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

What good product managers have in common from the perspective of a product management intern. A few of the common characteristics include working cross-functionally, being experts at customer interviews, and prioritizing features for implementation. Get the details at https://www.productplan.com/product-management-internship/

12 key lessons from 20 years of product management experience. Some of the lessons include listening to customers, but don’t listen too much; watch the competition, but don’t watch too much, and be a thief. See these and the other lessons at http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/08/20-years-product-management-25-minutes-dave-wascha/

Product manager skills for each stage of increasing responsibility, from associate to VP of product management. As I created my own product mastery roadmap, I found the groupings of capabilities useful – strategic thinking, collaboration, technicals, details, user science, and management. I find the key transition involves leadership practices. Read more from https://medium.com/pminsider/product-manager-skills-by-seniority-level-a-deep-breakdown-cd0690f76d10

How to build better relationships in teams. Listen to this podcast episode with Shay Howe, designer and front-end developer about the benefits of team relationships and how to build them https://designyourthinking.com/better-relationships-teams/

Survey results from 140 digital product managers about their key activities. Most are engaged in 1-on-1 conversations with team members, other stakeholders, and customers. About half want more time to interact with existing and prospective customers. See more at https://www.invisionapp.com/blog/digital-product-manager/

A day in the life of an engineer turned product manager. Kevin Yien went from engineering to product management after finding his passion through a graduate course. He is now a product manager at Square. Read about his journey and what a typical day on the job looks like https://medium.com/@FungInstitute/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-product-manager-85e7e1a8e342

Small innovations can add up to meaningful advancements. I do get a bit annoyed when people say that just making something better isn’t innovation – that it needs to be something completely new. Really? That kind of innovation is incredible to be part of, but it is less common. As the article says, “It’s often surprising just how far your own practices deviate from best practice, and how many improvements you can make by doing those unglamorous things that would usually pass you by as something not worth bothering with.” Read more at https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2017/08/15/why-you-shouldnt-overlook-unsexy-innovation/