1. 10 Product Manager Success Secrets Dr. Jim Anderson / (@drjimanderson)

2. How Many Jobs Will YOU Have? Q: What is the difference between a job and a career?2www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 3. The Evolution Of Product Management CareersART 1970s CRAFT1980sPROFESSION 1990s TRADE2000+ 3 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 4. Secret #10: Go To College / Be Sure To Finish If You Do Go The reason that you get a college degree is to learn how to think -- not to memorize facts. Do you really think that the following will be important in 10 years: Now: Java [Then: Fortran, Pascal, COBOL] Microsoft / Sun / HP [DEC / Data General / SGI] The Internet? [FIDONET / ARPANET / Compuserve] Portals?[BBNs] 802.11 a/b/g? [Thick / Thin Coax, RS-232] Windows / Linux? [VMS / TSO / Novell] Apple?[DEC / TI / IBM] Structured Analysis? [OOD / etc.] 4 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 5. Secret #9: Dont Be A Problem Finder -- Be A Problem Fixer You were hired to make problems go away. Secret To Success: anticipate problems they belong to you. The higher up in an organization one goes, the less able people are to create solutions to problems. They do really well with questions that require only yes/noanswers.5www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 6. Secret #8: Always Sweat The Small Stuff The details can trip you up. Time Cards Expense Reports Etc. Depending on the size of the company, there are people whose jobs are only to deal with the small stuff. 6 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 7. Secret #7: Take The Time To Communicate Clearly Everything that you learned in elementary school was correct: Spelling counts! For that matter, grammar also counts. Why should I take the time to read your email if its: Too long? Too boring? Too confusing? 7 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 8. Secret #6: Do Not Fall In Love With Your Company Your employer does not have the capacity to love you. Will the company be able to continue to operate if you leave someday? You might think that it cant. However it can. Can you and an ex-company still be friends? 8 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 9. Secret #5: Be Nice To Everyone (Including The Important People) Where do you think future CEOs start out? Be nice to everyone -- you never know when you will need their help.9www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 10. Secret #4: Tell People About Your Work How well you communicate will determine how far your career goes. Writing Drawing Speaking What Are The Three Most Important Tools In Product Mgmt? Microsoft Word Microsoft PowerPoint Tie: Microsoft Excel & Microsoft Outlook How Good Are You At Public Speaking? Try Toastmasters10 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 11. Secret #3: Channel Surf -- Dont Use Email For Everything Learn when to use what method to contact people: Phone Voicemail Email Instant Messaging In-Person Emails live *forever*! Tyco / ENRON / variousWall Street Firms Instant Messaging now also lives forever.11 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 12. Secret #2: Learn To Make Decisions w/o All The Facts The ability to estimate scope/size/time/cost quickly & correctly is invaluable. You need to be able to make decisions with incompleteinformation. 80%+ of Projects Fail Due In Part To Poor Estimating. Example: schedule, cost, staffing, risks. 12 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 13. Secret #1: You Have A Job - Now Start Learning! Domain knowledge is the key to career success. Examples A licensed stock trader who leads an IT team at Merrill Lynch. Pilots who lead the teams that define flight control products. Former field techs who now test field tech software. 13 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 14. So Where Do I Go From Here?www.TheAccidentalPM.com14www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 15. Final ThoughtEverything Changes:Never,Ever,Stand Still!15 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com 16. 16 www.BlueElephantConsulting.com