Product Managers are time-starved. There are always 100 things on their to-do lists when they know that about 20 of them will actually get done today. So let’s cut through the build-up and get right to it. This post curates the best, current must-reads for Product Managers. Enjoy, share, and then get on with your day! After all, you’ve got products to tend to…
Validate or Bust: Testing new feature and product ideas before you build
via Heahter McCloskey at the UserVoice Blog
This post discusses the age-old conundrum that many product managers face: The worry of whether their new product will actually work out. But you don’t have to wait until you’re product is out in the wild to have an idea of whether it will be successful. There are many things that you can do well before the day of launch to understand if your solution even is solving the right problem in the first place.
The Next Feature Fallacy: The fallacy that the next new feature will suddenly make people use your product.
via Andrew Chen at AndrewChen.co
Stop me if you’ve heard this one, Product Managers. “We lost the sale because we don’t have Feature X. If you just added this feature, I know I’d be able to close more business.” Thanks sales guy. I can empathize, though. After all, this is what customers tell salespeople sometimes. But you know better, Product Manager, don’t you? This article reaffirms the notion that the next feature just may not translate into more sales or more users (complete with numbers to back it up).
Three Questions We Should Stop Asking
via Cindy Alvarez at CindyAlvarez.com
Whenever we are able to convince a potential customer that fits a certain persona with us, it’s easy to get all giddy and make a list of questions to ask. After all, we know in our heart-of-hearts that real, customer feedback is always a good thing. Except sometimes it’s not. Not when you’re asking the wrong questions, anyway.
Six Tools for the Product Manager in You
via Danielle Thé on BrainStation
Let’s face it, we all would like to make our lives a little bit easier as Product Managers, right? Lucky for us, there are troves of companies creating products designed to do just that. But a lot of them just end up creating more headaches than help. Not these, though. These are 6 of the best tools for Product Managers that you can find. (Spoiler alert: Two of them are from sponsors of Industry 2015!)
UX is UI
via Mike Atherton on Medium
We’ve all seen that meme. The paved road (caption: UI) and the organically created dirt path that students are actually using (caption: UX). It’s not as simple as that, though. In fact, the reality is that we might be thinking about UI and UX all wrong.
Did you come across an amazing article that every Product Manager should know about? Email me at mike [at] productcollective dot com and let me know!
