Some of my favorite posts

I have been formally writing for the Product Bistro since early 2016, but I have been blogging and writing about product management since 2009 or so. In all that time I have written hundreds of posts, and many of them are in the archives here.

This will be a collection of my favorites, or the most popular. Without further ado let’s dive in.

The Product Manager as Garbage Collector

Depending on the organization, it is common that product management is the position where tasks just accumulate. Tasks that rightfully belong to other groups have fallen through the cracks, and product management will end up owning it.

Usually, this happens because product managers are focused on ensuring that customers do not suffer any degradation in their experience.

Product Management as Garbage Collector

In many organizations, I have noticed a trend that is somewhat ubiquitous. That is the trend of product managers to have a cornucopia of tactical tasks that are unrelated to the core product management responsibilities. Others have termed this the “Product Janitor” role, and it often is a mashup of tasks that really

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Can you be a good product manager as an Introvert?

There is a common premise that product managers are outgoing and gregarious in their persona, and certainly this is sometimes true. But as a capital “I” introvert, I have been able to turn that inward thinking into effective product management.

This post won me an award with the Boston Product Association.

Product Management while Introverted

One thing that is crucial to success in Product Management is the ability to communicate. A common perception is that you must be an extrovert to be a good communicator. Yet, as a solid introvert, who hates crowds, and large gatherings, I have been quite successful in Product Management.

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How to Handle the Exit Interview

A peer who left in a blaze of glory, torching their path behind them, and bragging about how vicious that they were in their exit interview got me thinking about how to handle this potentially fraught situation.

Regardless of how toxic, or bad the experience was, you need to be above the fray.

The Exit Interview

Having 7 stops on my journey in Product management over the last 20 years, I have had several “exit interviews.” This post is some sage advice that I have learned and absorbed over this series of experiences. But what is an exit interview, and why do they have them at all? From the employer’s side, it makes perfect sen…

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Truth Hurts

Spend any serious time in the role of product management, and you will discover some truths. Sometimes, helpful elders will clue you in early, and sometimes you will discover these yourself. But, discover them you will.

Product Management Truths

Being in the product management / product marketing game a long time, these are some truths that have been constants across my career. Time and time again, there are the same challenges, and I suspect that many of you have similar or related tales. This is by

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Of course, there are more, and I extended them in another post.

Product Management Truths - Redux

One of my more popular posts has been on the unwritten truths of Product Management. Originally written over 5 years ago, that post covered many observations and self-evident truths. Fast forward to 2018, and there are some additions to this list. Without further ado, I offer these observations:

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Zombies, they are everywhere

Unless you are at an early-stage startup, it is an almost certainty that you have experienced a zombie product, a project or program that is the walking dead.

The Dreaded "Zombie" Product

At every company I have been at with some history (more than a decade or two), I have found there to be at least one product that is long beyond the “Milk it” stage. Orders have dropped off, and customers have moved to either a different technology, or into a replacement product. Of course, you still get the occasional ba…

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Scope Creep happens, and it is usually predictable

I have never, ever in all my 23+ years of product management not had some form of scope creep in projects. Alas, in the old days of waterfall, it could be catastrophic as the definition was done up front, and stuff happens. In agile, you can be more reactive, and the ability to adjust as conditions evolve is baked in. Still, long development cycles that get delayed ensure that market conditions change and need to be accounted for, hence the creep that everyone hates.

Scope Creep

In my more than two decades of product management experience, with many different engineering and development organizations. Regardless of how great the teams are/were, there are always slips in schedule. I am puzzled by this. Even when with a great team, populated with hugely talented, and highly productive engineers,…

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Summary

A long history in product got me interested in writing about product management, and over the years I have put many of them in writing. Hopefully you find these worth the time to read.