What's the venn?
I've seen a bunch of variations on the Venn diagram for product management. Is it the intersection of tech and UX and requirements? Or is it finance and customer and something else?
In my experience, new product ideas come from the intersection of market needs with new technology capabilities--and new products also need to generate profit for a business. The iPod wasn't possible until hard drives were able to store a lot of data in a tiny format. And it didn't really take off until it was easy to buy and download music through the iTunes store.
We need expertise in technology to understand how new capabilities can address problems that weren't easily solved previously. We need expertise in market discovery to find and understand underserved customers. We need skills in business to plan and forecast profitability.
Learn more about these three types of expertise (plus one more) in my free ebook "Expertise in Product Management."
About Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com
In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com