Posts by: Nils
We all love roadmaps, at least our bosses do. But predicting the future in detail is impossible, especially about a creative endeavor like software.
In the long run no one remembers if a release was late – they only remember a particular release if it sucked.
This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Fear and Product Management
For product managers, a big part of our job is dealing with uncertainty – and even when things look “cut and dried,” they usually are not. This means every decision, every action, every statement we make is a creative act. And all our best practices don’t eliminate the fundamental creative obstacle – a blank space that has to be filled with something, something out of your own head. A requirement needs to be filled with words. A value proposition is a terrible, daunting Mad Lib. And you know what happens to creative people faced with a blank page – they get writer’s block, they get stage fright. They get “the yips.” These are all fear-based problems.
Create A Compelling Product Vision By Writing The (Amazon) Review First
By Nils On May 16, 2013 · 270Leave a Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fnilsdavis.com%2F2013%2F05%2F16%2Fcreate-a-compelling-product-vision-by-writing-the-amazon-review-first%2FCreate+A+Compelling+Product+Vision+By+Writing+The+%28Amazon%29+Review+First+2013-05-16+14%3A30%3A59Nilshttp%3A%2F%2Fnilsnet.com%2Fnilsdavis%2F%3Fp%3D270
What would your ideal customer write in his or her five-star Amazon review of your product? It had better reflect a compelling vision!
Agile is great, but the agile manifesto leaves me cold. Here are six (not 99) theses about product development that help explain how agile helps us get more value to market, faster.
Should you have a product owner or a product manager or both? Well, it depends – are you working on an IT project, or a joint-strike fighter, or a commercial software product? A product owner is only really applicable to one of these types of projects.
Is your software product a meal in a restaurant, or a kitchen? The answer says a lot about your product’s usability, and the right restaurant metaphor can help your developers make better usability decisions in the moment.
(First published back in 2010, this article is still apropos and I thought it was time to revive it.)
Managing big features using agile
This post originated as a comment on the Cranky Product Manager’s blog, responding to her post on agile methodologies. She said
Yes, Agile can speed up the [...]
More On “Drive,” Mastery, Autonomy, Gamification, and All That
By Nils On September 13, 2012 · 2292 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fnilsdavis.com%2F2012%2F09%2F13%2Fmore-on-drive-mastery-autonomy-gamification-and-all-that%2FMore+On+%22Drive%2C%22+Mastery%2C+Autonomy%2C+Gamification%2C+and+All+That2012-09-13+16%3A04%3A52Nilshttp%3A%2F%2Fnilsnet.com%2Fnilsdavis%2F%3Fp%3D229
This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Gamification of Enterprise Applications
This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Gamification of Enterprise ApplicationsComments Are Good!
I was chuffed to get a long comment from Kathy Sierra on my last blog post, about how gamification of enterprise applications [...]
This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Gamification of Enterprise Applications
This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Gamification of Enterprise Applications
Gamification, especially as it applies to enterprise applications, is all about engagement, and quality, and helping people achieve their goals. Or, to put it another way, it’s about motivation. There’s another approach to thinking [...]
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Book Recommendations
Decisive
Chip and Dan Heath hit another one out of the ballpark with Decisive, their guide to making better decisions through science - the science of understanding how our psychology handicaps us when it comes to decisions. With their simple WRAP methodology for improving your decision-making process, or that of your organization, your decisions will be much better.Flash Foresight
Daniel Burrus' Flash Foresight was one of the highlights of my reading list last year, full of valuable advice about "predicting the future' and how to know what part of the future is predictable and what part isn't. Highly recommended - I've returned to it over and over again since I first read it.Lean Startup
Eric Reis' Lean Startup has fundamental (and in retrospect, obvious) ideas for how to build a startup successfully. Key concept is that startups operate in a world of complete uncertainty, so you need business practices that recognize that uncertainty and continually reduce the level of uncertainty, until you have discovered a real market, a real product that market wants, and a real way you can get that product to market profitably. You may think you know this at the outset, but the reality is that you don't, and at least you have to test your hypotheses. This book is about how to do that.
Blogroll
- (The late, lamented) Creating Passionate Users
- A math teacher making a difference
- Bob Sutton's Work Matters
- Cool Tools
- Dan Ariely on the wacky ways we make decisions
- Grant McKracken, cultural anthropologist
- Kevin Kelly on the future of technology
- Richard Florida’s Creative Class blog
- The Rational Optimist
Tags
creativity handbook of living photoshop Rules of thumb dematerialization chocolate basics education transformation gamification motivation haptics accelerating change lawyers advanced technology gamification summit design howto future lean software agile recipe augmented reality prioritization reform future tech nanotechnology rematerialization competition process vegetarian 5-hour MBA innovation rules business usability lean startup quality Google Glass dessert reading summit user experience product management biotechnology
