Two qualities matter most when hiring product managers: smart persistence and attention to detail. Everything else is secondary: experience, education, and technical aptitude. Finding out if a candidate is persistent (but not annoyingly stubborn) and fanatically detail-oriented is not trivial in an interview setting. After trying out different approaches I …
Back in high school I had many opportunities for extra-curricular activities, but marching band wasn’t one of them. In fact, I don’t think I even knew such a thing existed. My son graduated high school this year after four successful marching band seasons – one of the most rewarding activities …
These are rules to live by for people who aspire for more at work. They may sound pessimistic but I’d rather call them realistic. Focus on what matters Distance yourself from anything that is not part of the core value creation process. Make meaningful things happen. Don’t waste your time and your company’s. Don’t …
There’s no shortage of resources and opinions about how to give a good presentation. At a risk of repeating what others have already said, here is my list of presentation faux pas. These are guaranteed to derail any pitch regardless of how relevant, important or interesting the message is. I …
Product management is an obscure art. Many people, especially outside the tech world, have no clue what it is. When I tell someone what I do, they often reply with “You mean project management?” The lengthy explanation that follows sometimes falls on deaf ears. In an effort to explain it …
Tech workers rarely take a job just because they need one. It’s a buyer’s market for the most part, and more so when the economy is booming. Rational job seekers – and I’d like to think they all are – choose positions that will allow them to grow and develop. …
The technological revolution of the last decades created countless new products and services while burying many old ones. Things that once had physical presence are now done through software – documents (pdf), memos (email), pictures (digital), money (bitcoin), etc. Unlike previous revolutions in which one physical technology replaced another, this …
This is not your usual facebook rant. facebook is an important service that solves real problems for many. It’s a major tech company with a viable business model, bound for more growth and innovation. Yet I’ve grown tired of it, and I’m not the only one. Facebook: it’s not you, …
The following is a chapter from my newly published book Product Leadership. “Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.” – Frank Zappa At the top of the long list of terms describing a product manager is a deceivingly simple word: Curator. Like curators of museum exhibitions, product …
The following is a chapter from my newly published book Product Leadership. “I have written you a long letter because I did not have time to write a short one.” – Blaise Pascal Simplicity is a design philosophy that prefers products leaner on features over loaded ones. The idea is …
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