You know the drill… a key customer wants you and their Account Manager to show up and present your latest roadmap, so they can see when they’ll be receiving their long-awaited products or enhancement requests.  Of course, you did that nine months ago, promising said enhancement requests would be delivered… um… last month.  Ahem.  “Yes, well, ...

A colleague recently voiced frustration that their divisional strategy is far from clear, yet they are accountable for following it and delivering results against it.  Does this problem sound familiar?  Here are a few good ways to cope: 1. Look for “breadcrumb trails” – Find a presentation from the last divisional or company meeting, or a recent email ...

A regularly scheduled product retrospective is an important part of the product manager’s job. As we close out the calendar year, it’s a good time to complete this work. What’s the best way to to it?  Some take a “rear-view-only” pragmatic approach: report on release delivery, revenue and units sold. Here are our best tips for a more ...

The November Pivot Point Newsletter survey asked you how you get focused on the product strategy and the overall company strategy. Most of the Product Managers who responded to the survey say they start by looking at information from the market. This approach was chosen by 71% of respondents. Says one PM: “One of my favorite ways ...

One of the things we teach in our 2-day Product Management Intensive workshop is how to get out of the trenches and get a 30,000 foot view once in awhile. Working with clients and coaching our students just reinforces for me how important this is, and how hard.  After all, one of the things that many ...

Thanks to Jeff Lash for the opportunity to answer this question on his “Ask A Good Product Manager” blog.  You can see the question and the reply here.

How long has it been since you shook your head in dismay at an executive decision that seemed to ignore the facts? Research shows there are two key ways that the brain interferes with good decision-making. Find out what they are, and how product managers can combat their effects.