And you are here why?

In the world of Product Management one of the hardest - and yet cruicialest - things you need to do is to put yourself in the head of the User. This is usually done by ° Starting with a "proto-persona", a stand-in for the end-user. This can range from (usually over) simplified takes to somebody in the company who has experience being - or selling to - these users. ° Moving on to full-fledged personae, deeply-researched, highly detailed, nuanced ones, expensive ones at that. A missed step between the two is building Empathy Maps (°), the main goal of which is to put you inside the head of the end-users. Why? Because,the more you understand what the see, say, hear, and actually do , the more you can understand what they want/need to do! (Note, the key here is to understand , to empathize (not to change...) Read on for Dave's new version of the Empathy Map . A key change is that the “Think and Feel” element is now central and inside the head. It emphasizes the differ...

“Don’t worry about the big picture — I’ve got that. You just focus on your part”  —  #CowboyDeveloper Requirements don’t stand in isolation — the context that they exist in can dramatically affect the implementation. I know, this is straight from the   Department of Belaboring The Obvious , but it’s shocking how often you hear this. And yes it’s quite common around Cowboy Developers, but it’s also something that you’ll hear quite frequently in the world of Bad Product Management™. If you hear this, and are in any position of authority, then put a stop to it. If you’re dealing with n00bs, be sure to hammer home the point that this is unacceptable. As Deming (•) put it way back when — Suppose that you tell me that my job is to wash this table. You show to me soap, water, and a brush. I still have no idea what the job is. I must know what the table will be used for after I wash it. Why wash it? Will the table be used to set food on? If so, it is clean enough now. If it is to ...