Upcoming Presentations in Denver and Cleveland; Product Management and Boards [How To Be A Good Product Manager]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy writing and doing other things related to product management, of course — here’s an update!

August 8 in Denver: Product Strategy on a Page
Next Wednesday, August 8, I’ll be in Denver to present at a meeting of Colorado Product, being held at General Assembly Denver. The topic I’ll be covering is Product Strategy on a Page:

Many product managers have an incomplete understanding of the various elements that make up a well-constructed product strategy. A product strategy that is unclear and incomplete – or overcomplicated – causes a company to waste resources and reduces the chance of product success. In this session, we will share a common definition of product strategy and its key elements and share with you a template for summarizing your product’s strategy on a single page. Attendees will have a chance to use and apply the template in the session itself.

It’s free to attend and from what I hear we’ve got a big crowd already registered, but there’s still room for more. Register for free via the General Assembly website and hope to see you there!

October 2 in Cleveland: Product Management Leadership
My “between the coasts” tour continues this fall (and I’m not complaining at all, given that I live in St. Louis) as I’m on the agenda for the INDUSTRY conference, which is held in Cleveland from October 1-3. There’s a great lineup of speakers, including actor, entrepreneur, and, as he’s known best in my household, children’s book author (yes, really!) BJ Novak. I’ll be talking about Product Management Leadership:

Beyond just “what does good product management look like,” this talk is for product leaders looking to build, develop, manage and organize a world-class product management organization. Perfect for VP’s and CPO’s, this session will focus more on the teams and organizations that build product vs. the product itself.

That’s a tall order, but I’m up for it! Learn more on the INDUSTRY website.

Preparing for the Board: What Boards of Directors Want From the Head of Product Management
If you’re a product leader, you’ve probably been given advice on how to present to salespeople, customers, and executives. But what about the board of directors of your company? With product management having a “seat at the table” in the executive ranks of more and more organizations, this means product leaders are often in the position of interacting with board members, though many have never been given any coaching or guidance on how to best work with the board. This new ebook I helped put together — Preparing for the Board: What Boards of Directors Want From the Head of Product Management — is based on research we at SiriusDecisions did with board members themselves.

What should product management executives do to prepare for board meetings? What should they include (or not include) in board presentations? How can product leaders best leverage the board outside of quarterly meetings? We cover these questions and more; clients have access to our full research on this topic, but anyone can download our ebook for a summary and our top recommendations.

What’s Hot on Twitter
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a summary of some of my tweets that have generated the most interest recently. To read more, or get these in real-time, join the 9000+ others who follow me at @jefflash:

"Minimum Viable Product" does not mean "a product that's missing key features but we can get it released & not feel too ashamed of it". Learn how MVPs *should* work in my blog post @ https://t.co/6CIqrpPZst & download @SiriusDecisions research on MVPs @ https://t.co/O9FqdqY1bD pic.twitter.com/T3WkpUA5kt

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) July 12, 2018

Posting this picture here so I can find it later, because I know I'll use it in a #prodmgmt presentation at some point (likely one on #agile)

[found at https://t.co/KsDScFcjeW] pic.twitter.com/t7wVWbkgsH

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) July 31, 2018

"Failing fast" isn't a goal.
LEARNING fast is the goal.

You want to learn so you don't waste unnecessary time/resources on something that doesn't meet customer/prospect needs.

But if you ignore what you learned previously & fail b/c of that, that's not success – it's a waste.

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) July 5, 2018

Product managers should be focused on customers/their needs, not on technology.

A "machine learning product manager" makes as much sense as a "screwdriver carpenter."

Focus on the customer NEED first, then figure out the best solution, THEN figure out what tech to use.

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) April 30, 2018

Having #product managers spend MORE time with customers isn't a GUARANTEE that they will better understand customer needs, but having #prodmgmt spend little-to-no time with customers is a pretty good way to guarantee that they WON'T.

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) April 25, 2018

People generally don't want a product that is "flexible" or "adaptable." They want a product that solves their needs.

When a buyer/user asks for "flexibility," they're really saying "the product as you've designed it won't meet my needs, so let me change it so it does."

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) May 24, 2018

Sure, #product management may be *interacting* with customers frequently… but is #prodmgmt

talking AT customers
or
listening TO customers?

There's a BIG difference between the two…

— Jeff Lash (@jefflash) April 5, 2018

The post Upcoming Presentations in Denver and Cleveland; Product Management and Boards appeared first on How To Be A Good Product Manager.

Source: How To Be A Good Product Manager https://www.goodproductmanager.com/2018/08/02/upcoming-presentations-denver-cleveland-product-management-boards/