Many sources describe how to be a great product manager. Amongst all the techniques and guides, one critical skill stands out; getting your product shipped. Going from idea to product takes navigating your organization successfully while building your product to get your product to customers.

Your brand enters the room before you do. If you're a PM with a powerful and positive brand, you will be more effective motivating teams and getting what you need done. Brand is tricky, however, because you don't own it; you only influence it.

The gap between product inspiration and customer delivery can be large. Coming up with the great idea is only the beginning. Assembling a great team is necessary to build and survive to even release your vision to customers.

How you build a product is intricately tied to who you are as a person. Training builds skills, and experience builds a career, but who you are is just as important to the final product. Who you are is how you build product in surprisingly personal ways.

Few things seem to induce terror in people more than public speaking. I have met many in my life who avoid it any form. In a product management career, this is a critical skill in order to be effective, prosper and get ahead. Become bulletproof with practice and by applying techniques shared in this post.

PMs work hard to get the right product out to customers. Requirements documentation creates key inputs to getting the right result. Explained are the primary assets PMs create for MRDs, PRDs, user stories, and the development processes they feed.

Based on a long career in product management, these are 12 PM career traps to avoid. It's natural to learn and improve at PM over time, but it's better to sidestep the avoidable traps. This post covers role and product selection, working with coworkers and customers, and knowing what you do and don't own.

Episode two: A short oral history in podcast form on my own career in product management. Included are common questions and answers, plus my points of view on techniques and career. Hosted by Ashwini Vasanth at the Through the Corporate Glass podcast. https://www.throughthecorporateglass.com/.

Episode one: A short oral history in podcast form on my own career in product management. Included are common questions and answers, plus my points of view on techniques and career. Hosted by Ashwini Vasanth at the Through the Corporate Glass podcast. https://www.throughthecorporateglass.com/.

Product manager skill sets require practice and sharpening over time to get better and more effective. To achieve this, investment in self is an important and strategic learning technique for working professionals. Better skills can also help open the door to more opportunities with more responsibility and authority over time.

Over the recent five years, educational organizations have begun offering formal product management training. Before that there have been a wealth of PM leaders individually sharing their expertise with the public. These are some of my favorite authors and insights.

Product managers need to speak to customers for feedback and research. Sometimes finding customers to interview can challenging. With some creativity, however, finding customers can actually be easy to do. Here are over 30 avenues to find and reach them.

How to start building product roadmaps by understanding product lifecycle stage and customer needs. Research and balance the right inputs, and pick up your pencil. Then validate, iterate, and repeat.

Product roadmaps are relied upon by numerous internal and external stakeholders; not just product management. How to navigate the natural tension between stakeholders comfortably while delivering valuable results.