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

Mental models for product managers. How you think about your customers is a mental model. How you think about prioritizing features is a mental model. And, you may have several approaches, giving you more mental models. A variety of mental models will help you make better decisions as a product manager. See this presentation at https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/03/mental-models-product-managers/

Key steps for bringing innovative products to market. (1) Determine the need and define your product’s unique proposition, (2) protect your idea and invest in its potential, (3) and create your prototype and forge a cost-effective manufacturing plant. Read about each at http://www.business2community.com/product-management/bringing-product-market-dont-forget-key-things-01791108

Top tech career that doesn’t require coding – product manager. Product managers are now paid more than software engineers. You need experience and skills to oversee product. Read about this and 15 other careers at https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencebradford/2017/03/07/16-tech-careers-you-can-land-no-coding-required/

8 questions product managers should ask about the sales materials used to position B2B products. Presentations are often used to introduce B2B customers to a product. How effective that presentation is directly relates to the success of the product in the market. The presentation must address some key questions. Read about them at https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2017/03/06/pretty-slides-cant-mask-a-bad-product.aspx

If you want an innovative culture, start with an innovation thesis. Organizations have many approaches for trying to be more innovative – creating innovation spaces, making a team responsible for innovation, conducting a hackathon, etc. Some approaches may help while others actually remove innovation from the culture (such as having a dedicated team for it). If you are serious about wanting an innovation culture, start with strategy and create an innovation thesis that addresses key trends. Read how at https://www.forbes.com/sites/tendayiviki/2017/03/05/how-to-create-a-culture-of-innovation-beyond-the-sticky-note/

Chick-fil-A opening innovation center with Georgia Tech. More companies are creating innovation labs/centers with universities. The latest one is a partnership with Georgia Tech. Chick-fil-A takes innovation seriously, as I discussed in episode 70 of The Everyday Innovator™. Learn about the innovation center partnership at http://www.news.gatech.edu/2017/03/08/chick-fil-open-innovation-center-tech-square

The 7 rules of business that kill innovation. Innovation in an organization is fundamentally an aspect of culture. Existing businesses have culture rules that will limit or kill innovation if not directly challenged. The reason is simple – existing businesses are optimized for operations. Planning and execution are the norms. Innovation does not fit the norm. Read how to create new rules for innovation at https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2017/03/08/the-real-reason-your-employees-cant-innovate