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

 

Monetization + customer problem + jobs-to-be-done = product management. How a product generates revenue is sometimes left to be figured out after the product is developed, or even after it is launched. We all know good examples of this, including Google. It is because of the well-known successful examples that may lead us to think monetization plans can wait. However, we don’t hear about all of the products that fail because they couldn’t be monetized. This article shares a real example, what was learned, and why monetization plans need to be part of the original product concept: https://community.uservoice.com/blog/product-management-and-monetization/

Considerations for embedding analytics into your product. Software products and some other products make it reasonably easy to embed analytics that can provide useful information to product managers. Three key considerations are shared in this article: http://insidebigdata.com/2016/10/03/top-considerations-for-embedding-analytics-into-your-product/

All about careers in product management. Interested in what product management really is, the history of product management, or what product managers earn? This and more is summarized in a list of short articles at… https://www.smartsheet.com/all-about-careers-product-management

Tips for creating data-driven product roadmaps. I’m cautious about going all-in on data-driven approaches to product management as data itself does not contain insights innovators need. However, we also need to make good use of the data we have. This article explores how product data can contribute to roadmaps and in a way that is aligned with business strategy and objectives… http://data-informed.com/building-data-driven-product-roadmaps/

The cognitive bias cheat sheet for product managers. We all suffer from cognitive bias – default ways of thinking. This article describes the issues and offers suggestions for dealing with the bias: https://betterhumans.coach.me/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18

Focusing on the “job” is the correct unit of analysis for innovation. Clayton Christensen’s latest book, Competing Against Luck, examines how repeatable innovation occurs. The heart of the book and his innovation approach is the Jobs-to-be-Done framework. In this interview, Christensen shares why the book was written and examples of how focusing on “jobs” leads to value creation… http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestreptalks/2016/10/03/clayton-christensen-on-what-he-got-wrong-about-disruptive-innovation

Framing the core purpose of your business impacts your innovation. This short article uses the ice industry, Kodak, and Facebook as examples of how framing the purpose of a business impacts the options considered for innovation. Framing the problem and mission have more impact than many think. Read about it at: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/10/02/how-overcome-ideological-barriers-innovation

Examples from the social media giants – imitation is innovation. Steve Jobs said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Imitating something that is working well, and perhaps making it even better, is an approach to innovation and product development. Read the social media examples at https://www.fastcompany.com/3064219/why-innovation-and-imitation-arent-mutually-exclusive