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

Use “why does it have to be that way” questions to improve products and services. You know the type of question, like when you go to the grocery store and ask yourself “why is the wait so long to checkout?” When taken seriously, such questions help product managers and innovators think about problems differently. We create better products. See two problems and several example questions at https://www.fastcompany.com/3065399/the-fast-company-innovation-festival/how-creative-agency-joans-brand-of-irregular-thinking-b

Product pricing strategies using segmentation. Should you offer different prices for a product or service to different customer segments? Consider the reasons and the options… http://marketingbuddy.com/news/when-the-price-is-right-managing-price-segmentation/

Frog Design’s 5 steps to envisioning the future – futurecasting. (1) Define the time frame, (2) do research – and spot where a business might fail, (3) create new world we might live in tomorrow, (4) headline for the future, and (5) design for the opportunities in the future. Read about each at https://www.fastcodesign.com/3065080/the-fast-company-innovation-festival/frogs-5-steps-to-predicting-the-future

4 steps for creating a customer-centric environment – SeatGreek’s product story. (1) Build for yourself, (2) balance transparency with fan service, (3) feed desire for instant gratification, and (4) make yourself indispensable. Read about each at https://www.fastcompany.com/3065478/the-fast-company-innovation-festival/four-lessons-from-seatgeeks-fan-friendly-assault-on-tic

The product manager’s guide to communication and information overload. As a product manager you are engaged in many conversations – collaborating over ideas, structured brainstorming, asking one group for information, providing information to another group, leading customer interviews and much more. Further, as product managers are at the center of most work, they become the go-to source for information others want. It can be dizzying to keep up with the amount of communication needed. But, there is a path to taming communication and information overload, thanks to Nichole Elizabeth Demere… http://nicholeelizabethdemere.com/a-product-manager-communication-survival-guide-or-how-to-tame-information-overload/

10 weekly habits of product managers striving for success. (1) Spend time with your team, (2) spend time with your customers, (3) spend time with your product, (4) read, (5) hang out with an engineer, and five more at https://www.productschool.com/blog/get-job/10-weekly-habits-product-managers-make-big-difference/