Christian Becker, Autor auf productable FAST-FORWARD PRODUCT MANAGEMENT https://productable.de/en/author/christianproductable-de/ Product Management Strategy Research Discovery Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:21:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://productable.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/apple_touch-150x150.png Christian Becker, Autor auf productable FAST-FORWARD PRODUCT MANAGEMENT https://productable.de/en/author/christianproductable-de/ 32 32 Product strategy: The foundation of product management https://productable.de/en/product-strategy-the-foundation-of-product-management/ Tue, 08 Nov 2022 10:34:31 +0000 https://productable.de/?p=1872 A key task of digital product management is to make decisions in a complex environment with almost infinite options for action. In this context, committing to a product strategy is probably the most fundamental decision a product organization has to make. Surprisingly, however, many companies operate without a product strategy - partly out of fear of committing to something, partly out of uncertainty about how to build a product strategy in the first place. This post describes why a product strategy is necessary and how it can be defined.

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]]> Lost in the agile jungle – Talk at Product Festival Zürich 2018 https://productable.de/en/lost-in-the-agile-jungle-talk-at-product-festival-zuerich-2018/ Thu, 06 Dec 2018 13:09:53 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=1622 The general state of agile product management is embarrassing. Despite better knowledge and the agile manifesto being around for decades now, the vast majority of products only see a lab or split test at the very end while all steps before remain agile wasteland. The usual reaction of product management is to blame others: stupid […]

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]]> Post-it your Customer-Journey https://productable.de/en/post-it-your-customer-journey/ Tue, 20 Feb 2018 13:50:01 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=1191 Personal interviews are an effective way to gain empathy for customers and their customer journey: What do customers experience and – most importantly – why? What points of contact do they have? Which information sources do they use? Where are problems and what runs ok? Without answers to these and many more questions it will […]

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]]> Preconditions for successful ideation and concept work https://productable.de/en/preconditions-for-successful-ideation-and-concept-work/ Thu, 07 Dec 2017 07:54:22 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=1071 Innovation requires great ideas. Luckily, we don’t have to rely on fuzzy brainstorming sessions anymore but have a much more sophisticated method set at hand. Design Studio for example allows us in only 2-3 hours to explore many more ideas compared to brainstorming sessions AND collaboratively develop the best ideas into a tangible prototype. Design […]

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]]> Agile Cost Accounting https://productable.de/en/agile-cost-accounting/ Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:24:44 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=575 Developing online products is expensive. Once the concept has been defined, a calculation for developing a small product might look like this: persons in dev team 6 days development x 60 EUR per person and day x 600 EUR development costs = 216,000 In view of such amounts possible ways to cut costs will be […]

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]]> The Revenue Trap https://productable.de/en/revenue-trap/ Mon, 13 Oct 2014 11:25:47 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=550 Revenue and profit pressure can be used in appositive, productive way. It potentially helps to concentrate on stuff that really matters, to quickly go through the phase of product/market fit and to realize a truly scaling business model. In big enterprises however this pressure often turns into the very opposite, becoming a long-term problem that […]

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]]> Featuritis: When is enough enough? https://productable.de/en/featuritis-enough-enough/ Mon, 13 Oct 2014 11:24:38 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=559 It seems to be some kind of natural law that leads to an exponential feature growth on websites over time. This exponential curve is mainly driven by budget planning circles regularly emphasizing the need to create hockey-stick-like revenue streams. But even without any revenue pressure, product managers are creative enough and want to be “productive” […]

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]]> Agility: Same same but different https://productable.de/en/agility-different/ Sun, 12 Oct 2014 20:34:31 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=526 Sometimes product managers are tempted to enviously look back to the good old times of waterfall. The world was still simple and easy. Product managers sat at their desks, documenting their plan in a PRD, then handed it over to the developers and before long the next PRD was written. In the meantime one was […]

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]]> Case Study Lean Product Management: Development of a website to acquire foreign customers https://productable.de/en/case-study-lean-product-management-development-website-acquire-foreign-customers/ Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:29:37 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=518 Background One of our clients is a highly specialized service provider from Germany, offering its services on a level that only a few others are capable of worldwide. Customers have to visit the provider in person in order to get the service. Due to the exclusive nature of the offer, customers will travel even very […]

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]]> Customers’ Advocate UX vs. Bad Business https://productable.de/en/customers-advocate-ux-vs-bad-business/ Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:23:30 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=516 We meet surprisingly many UX people who are dissatisfied with the way UX works in their companies. And vice versa, surprisingly many companies are not satisfied with how UX works for them. One of the first questions we usually get is how an organizational structure and processes should look like to integrate UX successfully in […]

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]]> Agile and Lean is for everyone! https://productable.de/en/agile-lean-everyone/ Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:18:22 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=514 The promise for revolutionary mobility in the 1980s had a name “Sinclair C5”. Innovator Sir Clive Sinclair developed this electric vehicle, and Hoover, better known for vacuum cleaners, took over sales and distribution. This thing was from another galaxy: super innovative and super cool. But somehow only a few would buy a C5. For a […]

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]]> Innovation requires the whole system https://productable.de/en/innovation-requires-whole-system/ Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:12:52 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=512 Implementing innovative ideas in large enterprises often feels like fighting windmills. Employees may be qualified and motivated to whatever level and there may be an abundance of ideas, but an invisible evil force seems to smother any creativity in no time. According to Russell Ackoff, it is always the “system’s” fault when no innovation is […]

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]]> One idea alone does not create growth https://productable.de/en/one-idea-alone-does-not-create-growth/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:50:01 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=432 Asking laptop owners in hipster startup cafés (like the Sankt Oberholz in Berlin) what they are missing, the answer will probably be: „I just need a cool idea.“ Just the opposite seems to be true for established companies in need of growth, where other statements are typical like: “If there is one thing not missing, […]

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]]> Business development – The evil force https://productable.de/en/business-development-the-evil-force/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:40:01 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=427 Business Development is a fuzzy term with many definitions and roles in enterprises. In practice the following activities prevail: Acquisition of large, strategic customers Development of strategies and initiatives to let the company grow by vertical and horizontal differentiation Acquisition, the first role, is an important task for companies. But I simply don’t get why […]

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]]> Customer feedback: No, thanks! https://productable.de/en/customer-feedback-no-thanks/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:24:53 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=418 The core of agile product development is to improve a product iteratively, based on fast customer feedback. However, there are many companies out there, which do not learn from customers (see also “Wasted potentials of agile product development”). The majority of them has an inner claim to involve customers in development, but is not able […]

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]]> More vacation for everyone! https://productable.de/en/more-vacation-for-everyone/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:14:12 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=412 productable hasn’t had any vacation for a while. We should go soon. We live in Berlin, so options are manifold. We could go by train, by bike or by car. Or we’ll take a plane from one of our airports Schönefeld or Tegel (if we just wait a bit more, we could choose the brand new […]

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]]> Bigger, faster, more! https://productable.de/en/bigger-faster-more/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:09:48 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=408 No matter how small a product starts – over time it will get bigger and fatter. The seemingly canonical growth paradime enforces the continuous extension of the product portfolio. Needs of existing customers should be satisfied even better and new customer groups should be cracked in parallel as well. There are only a few organizations […]

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]]> Test Angst 2 https://productable.de/en/test-angst-2/ Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:05:15 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=270 In our blog post „Test Angst“, we discussed the fear of product tests damaging a company’s market reputation. This time is gets actually scarier. There is a Test Angst II sitting in every one of us that is even harder to overcome. This angst triggers statements like: “This test person was not our target group anyway.” […]

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]]> Test Angst https://productable.de/en/test-angst-3/ Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:57:54 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=264 Many products won’t be tested at all during concept or development phase or only at a very late stage. One of the main reasons is fear of damaging one’s brand by confronting customers with products that do not meet the company’s usual quality standard. Especially larger established enterprises think of product tests as jeopardizing market […]

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]]> Customer Centricity by Numbers https://productable.de/en/customer-centricity-by-numbers/ Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:46:20 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=259 Customer centricity is the master key for product management. Strictly tailoring products to customers’ needs is mandatory for long-term success. What is clear to every product manager in theory becomes surprisingly hard in practice – especially for established companies. Why? Almost every company with some longer history in a market has roughly run through the […]

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]]> Why overdone secrecy is harmful to agile product development https://productable.de/en/why-overdone-secrecy-is-harmful-to-agile-product-development/ Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:40:03 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=254 Secrecy is important for every business to secure know-how. When overdone, however, secrecy can have negative impact on the learning curve that is highly important for product management (see also our blog-post „Wasted potentials of agile product development“). In the following we take a look on how to balance secrecy and learning in product management. […]

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]]> Four common misunderstandings on Lean Startup https://productable.de/en/four-common-misunderstandings-on-lean-startup/ Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:30:41 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=249 Lately in a well-known and highly successful online company: The latest big project is presented to product managers from around the globe. The introduction: „This project has been implemented following Lean Startup!“ And so, the audience curiously waits for the next slide to explain the approach. And then it is shown: A 3-month market survey […]

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]]> Wasted potentials of agile product development https://productable.de/en/wasted-potentials-of-agile-product-development/ Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:21:47 +0000 http://productable.de/?p=243 When asking product managers on the main principles of agile product development, you should roughly get the following answer: Cut the product in the smallest possible, viable and testable pieces (also called MVP). Deliver those, piece by piece (incremental), to the customer to learn as quickly as possible from real feedback from real customers on […]

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