From everything that’s wrong with the product management job market to building MVPs and approaching product strategy with a step by step canvas, here’s a look at the most popular guest posts we ‘ve published in 2024.
Hardik Chawla, a senior product manager at Amazon, looks at how no-code and low-code development platforms are democratising software development and empowering product managers who don’t code to build and launch MVPs. No-code platforms are also accelerating development cycles and increasing agility and flexibility, says Hardik.
Hardik walks us through the steps to building a no-code MVP. First you must crystallise the vision for the MVP, then find the no-code platform that suits you best. Then you should make the user experience your top priority and embrace data so that you can continuously improve the MVP. He also suggests some low-code and no-code platforms to explore and predicts that “in the future, domain experts may be able to harness the power of AI to build sophisticated applications tailored to their specific needs, without writing a single line of code”.
A no-code approach to building MVPs
This post from James Gunaca addresses the challenges of the product job market in 2024. There are fewer jobs, greater competition for jobs, and lower barriers to applying for jobs, all of which makes for a much higher number of applications for any vacant role.
James looks at the challenges for job seekers, such as changes to interview techniques, the length of time that the hiring process can now take, feedback and the lack of it and ghost jobs. Employers, James says, are looking to mitigate risk, to do more with less, and to look beyond job titles. He says: “‘Challenging’ does little to illustrate just how much is wrong with today’s product management job market. There are problems all over the place for candidates and employers alike.“
Everything wrong with the product management job market. And how to fix it
This post from Tom Fox looks at key strategies to align product roadmaps with senior leaders, emphasising the importance of business metrics and stakeholder sign-off.
Tom says it’s important to define clear business metrics from the outset. Metrics guide the product team toward goals that resonate with the overall business strategy. From customer acquisition costs to lifetime value, identifying and prioritising these metrics early in the roadmap development process is essential, he says.
Collaboration and communication are key elements to alignment. An open dialogue encourages transparency and trust between the product team and senior leaders.
It’s important to get sign-off from senior leaders on high-value initiatives, says Tom. Clear communication of the expected outcomes, potential risks, and mitigation strategies is crucial.
Continuous iteration and adaptation are also essential - regularly revisiting and refining the roadmap in collaboration with senior leaders ensures that the product team remains agile and responsive to changing circumstances.
Finally, establishing a culture of accountability ensures that every team member understands their role in achieving the overarching business objectives.
Aligning product roadmaps with senior leaders: A strategic approach
Petra Ivanigova’s article posits a plan for a 100-day journey to master being a product owner and lead a team to launch successful spacecraft-like missions with strategic vision.
The first 10 days are about getting started. Then the next 10 days are for building the roadmap. From days 21-30 you get down to detailed planning and then from days 30-50 you deliver your first release. In the last 50 days you should scale your impact. Says Petra: “As a product owner, you’re not just building a product, you’re shaping an experience.”
Your first 100 days as a product owner
Every product manager is feeling the pressure to upskill in the latest technologies and trends, says post author Sirisha Dinavahi, and they’re offered plenty of opportunities to do so. We all have limited time and money to dedicate to upskilling, says Sirisha, so she recommends listing and prioritising the skills you want to improve and then using your time effectively to learn.
She says you should take advantage of free resources and make sure you fully understand a course structure before you pay for anything and take advantage of any budget your company has for upskilling employees.
She concludes: “Remember to be patient through this learning journey. There is no magic wand that can give you immediate results, but if you stay the course for six months to a year and incorporate learning into your everyday routine, results will come.”
Upskilling for product managers – tips and tricks
This article lays out the findings from some polls we conducted to find out what tools the product community have found most valuable to use over the past 12 months. Pendo, Jira Product Discovery and Perplexity proved to be the most popular.
Poll results: What tools are product managers using the most?
Leslie Grandy, Founder and Principal at The Product Guild, outlines 10 principles to follow to be a customer-centric product team in this article.
The ten truths of customer-centric product teams
Sid Saladi unpacks product thinking in this article, looking at everything from fundamental concepts to practical frameworks and tools.
He says that product thinking is a user-centric mindset for innovation, and it focuses on deeply understanding needs and crafting holistic solutions. Frameworks like Jobs-to-be-Done and design thinking facilitate it, while powerful tools include surveys, prototyping, analytics.
Instilling product thinking across the organisation multiplies impact. Says Sid: “Product thinking leads to solutions that conquer hearts and markets. Mastering this mindset helps craft products users love.”
Demystifying product thinking: A guide to user-centric innovation
In this post, product coach Dave Martin has a look at Marty Cagan’s book Transformed, and at the reasons for the rumpus caused in the product community by Marty’s clear statement that product professionals in feature factories are under-delivering on value compared to their product manager salaries.
Dave also comments that while Marty’s observations have led some product people to feel hard done by, ignoring reality isn’t helpful. He says: “The book explicitly states that everyone has the ability to influence, but specifically, that product leaders have a key responsibility to influence transformation. It is true, there are product leaders who need support and help to drive change. Driving change is hard work and if you are new to leadership it’s a really tough challenge to pick.”
Dave says that Transformed has a whole chapter dedicated to obstacles and that it’s a must-read for all product leaders. The big takeaway for leadership is to empathise with stakeholders and frame changes in terms of their desires. He concludes: “Change, unfortunately, means breaking the status quo, which is often difficult and painful for those involved.”
The truth hurts, but in many companies, product management is broken
This article from Sandra Davey, agile product coach at Organa, highlights the importance of a cohesive product strategy and shares a streamlined, user-friendly step by step canvas suitable for all experience levels.
Sandra makes the case for a clear product strategy, calling it a “cohesive force [that] links the backlog and roadmap to the company’s overarching objectives and contextualises where value is to be created”. She says: “…to help ourselves and our clients not find this process so daunting, we created a Product Strategy canvas and after using it with clients and industry mates, we refined it. Now, we want to share it with the world.” You can see it here.
As Sandra concludes: “In essence, it’s a go-to tool to prompt you through the hard, hard work of strategy. A great product strategy will provide clarity, it’ll be super focused, and that will help you to transform, realign and or link the chaos of your backlog to a comprehensive and collaborative strategy, serving as a singular point of truth for your product journey.”
From chaos to clarity: Simplifying product strategy with a step by step canvas
Don’t forget, if you’ve got a story to tell, an opinion you want to share, or anything else product-related you’d like to get off your chest then please get in touch. You can find out all about contributing to Mind the Product here, Write for Mind the Product.
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