Susan landed her dream job — she was a Sr. Product Manager at a fast-growing company. I knew here well. She got to work with brilliant people every day, building an amazing product. The culture was great and the team was focused on building something lasting. she was happy.| www.aha.io
Product managers create personas to bring customers to life based on data. Explore types of customer personas, why they matter, and how to create your own.| www.aha.io
Who is the most misunderstood in technology? I would say it is the person who plans what will be built next. This person — often called the product manager — is a puzzler to many. Just consider how many different job titles are used for people who do the work of product management: product manager, product owner, business analyst, and even program or project manager sometimes. To keep it simple — let’s refer to these folks as product managers.| www.aha.io
Features vs. benefits. Which are more important? As a product manager, you need to focus on both. Because you are responsible for making sure that the right functionality gets built and that your product delivers real value to customers. But it is easy to get so caught up in what your product can do that you lose sight of why those capabilities matter to customers.| www.aha.io
There are certain phrases that make a product manager cringe. For me, it is when customers refer to the process of submitting feedback as throwing ideas into a “black hole.” Ouch. I never want a customer to feel this way. This is one reason why our team at Aha! created a new goal this year: zero unreviewed customer ideas. Seriously.| www.aha.io
You start the day off ready to cruise through your schedule and To-do list. And then… the speed bumps appear out of nowhere. Impromptu meetings. Last-minute requests. Fire drills from the sales team. If this sounds like your typical work day, I have good news for you — you are a fortunate product manager.| www.aha.io
Zero is a winning number. I aim to tick off every item on my to-do list each day. This includes reviewing product ideas as they come in. Yes, it is hard to hit that “0” consistently. But for product managers, it shows that you are being responsive and efficient. Even better, you are not missing any opportunities to delight customers.| www.aha.io
Product managers are busy people who are always on the go. Your days are packed — in and out of meetings, status updates with the team, and talking with customers. You need to be able to track progress against your product plans quickly, no matter where you are. How do we know this? We are product managers too| www.aha.io
Are you a strategic product manager? Find out which 3 traits all strategic product leaders have and how to embrace strategy to build great products.| www.aha.io
You rely heavily on other teams for product success. That is the story of being a product manager. So naturally, it makes your job a lot tougher when other teams are not supportive. Criticizing the roadmap. Trash-talking product decisions behind your back. Pushing different messages and functionality when meeting with customers. And it often seems to come from one group more than others — the sales team.| www.aha.io
Can product managers predict the future? When it comes to customers, I often argue that the answer is “yes.” This is because product managers are skilled at anticipating what is up ahead — the problems that customers will face and the solutions they need. But seeing this does not require a crystal ball.| www.aha.io
“Why are we building this?” This is a painful question for product managers. Maybe you have mumbled it when sales pushed through a new feature to close a deal. Or when leadership decided to pivot plans based on one big, angry customer. The reason for your “what are we even doing” inner monologue — there is no clear vision for what you should and should not invest in.| www.aha.io
“Vision.” What does this word mean to you? I define it as knowing what you want to accomplish and where you want to go. In business, it can be difficult to determine what your vision is and then commit to it. Of course, this is a lot easier if you are the CEO of a company. Everyone looks to you to set the strategy and wants to know how they can help make the company a success.| www.aha.io
A product roadmap is a strategic visualization that aligns a team's work with high-level business goals and customer needs. Learn 5 essential steps for building your product roadmap.| www.aha.io
Product managers are the navigation system of a company. Think about it like GPS. When you enter an address into GPS, you get the final destination — as well as a list of the turns you need to make in order to get there. Product managers essentially do the same thing for an organization.| www.aha.io
People love sharing their opinions. Customers and teammates are usually willing to tell you what they think you should do with your product if you ask. This is a good problem to have. The hard part is deciding which of those ideas will have the biggest impact.| www.aha.io
Lightweight business plans are not just for startups. These tools can be just as valuable for product managers at big companies with established products. Because even if you are not capturing plans to develop and build your company’s first offering, you still need to make a business case for the opportunity you are pursuing.| www.aha.io
I remember the first time a customer yelled at me. I was a senior product manager and the company was working on a new network optimization device — one we promised would save costs and reduce network congestion. Unfortunately, we hit a couple of roadblocks in the process. The first was that we delivered the product months late. The second (and worst) was that it crashed the customer’s test network.| www.aha.io
Have you ever worked with a "Believable Brad?" This type of product manager sounds convincing — they know all the right things to say about customers and share impressive anecdotes from a few sales and support calls they attend as a silent observer. But when you ask for deeper detail or the why behind their answers ... they get flustered. Believable Brad does not like to share specifics. The reason is simple. They do not really know what customers feel and think — they only have a superf...| www.aha.io
Every touchpoint with your company and product is part of the customer experience (CX). Delivering a great CX can lead to increased revenue, loyalty, and growth.| www.aha.io
"We already promised we could make it happen." Most product managers have heard some version of this from the VP of sales before. Pressure to land new accounts can lead to reckless promises that rain down on the product team. At the end of the quarter — when the scramble to close deals is on — the abuse can feel like a downpour.| www.aha.io
Scroll through the review sites and you will see them. You might even recognize the names. There are the ones who loudly complain. And the ones who happily profess their love for your product. Product managers should love them both equally.| www.aha.io
Learn how to define a strong product strategy that aligns with business goals and customer needs. Explore key frameworks, real-world examples, and best practices to build and deliver a winning strategy.| www.aha.io
Learn how product teams estimate the value of new functionality, track progress through the product development engine, and measure the actual worth in production.| www.aha.io