ProductMarketing.com

Why the Desktop Is Dying

Business 2.0 :: Working Tech :: Why the Desktop Is Dying: "What does it mean when a website delivers this kind of function better and faster than a desktop application? It means the desktop as we know it today is doomed. Screens may get larger, but the boxes attached to them will shrink. The Mac Mini is just the beginning."

What impact, if any, do web-based applications with massive storage and instantaneous search (such as Gmail) have on your product strategy?

How much of our marketing writing is like this?

Seth writes, "At the airport the other day, every announcement was preceded with (at full volume) 'Attention All Personnel.' Sometimes, they said it twice. The thing is, as soon as you start blasting audio, you've got my attention. Stating that you want my attention not only doesn't get you more of my attention, it gets you less." Read Seth's Blog: Redundant restatements.

Getting Your Priorities Straight

Jacques Murphy writes:

A major challenge that faces every software product is determining the priority of the oh- so-many suggestions that come to Product Management as requirements for the next release. This is one of those areas that wind up containing a heavy dose of mystery masquerading as rocket science. Requirements get prioritized using a complex formula that is far from formulaic. The path to well prioritized requirements may be narrow, but it's not straight by any means. Read Getting Your Priorities Straight.

from Good Morning Silicon Valley

"I think whoever it was flunked Roman numerals in grade school."
-- Nathan Brookwood, head of technology consulting firm Insight 64, speculates that the freshly trademarked "Intel VIIV" is a graphically pleasing but inaccurate reference to 64-bit computing.

Not even close--the worst mission statements...

from Seth's Blog: Not even close--the worst mission statements...: "Mission statements used to have a purpose. The purpose was to force management to make hard decisions about what the company stood for. A hard decision means giving up one thing to get another."

It's the list!

from It's the list!: "By now, most marketers have realized that in the post-brand, post-tv world, permission (the privilege of marketing to the people who want to hear from you) matters more than just about anything."

A house with no front door

Saeed Khan writes,

In my effort to build products with limited resources, I often spend time justifying the need for features. Market facts provide quantification for the requirements and usage scenarios put them in context. But too often, I still face the usual questions from the engineers over each requirement:

• Is this feature critical for this release?
• How many customers have asked for it?
• Are there any workarounds?
• Would we lose deals if we didn't have it?

And my least favorite:

• Of all of these features, if you could have only one, which one would you choose?

Why they persist in asking this question, I don't know. It's like asking, "Of all of the doors on the house, if you could only have one, which one would you choose?"

Read about A house with no front door.

Where is Bullfighter?

Deloitte has abandoned Bullfighter, but the authors of the tool have created a new site where you can download it. Go to www.fightthebull.com and you will see it there.

ChangeThis: Made in USA

Paul Graham writes, "Americans make the best software and films, and the Japanese the best cars and consumer electronics. There's a reason for this, and it goes far deeper than cultural differences or the quality of autoworkers, it has to do with who's in charge." Read Made in USA.

The Six Laws of the New Software

"You're too late! Most home consumers have all the software they will ever need, and most companies out there already have all the basic technologies they need to successfully compete. What's a software developer to do? Read the Six Laws of the New Software to find out." Read The Six Laws of the New Software.

Lingo Lab - Editorial - CMO Magazine

from CMO Magazine: "Whether you're new to the campaign game or an old hat at crafting marketing strategies, there are always a few new tricks to learn. Browse our list of marketing buzzwords below."

on Email Culture

We all get too much email but John Porcaro gets more than most of us. He writes,"over time, and hundreds of thousands of emails, I've learned a trick or two. And though I don't practice them all like I should, here are my favorite email tips." Read John's email tips.

Personas go mainstream

Defining product personas is a powerful technique used to put problems in context. Personas reveal that our developers are not typical users.

Meet Frank. Frank is 41 years old. He is a father of two who coaches a soccer team two nights a week, and sometimes on the weekend. He has an MBA and a bachelor's degree in Economics. He is a portfolio manager in a financial services company. He has been there for the past ten years and has a much admired network of peers both inside and outside the firm. He likes to think he is progressive and objective.

For more on personas, read this article on personas from e-Content Institute.

The Trophy Spouse: Partnering with a Startup

Many staid, established companies look with envy at the sizzle, creativity and sheer sexiness of startups, and wonder about how much of a dent they could make in the market if they combined the startup's cool product with their own marketing, sales, and operational riches. But two companies of such a widely divergent size and strength have just as widely divergent cultures, and happily marrying the two is not a given.

Read The Trophy Spouse: Partnering with a Startup for tips on how a large company can work well with a startup to make their partnership a shining success.

Princeton INA Infographics

These beautiful, easy-to-understand, and jaw-dropping graphics by the Princeton INA show how extremely complex information can be communicated in a friendly way. See a whole new perspective on our world. Read more about Infographics.

FeaturePlan Collaborative Server 2.5

Ryma Technology has released FeaturePlan Collaborative Server 2.5. FeaturePlan, which employs best practices from the Pragmatic Marketing® Framework, allows product managers to utilize a repeatable process to gather requirements, quantify problems and create market driven solutions effectively and efficiently in an intuitive, collaborative environment. Read more about FeaturePlan 2.5.

Questions from Sales People

A product manager passed along this question from a sales person:

"Do we charge the User Setup fee by user?"

And then there's the sales rep that gave a customer a quote for a perpetual license for 12 months.

You just have to laugh.

What is Product Management's job?

Seth Godin is one of our favorite bloggers and yesterday's posting hit the nail on the head. In bold he tells us "Make something people want to buy." If you haven't heard Pragmatic Marketing tell you this before, it is the product manager's responsibility to define the "something". If you make something people want to buy, the product often sells it self.

If your sales force struggles selling your products, maybe it's not because of inept sales people. Click here for the full posting.

How Companies Turn Customers' Big Ideas into Innovations

Technologists often see their technology as the primary driving force for innovation. But Peter Drucker, known as the father of modern management, tells us that the test of innovation lies not in its novelty, its scientific content, or its cleverness. It lies in its success in the marketplace.

Read the strategy+business article, "How Companies Turn Customers' Big Ideas into Innovations" for insights on how to spark innovations that are commercially viable.