The Clever PM is Going on Hiatus…
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
It’s been four years since I started the Clever PM blog, mostly as a way to keep up my skills during a downturn in my career.  I never imagined that this blog would reach thousands of people a week, that my newsletter would exceed industry standard open rates every single month, or that my Twitter ..read more
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What’s Your Core Competency?
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
I’ve always been a big fan of the concept of a “core competency” or “distinctive competency” — the one thing that you, your product, or your company does better than anyone else, and that is difficult to easily replicate.  Unfortunately, I find that far too few organizations really understand, at a deep level, what this ..read more
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Are You Just Building “Faster Horses”?
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
Most Product Managers have, at one time or another, heard the apocyphal quote often attributed to Henry Ford, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”  And when we hear the line, we laugh because there’s no way that we would do such a thing — the “faster horse” is ..read more
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Prioritization is More Art Than Science
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
A very common challenge faced by Product Managers of all experience levels is understanding and implementing some form of repeatable process around prioritization.  Some people take a very light approach, making decisions based on their own experience, data, and beliefs about the direction of the product.  Others take a much more rigorous approach, applying scorecards ..read more
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Certifications — Are They Worth It?
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
I’ll be attending my second formal training this year, getting my Certified Scrum Master certification to match the Certified Product Manager certification that I picked up earlier this year.  After 15 years in the business, you might wonder why I’m just now getting around to being “certified”, and I hate to say it but the ..read more
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“Agile” is More Than a Buzzword: Continuous Improvement
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
There’s more to being Agile than just blindly following the rules and processes of any specific methodology.  One of the core components of effective Agile practice is internalizing the concept of continuous improvement.  As I’ve touched on in other articles, Agile is a direct descendant of the concepts originating in the lean manufacturing movements of ..read more
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10 Questions with Stephen Cognetta
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
One of the best things about my blog and other activities is to meet new and interesting people in the Product Management community.  Today I’m happy to present the latest in my 10 Questions series, featuring none other than Stephen Cognetta.  His latest project is an ambitious online Product Management interview course that was launched ..read more
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Proper Care and Feeding of Your Product Backlog
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
One of the least glamorous parts of Agile development for most Product Managers is the process of backlog grooming.  It can be a challenge to get teams to engage when they’re in the middle of a sprint, it can be difficult to convince stakeholders to refer to the backlog instead of the Product Manager for ..read more
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Accepting Uncertainty is the Key to Agility
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
I’m often asked what the key to being “agile” really is, and over the years I’ve managed to come up with a clear and concise answer: accepting uncertainty is the key to agility.  It is perhaps the single most fundamental culture change that companies must go through when making a true transition to Agile development ..read more
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Data v. Opinion: The Ultimate Battle
The Clever PM
by The Clever PM
3y ago
One of the challenges that we commonly run into as Product Managers is the battle between opinions and data.  And though it would be nice to pretend that data always wins, and that there's always truth in Jim Barksdale's famous quote, "If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine," we know from practical experience that this is simply not the case.  Let's talk about some common situations where data bends to opinion ..read more
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