Product roadmaps typically need to have three important categories of initiatives: Work that helps to Keep the Lights On (KTLO) – tech debt, keeping existing features and functionalities up and running, fixing bugs, etc fall under this category. This is the bread and butter part of your roadmap. Short term investments – incremental improvements in…
Tag: framework
Rethinking the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The MVP is dead. The Minimum Viable Product philosophy has become corrupted. We have misunderstood its intent and diluted its core elements over the years. What we are left with is a superficial term, often thrown around in conversations around product building, with little to no understanding of the underlying principles. Sometimes the way to…
Career Choices in the Wisdom Economy
One of the most significant problems that the next generation will have to deal with is one created by extremely long life spans: People who live longer will have to work longer Staying in the same career over 60-70 years won’t be possible Many types of jobs will get wiped out Decisions made at a…
Exit Cost in Products
A lot has been written about defensibility and moats in businesses. Strategists talk about barriers to entry (resources, patentable technology and processes, expertise, capital) in certain businesses and why it is usually difficult for new entrants to disrupt incumbents. But one of the lesser-explored areas of defensibility is building products which have a high exit…
The Product Managers of the Mahabharat
Over a meeting, someone recently asked me to describe the archetype of a product leader. While I answered the question, a broader thought stayed with me. What are the various archetypes of product managers? An archetype is a powerful storytelling device – making it easier for readers to identify and understand a concept. And PMs…
The Possession – Awareness Quadrant – the Evolution
I recently shared the Possession-Awareness Quadrant framework with a hall full of PMs in the form of a 20-minutes-long talk followed by a quick Q&A session. A format like this forces you to crystalize your thoughts in a more concise (brevity of thought) and precise (sharp, to the point examples) way. The process of putting…
The Possession – Awareness Quadrant
One of the ways in which organizations and individuals can assess areas of strength, possible opportunities and blindspots is by plotting their personal and group attributes/ qualities on the Possession – Awareness Quadrant.