Do small things with great love. — Mother Theresa
It is not news that we are trying to become the best versions of ourselves. It requires time and practice to become an expert in the field. And the challenge is that we are not sure what are the right steps to the excellence.
To answer that let’s start from the basics by identifying the role of the product manager and the set of skills that is necessary to succeed. …
So much has been written about delivery and so little about discovery.
Discovery is the fundamental part of the product development process and it consists of many steps. One of my observations as a product manager is the lack of developer presence in many of the discovery phases. In this article I would like to focus on the user interviews.
Do developers in your team regularly show up to user interviews? In my experience there are cases I could count on my fingers.
It always seemed to me that talking to the users, observing their behaviour and hearing about their wishes and complains is what everyone in the product development has to be curious about. Not only it is fun, but it also plays a vital role in the success of any business. …
A method based on calculation of the confidence level
The way we organise our backlog has a direct influence on the progress and how we handle unknown within a given timeframe.
What are the benefits associated with organised and prioritised backlog and how it can help you?
- it makes you more confident in the bets you are ready to commit to
- it makes you faster because you have option B, C and even D
- it makes you flexible because you know what can come next
- it makes you calmer because you can better manage uncertainty
There are well-known techniques for the backlog prioritisation such as “Moscow”, “Kano”, “Ranking” , “User story mapping” and many others. But those are more applicable to the products that just start on the market. For the well-formed products they show some disadvantages. They are broad and generic and they don’t cope with a group of smaller, close with impact initiatives. …
Ideas make more sense when we express them with numbers.
We live in a fast-paced world where numbers tell a big part of the story. Moreover, we as human beings perceive information much better when we see numbers behind the matter.
But can every idea or assumption to be backed up with data?
Surely. Every idea can be evaluated, though precision will differ from case to case. But there is no doubt that even assumptions that are very UI or UX related can be turned into numbers.
Important to remember:
- Yes, it is possible to do an estimation of any idea. …
Who is next?
Would you leave your house, if you would find a mouse in it? The answer is “no”, you’ll try to get rid of it! It is the same thing!”
— says one of the Armenian civilians in Artsakh (historical name of Nagorno-Karabach).
On the 26th of September Stepanakert, capital of Artsakh, fell under shelling from Azerbaijan.
Since then endless number of young lives were lost, many of them were teenagers who urged to the front line to protect their land without a moment of hesitation.
Buses full of young to old men drove from many cities of Armenia to the front line. Not only people within the country but also Armenians from all over the world started to come back to the homeland to join the forces. …
In the world of opportunities…
Process
Everything starts with an idea.
Ideas can come from within the company or be a result of external influence. To turn an idea into a product or a part of it, takes a lot of time. Not only the idea has to fit the roadmap, but it also has to answer two questions:
- how much money can it bring?
- how much time and money will it cost?
When both of these questions have credible answers, the idea makes it to the backlog and awaits to be presented to the developers and designers. …
You say, you want to become a product manager?
7:45 my alarms goes on.
By 8:35 I got ready, made myself a breakfast with oats and yogurt that I take to the office, checked if my laptop and the test device are in my bag and left the apartment.
I go to the back yard to get my bicycle. I cycle to work.
It’s been 3 months already after loosening the COVID-19 restrictions in Germany that I go to the office twice a week.
I love cycling to work. Most of my route is by the river Isar. The best way to start the day.
8:55 I am in front of the office. …
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African Proverb
UX and Product are incomplete without one another. These fields co-exist and collaboration between them plays a vital role in the company’s success.
What brings both of them together?
- a goal to solve a user problem
- a strive to deliver value
In other words, they aim to help people improve their lives by developing great products that provide an exceptional user experience.
What do statistics stay?
Top 100 Statistics by Intechnic gives a whole number of insights into the world of user experience and design with statistics that explicitly outline the importance of the UX. Here are some of them.
- When UX improves the customer experience, it raises a company’s KPIs up to 83% in conversion lift. …
Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations. — Zig Ziglar
How it all started
I grew up in a family where mathematics was the main subject to study because my father is a mathematician. He was (and still is) my role model, therefore I was putting a lot of effort into achieving great results in that subject. It brought me to the realisation to study finance.
Impressive, it took me 6 years of studying and working to realise how much finance is not my thing.
And I was liberated and it felt like I can breathe again the day when I signed my resignation letter at Deloitte in Moscow and decided to come to Germany (where I studied last 2 years) for an internship as a product analyst. …
I think of my job on the weekends.
Happens.
It feels odd at those moment, but I know that the reason is — I love my job and I want to be great at what I am doing. It is very natural to me, I eager to be prepared and perform well.
Being a product manager is complex. I started to ask myself what were the qualities that not only make a good product manager of me, but are also essential for everyone in the field.
Most of the them are developing when we grow up. And they are mainly influenced by our families, environment, culture and other factors. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot develop them, if they are not in your nature? Sure enough, there are plenty of ways to unravel and nurture these characteristics in you. …
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