Archive

Regardless of the industry you are in, one of the best ways to inject the customers’ points of view into a product is to expose those people who are designing and building the product to the customers’ pain. The best way I’ve found to do this is to put them on the support lines for […]

One of the things I’m always pleased to see is the number of recruiters looking to fill leadership roles in software development organisations based on soft skills in getting teams to work together nicely rather than focusing purely on their experience with hands-on development. It seems that one of the most prevailing problems in technology organizations is that the different disciplines often view […]

There are a surprising number of organizations that don’t use roadmaps to guide and manage their development efforts. This is a major risk to future growth and revenues. Two companies I’ve done consulting work for were so far removed from using roadmaps that they had no view towards what they were doing three months down the […]

Anyone who has worked with me over the past few years will be familiar with my strong opinions regarding the importance of solid product management in a software development company.  I admit, when I first thought about going into marketing, I thought that marketing’s role was to support the sales campaigns. It took one specific product management […]

Whether you work in product management, marketing, or sales, a good problem statement can be very beneficial in helping to define, market, or sell your products. The other day a product idea was pitched to me which, when described verbally, was one of those ideas that was very complex and difficult to explain. It began […]

In my many years working with software development companies, I’ve seen three distinct types of leadership, each with its own challenges. The leadership tends to evolve along a consistent path within each company, and some companies survive these transitions while others don’t. Most software companies start out as a technology-driven company. This means that a […]

A wise man once taught me that there is no need to write and rewrite and write again the marketing collateral for websites, brochures, and flyers for a product. In fact, consistency across marketing collateral goes a very long way towards communicating complex product descriptions and value propositions to customers, market analysts and sales teams. […]

Many traditional software companies are reviewing options for taking their products to the mobile space, but how can you be certain you’re bringing the right features to the mobile audience?  The first and most critical question you need to answer is “What are my customers trying to achieve with this software on their smartphone or […]