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 top 5 podcasts for product managers. Woot woot, The Everyday Innovator™ is on the top 5 list of product management podcasts according to General Assembly. The others include StartUp, This is Product Management, Product Hunt Radio, and The Rocketship. Read about each at http://blog.generalassemb.ly/top-5-podcasts-aspiring-product-managers/

Microsoft’s ‘Garage’ incubator is a catalyst for near-term innovation. Innovation approaches in large organizations need support of senior leadership for lasting success, but it can start with grass-root movements that later attract attention from executives. This is what happened at Microsoft six years ago when a group of employees created the “garage” to foster innovation. It was a physical space complete with garage door. Now the concept has spread across Microsoft with 10,000 employees contributing. Find out more in this interview  http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-microsofts-garage-keeps-its-innovative-spark-burning/

A reminder of the importance of innovation – is Warren Buffett right? Buffet tells his shareholders to not bet against American innovation. I would extend this to other countries also. As someone who teaches innovation management to graduate students who come from across the world, I do recognize that the U.S. has many advantages that create a climate for innovation, but other countries are also increasing their innovation engine.  This short article makes a good point about how the future of energy will impact innovation: http://fortune.com/2016/03/07/warren-buffett-letters-to-shareholders/

Examples of 3 corporate innovation labs – Lowe’s, IBM, and Autodesk. You know from previous articles I have shared that internal innovation labs/incubators are on the rise in larger companies. Here are examples of what three companies have done, complete with interesting videos of the labs: http://www.cio.com/article/3041085/innovation/does-your-company-need-an-innovation-lab.html

The new dream job is that of Product Manager – according to the Wall Street Journal. This is too good to not repeat from last week, so here it is again. Wow, I was expecting this to be the year of innovation for organizations, but it has also become the year for product management. Business schools at Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern, and others are focused on preparing students for product management career paths. The newly degreed MBA graduate now covets the product manager job title – and for good reason. The article is currently only available to WSJ subscribers. Read the details at http://www.wsj.com/articles/coveted-job-title-for-m-b-a-s-product-manager-1456933303

3 steps to quickly create a product roadmap. Aha CEO describes the steps for creating effective product roadmaps: (1) define your strategy, (2) customize your releases, and (3) prioritize your features. Read the details at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-de-haaff/the-fastest-way-to-build-_1_b_9376068.html