Blackblot^® Product Management Expertise™

Question: "Ideally in which group should the program manager reside in (e.g., Engineering, Product Management, etc.)?"

Question: "Hasn't lean startup revolutionized product management?"

Question: "Should product managers be members of the engineering team?"

Question: "You're missing the big picture. Agile is gradually replacing product management, and the product owner is replacing the product manager. Not so?"

This review recaps trending fads and fashions in the world of product. Some trending models and frameworks are unsupported by rationales, lack methodological foundation, and thus can be easily invalidated.

Question: "Scrum defines only three roles: product owner, scrum master, and team. Therefore we do not need a product manager."

Question: "I just started working for a big software company. Product management reports to Engineering. First they sent me to product owner training. Now they are talking about moving to SAFe. What is going on here?"

Everybody is talking about agile product development. What exactly is agile and what is the relationship between agile and product management?

Question: "Is product design a part of the product management domain?"

Question: "Can technical engineers who had many years in development become good product marketers?"

Question: "Over the last weeks I have met several product managers with a traditional hardware product line, mainly from veteran companies in the industrial arena. They have now started selling software to increase the value of their offering. But very few have been able to generate profit from the software sales, even though it really adds customer value. The customer wants the software for free and the internal sales organization has little experience in software sales. Still the executive management has given its support. What approach should a product manager have on this issue?"

Question: "Is the Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer a part of the Development or the Product Management department?"

Question: "There is always some contention between Product Management and the other organizational departments, particularly with Development. How can we foster healthy interpersonal relationship across various departments in an organization?"

Question: "I am finding it hard to ensure that my market requirements are clearly communicated to all developers in the project team. In the perfect scenario, I assume this would be the responsibility of the Project Manager, but that does not seem to cover all the bases in our organization. Can you recommend some best practice guidelines for this?"

Question: "Do concepts like Lean Startup and Agile product development have any relevance or impact on product management roles today?"

Question: "How does Blackblot see the role of the Product Architect post-launch? As the product expert responsible for the PRD, the Product Architect is predominantly project-oriented. However, throughout the product lifecycle there are questions around what the product is technically capable of. Also, if post-launch the Product Architect moves on to the next project and a PRD involving a new product, who fills the role of 'technical product expert' on the older products?"

The Cornish countryside is an ideal and relaxing setting for any conference. With wide green pastures, grazing livestock, occasional wildlife sightings and a rugged coastline, it was a most welcome backdrop to the annual Agile on the Beach 2013 which took place at Falmouth University, in Cornwall, UK, during September 2013.

Question: "Please describe the PMTK deliverables in the stage-gate process and also the roles involved in the process."

Question: "What is considered to be a good ratio of product engineers to product managers? I know this will depend on many factors so am not expecting one answer. However, I am looking for some industry data that represents a good practice."