Organizing a Product Portfolio
A portfolio or suite of products must be managed like a product with a target persona, positioning, and pricing. Microsoft boils its...
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Product Team Insights
Steve Johnson
- 4 min
Do We Need Product Management?
A product playbook ensures you build the product right and build the right product. Product managers are in charge of whipping up all the...
Steve Johnson
- 3 min
What Isn’t Product Management
In a well-run organization, each role has a single orientation; they either support [individual] customers or they support the market. —...
Steve Johnson
- 3 min
Do Product Managers Need To Be Technical?
Many job postings for product managers require computer science degrees. But is that really necessary? How technical do product managers...
Steve Johnson
- 8 min
The Secrets to Product Success
What is the secret to product success? Over the last few decades, the industry learned what works and what doesn’t. In general, we’ve...
Steve Johnson
- 5 min
Never Write Another Business Case
We recommend this simple but effective Product Canvas. It captures the essence of the product idea on one page.
Grant Hunter
- 3 min
Product Management is a Business Role
Product management is about the WHO and the WHAT, not the HOW and WHEN. Most of all, product management is about the WHY and WHY SHOULD WE?
Grant Hunter
- 4 min
If It's Not Valuable, Why Do it?
Most companies waste a lot of time, money, and resources on initiatives that do not deliver any value. This is the tale of the feature facto
Steve Johnson
- 5 min
You Can’t Have Everything: Three Keys to Successful Products
It seems many executives, salespeople, and marketing teams have little understanding of how product management contributes product success
Steve Johnson
- 2 min
How to Name Your Product or Company the Smart Way
The best names are meaningful and unique. It should be easy to say, easy to spell, and easy to explain.
Steve Johnson
- 3 min
The Three Roles of Product
Titles are a mess. What one company calls a product manager, another calls a product owner. And another calls a product marketing...
Steve Johnson
- 7 min
Product Management Tools: Market-Risk Profile
The Market-Product Risk Profiles tool helps to align strategy with risk
Steve Johnson
- 2 min
Why product managers need their own (private) CRM system
Good product managers interact with customers constantly. But how do you know which customers to contact? Build your own list.
Steve Johnson
- 3 min
Research for Discovery and Validation
Qualitative research methods, such as interviews and observation, reveal what you don’t know. Quantitative research methods, such as...
Steve Johnson
- 3 min
Create a Roadmap without Dates
"We allocate 100% of our resources to the roadmap. We plan to use the other 100% of our resources for special projects." — Johnson's...
Grant Hunter
- 6 min
The Product Leadership Imperative
Shifting the Focus from"Doing Things Right" to "Doing the Right Things"
Grant Hunter
- 2 min
The Practice of Product Management
The purpose of a business is to create a customer. The legendary Management theorist and consultant Peter Drucker believed that...
Steve Johnson
- 4 min
Your First Days as Product Manager
You’re in your first days as a product manager. Where should you begin?
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