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

How product managers graciously say “no” to customers. It’s hard to find Frankenstein products – those that are built from a collection of features customers asked for but markets did not need. It’s not that they don’t exist, but they don’t last long in the marketplace. As product managers, we want to say “yes” all the time, but doing so is not best for customers. Read this to learn how to say no in ways that make customers become more loyal… https://blog.intercom.com/say-no-to-customers

Product management tips for leading change as a business scales. When startups are creating challenges for your business model, it is time to change. Product offerings need to change, which can have ripple effects throughout the organization. This article contains advice for navigating the changes… https://inc42.com/entrepreneurship/lessons-scale-up-startup-mode/

Principles of interaction design from Don Norman. Sachin Rekhi, like many of us, found great wisdom and insights from Don Norman’s book, The Design of Everyday Things. This article reviews the key principles, including visibility, feedback, constraints, mapping, consistency, and affordance. They apply to any product. Review them at http://www.sachinrekhi.com/don-norman-principles-of-interaction-design

How product managers build product teams that really work. Johnathan Nightingale, head of product at Hubba and former VP of Firefox, shares his experience building high-performing product teams – teams that create value for customers and enjoy working together. This comes down to the skills of the product manager. Read more at http://betakit.com/you-know-your-product-team-is-failing-do-you-know-why/

20 metrics mobile product managers can use. The metrics are organized into 4 categories: (1) Customer/org segmentation and growth, (2) Onboarding and activation, (3) Engagement, and (4) Conversion and retention. See the metrics at http://www.business2community.com/product-management/20-new-mobile-product-management-metrics-01763887

6 principles for creating a culture of innovation in an organization. (1) Purpose, (2) Leadership, (3) Capability, (4) Collaboration, (5) Competitive advantage, and (6) Obsessive customer focus. See the details of each at http://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2017/jan/20/defining-real-purpose-marketing-innovation/

25 ideas for stimulating creativity and innovation. The list includes tools such as borrowing a concept from nature, borrowing from another industry, changing terms, removing features, and more. All of them are at http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2017/01/23/25-ways-to-stimulate-entrepreneurial-innovation-when-youre-stuck/

The hard truth about business model innovation, why the idea matters, and JTBD. Clayton Christensen and Derek van Bever recently provided a webinar covering topics from an article they wrote, “The Hard Truth About Business Model Innovation.” It’s worth taking a look at http://sloanreview.mit.edu/webinar-building-a-business-creation-engine/on-demand/