a blog about software projects...
Product Management is something that should be easy to understand. The highest level goals of product management should be easy to articulate.
1) build a valuable product
2) maintain the value of a product relative to its customer community
3) manage the investment in the product, to ensure the best possible return
I work in an environment that is somewhat dominated by a project governance mentality. What does this mean? What it means to me is this - that our diligence is focused on spending rather than on asset creation. Why is this significant? Because it changes how we focus the decisions in the process of software development.
Product Portfolio
If you want to manage a portfolio of software products, it is necessary to understand the organizational goals that are met by those software products. The product portfolio is a vehicle for understanding the ongoing investment in development or deployment of software assets. It requires an ability to measure the value of software assets separate from their cost (rarely done in industry today), and an ability to measure the cost of ongoing support and maintenance of software product.
Why is it that the customer in corporate software projects seems to want to pack the scope of every project with capabilities of dubious value, in the same way that our congressional leaders try to pack important bills with "pork"? Why do organizational leaders try to take a well funded project or initiative and use it as a means of funding their personal management agenda? Because like congress, if they can construe their agenda as essential to the completion of some important project - they bring the business value (pork) home to their department. They can use the project as a vehicle to accomplish things that ensure that they get their bonus. These leaders act as though their incentives are more important than the overall health of the corporation - just like congressmen act as if their re-election is more important than the overall health of the nation.
Rich is very interested in ideas which make it easier for software teams to be more productive, and for software projects to be more predictable.
Rich is also very involved in Christian ministry and charity work, and ideas that make ministry more effective.
