Product Management Foundations - Product Science Journal #41

Hello, awe-inspiring product leaders and startup founders,

This week, the Product Science Group is wrapping up the delivery of a 10-week private course on Product Management Fundamentals for an enterprise client. So we’ve been thinking a lot about the core concepts of product management that we believe people switching to product from other roles need to know.

While continuous product discovery is one of our favorite topics, there’s so much more than that to great product management. We also teach about core concepts, including product vision and strategy, roles and responsibilities, and product’s role in the discovery, design, and delivery of software products. Participants come away with tools like product opportunity assessments, pre-mortem risk assessments, and outcome-based roadmaps.

So in that spirit, below are some of our favorite articles about the foundations of product management. And this time, Saeed and Adam from the team are sharing two articles of their own!

Warmly,
Holly

Product Science Group’s Picks

So, What Exactly is Software Product Management?
by Saeed Khan
Here’s an overview of what Product Management is, key responsibilities, types of Product Management, different roles in Product Management, how to organize teams, and key skills needed for Product Management. - Saeed Khan

Product Management – Start Here
by Marty Cagan
Marty Cagan and Silicon Valley Product Group are among my favorite product management resources. I’m sharing an article Marty Cagan wrote in 2020 about where to start if you’re new to product management. - Holly Hester-Reilly

What Do Product Managers Produce?
by Adam Thomas
What do PM's do? Well, what's in the job description? Hmmm, hardly anything concrete is in the job description - so what now - there aren't slides, code, or sales that we create. I posit that our focus should be on decisions, and making better decisions consistently. Here is an article that can help guide a product manager to start thinking about that. - Adam Thomas

Good Product Managers, Great Product Managers
by Shreyas Doshi
I particularly like this post by Shreyas Doshi because it really humanizes what it means to be a Product Leader beyond the core foundations of the job. In product management as in life there is nuance, and that qualitative and quantitative inputs both matter. - Dina Levitan

Reflections from Agile 2024

I had an amazing time at Agile 2024 in July. On the first day, I gave a talk titled Beyond Agile: Tales From the Trenches of In-Progress Product Transformations. Later in the week, I was joined by Holly Bielawa, Jeff Patton, Kent McDonald, and Faith Peterson as we wrapped up the Accelerating Products track with a panel discussion on the state of product management in the agile world today. The theme of the panel, and the whole track, was about what experienced agilists need to know about product management. We’re seeing significant interest from agile practitioners in the enterprise in learning and adopting better product practices!

Brought to you by Product Science Group

Our team at Product Science Group partners with startup founders and product leaders to share The Product Science Principles and the accompanying framework, the Product Science Method, which I've developed over my time in tech startups. Through our coaching and consulting work, we help our clients determine which product growth opportunities they should pursue and build the product management skills to deliver on their goals. Reach out if you'd like to explore working together as a client or team member!

Thank you for reading!

Got a question for me or want to share something you're excited about? Send me an e-mail.

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