Using Social Media

Good Discussion on Social Media and Business to Business interactions.

• Social Media is Interaction, Engagement, Conversation, Relationships, not about Tools!
• Recommenders and Purchasers are consumers with expectations
• Social media allows an instantaneous response to serious brand issues. You have to live with the bad parts of social media, but you can choose to live with the good.
• Private twitter accounts? I didn't know that existed! Yammer is similar.
  

ProductCamp RTP - 1110

Product Management - 10 important things we must do:

1. Think - Take time away or you can easily become swallowed into the tactical.
2. Leadership - 90% of your job.
3. Pricing - Product Management should own the pricing of their product. Pricing is the only thing that brings in revenue
4. Measure - Customer Satisfaction, Defects, Costs, etc. Track and share. It's easier to lead when you have the information to lead.
5. Observe - Watch and learn. Observe your customers, determine why, and learn.
6. Define your personas- Who are your buyers vs. users. Know their background, daily activities, etc.
7. Call Reports - Validate assumptions, Discuss new opportunities
8. Manage Roadmaps - Feature vs. Release based, Most important deliverable, review weekly. Make your roadmap, fill it in with key milestones and strategy.
9. Win/Loss Analysis - Helps identify key features. Sales Process problems. Win\Loss analysis will be a career differentiator.
10. Write Problem Statements - Don't just have it in your head.

ProductCamp RTP - 1015

So far I'm liking my first session regarding making sure that product managers understand needs. What are the needs of segmentation models and the individual user, but don't forget the other user personas. Lots of great discussion on innovation vs. market share vs. financial targets, etc.

ProductCamp RTP - 0900

Well I can't believe it, I'm here on time and I'm blogging away. The team of folks organizing the event could not have done a better job. Here's a photo:

ProductCamp RTP

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm looking forward to attending and will be blogging throughout the day. For more information please check it out here! Follow us on twitter as well here.

The Root Cause

Have you ever been in a meeting where developers were talking about what frustrates them? That's a tough meeting to go to. You often hear similar types of complaints:

• The requirements changed at the last minute?
  
• A developer would like to make sure the work he is doing is the right work?

What is the source of all of these "bad smells"? I typically try to dig down to the root of the problem by always asking "Why?" 3 times. So let's give it a shot:

• Why did the requirements change at the last minute? - Some executive swooped in to give their two cents?
• Why did the executive swoop in? Because they thought they knew better
• Why did they think they know better? Because they don't trust the folks they hired to do the right job

Next time you think something smells a bit funny, just ask why 3 times :)

Product Marketing 101

Often times I've seen product marketing material and positioning focus on features of the product. This is the easy first step for technical product managers or engineers to jump right into. You ask an engineer "Why should the customer buy this product?" and the answer you get is "It does A, B, and C"...Let me propose another way

Focus on the customer's problems and needs. Make the marketing about solving their needs, making their pain points disappear. Also keep in mind the audience. Is your buyer or the person you are trying to reach with this content very technical? Do they want to hear detailed specifications or how you are going to make their lives easier?

Here is a good article that I like. Click here.