Articles on Product Management
Minimum Viable Process
If I mention the word “agile” to you, a couple of rituals common to agile methodologies probably come to mind. Daily stand-ups and iteration planning probably top the list, and you probably think of other agile concepts like user stories and estimating their complexity with an arbitrary number of points.
Lean Canvas as a Prioritization Tool
We <3 Prioritizing In modern software processes, prioritization is at the core of what we do. We prioritize because we don’t like waste. Waste: Of human effort, which is disrespectful. Of money. Of time. If you’re wasting one of them, you’re probably wasting all of them. Prioritizing is variously simple, complicated, demanding, exhausting, and strangely …
Using Strategy as a Prioritization Tool
We <3 Prioritizing In modern software processes, prioritization is at the core of what we do. We prioritize because we don’t like waste. Waste: Of human effort, which is disrespectful. Of money. Of time. If you’re wasting one of them, you’re probably wasting all of them. Prioritizing is variously simple, complicated, demanding, exhausting, and strangely …
The 2×2 Method
In a discussion about prioritization among product managers at Carbon Five, we were in consensus that a 2×2 is a powerful tool in many prioritization scenarios from assessing risks to the product or business to working out the path forward when faced with competing priorities for a product. As a visualization tool, a 2×2 gets …
The First Rule of Agile is Don’t Talk About Agile
I asked a group of fellow product managers if they’ve ever read through the Agile Manifesto with product owners / clients. They all said “no”, and the general consensus was that doing so wouldn’t be well received. This is interesting. Even though Carbon Five is well-respected for our process, and we definitely practice agile, we’re …
Book Review: Matt LeMay’s Product Management in Practice
We just received our copies of O’Reilly’s latest Product Management title, Product Management in Practice: A Real-World Guide to the Key Connective Role of the 21st Century, by Matt LeMay.
How to save 90% of your development budget
Carbon Five was recently brought in to build a new product with a planned budget of 6 months. As the first step, we conducted a few rounds of customer development to try and validate the concept. After a month of experiments by a product manager and designer, we ultimately recommended that the company not pursue …
Top 10 Product Mistakes Made by First Time Founders
The tech scene (especially in the Bay Area) has reached a point where it’s expanded way past techies. It seems successful people from all different industries are drawn to the promise, reach, and money in tech. Doctors, bankers, artists, and even educators are launching startups and talking about MVPs. It’s definitely exciting and inspires …
Top Five Questions Founders Ask – Part 2
As a full-stack software consultancy, we at Carbon Five get lots of questions from clients past, present, and future. We’re passionate about sharing our industry knowledge, so we sat down with our leadership team and got some advice for aspiring founders and product leaders as part of an ongoing 6-part series. You can see all …
Habits of Effective Teams
Have you ever worked on a team that went off the rails? Product teams need lots of support to run efficiently. You need to move fast, but you also need to be aligned in order to build successful products. Here are a few activities we use to keep our teams moving. We often facilitate them …