Naming Your New Product? Let the Battle Begin!

Every product manager knows the drill: business case approved, use cases completed, product requirements documented, then comes the dreaded "what are we going to call it".

As soon as this moment is reached in a product life cycle, suddenly everybody has an opinion.   Personally I think that it is easier to pick a name for your unborn baby - at least generally there are only two people that have to agree (with a little advice thrown in from others of course, but you are under no serious obligation to comply with their wishes).

Advice / instructions will be issued by exec's in the management hierarchy, sales, marketing etc.  And for the most part this will be driven by personal bias, opinion and nothing much else.  I have yet to see a substantive or  rational reason put forward for any product name - generally the biggest ego rules.  But there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Massive-scale online collaboration

One of the biggest challenges that still needs to be cracked is the translation of the WWW into every major language.  Best case for free, as fast as possible.
This lighthearted look at collaboration on a huge scale is well worth the time.

 

Idiot! You can't disconnect your Value Proposition, Corporate Vision and Personal Freedom!

There is a powerful talk by Simon Sinek on TED that outlines his reasoning why there is a case for communicating your value proposition from the inside out:  talk about what your company vision is, before you discuss the specifics of the product value proposition, and what you do.

As I have outlined before, the reason for bringing a specific product to market and understanding exactly what the problem is that you are trying to solve is fundamental.  If you cannot answer the simple question of what the problem is that you are solving, then "Houston, we have a problem".

Doodling is an incredibly powerful thinking tool

It is probably fair to say that most of us consider doodling an activity that we do when we our minds wander.  But in reality, it seems to be a preemptive measure to stop us from losing focus - this is the argument that is put forward by Sunni Brown in a short TED presentation. 

If you have 5 minutes and just need focus on something else, then it's certainly worth a watch.