The world is going bonkers over Twitter, and frankly, I don't get it.
Robert Rosenthal posted this awesome video clip on his Freaking marketing blog.
Twitter could be useful, but there is so much drivel, I can't see how serious professionals can find it productive. (of course, Western Union once said something like that once about the telephone - "The telephone has too many problems to be considered a serious method of communication. The invention has no value for us")
We used to say there is a lot of litter in the literature. Now we can say with confidence: there is too much litter on twitter ©
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
ProductCampBoston Feb 2009 Photos and Take-aways
The first ProductCampBoston was a great event today. About 100 people turned out to share information and best practices. I learned a lot. Thanks to the leading organizers Todd, Brooks and Sasha, and the presenters. Here are a few photos. I enjoyed making a lot of new contacts and look forward to continued networking & collaboration with you.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Summary of take-aways from the sessions I attended:
From Steve Johnson of Pragmatic Marketing on the Four Roles of PM:
When writing requirements - short is better. Writing requirements isn't like writing a will - you should expect be around to answer any questions that come up along the way.
You have to know and love the industry you are in to be a Product Manager.
The job of the PM is to be one of the "parents of the product." It's possible to be a single parent, but it's a lot harder when you have to do it on your own.
As a "parent of the product" our job is to "get the child ready to leave and rarely return." In other words, the PM is supposed to give Development, Sales, and Marcom enough information so they can answer their own questions.
From Bob Levy (Former BPMA President) on Requirements Management Best Practices:
Resource material on managing relationships and building trust:
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Crucial Confrontations: Tools for talking about broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior
Contributors to Cognitive Distortion - (not seeing reality - or different people seeing reality differently)
The telephone game: messages get distorted when passed from one person to the next.
Over generalization: everyone does it. (duh!)
Recency effect: placing heavier reliance on recent information.
Observer expectancy: unconscious manipulation of results based on expectations.
Confirmation bias: trying to prove a point.
Status quo: resistance to change
Group think: going along
Projection bias: assuming that other share our own preferences.
Bob presented a systematic methodology for capturing, ranking and reviewing and maintaining requirements in three levels:
green: these are believable, attainable, committed requirements and should should include a description of the market problem, target customer, how it fits with the strategy, revenue estimate, co-requisites, political factors, win-loss history, development estimate.
yellow: these are unfunded stretch goals and should include a use case or scenario, ROI estimate, development effort/time SWAG.
red: future requirements, recommended only with additional investment, don't spend a lot of effort describing these because they aren't likely but should include a target customer.
Steve Haines of Sequent Marketing on Innovation;
Innovation is part of a strategy that enables taking chances while managing risks, focusing on the best return on investment, diversification through resource allocation.
Innovation requires
o Culture of ongoing investment in improvement
o Leadership nurturing an innovative environment
o Attitude mindset for managers and teams
o Process - integrated in new product development
Alyssa Dver of Mint Green Marketing: Seven Habits of Highly Successful PMs
1. PM's must know their products and their own limitations (clarified thanks to comment from Todd)
2. Listen first: start by asking, "tell me what you do."
3. Ask "why?", not "what?" Why to you need the product and how are you going to use it?
4. Decisive - based on market data - PM's make decisions with confidence when they have market data to back up their decisions.
5. Responsive: if people ask for information, if you can't respond right away, let them know when to expect a response.
6. Communicate concretely, frequently and concisely
7. Manage passion - you must be passionate, but not emotional better to be composed and display conviction based on concrete data than rely on emotional persuasion.
In summary an outstanding PM is:
A humble leader, careful, artful communicator and an avid student.
I asked Alyssa if she would add being organized and analytical as attributes of a PM, and she said yes, you need those skills, to perform at even a minimal level of competence, but they are not sufficient to make a PM outstanding.
Another recommended book: Portfolio Management for New Products - (thanks Cory!)
Thanks again to the presenters and participants for sharing their ideas and experience, and to the sponsors for making the day possible.
Closing note: One of my final activities at the end of my 2008 term as Director of Program Planning for BPMA was to champion approval for BPMA's co-sponsorship of this event. It took quite a bit of effort to establish consensus within the board on a package of financial and marketing resource support for ProductCamp. Helping to make this day happen ranks among my most satisfying experiences as a member of the BPMA Board. Thanks especially to my former fellow BPMA board members who supported PCampBoston.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Summary of take-aways from the sessions I attended:
From Steve Johnson of Pragmatic Marketing on the Four Roles of PM:
When writing requirements - short is better. Writing requirements isn't like writing a will - you should expect be around to answer any questions that come up along the way.
You have to know and love the industry you are in to be a Product Manager.
The job of the PM is to be one of the "parents of the product." It's possible to be a single parent, but it's a lot harder when you have to do it on your own.
As a "parent of the product" our job is to "get the child ready to leave and rarely return." In other words, the PM is supposed to give Development, Sales, and Marcom enough information so they can answer their own questions.
From Bob Levy (Former BPMA President) on Requirements Management Best Practices:
Resource material on managing relationships and building trust:
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Crucial Confrontations: Tools for talking about broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior
Contributors to Cognitive Distortion - (not seeing reality - or different people seeing reality differently)
The telephone game: messages get distorted when passed from one person to the next.
Over generalization: everyone does it. (duh!)
Recency effect: placing heavier reliance on recent information.
Observer expectancy: unconscious manipulation of results based on expectations.
Confirmation bias: trying to prove a point.
Status quo: resistance to change
Group think: going along
Projection bias: assuming that other share our own preferences.
Bob presented a systematic methodology for capturing, ranking and reviewing and maintaining requirements in three levels:
green: these are believable, attainable, committed requirements and should should include a description of the market problem, target customer, how it fits with the strategy, revenue estimate, co-requisites, political factors, win-loss history, development estimate.
yellow: these are unfunded stretch goals and should include a use case or scenario, ROI estimate, development effort/time SWAG.
red: future requirements, recommended only with additional investment, don't spend a lot of effort describing these because they aren't likely but should include a target customer.
Steve Haines of Sequent Marketing on Innovation;
Innovation is part of a strategy that enables taking chances while managing risks, focusing on the best return on investment, diversification through resource allocation.
Innovation requires
o Culture of ongoing investment in improvement
o Leadership nurturing an innovative environment
o Attitude mindset for managers and teams
o Process - integrated in new product development
Alyssa Dver of Mint Green Marketing: Seven Habits of Highly Successful PMs
1. PM's must know their products and their own limitations (clarified thanks to comment from Todd)
2. Listen first: start by asking, "tell me what you do."
3. Ask "why?", not "what?" Why to you need the product and how are you going to use it?
4. Decisive - based on market data - PM's make decisions with confidence when they have market data to back up their decisions.
5. Responsive: if people ask for information, if you can't respond right away, let them know when to expect a response.
6. Communicate concretely, frequently and concisely
7. Manage passion - you must be passionate, but not emotional better to be composed and display conviction based on concrete data than rely on emotional persuasion.
In summary an outstanding PM is:
A humble leader, careful, artful communicator and an avid student.
I asked Alyssa if she would add being organized and analytical as attributes of a PM, and she said yes, you need those skills, to perform at even a minimal level of competence, but they are not sufficient to make a PM outstanding.
Another recommended book: Portfolio Management for New Products - (thanks Cory!)
Thanks again to the presenters and participants for sharing their ideas and experience, and to the sponsors for making the day possible.
Closing note: One of my final activities at the end of my 2008 term as Director of Program Planning for BPMA was to champion approval for BPMA's co-sponsorship of this event. It took quite a bit of effort to establish consensus within the board on a package of financial and marketing resource support for ProductCamp. Helping to make this day happen ranks among my most satisfying experiences as a member of the BPMA Board. Thanks especially to my former fellow BPMA board members who supported PCampBoston.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
US Airways Flight 1549 - Ordinary People, Extraordinary Heroes
I'm compelled to express my admiration and appreciation for the genuine heroism demonstrated by the captain, crew, passengers, and both the professional and volunteer first responders who averted a huge potential tragedy when US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the icy Hudson River this week. Our society tends to idolize celebrities who attain their fame for dubious reasons. This event has captured the nation's attention because a group of ordinary people created a true life miracle by averting panic and cooperating under leadership of a few extraordinary individuals preserving the lives of all on board through this harrowing ordeal.
The pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, is receiving well deserved recognition for his skill in landing the plane safely on the Hudson after loosing power. US Airways identified the the first officer as Jeffrey Skiles, and the three flight attendants; Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh and Sheila Dail, who quickly evacuated passengers, and preserved calm through their rescue.
A bulletin to members of the US Airline Pilots Association, said said Capt. Sullenberger personally accounted for all the passengers and remained on the sinking aircraft until he was sure the plane was empty."The fact that 155 people walked away from a very dangerous situation is a testament to the skill and professionalism of the entire flight crew."
The Association of Flight Attendants union, which represents the cabin crew members at US Airways, commended the three attendants for safely and quickly evacuating the passengers in the emergency landing. "Their years of experience and training made all the difference once the aircraft was in the water."
Ferry operators arrived on the scene within minutes and started the rescue. They were joined moments later by NYC emergency personnel.
The heroic efforts of this rescue undoubtedly benefited from good fortune, or as people of faith (including myself) say, "miraculous Divine intervention". I was touched by the "cartoon" published on the editorial page of the Providence Journal today reproducing the now famous AP photograph by Steven Day, showing the plane floating on the Hudson while passengers lined up, waiting for rescue on the wings and evacuation rafts. The illustrator added God's hands providing support from below the waters. I don't know the artist's name, but the drawing conveys a very powerful message.
Keep Warm,
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Adobe Reader 9: how to turn off updates
As part of my annual home PC clean-up, I upgraded to a 320 Gb drive and started from a fresh OS install to clear up all of the junk that slows things down. I was really tickled that the old machine was practically jumping off the desk after I installed Windows XP, MS Office, and my video editing software, but when I re-installed Adobe Reader 7.0, the performance fell off a cliff. I hadn't realized that Adobe Reader 7.0 was checking the web for updates every time it started causing my machine to become unresponsive whenever it opened.
I did a little reading on the web and didn't find an easy way to turn off the updates. After seeing a few helpful notes on various forums, (this tweak in particular stands out) I saw some favorable feedback on 9.0, although there are still complaints about bloat. Adobe added the ability to update preferences in Reader 9.0, which didn't exist in Reader 7, so I decided to give 9 a try. To disable updates, click edit, preferences, general, then remove the check mark from "Check for Updates" under Application start up. With automatic updates disabled, you can still Check for Updates manually by clicking on the Help menu. Here is a composite screenshot showing the setting to disable updates for anyone who needs a clear picture.
I did a little reading on the web and didn't find an easy way to turn off the updates. After seeing a few helpful notes on various forums, (this tweak in particular stands out) I saw some favorable feedback on 9.0, although there are still complaints about bloat. Adobe added the ability to update preferences in Reader 9.0, which didn't exist in Reader 7, so I decided to give 9 a try. To disable updates, click edit, preferences, general, then remove the check mark from "Check for Updates" under Application start up. With automatic updates disabled, you can still Check for Updates manually by clicking on the Help menu. Here is a composite screenshot showing the setting to disable updates for anyone who needs a clear picture.
I'm very pleased with the result (I also disabled Adobe Java Script as recommended in the above tweak link above. (click: edit, preferences, javascript, remove check mark, click OK.)
PS. After the original post, I learned the same preference is also in Adobe Reader 8.
Happy New Year,
Chuck
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Long Term Mutual Prosperity
According to Michael Hoseus, Executive Director of the Center for Quality People & Organizations, and co-author of TOYOTA CULTURE, the heart and soul of the Toyota Way, to only be in business to make money is the lowest level of maturity that exists for a company. Long-term mutual prosperity is a goal shared by the company and the employee that brings the two together, and establishes a consensus, trust, and long term commitment to success that becomes the shared purpose of work. While the company targets profit, growth, and sustainability, and the employee seeks job stability, growth, and their development, the two can come together forming a mutual commitment around long-term mutual prosperity.
Happy New Year,
Chuck
Saturday, November 22, 2008
My employer, SIMULIA, featured in the local TV News
With Rhode Island leading the nation in unemployment (currently 9.3%), the NBC news affiliate in Providence filmed and broadcast a segment on my employer yesterday to highlight a high tech company that is bucking the trend. The clip includes images of our offices, and showing our software. I work directly with the people interviewed. Subham, Susan, and Ken. You can view the video by clicking the image above or at http://www.turnto10.com/, but I don't know how long the video will be available online.
Best,
Chuck
Steven Fransblow's presentation on building innovation dynasties at BPMA
Steven Fransblow of Innosight gave an eye-opening talk this week at the Boston Product Management Association November meeting on the JOBS™ approach to successful innovation.
The JOBS™ blueprint focuses on four key issues:
J: Job - What is the problem to be solved for a specific consumer and set of circumstances?
O: Objective - What are the functional, social, and emotional metrics of purchase and use?
B: Barriers - What are the financial, skill, time, access, and behavioral obstacles that prevent the job from getting done satisfactorily.
S: Solutions - What are the products, services and compensating behaviors that can overcome the barriers, achieve objectives, and satisfy the requirements.
One of Steven's key points was that successful innovation does not mean making "perfect products". It means making products that delight customers without overshooting the requirements which often leads to schedule delays, cost overruns and uncessesary complexity that detracts from successful adoption.
In addition to books published by Innosight, and an MIT Sloan article, Finding the Right Job for Your Product Steven provided the following free online resources for more information.
Strategy & Innovation: Innosight’s newsletter focusing on strategies for business growth.
Innosight’s blog highlighting recent disruptive innovations
Best,
Chuck
The JOBS™ blueprint focuses on four key issues:
J: Job - What is the problem to be solved for a specific consumer and set of circumstances?
O: Objective - What are the functional, social, and emotional metrics of purchase and use?
B: Barriers - What are the financial, skill, time, access, and behavioral obstacles that prevent the job from getting done satisfactorily.
S: Solutions - What are the products, services and compensating behaviors that can overcome the barriers, achieve objectives, and satisfy the requirements.
One of Steven's key points was that successful innovation does not mean making "perfect products". It means making products that delight customers without overshooting the requirements which often leads to schedule delays, cost overruns and uncessesary complexity that detracts from successful adoption.
In addition to books published by Innosight, and an MIT Sloan article, Finding the Right Job for Your Product Steven provided the following free online resources for more information.
Strategy & Innovation: Innosight’s newsletter focusing on strategies for business growth.
Innosight’s blog highlighting recent disruptive innovations
Best,
Chuck
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)