Product Management Is Not User Experience

I’ve been involved in a lot of discussions lately around product management and user experience. In particular, there seems to be a misunderstanding of the scope and nuances of the product management role, where people are implying (implicitly or explicitly) that product management is little more than user experience. In this post on the SiriusDecisions blog — Product Management Is Not User Experience — I argue, as the title suggests, that as important as UX is, it’s not product management, and confusing the two belittles the importance of both of these crucial roles. Read the full post: Product Management Is Not User Experience

April 17 in Boston: Key Traits of Innovative Product Managers

I’m excited to be presenting at the Boston Product Management Association’s monthly meeting on Thursday, April 17, 2014. I’ll be discussing Key Traits of Innovative Product Managers. From the event description:

Effective product management is more than just visiting customers and writing requirements. Innovative product managers possess certain traits that allow them to excel in their roles. While it may seem that some people are just born with these abilities, most have them in some degree and just need to learn how to use them effectively. This session will cover important traits that innovative product managers possess that help them to be successful including specific suggestions on how to emphasize your natural traits, while addressing those that do not come as naturally.

If you’re in the Boston area, I hope you’ll be able to attend. You can get more information and register online.

SiriusDecisions Summit 2014

SiriusDecisions hosts an annual conference that brings together leaders from business-to-business sales, marketing and product management to talk about how to transform their organizations to drive sustainable growth. The 2014 Summit is being held May 21-23 in Orlando, FL, with the theme of Transforming Sales, Marketing and Product, and we’re expecting around 2000 b-to-b sales, marketing and product leaders from around the world.

I’ll be presenting two sessions and there’s a whole break-out track on the second day focused on product management and product marketing. Attendees will receive SiriusDecisions’ latest research insights, share best practices and ideas with guest speakers — including our keynote speaker Malcolm Gladwell — network with peers, discuss industry trends and connect with our sponsors, who provide solutions and services to optimize sales, marketing and product performance.

If you’re in b-to-b product management, marketing, or sales, this is an event you need to be at. Learn more and register today.

What’s Hot on Twitter

Here are a few of my tweets which have generated the most interest over the past week; to get these in real-time, follow me at @jefflash:

Sarcastic #prodmgmt OOO: I'm visiting customers which is more important than yr email #prodmgmtOOO (I actually used this) cc @MattAndersonUT — Jeff Lash (@jefflash) March 19, 2014

How ‘bout an “empathy” of #prodmgmt? RT #svpcamp: What’s a group of product managers called?Compromise of Product Managers #OverheardAtSXSW — Jeff Lash (@jefflash) March 22, 2014

Beware of Feature Overload: A Case Study; really good practical example and lessons learned http://t.co/My3MmdBfel #prodmgmt #ux — Jeff Lash (@jefflash) March 27, 2014

This is why roadmaps & planning are still vital in agile http://t.co/Pf9kSqzpDN; see my blog on #agile & #prodmgmt http://t.co/AMtPgRS1Sq — Jeff Lash (@jefflash) April 7, 2014

Product Managers and Data Scientists: The Synthesis that Drives Innovative Technologies http://t.co/VZQA0xyT9D #prodmgmt — Jeff Lash (@jefflash) April 7, 2014

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