In recognizing that many of the decisions we had made over this past year were not driven by or supported with real evidence, I decided it was time to change how the Product team gathered and used data in our processes.
The Product Decision: Confirm with the team exactly what data we were missing and what we would need to do to get our hands on it.
Practice humility in product pursuits
In recognizing that the string of recent product successes had (perhaps!) inflated my ego and that that might likely affect my judgment, I decided to devote some time to more sobering aspects of being a Product Manager.
The Product Decision: Balance out all the congratulatory feedback and even my own eternal optimism by purposefully exploring activities that would knock me down a notch.
Read MoreCelebrate product wins big and small
It's easy and obvious for everyone to come together and share in the company's larger victories like closing a big deal, but I decided to devote some time to acknowledge, if not revel in some of our minor triumphs too.
The Product Decision: Recognize and applaud the lesser product successes too.
Read MoreBrainstorm a product solution for customers
After collecting far too many stories about how customers had resorted to stitching together different parts of our product to solve the same problem, I decided to regroup with the extended product team to revisit how we might address the actual needs of our users.
The Product Decision: Go back to the drawing (white-) board to review this prominent customer use case and find a more suitable way to solve this for our users.
Read MoreGuide and advise fellow Product Managers
After many rounds of discouraging conversations with less experienced and struggling Product Managers both inside and outside my own company, I decided to assemble and share some helpful resources for advancing one's own PM career.
The Product Decision: Create simple orientation assignments for Product Managers who have a genuine appetite for advancing their careers.
Read MoreFire up the Sales team
After being invited to participate in our mid-year, internal Sales team rally, I decided to deliver a rousing product presentation to get the troops pumped up.
The Product Decision: Weave together a powerful before/after story that relates the numerous product enhancements as well as our impressive rate of innovation to stir the team and inspire them to carry that message to our customers.
Read MoreTriage an almost bungled feature upgrade
In recognizing that our pre-deployment testing had raised unexpected alarms with some customers and our own Support staff, I decided to straighten out the mess by creating a better feature migration path.
The Product Decision: Instead of forcing a more immediate upgrade on our users, I would stretch out the feature deprecation period and give customers more time and more autonomy to make the transition.
Read MoreWrite the Release Notes
After realizing my goto resource would be on vacation during the next big deployment, I decided to step in and take the lead on producing the key product documentation.
The Product Decision: Roll up my sleeves, dust off the technical writing skills and crank out the next iteration of our product release notes.
Read MoreUnveil new product at company event
In recognizing the work that all the departmental teams had contributed to create this novel product, I decided to orchestrate a group presentation to roll out the new offering to the entire company.
The Product Decision: Preview the new product in a group setting where each department contributes to the larger story.
Read MoreGetting ready to groom
In recognizing that too many of our user stories were not truly ready to be implemented, I decided to revisit the entire path to grooming.
The Product Decision: Formalize the team's story preparation process leading up to sprint planning.
Read More