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

Why product management is essential to business success. What has made Apple so successful? They are product driven but not in the sense of developing products and then finding customers for the products. They start with the customer and the experience the customer values. It’s a critical perspective and one successful product managers and business have… https://onlinesearch.net/product-management-essential-business/

How product managers can avoid bias. A colleague recently told me about the overt biases of a market researcher he worked with. In this case, the researcher admitted that he focused on data that helped him defend his perspective of product strategy and ignored data that didn’t support his position. His bias defeats the purpose of research. Read about reducing bias from your work at http://blog.mojotech.com/product-management-biases-and-how-to-avoid-them/

A product manager’s retrospective of applying Design Thinking to improve FedEx shipping. Understanding the customer’s experience with a product and the problem they expect it to solve is part of empathy. This is where Design Thinking starts. A firm used this approach to help FedEx improve its drop box. Get details at http://handsome.is/a-product-managers-retrospective/

4 key principles for enterprise product success. (1) Product first, then integrations, (2) Integrations, not prerequisites, (3) Make integrations possible, then make them easy, and (4) Provide clear ownership and least-privileged access. More at https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/08/hassen-karaa-building-successful-enterprise-product-think-beyond-features/

5 actions that make product marketers successful. Traditionally, product marketers focus on existing products that are already in the market. This is product lifecycle management. In some organizations, this is also called product management and goes by other names as well. To be successful product marketers: (1) build relationships & teams, (2) understand their customers, (3) think like their customers, (4) are experts & ambassadors for their product, and (5) define & measure success (or failure!). Details at https://www.tsmalley.com/blog/product-managers-keys-to-success/

Product management is negotiation – tips for doing it well. Product managers are communicating with stakeholders frequently, trying to meet their expectations while setting product direction. It’s a challenge, but negotiation skills will help you be successful. Learn them at https://medium.com/pminsider/negotiation-skills-for-product-managers-5-things-you-need-to-know-ec474f743d54

15 of the best ted talks for sparking creativity. Need I say more? https://www.invaluable.com/blog/ted-talks-creativity/