Agile
And its impact on product managers
In this issue:
Agile. An overview of Agile, how it compares to waterfall and the current reality of water-scrum-fall.
Scrum. An explanation of the rules, how it works and the implications for the product owner.
Tools. Software tools to help you manage requirements and agile projects.
Checklist. How to survive and prosper in the world of agile with our checklist for product managers.
Scrum This! Thoughts from the Cranky Product Manager.
Insight. Agile hype, dogma, religious-like zealotory. Is there a bandwagon?
Leading
Product management and product marketing teams
In this issue:
The role. What does a product manager do anyway? When job titles mean little, this article provides a framework to understand the role and an explanation of how product management departments are structured.
Leadership tools. Using product manager Personas and 20 things to make you a great team leader.
Starting up. How to introduce product management for the first time and what to do if you’re the first product manager into a business.
How are we doing? Measuring product management. Why it’s difficult, how it’s normally done and the importance of setting the right objectives.
Carve-up. Splitting responsibilities across multi-national companies. Getting the balance right between central and local control.
Insight. How happy is your donkey? What really motivates you and your team and a checklist of things you can do to help.
Pricing
Setting the optimum price. Tips, tactics and theory
In this issue:
How to price. An introduction to the fundamentals of pricing and pricing strategy. Covers the pricing cycle, key pricing strategies and value-based pricing.
The psychology of pricing. How to get inside your customer's mind. Magic numbers, how to discount, the importance of proxies and how you choose your beer.
Pricing structures. What are they and which ones work best? Explains why it's important to think about how your pricing is structured, describes common approaches and how they are used.
Software pricing. Explains the terminology and range of options used for pricing software as well as giving guidance on buyer behaviour at different spend levels.
Insight: Take control of pricing. Why product managers are ideally positioned to take control of pricing and why it's vital you get involved.
Business cases
Create outstanding business cases that deliver results
In this issue:
How to build a business case. A step by step guide to building a business case and guidance on whom to engage to ensure credible results.
Top 10 tips when using Excel for Business Cases.To save you time and heartache.
Bad practice. Seven common mistakes. Highlights common problems when developing business cases and how to avoid them.
Scenario planning and sensitivity anlaysis. A business case that envisions a single outcome will almost certainly be wrong. This article explains the value of scenario planning and sensitivity analysis and how this can be presented to best effect in your business case.
Financial terminology. Takes you through some of the key financial terms and the concepts you will need when working on your business case.
Insight: Lies, damn lies and business cases. You know that the numbers will be made to say what the author wants them to say. How business cases are used and abused.
Recession
Stay ahead in a downturn. The product manager's guide
In this issue:
Succeeding in a downturn. How to stay ahead when the market is going down. What it means for your products and what it means for you.
Tools for managing requirements. What are they, what do they do. How to cut time to market, reduce errors and improve communications.
Outsourcing. Searching for ways to reduce overheads, is outsourcing the answer? The pros and cons for product management.
Job searching. What to do if the worst happens and you’ve just been made redundant. Tips and tricks for product management job hunting.
Insight: Voice of the market. How to make yourself more valuable to your business by being the person that knows what customers want.
Propositions
How to build sharper propositions that really work
In this issue:
Developing a proposition. The importance of unearthing what customers value, tools that can help you and a three step guide to developing propositions.
Proposition crib sheet. A great tool that you can use to describe your propositions to sales.
Persona profiling. Why profiling customers is so valuable for propositions. Get into the mind of a customer and understand what they really value.
Thinking big. Propositions for big software products - the challenges and issues.
Listen and learn. How to get real and high quality customer insights to help you develop propositions – and it need not cost the earth.
Insight: The Power of propositions. If you're not developing them for your business, who is?
Launching
Hit the ground running and what not to do
In this issue:
Launching tips. How to keep your launch on track. Six critical success factors that will make your launch a success.
Go to market checklist. A great checklist to use as you go through the launch process to make sure nothing is missed.
Good timing. Choosing a date to launch your product. Dates to choose and dates to avoid!
Relaunching. When and why should it be done. A golden opportunity for you?
Taking the lead. Getting the most from lead customers at launch. Using early adopters to set the pace, introduce new technologies and seed ideas into the market.
Insight: Maintaining momentum. A launch project shouldn't stop at launch – it should only finish when the product is successfully afloat.
