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

Why a Lean Canvas is not a business plan replacement and what else product managers need.

Since discovering the Lean Canvas tool from Ash Maurya, I have frequently used it and taught others to use it as what I call a Minimum Viable Business Case for a product concept. It’s a useful resource that addresses nine dimensions of a product. More importantly, it is a great collaboration tool as the concept evolves. But, is it enough to become a business plan? No – there is a difference between a business case and a business plan. Check out Ash’s new article for details https://blog.leanstack.com/a-lean-canvas-is-not-enough-to-replace-a-business-plan-36a28888b2fd

Why customer feedback (is mostly) killing your product management efforts.

Product managers need to identify and understand unmet needs customers’ have. How do we get this information? Classic feedback can lead you in the wrong direction. Read what to do instead https://medium.com/@brantcooper/why-customer-feedback-is-killing-your-innovation-efforts-7d3ddb33789a

Why the role of product manager is future-proofed in an era of automation.

Three words – imagination, creativity, and strategy. See the details in this HBR article and don’t worry about being outsourced… https://hbr.org/2018/01/the-future-of-human-work-is-imagination-creativity-and-strategy

Characteristics of great product managers and innovators.

The context of this brief article is the food and beverage industry but the wisdom applies across industries. For example, don’t start a new product with an ideation meeting but with a consumer. More at https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/97230-tips-and-strategies-for-driving-food-and-beverage-innovation

How product managers achieve product-market fit.

(1) Determine your target customer. (2) Identify underserved customer needs. (3) Define your value proposition. (4) Specify your minimum viable product feature set. (5) Create your minimum viable product prototype. (6) Test your minimum viable product with customers. Details on each at  https://www.forbes.com/sites/hayleyleibson/2018/01/18/how-to-achieve-product-market-fit/2/

A cartoon that insightfully expresses the culture of innovation.

The cartoon sums up the state of innovation in many organizations. It shares, “Let’s sing Kumbaya until the ideas come and then we’ll go back to our desks and come up with 100 reasons why they’ll never ever work in a million years.” Yep, too true. See it at https://marketoonist.com/2018/01/culture-of-innovation.html

Check out the 50 most innovative companies in 2018.

The top 10 are: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Tesla, Facebook, IBM, Uber, and Alibaba. See the list at https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/most-innovative-companies-2018-innovation.aspx

Trends for 2018 – AI, IoT, and Blockchain.

Trends can make and break the success of a product. Consequently, it’s a good idea for product managers to be trend-aware. Most products are or there are plans (or at least feel the need) for digital integration. The big trends are pretty clear. Knowing who to partner with may be the right approach for many product managers. Take a look at these trends here… https://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/predictions-ai-iot-and-blockchain-will-dominate-headlines-2018-1907982333