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Don’t Be An Idiot PM: Catch Your Own Errors
The only thing worse than dealing with an idiot in the workplace is finding out that you ARE the idiot in the workplace. As we’ve discussed previously in this series, an idiot is a person who is very...
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Product Managers: Don’t State Opinions in Meetings Too Soon
For a product or project manager, opening your mouth can be dangerous. Psychological research has shown that: Just saying something out loud, even if it’s incorrect, increases the speaker’s belief in...
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The Cure for Idiocy? A Reading List for Idiots (And Us All!)
“I already know how to think like an idiot! Need someone to sort me out” – twitter follower shim_marom, who takes home this week’s awards for self-awareness, humility, and humor, thereby proving he’s...
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Beware Persistent Object Selection: It Can Cause Great Pain!
Want to have a really bad day at the office? Apply an operation to the currently-selected list of objects … whatever that list might be! In product design, beware persistent object selection. A friend...
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Silicon Valley Product Camp 2011 is April 2 in San Jose!
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and are a product manager or product marketing manager or want to learn about either role, don’t miss Silicon Valley Product Camp 2011 on April 2nd in San Jose....
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Vote Now for Silicon Valley Product Camp Sessions!
As we posted previously, if you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and are a product manager or product marketing manager or want to learn about either role, register now for Silicon Valley Product Camp...
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Fukushima Lesson: Failover Systems Must Be Truly Redundant!
One lesson for product managers, project managers, and IT solution architects is already clear from the current nuclear reactor overheating crisis at Fukushima in Japan. When all of your failover...
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Fukushima Lesson: Beware Big Risks With No Symptoms Today
When doing product or project management, pay special attention to big potential risks that are causing no symptoms today. It is these risks that you’re most likely to underinvest in addressing and...
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Fukushima Lesson: Ask the Hard Questions!
On December 26, 2004, the Indonesian earthquake caused a massive tsunami. Within days, the world learned that the waves had been at least 70 feet high in some places. For the next six years, workers...
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Product Management Tip: Have Team Report Bugs IMMEDIATELY!
Which is the greater threat: (a) the problems you know about, or (b) the problems you don’t yet know about? In my experience, it’s been the problems I didn’t know about until very late that caused the...
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Fukushima Lesson: Protection Won’t Work If You Don’t Use It!
Would you be comfortable living next door to a nuclear reactor if you knew it was storing its highly radioactive “live” fuel rods in a swimming pool in a flimsy shed cooled by a garden hose? Probably...
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Product Management Security Tip: Allow Hard Passwords!
It’s annoying but understandable when web sites impose very specific password quality rules in an attempt to ensure your password is hard to guess. It’s both annoying and incomprehensible when web...
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Fukushima Lesson: Beware Assumptions! They’re Prisons for the Mind!
Your mind is only as free as you make it. Beware unchallenged assumptions. They are a prison for your mind that you build yourself! Anticipate and Manage Product Problems Before They Happen A recent...
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Slides: Introduction to Agile Project Management and Scrum
I had the pleasure of giving two presentations at the Silicon Valley Product Camp 2011 this weekend. I have posted the slides for “Introduction to Agile Project Management and Scrum.” Since we only had...
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Slides: Social Media Marketing for the Lean Startup
Here are the slides and notes for “Social Media Marketing for the Lean Startup,” my second presentation at Silicon Valley Product Camp 2011 last weekend. This is a brief tactical introduction for...
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Startups, Products, and Projects: Cutting Through Noise
Recently, there have been numerous articles and blog postings about alleged boardroom and executive staff drama at twitter. People are spending a lot of time and column inches speculating about what...
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Product Managers: Plan for Human Error, Not For Perfection!
This week America was shocked, shocked to learn that air traffic controllers have been falling asleep at their terminals. Obviously, this is all the fault of the lazy, irresponsible air traffic...
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Bad Product Transition Management: Final Cut Pro X
Want to know how not to manage a product architectural transition? Look no further than Apple’s disastrous release of Final Cut Pro X this week. I write this as a confirmed Apple fanboy. I learned to...
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Proprietary Data Formats Require Vendor Trust
Do you make a software product that requires customers to use a proprietary data format? Then keeping your customers’ trust has to be your highest priority, because your business depends on that trust!...
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Learn Social Media Marketing at Boot Camp on 8-26 in Campbell, CA
Want to learn the fundamental skills of social media marketing? If you’re interested, I’ll be teaching “Social Media Marketing Boot Camp” in Campbell, California on Friday, August 26th in conjunction...
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