Continues communication with your customers is an essential part of creating an enterprise product. Whether it is about validating new content; helping in closing a deal or providing technical support – the insights you get are invaluable. In this post, I want to focus on a special kind of customer engagements – product enhancements.

True. Customers are THE source of understanding what your product needs. Yet there is a subtle difference between satisfying a customer and satisfying market needs. Continue reading →

Have you had the chance to watch the Grand Prix series on ESPN or another sports channel?

I mean these bike races that take place all around the world.

There’s this moment when the rider tilts his bike, extends his knee to the ground and gets into the turn.

What is the secret of the best riders? How do they turn without crashing (Hint: the answer is in the picture)?

Take a good look at the helmet that Eddie Lawson, one of the best bike riders, is wearing. When Eddie turns, his eyes are on the spot where he wants to be. He doesn’t look at the roadsides or at the exhaust pipe of the bike in front of him – Only at the point where he wants to be.

This is the first rule of getting to the finish line and winning the race.

True. You need to shift your weight balance at the right moment, speed at the right time, and some other things that separate the everyday driver from Eddie Lawson. But this is the main thing – keep your eyes on where you want to be.

Continue reading →

Did you know that the price of a polished diamond can be up to 30 times its price as an uncut stone?

In other words – the demand for the stone after cutting and polishing it becomes 30 times higher. Pretty good deal indeed.

In this post, I will talk about how the product and development managers can polish the product and raise its value, much like what happens when polishing an uncut diamond, and while doing that, motivate the R&D team and enjoy the process. Continue reading →

“How many elephants can you get into a car?”

The answer is four: two in the front and two in the back.

Well, everyone knows that. But nobody knows what happens next – now that the elephants are sitting in the car, what would happen when you start the engine and drive?

The answer to the above question is very relevant to product development and product management. Why? It will be clear in a moment. Continue reading →

I recently read an article that hit the headlines only for a short period of time  – “After an agreement could not be reached between the Republicans and the Democrats, President Obama was forced to sign a presidential bill, cutting 85 billion dollars off the US budget…” Beyond the effects on the American economy, the story reminded me of the relationship between a product manager and a development manager in a company I worked with. Continue reading →