The Internet Killed the Product Manager

Minutes by Bill Farrow

Thank you Tom Peters - he does very good presentations.

Tools used by the Task Manager/Product Manager.

"It's not you, it's me" - please continue this discussion online http://internetpm.wikipaces.com because this is a collaborative process.

Waterfall methodology - the PM does the work upfront and then baby sits the rest of the project.  Project plans, long development timeframes, etc.

Agile Methodology - more fun, faster, scrum teams. Art Track, Intentions, Track, Design Track.  Use the tools within your team to collect the requirements.  Example: Ruby on Rails - 37 Signals

What is the problem: many times the problem is already defined, you just need to find it.  Look for where your customers gather and get together and talk about their problems.

Example: Meetup - get together with people and talk about a certain idea. Seth Golden - Tribes book.  Find or create your tribe.  Start one and create your own customer base.

FOSS factory.  Digg.  Enable your customers to communicate and vote on what problems need addressing.  Dell Idea Storm.  Enterprise feature voting.  User Voice is good for small projects.  Starbucks, etc.

Discussion:

• iPhone "My App Idea".
• Ubuntu.
• Source Forge.

Bug tracking tools that expose it to customers.  Some companies have public bug tracking systems, but the next step is to allow customer voting and feedback, and the company needs to be an active participant.  How do you get your customers to think outside the box.  Opens up a conversation with the customers.

• Mint.com - personal finance tool.  Bought by Quicken becuase Quicken couldn't compete.
• Shopify.com - ruby.  Free version then upgrade as needs changed.
• Alfresco.com - open source platform that competes with MS Sharepoint. Wiki's, shared documents, twitter, etc.
• Magento.com - open source e-commerce application.

Get It Done.

Fast rapid product development methodologies and tools.

Deployment models - get your product into your customers hands early.  Overcome process paralysis.

Be a leach on your existing product to access that customer base.

• iPhone - new OS and platform. Develop a plugin/app.  Created a marketplace onto.
• Outsource - allows you to be a renegade and a disruptor.
• Elance & Guru - hire manage, and pay expert developers.

   

Challenge your developers:

• X-Prize - space exploration
• Netflix Price - algorithm competition

Discussion on monitoring workers.  PM should be able to view metrics, ie continuous build server, code changes, etc.

Crowd-sourcing - rapid collaborative team gathering.  Exclusive betas, core community groups.

Give other people the ability to contribute to your product.  They will contribute to the success of your product.

How do you protect yourself from your competitor(s).  Look at their idea, and be faster and better at product development. Look at what you do better than your competitors.  Try to keep up.

Social networks build a groundswell that drives the product.

Enterprise Customers - the person signing the check does not use twitter, they are not social media consumers.  But their business may have customers who do use social media, or will in the future.

India and China...

Roll Out

Google Labs - beta programs

Find an advocate. Build a tribe.  Find a partner to collaborate with.

Questions: