If you want to be a bad product manager, gather requirements. If you want to be a good product manager, understand unmet needs and use that insight to drive requirements.

If you want to be a bad product manager, do everything yourself. If you want to be a good product manager, delegate tactical activities to allow you to spend time on the strategic aspects of the job.

If you want to be a bad product manager, make sure you stay within your comfort zone. If you want to be a good product manager, be comfortable being uncomfortable.

If you want to be a bad product manager, plan for far advance into the future. If you want to be a good product manager, plan for now and the likely future.

If you want to be a bad product manager, distance yourself from your sales force. If you want to be a good product manager, engage your sales force.

If you want to be a bad product manager, do not seek out advice from other product managers. If you want to be a good product manager, ask a good product manager for advice when you need help.

If you want to be a bad product manager, don’t ever remove features. If you want to be a good product manager, be smart about removing features.

If you want to be a bad product manager, make sure to only do “cool” and “viral” marketing to get your message out. If you want to be a good product manager, put your efforts into promotional campaigns that will impact your key marketing metrics.

If you want to be a bad product manager, rely solely on quantitative research. Business is about numbers, after all, and there’s a reason you had to learn statistics in school. If you can’t prove something to a level of statistical significance, it must not be reliable. You would never make a decision about a… Continue reading Understand qualitative vs. quantitative research

If you want to be a bad product manager, come up with lots of excuses for not visiting customers. If you want to be a good product manager, find ways around all of the excuses for not visiting customers.