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The Product Management Manifesto

Started by Adam Bullied · 1 year ago

This is a monster post. Is it really a manifesto? Probably not. I hope we can turn it in to one together. It’s a group effort and I’m pushing hard on some things that I really believe will help take our role to the next level. I hope we can get the right kind of [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Product Management Manifesto", url: "http://writethatdown.com/archives/2008/06/the-prod ... Continue reading »

13 comments

  • Saeed Khan

    1 year ago

    Adam,

    You and I have some similar thoughts. I've been putting together a "Manifesto" like posting for some time. My recent request to readers of my blog for <a href=
    "http://tinyurl.com/63ewu7">one word that describes product management" was some base research into that topic.

    I'll comment more later on the points you make in your post.

    Saeed
    reply
  • Saeed Khan

    1 year ago

    OK...I guess I can't embed html tags in comments. Here's the full URL of the article I mentioned.

    http://onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/2008/0...
    reply
  • bob corrigan

    1 year ago

    I've got a book in me. What I need is some help refining what my "angle" is.

    Great post, BTW. PMs of the world unite, tovarich.
    reply
  • Scott Sehlhorst

    1 year ago

    Great idea - very fun. I decided to answer your call for feedback with an idea-seeding exercise. Starting with your philosophy, plus 30 minutes of my thoughts, what would version 0.2 look like? Or maybe just an alternate body of thoughts, from which we can craft a Frankenstein of philosophy.

    http://tynerblain.com/blog/2008/06/30/product-m...
    reply
  • Stewart Rogers

    1 year ago

    Maybe we need a wiki to build this out
    reply
  • Stewart Rogers

    1 year ago

    More comments...
    "If you can’t define the problem concisely, you are already dead before you even start. If your problem is too broad / cloudy, you’re done for." ---- Ouch. That rules out 90% of Product Managers.

    "4. Develop a Clear Picture of the Future.....but you need to write it down." ---- Ahhh... writing it down. Writing our worst enemy. Perhaps a vision document - a 1-pager. Supported by MRD and Roadmap.

    "5. Execute in Concert" ---- Without being a ProJECT Manager.
    reply
  • Joe Donnelly

    11 months ago

    Adam, I thoroughly agree with the material in your manifesto, but would organize it differently, for conciseness and clarity. My steps would be:

    1. Know our target customer and her problems
    2. Create a vision: our target customer using our solution
    3. Decide if this constitutes a viable business
    4. Deliver on the vision
    5. Do it all again, from step 1

    Along with the general principles that:
    - We document everything unambiguously and concisely
    - We continuously focus on high-quality communication between all parties
    - We have good practice in place for dealing with the usual product mangement stuff (needs/requirements/use cases, lifecycle, pricing, marketing, sales channels and so on)

    This may look a bit high-level, but this list can be broken down to lower levels of detail. To have additional items at the top level though inevitably brings the focus more onto what I have called step 4, "Deliver on the vision", which is already relativelty well understood, compared to creating the vision in the first place and aligning people behind it.

    I believe that we as product mangers need to shift much of our attention to creating the vision, which means understanding our target market really well. This is too important to leave to others. Taking the vision as a "given" brings big trouble, whether it's a new product that misses the mark, or a mature product sufferring a death by well-intentioned-but-ultimately-valueless enhancements.
    reply
  • Andy Frost

    11 months ago

    I second the request for a Wiki.
    reply
  • Comment removed.
  • Adam Bullied

    5 months ago

    Thanks, Alisha!
    reply
  • Time Management

    4 months ago

    Thanks for that massive manifesto. Yes, I do think it does qualify as a manifesto for product management. Hope to read more such posts from you
    reply
  • Gantt Chart Software

    4 months ago

    Very good manifesto - I'm printing it to share with my team.
    reply
  • Adam Bullied

    4 months ago

    Cool! Thanks for reading the blog, and I hope it can help!
    reply

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