All Posts by nils

Step 0: Don’t Freak Out – How To Get Started In Market Discovery

It’s easy to say “Get out of the building.” We know we need to do more market discovery – talking to more customers (and non-customers, and lost prospects, etc.) to find their problems. But for some of us that’s just not actionable advice. In fact, a friend just starting out in product management, asked me Read More

3 Proven Ways To Help Your Sales Team Beat Quota

Co-opting product management into sales My good friend Geoffrey Anderson (@ganders2112) recently wrote about a situation we product managers sometimes find ourselves in. When sales are not going well, company leadership might ask product management come in to help hit the numbers. This can be a bad thing or a good thing. As Geoff said: Read More

Start Doing These 10 Things Today To Be A Better Product Manager

Take Action Today With These Product Management Tips I love lists, and the Internet loves lists. And I love immediately actionable product management tips that I can start using today to become better at my job. It just so happens that I include tons of immediately actionable guidelines in my articles on this site. There Read More

“I Have An Idea” – How I Evaluate Product Ideas

People are always asking me “Hey, I have a product idea. May I run it by you and get your input?” Of course, I say yes. They tell me the idea, and it’s usually “a technical thing for some kind of team.” And my response is, “Well, that sounds neat, but….” And then I ask Read More

Persuasion Tips: Pre-Handle Objections

(This is the third article in my Persuasion Tips series.) It’s all about reducing risk Imagine you’re happily presenting away, and suddenly you feel the audience going cold. They slump back in their seats. Maybe some start checking their phones. What happened? What can turn an audience against you like that? This has happened to Read More

Persuasion Tips: Have A Goal

Understand and articulate what you’re trying to achieve (This article is a follow-on to my overview article on persuasion tips for product managers.) Every presentation or opportunity for persuasion has a goal, or possibly a few goals. Are you trying to get some executives to make a decision in your favor? Are you aiming to Read More

Persuasion Tips For Product Managers

After a few well-received presentations to senior executives, some colleagues at my new company asked me, based on the positive effect I got, “Can you give us some tips on persuasion?” I’ve been doing product management a long time. Over time my presentation skills have naturally gotten more polished as a result of a lot Read More

Mental Models Applied: Using A 2×2 Chart For Handling Competitive Objections

In some earlier articles and in a talk I gave at a local product management meetup, I’ve shared about the importance of having a toolkit of mental models. They help with decision making, problem solving, communication, plus every other thing we do as product managers. As an exercise for myself, I decided to take a Read More

The Secret Truth About Your Methodology and Processes

What are your goals? A product organization has three overarching goals: Deliver great value to our customers. Do it quickly, efficiently, and with high quality. Do it better over time. A product organization that achieves those goals is much more likely to be successful. Your methodology must be in service to your goals What practices Read More

Storytelling For Product Managers – The TL;DR Version

In my last article, I covered a powerful storytelling technique in great detail. This article is the summary (the TL;DR) version. Do you hem and haw when asked talk about one of your accomplishments? Do you stick to a “just the facts, ma’am” approach when telling a story? Are your stories falling flat and failing Read More