Dr. Jim Anderson

The success of a product manager is judged by the success of their product. This of course leads to the question, what does it take to have a successful product? One of the most important things is how a product manager chooses to look at their market: do they take the short term view or the long term view?

What’s Inside:
 • PRODUCT MANAGERS KNOW THAT EVERYBODY MUST BE GREEN 
 • WHAT A PASTRY STORE CAN TEACH PRODUCT MANAGERS 
 • PERFORMANCE BASED PRICING – IS IT RIGHT FOR PRODUCT MANAGERS IN TOUGH TIMES? 
 • NEW COKE: A PRODUCT MANAGER CAMPFIRE STORY

One of the biggest decisions that modern product managers have to make these days is if they want their product to “go green”. Becoming environmentally aware and perhaps modifying how your product is made or sold can be an expensive undertaking. However, if your customers are the type that are looking for products that won’t harm the environment, then perhaps this is a step that you are going to have to investigate taking.

No product manager has all of the answers. What this means for us is that we need to keep our eyes open and go looking for success stories that we can find. These successful products have a lesson to teach us if only we’d be willing to listen to them. No matter if we’re looking at successful pastry shop or an online company in China, there are lessons for all of us here. 

One of the most difficult tasks associated with being a product manager is coming up with the right price for your product. There are a number of different ways to go about doing this and performance-based pricing is one of them. However, you’re going to have to ask yourself if this is the right thing to do in tough times. 

Another approach to solving the pricing puzzle that some product managers take is to go cheap. This can have an impact on your product and how your customers view both your product and your company. If you choose to take this route, you’ll need to move carefully.

In the world of product mangers there are many stories that we tell amongst ourselves whenever product managers get together. One of the most famous of these stories is the tale of “New Coke”. What should have been a big success turned into a massive failure and why this happened is important to all of us.

For more information on what it takes to be a great product manager, check out my blog, The Accidental Product Manager, at:

www.TheAccidentalPM.com