Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang on Twitter) released his latest report on The Five Eras of the Social Web.
We’ve talked about this before, but it seems to keep coming back around.
Most hiring managers realize that it is extremely difficult to fill their open product management slot with their “ideal” candidiate. You know, the one that walks on water, worked in the same industry for others, can hit the ground running, has a fully loaded relevant address book. Unless hiring candidates from direct competitors is your thing (and they don’t have non-competes?), hiring managers will likely have to prioritize the importance of industry experience vs. product management expertise.
I spent the past week in a class, the mini-MBA program at the University of St. Thomas. I’m not going to blog about all I learned, which I did, or the incredible people in the class, which there were 24 other amazing and talented individuals; but, I wanted to share one important lesson…
In times of transition (as well as the better times,) take advantage of the time and opportunity to add value. You may not be adding value to the company, but this is a great time to add value to yourself.
Are you? I am!
So, the conversation went like this:
—
Exec: I need to know when feature abc will be in the product.
Product Manager: Sure. (And, a few clicks on the keyboard later, the prioritization matrix comes up which links to the release schedule and shows data. Computer plugged into projector? Check. Hit another key, and voila!) Here you go. Based on the prioritization schedule, which the dev team agrees, it will be in the second release which will be available on date.
Whatever you call it, Social Media, Social networking, Web 2.0, gizmo, hip, etc, the advent of new technology leads to change. Yep, got it.
Change means we are forced to do something that we got used to doing in a different way. Yep, got it.
But, change it doesn’t mean the world has been thrown upside down.
Unless you have lived under a rock, in a cave or on a deserted island for the past three years, you have been bombarded by news stories about social media sites like myspace, facebook, friendster, twitter, and countless countless blogs. The way people talk with each other has changed.
But, while the method has changed, the communication message has not!
If I was in your target market for a product before you learned I was a Twitter or Facebook user, than I am still in your target market now. But, before you infringe on me and bombard me about the next greatest thing since sliced bread, make sure you know how I want to communicate.
In other words, learn about me. Hmmm…a little market sensing goes a long way.
Guess somethings never change.
