Understanding the nuanced differences between Product Managers and Project Managers is essential in unraveling the fabric of business operations and execution strategies. Both roles stand as pivotal pillars within organizations, each with distinct responsibilities and focal points. Here’s an in-depth exploration into the realms of Product Management and Project Management: Key Distinctions: Responsibilities and Focus: Product Manager: The primary focus is on the entire lifecycle of a product, from ideation to development, launch, and post-launch iterations. Their role revolves around defining ..read more

What is a Product Manager? The role of a product manager is the linchpin in product development, overseeing the entire lifecycle from inception to market launch. Tasked with strategizing, planning, and executing product initiatives, they’re the visionary behind the product’s success. They delve deep into market research, analyzing customer needs and market trends, translating these insights into product features and enhancements. Product managers act as the bridge between stakeholders, engineers, marketers, and other teams. They define product roadmaps, set priorities, and ensure smooth coordi ..read more

A Guide on How to Become a Product Manager Introduction Are you passionate about leading product development, shaping strategies, and driving innovation? Becoming a Product Manager might be your ideal career path. This guide will walk you through the key steps to kick-start your journey toward becoming a successful Product Manager. Key Steps to Become a Product Manager: Understand the Role: Begin by gaining a clear understanding of what product managers do. They oversee the development and launch of products, understanding market needs, and ensuring the product aligns with the company’s goals ..read more

In the business climate of the twenty-first century, companies must hone their operations to become more strategic, agile competitors. The best approach to achieving this goal is through enhanced utilization of the function of product management. If you asked 20 people to define ‘product management’, you’d probably get 20 different answers. Imagine asking those people what product managers are supposed to do, and you’ll probably get many more answers. Further, if you asked those 20 people about the most important attributes of a well-run product organization, you’d get more responses than ..read more

Waterfall or Agile? When I started in product management in the early 2000s, my company exclusively used the “waterfall” development methodology. We were the epitome of a linear-driven organization with our phased scoping documents, business cases, product requirements documents (PRDs) and development plans. I worked for a large financial services firm that responsibly monitored any and all changes to its core platform. Releases were managed to the Nth degree as to not impact the core transactional business. The waterfall process made complete sense for the environment. However, my particular ..read more

The title of this seems to overstate the obvious. From my vantage point, many businesspeople, including salespeople, product managers, marketers, and others, would benefit from some tried-and-true tools to garner customer insights and reveal true customer problems. I’m writing this because I recently spoke to a group of entrepreneurs starting new businesses.  Most people in this group presented great ideas for products and/or companies.  Most could easily articulate the problem from their own perspectives, and they spoke passionately about them.  Yet when I ask, who’s the real c ..read more

  Hi, welcome to the ace video series alumni continuing education day. I want to talk to you about uncovering your customers’ needs. This is one of the most critical pieces in making sure that we bring products to the market that are truly adding value. I want to talk through three different ways we can gather feedback and therefore to uncover the needs the most efficient way possible. The first I’d like to talk about is gathering unsolicited feedback. Just as the name suggests, unsolicited feedback is the feedback that we have received that we haven’t necessarily asked for. We may be g ..read more

Transcription: Hi, and welcome back to the ACE video series. I’m going to talk to you about creating strong value propositions. As I’m sure you’re aware, having a product needs a strong value proposition to truly prove its value within the marketplace. Right? So creating products, putting products out there and launching products in the market, we need to be sure that we have a strong value proposition. So that any people or any target segment that we’re looking to purchase our product. Understands how it solves any problem, issue or need that they may have. So let’s jump into the definition ..read more

You’ve been working at home, you miss your team. You’re “zoomed out.” Have you been paying attention to your professional development as a product manager? Regardless of your situation, whether you’re a new product manager or one with a few years of experience, you probably should put professional improvement on your agenda. Have you ever felt that if you don’t find ways to accomplish all that’s expected of you, you’ll be driven by the urgent demands of others?  If you don’t possess enough knowledge of the proper context, others will create that context for you as you put out fires a ..read more

Transformation is a word that isn’t commonly favored by the Product community because Transformation Programs rarely allow Product Teams to autonomously decide how they’ll achieve their mission. However, Transformation Programs incur significant costs. According to the CIO magazine, Global spending on digital transformation technologies and services was $1.3 trillion in 2020 of which 70% of that spend is wasted. That is approximately $900 billion. Why Product Managers should care? Great Product Management can, without a doubt do better with the $900 billion squandered on Transformation Program ..read more