When working with a new team or facing a new problem, I never say how it needs to be done. Rather, I form one question that the team needs to focus on. Answering this question helps the team keep focus on what’s truly important. For example, working with a development…
Because they really mean the same thing. As a Product Owner we’re supposed to surprise our users when we can. When we cant surprise them, at least we shouldn’t bore them. When I’m getting feedback from the team or from the user community, if they’re about to say “it’s ok”…
Tom Wujec. Singularity University, Sketchbook, Autodesk. If you have not yet seen his TED talk on visualizing complexity, you may want to see that first and come back. At the end of the video he describes how he help a company recover approximately $50 million in revenue. Most of it…
If things, like a product for example, aren’t going the way you want, you’re either 100% at fault or you should take a bigger, stronger role. If you feel you don’t yet have the skill set to pull it off, you’ll develop them as you go. Who gives a shit…
Some great news is probably coming out so just be patient. In the meantime I’m taking an hour or two a day and devoting it to learning something new. Python has been hanging out there for a while and it’s the development language for one of our potential platforms. After…
For those creative individuals that are submitting new cost cutting or product ideas, the incentive may not be strictly financial. That may be a portion of it, but the overall thrill of creating something may be from getting an opportunity to participate in bringing the idea or product to fruition.…
Last night I was watching, yet again, The Pixar Story from ’97. I’ve seen this a number of times and each time I usually get something new out of it. This time wasn’t any different – I picked up on something Jobs said about creating spaces to foster ‘unintended collaboration”…
If you’re setting out to brainstorm new ideas and concepts, here’s some things I’ve experienced over the past few years that may help. 1) Get a great facilitator. Someone that’s open minded, will keep people on track and will get people to contribute. 2) Put a great question together and…
It should be obvious – don’t work with people that you can’t trust when they’re out of your sight. Want a great test to see if you should be working together? Take a long weekend and go camping. Bring almost nothing because you’re going to have to rely on each…
One major challenge to any innovation effort, especially one where people from different parts of the organization are involved, is that of conveying ideas clearly and consistently. Although communication skill sets may vary widely across an organization the results can be reached more effectively with some straightforward strategies. One of…
Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want (Strategyzer) by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, Alan Smith
Beyond the Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation by Phil McKinney