Each week I scour articles, wading through the dogs, and bringing you the best insights to help product managers and innovators be heroes.
5 ways to kick-start your product management career. (1) Know the company’s goals. (2) Talk to (at least) five customers. (3) Use the product daily. (4) Befriend a sales engineer. (5) Sit on 10 customer support calls. Read about each at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-de-haaff/5-ways-new-product-manage_b_12579886.html
Product lifecycle management – after launch and early adopters. What happens after a product launches is the area of lifecycle management. The traditional lifecycle is introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and retirement. Pearson is refining their lifecycle and VP of Product Lifecycle Management, Craig Strong, shares what they have learned. Watch it here https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2016/10/product-lifecycle-management-beyond-early-adopter/
Good marketing is part of a great customer experience. At one time customer experience was what happened after a product launches and the responsibility of marketing, not product management. Those lines are blurring and custom experience is being designed into products. Read about it here https://martechtoday.com/brand-x-customer-experience-cloud-marketing-must-191818
2016 Product Management Year in Review. See who is on the list of the Top 40 Influencers for 2016 in product management…http://www.pmyearinreview.com/
Tips for cold calling for product managers. Cold calling isn’t a skill just for sales people. Product managers need to be talking with customers and potential customers frequently. Learning and improving your cold calling skills can make you even better at customer inquiry and problem exploration interviews. Learn tips for cold calling from startup founders in this podcast episode from Startup Chat… http://thestartupchat.com/ep150/
10 ways to design products for gathering customer feedback. Getting feedback from customers shouldn’t be an afterthought when creating a product. It should be built into the product design, incorporating this important aspect of the customer experience and knowledge building for product managers. Read 10 ways at http://www.sachinrekhi.com/designing-your-products-continuous-feedback-loop
Conduct innovation experiments so they help, not hurt, your brand. Testing ideas with customers for new products can create expectations that may not be fulfilled, but experimenting is the cornerstone of innovation. To preserve your brand image in the process, follow the steps discussed at http://www.forbes.com/sites/tendayiviki/2016/10/27/eight-ways-to-run-innovation-experiments-without-hurting-your-brand
An innovation shift – why Tim Cook is the Steve Ballmer of Apple. This analysis is by Steve Blank and it is spot on. Many recognize an innovation shift at Apple with the death of Steve Jobs, seeing the company evolve from being led by a designer-at-heart to being led by an engineer. However, there is more analysis needed – the shift from a powerfully disruptive innovator to a skilled operator. Read Blank’s analysis and see if your company is actually limiting innovation the way Apple has… https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-ballmer-and-why-he-still-has-his-job-at-apple/
The primary responsibilities for an organization are product management and innovation. They deliver value to customers. They're also exciting responsibilities for those properly equipped. That is my job - equipping product managers and innovators. 
