me, I don't do a great job of listening at times either. It's easy to get lost in your own thoughts while others are sharing theirs. What is patience? The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Why does a product manager need it? Product managers have to work with a diverse group of people. Our day can start with a conversation with a...

What the heck is a feature factory?      A feature factory is a term used in product management to describe a process for efficiently discovering, prioritizing, and delivering product features. The goal of a feature factory is to create a well-oiled machine for continuously adding value to the product through new and improved features. The feature factory process typically involves several steps, such as: Customer research: Understanding the needs and wants of the target market. Market analysis: Evaluating the competitive landscape to determine what features are lacking or in high demand. Prioritization: Deciding which features to develop and in what order, based on the value they will bring to the product and its users. Development: Designing and building the new features. Launch: Releasing the new features to the public. Not so bad right?     A quick trip to LinkedIn or almost anywhere else product managers are talking, you will quickly see "feature factory" u...

It's the currency of product people. Without trust your relationships will struggle and your ability to execute the product vision will falter. I don't claim to be the best at building trust, but I have reaped many benefits by improving this skill. Frances Frei shared this career changing advice years ago. It changed how I operate as a product manager in a very good way. Please watch this if you want to start dealing in the most valuable currency a product person can acquire. When we apply this thinking to our stakeholders, customers, engineers and peers we will begin to make the vision real. As a product person you embody the product vision, without trust you will struggle to get others aligned and motivated towards this vision. Start with trust. This is the best advice I can give you. Take a look at this related article to learn more about how trust can bolster the 3 most important skills for product managers. Thanks for reading and don't forget to  subscribe  for...

Short answer is YES....... and no.           If you're thinking about this question it means you're likely Looking to hire a product manager. Researching product careers. Learning about Agile. You clicked the wrong link 😉      There are many reasons to be reading this article, but I should stop trying to cast predictions like a carnival fortune teller.      Some believe product owners and product managers are the same person, I think it depends on scale and how you designed the roles to work together. It's all about creating a product team to help drive the " WHY "  of your organization into your products. If you're just starting out, it might make sense to have this be one person. If you're at scale with a great product vision, then maybe you need two people. I've been in both roles at the same time, just a product owner, and just a product manager. It depends on what the teams around you need at the time.  With tha...

      When is the last time you learned something new?       It was skiing, for me. I had no idea how to ski, I watched videos and read articles. I gained knowledge, but I still had to apply the knowledge on the ski hill before I figured it out. Nothing could replace the actual feeling of nervously sliding down the slopes for the first time. That's the difference between knowledge and experience. As you read through these skills keep remember the distinction between the two. Remind yourself, this is advice you still need to apply to gain your own experiences. That is how you improve. You can learn about them, read about them, or even practice them, but you have to apply them and stumble your way through your first experiences to understand them.  Read and pursue growth within each area. If you do that, and find ways to apply them you will become a better product manager.      It's fine to be like this owl and study up, but at some p...

    A potential new user requests to see your product, you have a packaged demo showing all the features of said product. You, as the product manager, know each feature well. You can handle off the cuff questions and pivot as needed. This scenario should be familiar to almost any product manager. It's a product demo, we tend to approach them with the mentality of an "old pro" but I think that's wrong. I've encountered some amazing product demo's and they tend to have one thing in common. Storytelling The demo is a product     We spend countless hours drafting features and building a great product! Then the time comes to start showing users. We dive into demo's showing user after user how the product can make their life better. We spend a few minutes prepping, because we know it will be easy to show the product we know so well. I know I'm generalizing and some product managers do fantastic demos. They prepare fully and really think through what the user...

Yes, some are.     Some are really worth it, especially at the beginning of your product management career.   Let's talk about it. How Do Product Manager Certifications Help You?     Think of a certification like a fad diet. Sorry if you suck at diets and consistently eat entire pints of Ben and Jerry's Tonight Dough ice cream right before bed time..... no? That's just me got it.  Certifications help new product managers learn the basic mechanics of their role, and they remind more experienced product managers to do the basics.       Why are certifications like diets? The diets don't run your life forever, but they help you establish a couple better habits to have with food for the long term. That is how certifications work, you come out with a pretty drastic change in the short term, but then you discover a few helpful habits to use for the long term. Then you leave the rest, because let's be honest. Kale salads are not going ...

       Have you heard of flow state? It's a state of mind when  you're totally absorbed by and deeply focused on something, beyond the point of distraction. When time sneaks up on you, it's likely because you were in a flow state of mind. It's like we wake up from a day dream and realize 2 hours have disappeared while you were busy doing what ever has kept your attention. Think back to a time when this happened, what was it? For me it's often admin tasks, like emails, roadmap tweaking, feature writing, slide design for my next presentation, and next thing I know. Boom, late for my next meeting because I lost track of time in a flow state.     Don't worry, I'm not here to critique your meeting attendance etiquette. I want to talk about this flow state within the practice of product management, and how it can remind you to bring others along. Product Perspective     Let's start with  Empathy. You've heard of this idea. The ability to under...

     When is the last time you learned about a complex system? For me it was learning about how the conifer trees' reproduction cycle works...... don't ask . I will spare you the detailed steps of the entire system, but it's a series of intricately woven together steps. Requiring multiple explanations before I had a basic understanding of how the system works. Before now, I had no idea there were actually male and female pine cones. It was amazing, and far more complex than I had imagined. I don't expect you to want to learn about conifer trees. I do expect you to mentally prepare for a bunch of conifer and pine cone metaphors about product management and features. Why did I choose conifer trees? Mainly because you may have one in your living room right now. Feature Mechanics Within a Large System     That sounded way to intimidating even for me. Makes me think I'm about to drop some casual particle acceleration equations into the post.... don't worry. I h...

A Product Manager is A Master Puzzler     This is not going to be a traditional explanation of what a product manager does. ⚠You've been warned. There are tons of great resources out there around how the role varies, details around industry, and average salary or experience required to do the role. The internet doesn't need another post like that. Here is the Good Morning Product Manager version of what a product manager actually does and why.     Have you ever done a really big puzzle? I'm talking about 1,000 pieces or more. How long did it take you? Not to brag, but I've accomplished this feat a few times in my life. Normally someone's helping me and we chat while we build. It can take us days if not weeks depending on how many young kids are around. Product Managers are puzzle masters. They also share traits with chameleons. Let me explain that piece later. For now let's talk about the puzzle master within every great product manager.  Your Product is One ...