Eleven lessons from 11 years of marriage
There is no substitute for open, honest conversations. ALWAYS keep the environment safe – as open and honest conversations only exist and thrive of the fertile ground of safety. Sometimes, all you need to do is listen. The time for solutioning will come and you will have the opportunity to say what you think could […]
Plussing!
Popularized by the wiz, Walt Disney. Plussing is a concept applied by product managers to make a good product great. It is easy to apply. You have a product in the market that customers are using (or you have just introduced what you believe is the MVP for your product). You ‘plus’ by planning, scheduling […]
Anecdotes
Short, self contained stories or reports of true events or people. Useful as a way to remember key points. Useless as a way of conveying important information. Useless because for those without context of what the anecdote summarises, the risk of misunderstanding rises significantly. So when creating anecdotes, include as much breadth and depth as […]
How big is it?
Is it even real? The problem you are seeking to solve. Does it exist outside of your imagination. And that of your team? Is it in the bug report? Are the customers are asking for it? Are the customers using your product in a way that makes it clear you have a problem, or they […]
MoSCoW
One of my favorite prioritisation tools. Short for: MUST haves. High priority items that the product/opportunity or challenge being addressed MUST have. These are product launch blockers. If you don’t have them in place, you don’t launch. Example: in South Africa and European Union, for any customer facing product, alignment to the privacy regulations (POPI […]
What are you afraid of starting?
A YouTube channel? A course? A new career? A baking class? Sometimes, the fear we feel is healthy and can urge us on albeit carefully. Sometimes, it is crippling and it is the reason we never start or even try. Irrespective of the the type of of fear or the issue that is causing it, […]
Has fact become a spectrum?
Many years ago, someone said something I could only describe as outrageous. Curious as to the source, I was met with: “I read it on the internet”. I was gobsmacked. But it has gotten worse, today. People, entire clans even, run to the market with ideas, positions and assertions – yes, plainly because they read […]
What is the unit of productivity?
An hour? A work week? A month? The output? Time has seconds (defined in terms of the radiation frequency at which atoms of the element cesium change from one state to another). Days has hours (a culmination of seconds into minutes and minutes into hours or 3600 secs) Distance has meters (defined as the length […]
Unintended Consequences
All actions have a resulting reaction. It is a fundamental law of life and well entrenched in the laws of Physics. The witty clapback. The recoil of the gun. The sudden forward movement of the human head when a car comes to a sudden stop. Customer walking away after a terrible experience. The customer using […]
Do you care eough?
Caring about customers is not something we say. It is something we do. Keeping the customer on long waits at the help desk. Sending out customer facing emails from noreply email address. Not honouring the customers; do not contact mandate. Not resolving the customers problem on he first or second visit. Being dishonest with the […]