This blog is all about making product managers, developers, and innovators more successful. As I do each week, below is a roundup of articles around the web with insightful product development, management, and innovation practices, tips, and examples.

Around the Web

7 attributes of highly effective product managers – and others who get things done. “We all need more people around us who make every motion mean something.” Read more from Entrepreneur http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239944

What is Agile Product Management? “The following picture shows how I view product management: It depicts a product management framework that consists of six core knowledge areas and by six supporting ones. The core areas are orange and placed centrally. The supporting ones are purple and located at the edge of the circle.” Read more from Java Code Geeks http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2014/11/what-is-product-management.html

7 responsibilities of Chief Innovation Officers. “This is precisely why large companies need a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), a powerful executive who can counterbalance the natural killing instinct of a company’s business units and design a more innovation-friendly organizational environment.” Read more from Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2014/11/a-chief-innovation-officers-actual-responsibilities

The PACT way of creating a culture of innovation. “Often when I hear people talk about how to develop a culture of innovation, the keys proposed are passion, autonomy, collaboration and trust (PACT). Passion, in particular, has become the darling of hiring managers.” Read more from The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ratanjit-s-sondhe/how-to-create-a-culture-o_1_b_6193596.html

Net Present Value is often a factor in selecting projects – read this helpful refresher. “In practical terms, it’s a method of calculating your return on investment, or ROI, for a project or expenditure. By looking at all of the money you expect to make from the investment and translating those returns into today’s dollars, you can decide whether the project is worthwhile.” Read more from HBR https://hbr.org/2014/11/a-refresher-on-net-present-value

Product managers need to learn content marketing – see the results of the B2B 2015 Benchmarks study. “Great content marketers have a documented strategy and follow it closely. Just 35 percent of content marketers actually have a documented strategy (48 percent say they have one, but it’s not documented), according to the study.” Read more from Entrepreneur http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239148

How product designers can use mood boards. “Here we explore mood boards – what they are, how can they help, and how you make one. When trying to convey a design idea, moods, feelings and fluffy stuff like that are hard to communicate. So professional designers will often use mood boards: a collection of textures, images and text related to a design theme as a reference point.” Read more from Creative Bloq http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/mood-boards-812470

Product managers take note – improve your business writing. “Overworked managers with little time might think that improving their writing is a tedious or even frivolous exercise. But knowing how to fashion an interesting and intelligent sentence is essential to communicating effectively, winning business, and setting yourself apart.” Read more from Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2014/11/how-to-improve-your-business-writing

What is ‘design-to-cost’ and why product developers should use it. “As a design engineer, you know that what you do affects the cost of your products. In fact, there have been studies that show that choices made during the design phase account for 70% of the life cycle costs of a new product. To help you make these tough choices, we recommend you adopt the Design-to-Cost (DTC) process.” Read more from EE Times http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1324754

Top 25 corporate R&D product development key performance indicators. “Industry now measures the product portfolio as it evolves in the pipeline with ten metrics that span end-to-end. Three metrics measure ROI, IRR, NPV, or Payback. Three metrics measure revenues. In addition, there are two measures of new product profits.” Read more from Virtual Strategy http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2014/11/25/top-25-corporate-rd-product-development-kpis-now-focus-portfolio-pipeline-and-profits#axzz3KFGvjCuD

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