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Warren Buffet tells us that price is what you pay, value is what you get. As product managers, our job is to create and sustain value in our product and service offerings for both our company and our customers. At first, this sometimes seems like an impossible task.

The puzzle looks something like this: The company needs to sells a certain number of units at a set gross profit within a defined period of time; the market needs to buy at the lowest price possible to still meet their needs and dea… Continue

In today's global, 24/7 world, time-to-market is a key strategic factor. 40% of the major American corporations that existed in 1975 do not exist today (source: Winning at New Products, Robert G. Cooper). Windows of opportunity are smaller, and more crowded, than ever before with more companies trying to get to market with new and innovative products. SPEED IS THE PIVOTAL COMPETITIVE WEAPON. Yes, I'm "shouting" this. It's all about speed. Sort of.

This shouldn't be translated into speed at all… Continue

Reblogging:

GUEST POST: THE CRANKY ENGINEER RESPONDS TO A PRD
by THE CRANKY PRODUCT MANAGER on APRIL 1, 2009
in DEVELOPMENT, GUEST POSTS
Today we have a super-duper-uber-fantastic guest post from the Cranky Engineer, aka DGentry of codingrelic.geekhold.com. Check out his blog. It’s WICKED AWESOME.
Also, you might recall that DGenery was the BIG WINNER of the Cranky Product Manager’s caption contest for the “7 Types of Engineers.” He won a fancy pants coffee mug. AND HE LOVES IT. Maybe YOU shoul… Continue

In his article, Social Media Marketing: Marketing and Operations Take Another Step Closer, Dave Evans, ClickZ writes:

For the past 5 to 10 years, it could be explained by what's now called social media. Consumers have been steadily chipping away at a marketer's ability to influence a mass audience. First, it was fragmentation: Jim Stengel, former Proctor & Gamble CMO, noted that in the mid-'60s, 80 percent of all U.S. adults could be reached wi… Continue

Sorting through the cacophony of feature requests to determine which one(s) come next, which come after that and which ones never get done is one of the most challenging aspects of product management. Product Managers are lobbied, bribed, bullied and threatened to include this sales manager's pet feature or this developers bright idea. Big, valuable customers demand changes. Market leaders bring out new versions and you immediately want to hit back.

After the dust settles and the lobbying and h… Continue