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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
http://onproductmanagement.wordpress.com/2008/0...
Great post, BTW. PMs of the world unite, tovarich.
http://tynerblain.com/blog/2008/06/30/product-m...
"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.
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.
keep it up