Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers and innovators be heroes.
6 product design approaches for product managers. Traditionally these are called Systems Development Lifecycle Approaches (SDLCs). This article is a helpful overview of six that are applied to the design of things – Water, Lean Startup, Design Thinking, Agile, Design Sprints, and Rapid Prototyping. Some of these are more design while others more development process, but the review and history of each is helpful. Read about them at https://medium.com/@jowyang/your-guide-to-design-and-innovation-methods-b28ca60d2ed6
12 categories of tools product managers need. This is a useful list of tools to be considered, including analysis, consumer research, project management and more. Check it out at https://www.productplan.com/product-management-tools/
How to bring product management into your organization. I’ve been asked this more than once in the last week – how to build a product management capability. It begins by identifying what you want to accomplish and then hiring wisely. This article addresses those topics. To improve an existing product management capability, please contact me – that is what I do. Read the original article at https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/how-to-bring-product-management-into-your-organization
Great tips for helping product managers write for customers. #1 is my favorite – it is all about them, not the product, and not you. Read all 10 tips at http://pmhardcore.com/2017/04/19/10-writing-tips-product-managers/
Ideation and prototyping from a 3D perspective. This is a great primer on ideation and idea management from the context of 3D printing. Read the brief article about strategy, idea generation and feedback, idea refinement and more at http://www.3dengr.com/process-happens-printing-idea-management.html
Building innovation capability by leveraging startups. Larger organizations are often told to “act like a startup,” which I find to be a bit like telling a gorilla to act like zebra – the one is not going to be the other. However, they can leverage startups, innovation labs, and other resources. Read how at http://www.cio.com/article/3190141/leadership-management/2017-how-innovation-management-is-bridging-the-startup-enterprise-divide.html
The primary responsibilities for an organization are product management and innovation. They deliver value to customers. They're also exciting responsibilities for those properly equipped. That is my job - equipping product managers and innovators. 