Design thinking is just another way to talk about problem-solving. Every design project you take on aims to solve some sort of problem for the client, whether it is helping more people learn about their company through a website, getting people into a store with a coupon or enticing people to buy something with an amazing package design. Continue reading
In the world of agile software development, it seems like Marketing and Development are in a race for control of ‘the product.’ Who will win? The flakes in Marketing or the geeks in Development? Continue reading
In honor of the new YC batch starting tomorrow, here is some of the best start-up advice I’ve heard or given (mostly heard): Continue reading
The billion-dollar tech startup was supposed to be the stuff of myth. Now they seem to be … everywhere.
Stewart Butterfield had one objective when he set out to raise money for his startup last fall: a billion dollars or nothing. If he couldn’t reach a $1 billion valuation for Slack, his San Francisco business software company, he wouldn’t bother. Slack was hardly starving for cash. It was a rocket ship, with thousands of people signing up for its workplace collaboration tools each week. What Slack needed, Butterfield believed, was the cachet of the billion-dollar mark. Continue reading
Whether you are starting a new business or looking for more insight into your existing company’s prospects, you probably have questions about the competition. One way to answer those questions is by using Porter’s Five Forces model. Continue reading
Companies are finding new ways to improve the way they run. One of those ways is rethinking the way the company is structured and review the opportunities for career progression. In the most basic form, companies have the choice of opting for a flat or hierarchical structure. Continue reading
If you don’t regularly read Steve Denning’s work, you should. He’s one of the better writers on the future of work. In an article he wrote for Forbes last week, he starts by stating that the Agile product development method has gone mainstream, but poses the question as to whether it has now become a fad like so many other management theories. His conclusion is that Agile is not merely a fad because, “Agile and Scrum deal directly with current business issues in a way that the 20th century initiatives sidestepped. They give a direct voice of the customer through the product owner and give a voice to competence over authority.” Continue reading
A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of “exit.” The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth. Continue reading
I often get asked what a product manager is. What do they do? Where do they come from? Why do they like sharpies so much? Continue reading