Insights
Perspectives on Product Management Job Satisfaction
I’ve been collecting data to find out if product managers are happy and engaged in their jobs. I was motivated to do so because so many product managers say that they don’t have the proper resources…
The Pros and Cons of Case Studies
Developing Case Studies for Product Managers When Sequent delivers workshops, they tend to draw upon a lot of personal observation, insight, and experience, and we encourage others to do the same. Part…
The True Price of Differentiation In Product Management
I have yet to talk to a company executive that doesn’t want their teams to produce more unique and differentiated products that meet customer needs. However, saying those words simply isn’t enough…
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: The Practice of Product Discontinuation
I recently remodeled my kitchen in my 15-year-old house. As I began planning the project, friends and family would joke with me (or some, perhaps more) about my reason for wanting to do this. Everything…
How Can Product Managers Become More Effective? Get Into The Flow!
If you’ve ever felt an unexpected sense of pleasure while performing a simple task like crunching numbers or cooking a homemade meal, you’ve probably experienced what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers…
The Crime Of Meeting Overtime (3 Ways To Optimize Your Meetings)
We all have meetings, sometimes many in a day lined up back-to-back, and we ask ourselves “When am I going to get my actual work done?!” What often makes this more frustrating is when the day you…
Product Management Strategy or Tactic?
During the deliver of one of our Product Strategy workshops during a recent quarterfinal rounds of the World Cup, some of the participants got into a heated debate regarding a match between Netherlands-Costa…
Why Good Product Managers Bring Bad Products To Market
A few years ago I was contacted by a product manager in crisis. His recently-released product was languishing, and he was racked with guilt. He told me that although he had put all of his efforts into…
Improving Product Management Requires Senior Leader Involvement
A senior business leader (and a reader of The Product Manager’s Desk Reference) recently reached out to me. He said that it was time to engage Sequent Learning Networks to deliver a Product Management…
What Product Managers Can Learn From “Think Like A Freak”
I have always been amazed by how deftly the TV series Mad Men dramatizes the tension between creativity and efficiency. A scene from a recent episode stuck with me for days. Let me set the stage for you:…
Product Management vs. Product Marketing
There are many schools of thought as to how companies should organize themselves to most effectively manage a product’s life cycle. At Sequent, we clearly have a position on this: A product manager…
In The Defense Of The Practice Of Business
Business managers have tough jobs. They’re constantly being called upon to make decisions without the right amount of data – or the best quality data. I can tell you that I’ve made plenty of mistakes…
Product Managers Must Put On Their Sales Hat (Among Many Others!)
In my past I have done everything from financial planning to teaching people how to be the best salespeople in the country. When I became a product manager many years ago I was amazed by the similarity…
How Can Product Managers Become Productive? Be Mindful.
Reading about great inventors makes me nostalgic for a work environment that may have never existed. Take Albert Einstein. The man was a born and bred tinkerer. As a boy he often visited his father’s…
Product Managers, I Dare You To Dream!
At its core strategy should be straightforward and uncomplicated, yet product managers talk about it like it’s some amorphous, elusive thing. So often, product managers will ask for help to improve…