Your weekly product management reading. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
How was your weekend? Are you ready for a great week and kick ass?
Recently, a reader asked me if there was a good copy of product specs. It made me wonder what frequently asked questions would be valuable to share with other product managers.
Have you seen Marty Cagan's svpg resources page? Among other things, one can find a sample product roadmap.
Do you have other resources you might like to share?
As you will see below under events, PMFT friends Neil McCarthy (Yammer) and Ryan Glasgow (Weebly) are leading sessions in upcoming weeks - Enterprise Freemium and Building the Right Product, respectively.
Special Opportunities: Catalyst Challenge
Also, a former friend at Indiegogo, now with presidential fellowship with Dept. of Energy, asked me to share the following opportunity with you. This applies to innovators and entrepreneurs.
The US Department of Energy's SunShot is starting a Catalyst Challenge that offers two-stage prize awards for innovations in solar energy in non-traditional dimensions (e.g., software, API's, Big Data, education, etc).
Awardees retain equity.
Details and application form are at http://catalyst.energy.gov
Questions? Please send them to sunshot.catalyst@ee.doe.gov
12 Things PMs Should Do in Their First 30 Days at a New Company, by Ken Norton
Get all your tools and devices in order. Install the software you need. Create email filters. Set up Google News Alerts for your product and your competitors’ products.
12. Have fun!3 Things Everyone Should Know About Product Psychology, by Nir Eyal
Prduct Psychology is a FREE weekly email course is designed for people who want to know the deeper reasons behind why people do what they do. Check it out!
Entrepreneurs should focus on discovering secrets about human behavior, which are cheap to discover but can build massive companies.
Why Do People Love Startup School, by Peter Shin
Peter wrote this post for the Startup Digest community, but it turns out, it is also a good list of what makes a great prduct based on those who have made it ‘big.’
If I were to sum up the content of the entire event into a few overarching themes, it would be these three:
AUTHENTICITY: Great founders don’t “find” a good startup idea by looking for one. Rather, by being intellectual curious, aware of problems around them, and willing to experiment, over time they become the type of person who has good startup ideas “come” to them naturally without really trying.
Other elements that Peter summarized are Focus on product, Relentlessness, and Energy.
Last week, I wrote about team culture. Do you find that it is an important matter? If so, please check out the Culture Summit.
Silicon Valley and SF
October 29: A/B Testing with Optimizely brought to you by Product School. (Already 75% discounted with code “ProductLovers”)
October 30: Measuring Product Value Using Job-To-Be-Done. (FREE)
November 11: Don’t Be Afraid of Enterprise Freemium, with Neil McCarthy, Yammer Director of PM. ($5)
November 18: Building the Right Product with Weebly’s Ryan Glasgow
December 12-14: Lean Startup Machine SF. 20% savings with “lsm20”.
March 20: Culture Summit 2015. ($250 - 350).
Everywhere
November 3: From Yammer to Do, PM Q&A with Jason Shah, via Google Hangout. (online and FREE)
November 4: Designing to Persuade and Engage with Andi Galpern of Cascade SF, via Google Hangout. (online and FREE)
Recording of Carlos’s webinar 10/15: Transition from Engineering to PM.
Want to teach via Hangout? Please share product management experience!
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If you find any value and encouragement in the PMFT Digest, please consider becoming a Supporter with a small recurring or one-time donation of your choosing, between a cup of coffee and a mission taco.