I Manage Products blog
& PRODUCTHEAD newsletter

» Have a bias to test, learn, and to put code in production » Feed what you learn from exploring solutions back into your understanding of the problem » Help stakeholders visualise their ideas to make them easier to challenge, assess risk and test out

Stepping up to a CPO or VP Product role doesn’t so much change what you do. Rather it amplifies everything. This guide lets you know what to expect.

» Customers care about your mission, less about how you’re achieving it » For rapid feedback in discovery, ship and learn from more users, earlier » Changing something that’s been that way for years is hard because of the inertia behind it

» Product people are tired of being held up to unrealistic standards » It important to remember what’s in your control and what isn’t » Now is the time to be extra rigorous with finding product-market fit

Product-led growth: » is a strategy where the product itself sells itself through features and usability » can create self-perpetuating growth loops » can be even more effective when combined with growth product management company-wide

“I want to change my pricing strategy to cater differently for SMEs and enterprise customers. Where do I start?”

» Brand provides emotional context, which creates a contact between you and your customers » Brands evoke a subtle mix of people’s hopes, dreams and aspirations » Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl ad began a branding campaign that portrayed it as a symbol of counterculture

» Larger companies are far more likely to hire for intern, junior or associate level PM positions, but competition will be greater » Product success comes from the way its product manager makes decisions, thinks, communicates and relates

» “First comes the crowd, then comes the funding.” — Brad Guigar » Done well, a crowdfunding campaign helps with market validation and publicity, as well as raising cash » Make sure you repay your campaign backers’ loyalty, faith, and patience

» Navigating change is hard because we don’t want to be seen as villains » Don’t simply cut-and-paste another company’s organisational model without understanding the context » Consider how the members of your team will understand the change, embrace it, and work through it

“My product roadmap is not getting the right information across to other people in my company. How can I improve it?”

» A precursor to alignment is a clear product strategy » Alignment needs you to tell the same story over and over » Creating an assumption map can help to verify whether the team is actually aligned