5 Key Skills of Outstanding eCommerce Product Managers

Marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have built such outstanding online shopping experiences that consumers now take these experiences for granted. Creating a world-class eCommerce platform takes tremendous effort, teamwork, and strategic planning. For forward-thinking online retailers, this means hiring an eCommerce product manager. What Is An eCommerce...

2w

The Unique Work of a Product Executive at a Mid-Size Company

In between “scrappy startup” and “enterprise behemoth” lies the mid-size company. With hundreds—or maybe even one or two thousand employees—organizations in this size range don’t often grab many headlines. For product executives, their firm’s growth from a small startup to mid-size going concern means a few key changes in how they build and lead their...

2w

How to Support a Change Management Process Using Roadmaps

Change is hard. It’s an uphill battle against the familiar, the routine, complacency, and inertia. Even when people agree, change is needed. Figuring out the best change management process requires continued commitment and discipline. Larger changes are even harder, mainly when the status quo has been stagnant for an extended period of time. On top...

4w

3 Reasons You Should Hire a Senior Product Manager

Once you’re blessed with the opportunity to expand your product management team with a new hire, you have options to consider. You can hire a senior product manager who will bring their years of real-world experience and savviness to the table, or you can bring on new talent you can mold and mentor yourself. Of course, there’s a little more to this...

4w

Building Your Sphere of Influence, Featuring Roxanne Mustafa

When you’re new to a product management role, you enter the situation with minimal credibility, name recognition, or trust beyond your hiring manager.   When your entire job is to define a direction for the product and convince everyone else it’s the right one, that clean slate isn’t helpful. For this role, it’s essential to grow your sphere of influence....

Oct 2020

How Does an MBA Fit into your Product Management Career?

If there’s one degree that is most beneficial to product management types, it’s likely a Masters in Business Administration. An MBA program, much like a product management job description, covers a broad swath of topics. Most people don’t go to school for product management—although there are a few graduate-level degrees and certificate programs popping...

Oct 2020

The Journey from Customer Success to Product Manager

There are many roles where your career path is clear. But, product management is a different story. People have transitioned to successful careers as product managers (PM) from every background. I know this experience firsthand and I’m thrilled to say, ProductPlan itself recently made a similar hire: from customer success to product manager. That new...

Oct 2020

5 Roadmap Templates for SaaS Businesses

Roadmaps are a unique tool for creating and maintaining stakeholder alignment, resource planning, and budgeting purposes. But what happens when you’re managing a product that is being continually updated? This is the situation for countless SaaS product management professionals lucky enough to manage products via this model. When the only things standing...

Oct 2020

5 Key Responsibilities of a Product Owner

If there’s a more widely misunderstood job title than “product owner,” we’d like to see it. As a professional in the product field, you might have some idea of what a product owner does. However, even your understanding of the role might be incorrect—more than on this below. But imagine what the title must sound like to someone entirely outside the...

Oct 2020

14 Can’t Miss Conferences for Product Leaders

Product managers, product leaders, and product executives have no shortage of educational opportunities. From books, podcasts, and blogs to earning certificates and joining online communities, there is truly an abundance of options (read the short Guide to Product Management Resources to learn even more). For a unique fast track to learning and inspiration,...

Oct 2020