Yesterday, I discussed the differences between product thinking and project thinking and why it might be advantageous to consider one approach over the other. For some companies, shifting to a product mindset enables them to develop solutions to customer problems that they have previously acknowledged but didn’t have the organizational infrastructure to support.
If you’re examining the way you undertake development and considering a change to your organization, here are several online resources I’ve found very helpful over the years.
1. Silicon Valley Product Group
SVPG was founded by Marty Cagan, who worked for years at companies like Netscape and eBay. He writes about product management and product organizations from a detailed perspective (Product Scorecards) to broader concepts that impact how an organization functions to enable success (Product Culture).
My favorite resource is actually a video of a talk Marty Cagan gave at a “Mind the Product” Conference.
I like this video so much because I think everyone will recognize a part of their organization and feel an “aha!” moment watching it. It’s about an hour long and most people who watch it tell me that they are inspired to start reading more about the topics Marty discusses.
2. Jeff Patton and Associates Blog
Jeff Patton does a lot of thinking about the processes that teams use to determine what to build and then also how they will build it. His writing always gives me ideas about how to connect the discovery and delivery processes and reminds me why it’s important that both are strong and well-connected to each other.
3. Department of Product
This is a great resource that encompasses both abstract topics (what’s an API?) and templates and other tools that make product management easier (Product Strategy diagrams). All of the material is clearly explained at the right level for a product manager.
4. Product Talk by Teresa Torres
Teresa has really focused on product discovery and most of her recent work is focused on how to do discovery. She writes about processes to decision-making all related to discovery and makes available a useful framework for talking about why discovery is important and also difficult.
Are there any product resources that you have found particularly useful or inspiring? Let me know!