Test-n-Tell.com - making product decisions

  The year was 2015 and everyone was into startups. Incubators were spawning left, right and centre. Coaches appeared out of nowhere teaching people about fundraising, product-market fit and million-dollar exits. It was hard to resist the hype. So I didn't. I also dreamt of my own startup. How cool would it be to work on something you believe in, on your own vision. Luckily I didn't immediately quit my job and run to incorporate a new company. No, I was a product manager for a while to know that more than 90% of all ideas and startups fail. And I also knew the top reasons why startups fail . I was determined to avoid the most common mistakes and "fail safely". 

  We all know the concept of technical debt . Yes, those are all the things we avoid doing until something breaks. At least with a technical debt, we can blame developers but there is another kind of debt that's purely on us and that's product debt. 

  Because you cannot share the most important. " The tools don't matter ," writes Ken Norton, who recently revived his wonderful blog " Bringing the donuts ". By tools, he means all the techniques, methodologies, frameworks. hardware and software we use to manage our products. All that does not matter, but tools are almost all we ever write about. 

  Oh, project managers, how often are we mixed up? We even share the shortcut - PM. When a few years ago many project managers jumped on the Agile bandwagon to become coaches, scrum masters and delivery managers - I thought it will help to solve the confusion. No luck, people still often use project and product manager terms interchangeably. 

  That was one of the most important learnings for me from the recent and critically acclaimed business book " No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention " by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer. It describes how Netflix created a truly bottom-up decision making culture, what it means for their business and how it contributes to their enormous success. 

  The transition from the business analyst role to a PM is probably the easiest and the most natural. We share the majority of skills and often work hand in hand to make our businesses successful. However, BA roles, similarly to PM roles, could differ significantly depending on the company. Some BAs I know are more technical, others work closely with Sales to close deals. Your background as a BA would influence the transition to a PM role. 

  Good news first - a designer is already a PM, a bit. Designers are driven by very much the same forces as PMs - find and solve customers' problems. Unsurprising that many designs are interested in switching to product management to have a greater influence on the overall product lifecycle. This switch, easier than from most other roles , still comes with several challenges, especially when it comes to business aspects of product management.