The Productologist

Change is in the air. Can you feel it? More about that later. For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for  the past couple of years, here are a few posts about Agile, pro and con.

1. Revenue Products need Product Managers, not Product Owners
   [Enthiosys]
2. Why So Much Software Stinks
   [Red Canary]
3. Left Of The Line
   [Silicon Valley Product Group]
4. Response to a Cranky Product Manager
   [A Drop in the Stream]
5. Career Growth and the Product Manager
   [Art Petty on Management]
6. Agile Product Management
   [A Drop in the Stream]

Following in the footsteps of great Product Management bloggers like Jeff Lash and Derek Morrison, I am introducing a new feature on The Productologist: the Product Management Question Corner or more informally known as the PMQC.

The purpose of the PMQC is to introduce some additional viewpoints about Product Management to The Productologist. Not because I don’t like my own views, but because diversity is important and hearing about and discussing contrasting viewpoints makes for a better product and a better Product Manager.

And just like that we are into the 3rd Month of the 3rd Quarter. Summer is over folks (well, at least those of you in the Northern hemisphere). Here are some posts from other folks to get you back into the swing of things. The general theme is Product Manager education.

1. The “new” Facebook and Product Management
   [NotronWest]
2. How Great Product Managers Keep Their Perspective
   [IT Product Management]
3. On Taking Advice
   [On Product Management]
4. Product Management Certification?
   [SVPG]
5. Product Management Primer
   [Monster.com]
6. More on the Big Picture (3)- Product Owner vs. Product Manager
   [Scaling Software Agility]

I saw a question on Linked In from a new Product Manager who is switching careers and wanted some pointers about how to make the transition smoothly. I answered the question with some suggestions. She is not a software Product Manager, as I am, so my response to her was not tied specifically to what I do as a software PM. I am re-posting a slightly modified version of my response here. Enjoy!

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Welcome to Product Management. It’s a very challenging and rewarding field and provides a great opportunity to interact with many business functions.