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

Product Innovation Tips Around the Web

Guidelines for scaling a product team. “In the last 12-18 months, over dozens of releases from incremental improvements to huge redesigns, we’ve learned a lot about scaling a product building team, and the nitty gritty involved in getting valuable product out the door as fast as possible.” Read more at Inside Intercom http://blog.intercom.io/how-we-build-software/

Product Manager – top-10 profession in America! “A product manager works closely with engineering, sales, marketing and all relevant teams to ensure a product meets overall strategy and goals, including maximizing business value and user experience.” Read more at Daily Finance http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/01/28/best-professions-america-today/

Yes, product managers are becoming data heads. “Here’s why every product manager should start paying more attention to data…make better roadmap decisions.” Read more at User Centered https://community.uservoice.com/blog/heres-why-every-product-manager-must-learn-to-love-data/

Best 1-minute innovation video – love it – watch it! “These commercials are the best we have ever seen on innovation and well worth the one minute it will take you to view them.” Read more at Value Innovations http://valueinnovations.com/the-innovators-club-a-1-minute-video/

Tips for fostering a culture of innovation in large organizations – is it really possible? “In most cases, individuals within large organizations are just as innovative as their tech startup counterparts.  The problem tends to be that large organizations don’t foster a culture of agility and innovation – and they don’t have the tools and processes in place to allow innovation to flourish.” Read more at Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherskroupa/2015/01/28/the-key-to-imprinting-innovation-into-company-culture-is-agility-and-flexibility/

Epson and Microsoft examples of using the DIY community for product innovation. “Do-it-yourself types fly under most corporate radars, or at least they’re mischaracterized as tinkerers, post-end users or, worse, hackers. Epson has demonstrated that they can be a fruitful source for innovation, as long as a company knows what to look for, and how to apply it.” Read more at Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathansalembaskin/2015/01/23/epson-finds-innovation-in-diy-community/

Business model primer for product managers. “…she says that business models are ‘at heart, stories — stories that explain how enterprises work. A good business model answers Peter Drucker’s age-old questions, ‘Who is the customer? And what does the customer value?’ It also answers the fundamental questions every manager must ask: How do we make money in this business? What is the underlying economic logic that explains how we can deliver value to customers at an appropriate cost?’ “ Read more at Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2015/01/what-is-a-business-model

The landing page approach to validating a new product concept. “With a landing page to test two (or more) different versions of your MVP, promoted through PPC or social media sharing, you can generate leads for your product and see which version resonates best with customers. You can then fine tune based on your learnings.” Read more from Sys-Con http://www.sys-con.com/node/3284240

Who are Product Managers – survey findings. “What does it take to be a successful product manager? What exactly do product managers do on a daily basis? What are the latest trends and best practices throughout the product lifecycle?” Read more at Alpha UX http://blog.alpha-ux.co/2015-product-management-insights-report-trends-shaping-the-industry

Use this as a model for seeing the future in your industry. “Even if the innovations are disruptive and the future is discontinuous, all we can really know is based on the data we have today. So it is through diligent inquiry and sense making that we get some general idea as to what will likely happen next. But creating innovations that we believe will succeed in the future requires that we first develop some clear foresight.” Read more at Wired http://www.wired.com/2015/01/see-the-future-first/

OK, one more time – disruptive innovation impacts markets, not merely products. “Mr Christensen used the term to describe innovations that create new markets by discovering new categories of customers.” Read more at The Economist http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/01/economist-explains-15

Still Important – Product Management Flash from the Past

Product managers – the ones that tell us what should be built. “The product manager isn’t the one that’s just sitting around overseeing the various teams and seeing whether it’s on track to meet the scheduled delivery or launch date. They are the ones who need to understand the market and that means knowing who the competitors are, what consumers want, and being able to help the marketing and sales teams better target them.” Read more at The Next Web http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/10/12/product-managers-mini-ceos/