ProductMarketing.com

ProductCamp going strong despite dearth of Camps in Austin

On Saturday, organizers will put on the fifth ProductCamp since fall 2008 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at the University of Texas. Registration had hit 420 as of Friday, topping the 350 who showed up for the previous event in March. It's expected to reach 500 by Saturday.

Paul Young, who founded ProductCamp Austin, said many events modeled after the same concept simply petered out for lack of interest or organization. "They show up, run their cycles, then die out," Young said. "I think the reason that happens is that people are surprised for an ‘unconference' how much coordination it actually takes to put an event on.

"It's a lot less than a traditional corporate-driven conference, but it's still significant," he said.

via statesman.com

Our newest Pragmatic Marketing instructor, Paul Young, is quoted in this article on Statesman.com

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Pragmatic Marketing Seminar: “Strategic Role of Product... - Eventbrite

Pragmatic Marketing’s Steve Johnson will be presenting on the “Strategic Role of Product Management”. This interactive presentation will review the key role played by the Product Management function and identify the positive business outcomes when product management is clearly defined and supported by senior management.

via pragmaticseminarkacboston.eventbrite.com

This event is for Kellogg Alums and also open to others. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Marketing Apple: Secrets of the World's Best Marketing Machine: Apple iPhone 4 Recall? Or a chance to recall greatness?

I've already called Apple the World's Best Marketing Company.  But they now have a PR nightmare on a level they have rarely known.  It's now time to become the world's best company.

Ok, so Apple made a rare engineering mistake and the best marketing in the world won't change that fact.

So what do you do, Steve?

Simple.  You come clean.

via marketingapple.com

Steve Chazin has an inspired view of how Apple should address the current PR tsunami that is the iPhone antenna issue. It's bold; it's big; it's what Apple should do? But will they?

Post your comment on Steve's site. How would you steer Apple on this issue??

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

The iPhone Is Ruining My Life!

Despite rave reviews and millions sold, Apple's iPhone has become notorious for falling short in one key area -- the phone.

via smallbusiness.aol.com

I'm quoted in this nice article by Lauren Drell. It's fun to see my name in a piece I didn't write. :-)

PS. My iPhone 4 is on its way. I'm sure it will solve all my problems.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Amazon Kindle in school

The Amazon Kindle has been a hit with book lovers but is not going over well with students in college classrooms, indicating e-book readers are not yet posing a threat to printed textbooks.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/07/06/20100706amazon-kindle-school-textbooks.html#ixzz0suCRjj7s

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

ProductCamp DC

ProductCamp DC is Saturday, August 28, 2010 at Network Solutions

via productcampdc.org

New date. Location fixed. Folks are signing up. Have you?
I'll be there. Come see me at ProductCamp DC.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

How Google Works

Infographic by PPC Blog

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Don Norman's talk from Business of Software 2009

Imagine you’re on the first slide of your powerpoint presentation and want to move to the next slide. Your remote control has two buttons. They are unmarked, but one button points up and one button points down. Which button do you press? Now, spend five minutes watching this video of Don Norman speaking at Business of Software 2009.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

37signal's REWORK

I purchased, downloaded and read REWORK today. Good, simple advice for starting a new business or rebooting your existing one.

My favorite quotes: 

• When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. When you stand for something, decisions are obvious. 
• There’s a world of difference between truly standing for something and having a mission statement that says you stand for something.
• A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.
• You don’t make a great museum by putting all the art in the world into a single room. That’s a warehouse.
• Don’t shy away from the fact that your product or service does less. Highlight it. Be proud of it.

and

• ‘Easy’ is a word that’s used to describe other people’s jobs.

If you often think that conventional wisdom isn't for you, you'll appreciate the practical advice in REWORK.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Friday fun: Gmail Paper

I've always felt uneasy about the whole internet thing. With the help of Gmail Paper, now I'm taking matters back into my own hands, literally.

via mail.google.com

Even when they make a joke, they do it up right. Classy. Google's funny pages (this from 2007) are better executed than many firm's home pages.

Posted via web from Steve Johnson on product management

iPad plus Velcro !!!

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Finding the Right Product Manager

The effective marketer uses the language of the persona in all customer communication, not industry gobbledygook. The same should be true in hiring, right? Speak in the language of the "buyer" (candidate). But how often do you read job descriptions that do this?

via pragmaticmarketing.com

Posted via web from Steve Johnson on product management

ProductCamp DC Tentative Schedule

The first ProductCamp DC is targeted to be held on a Saturday in September 2010. Below is a preview of the day's schedule and agenda. While this agenda features two concurrent session tracks, as we get closer to the event, depending upon participant confirmation, and session ideas and votes, we will determine if additional tracks are warranted.

via productcampdc.org

Looking forward to this event. Will I see you there?

Posted via web from Steve Johnson on product management

Ted Talks to TV

Thought-sparking TED talks that have won legions of followers on the Internet are spreading to television stations around the world. TED talks will be provided free to television broadcasters who are encouraged to build programs around them.

Read more in http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100506/tc_afp/lifestyleitinternettelevisionted

Watch the great TED presentations at http://www.ted.com/ or

download from iTunes.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

I want one! A wall-sized iPad

Uri shared this great video with me.

It's a wall-sized touch screen. Sweet!
And by the way, Autodesk has dozens of technology previews like this on youtube, a great way to deliver an innovation directions message.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

upcoming DC pCamp

productCamp DC

http://productcampdc.webnode.com/

DC is targeting September for its first event but needs help finding a venue. Any takers?

Sign up now and get involved! (Free!) -- http://productcampdc.eventbrite.com

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Barb Nelson on "Strategy to Execution in These Trying Times"

At the next session of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association: 

Join Barbara Nelson from Pragmatic Marketing who will discuss 

Strategy to Execution in These Trying Times

Learn which high value activities will:

* Give you market insights
* Drive alignment between executives and workers
* Communicate the strategic vision to marketing, sales, development
* Provide market feedback to help you adapt and improve along the way

Sign up at https://www.123signup.com/Member?PG=1521315182400&P=15213151494403519100

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Announcing ProductCamp RTP, May 22, 2010

Announcing ProductCamp RTP, May 22, 2010 - Share In The Innovation! 

ProductCamp RTP (Research Triangle Park, near Raleigh, NC) is soliciting new topics and discussions. Please submit abstracts here, including:

1) Working with sales teams
2) Leveraging communication and team work
3) How to leverage social networking to increase communication internally within your company
4) Challenging the status quo
5) How to innovate within your organization
6) Making strategic decisions
7) What makes up a good roadmap?
8) What else do you want to hear?  Agile development (Ok, it is always relevant), working with marketing, presentation skills, what else?

ProductCampRTP will follow the Open Grid Scheduling process for specific session scheduling, but the basic outline is below.

Pragmatic Marketing is pleased to be a sponsor for ProductCamp RTP.

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Secrets of the biggest selling launch ever

Seth Godin writes in Secrets of the biggest selling launch ever,

Apple reports that on the first day they sold more than $150,000,000 worth of iPads. I can't think of a product or movie or any other launch that has ever come close to generating that much direct revenue.

Godin provides 10 attributes for launch success including 2) Don't try to please everyone and 3) Make a product worth talking about. 

What brand marketers often miss is that the core of any launch isn't the logo, the theme music, or the brand. Start with a great product and now the rest gets really interesting. Apple doesn't do much brand marketing; they do product marketing. And their brand benefits. 

As Kristin Zhivago puts it, 

"Your brand is the promise that you keep, not the one you make."

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management

Chicago Product Management group

If you're in the Chicago area, you'll want to check out the Chicago Product Management group, organized by Bernhard Kappe. 

ChiPMA, The Chicago Area Product Management Association, is all about helping Product managers and related fields to get better at designing, building and launching digital products and services. Modeled after the Silicon Valley Product Managers Association (SVPMA, www.svpma.org), ChiPMA's meetings expose members to current trends in innovation, product strategy, product marketing, development approaches and the latest tools and technologies.

On April 15, join them for Rapid Product Design: Six Visual Techniques for Quickly Creating and Communicating Innovative Ideas. 

Learn more at http://www.meetup.com/chiPMA/

Posted via email from Steve Johnson on product management