Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers, developers, and innovators be heroes.

The 87 most essential tools for data-driven product managers. Need a tool for user research, roadmapping, usability testing, A/B testing or more? This list organizes tools by these categories and six others. See the list at https://www.indicative.com/essential-tools-product-managers/

Innovation is more about corporate culture than new technology. This is a slideshow of findings from a recent research study that examines how organizations become more innovative. 1630 global executives participated in the research. The results have some humorous findings, such as 70% of executives believe their company is above-average at innovation while only 14% of companies see meaningful benefits from innovation. View the slides at http://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/innovation/slideshows/why-innovation-is-all-about-many-small-steps.html

Commodity tutorial –  Pro and con discussion that smartphone innovation is gone. Smartphones have become a commodity for many buyers. I knew the tide was changing when some of my Apple fanboys said the iPhone 6 was plenty good – no reason to get an iPhone 6S. This paper examines the perspectives of innovation in the smartphone industry and it is helpful for anyone working in a commodity industry:  http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/22/is-smartphone-innovation-all-tapped-out/

Yep, nobody knows what product managers do – and other things you need to realize. This is a fun and spot-on article about what Mabel Tan has learned about being a product manager. The list also addresses issues with communications, getting out of the way, keeping goals clear, not taking shortcuts, and making mistakes. Read the details at https://medium.com/vlt-labs/5-5-things-i-ve-learnt-being-a-product-manager-a84b6e8b0ddf#.nea3n9qni

Ellen Chisa shares how product managers can track competitors. Ellen is a guest on an upcoming podcast episode of The Everyday Innovator™ – you won’t want to miss it. In this short article she shares insights for competitive analysis: http://blog.aha.io/index.php/3-simple-ways-product-managers-track-their-competitors/

Great story of innovation in a can of latte  – the Innovalve. I’m starting to see more coffee drinks in cans. It is also a popular topic for my graduate students to consider in their marketing plans. Interest in hot and cold can coffee is growing. But, how do you put a latte in a can and have it… well, be like a latte?  Here is a great story of how it was done and how a 4-year old provided the breakthrough: http://www.fastcompany.com/3056787/most-creative-people/the-aha-moments-behind-la-colombes-latte-innovation

Another example of why big companies struggle to innovate. There are many factors for why large companies are not innovative. The size of the market is one problem – innovative ideas won’t result in a market large enough to make a difference to a company. Who needs a $100M new product line when anything less than $2B won’t move the needle with Wall Street? It is a reason why startups are increasingly being purchased by large companies. Read this example of a startup taking business from Oracle and IBM: http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2016/02/22/100-million-startup-reveals-innovation-weaknesses-at-ibm-and-oracle/#1093c29143fd

Where do good product managers come from? While there is no one path, or even a common path to product management, this article addresses some of the more typical paths from engineering, marketing, and sales. The article starts by asking “when was the last time you saw a formal product management internship” with the conclusion that such internships are rare. However, this is the year that is changing and I am seeing several companies experiment with product management internships and a PdM associate role before becoming a product manager. Read more about the paths to product management at http://blog.aha.io/index.php/where-do-product-managers-come-from/