Disqus - Latest Comments for michaelvaliant

Re: More Strategy Wisdom from McKinsey

srogers74 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:58:18 -0000

Good thoughts. Thanks Michael.

Re: More Strategy Wisdom from McKinsey

michaelvaliant — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:26:27 -0000

I don't think uncertainties make it difficult to do strategy... you have to walk in the light you have or you'll never get anywhere. Uncertainties simply force you to nimble and not take the strategy for more than it is.

As for luck, I've always believed that "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity"

I don't think what happened to Clear is either Lucky or Unlucky... Unless you want to look at it as "it's quite unlucky that Clear didn't have a Product Manager who could see the product from the users POV or steer the product when the circumstances/opportunities changed."

Re: Community Manager

michaelvaliant — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:40:20 -0000

Someone just asked me (via twitter) what tool I used to create the mindmap.

I use a few different tools for visualizations, but often return to FreeMind, a great and free tool that is simple (and fast!) to use and exports into several formats.

You can find FreeMind here:

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/

Re: Ecommerce Tracking through 1ShoppingCart’s Google Analytics integration

michaelvaliant — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:38:36 -0000

Sorry Donovan, I didn't see this comment when you posted it...

Thanks for sharing, and excellent point regarding a digital download process.

You may run into the same problem using PayPal too (inaccurate numbers), as many PayPal customers leave the process once PayPal confirms the purchase and don't click through all the way to the thank you page.

Re: OMG! Off to SF for OMW!

michaelvaliant — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:33:56 -0000

Alline,

Thanks for the great tip! I missed it unfortuantely because I flew back on Friday afternoon, but I'll make sure to hit it next time I'm in town (my wife has made me promise to take her back soon!)

We love Farmer's Markets, so it will be a must stop!

I loved SF, we had a great time and enjoyed a lot of great food (esp. sushi!)

Michael

Re: 30 Day Challenge Update & Musings

michaelvaliant — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:11:53 -0000

Hi Susan,

Actually, this was from 2007. I've been so busy this year, I haven't been able to keep up with the 2008 challenge.

I'm not sure why there are no dates on some of these older posts... I'll have a look and see if I can figure it out... :(

Thanks for visiting!

Michael

Re: If I don’t wave back…

michaelvaliant — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:39:11 -0000

Absolutely! The shower holds strong as my #2 Thinking Spot :)

I used to listen to my iPod on the way home, but my drive is only about 10 minutes. You can't listen to much in 10 minutes, but it's amazing how many great thoughts can bubble up in that time!

Re: Why Product Management Is Easy

adambullied — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:21:02 -0000

Absolutely - I love it!

Re: Why Product Management Is Easy

michaelvaliant — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:40:37 -0000

What a great conversation!

Funny, it was kind of like reading a biography ("my life in PM")

I kept finding myself nodding my head in a "yup, I've had to deal with that too" kind of way

Re: Why Product Management Is Easy

adambullied — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:18:03 -0000

Thanks for the comment, Michael! I checked out Summize - very cool.
I'll have to start using that regularly.

Gratifying is a great word to describe it. It's something that I think
PMs can bring to an entire organization - not just themselves. Seeing
a product come together (or a simple release for that matter) and get
shipped as part of a joint effort from everyone is very gratifying
indeed. Almost serendipitous.

Re: Why Product Management Is Easy

michaelvaliant — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:09:20 -0000

Nice Post Adam. I love product management and would have to say the job is a lot more gratifying than it is 'hard'.

The biggest problem I had when I started out was learning to let go and delegate more... Once you get that down, everything else just sort of falls into place. Think big, and ask for help...

Also, I follow the same Twitter Product Management conversations :) so you're not the only nerd out there. If you haven't already, try Summize, it's a real-time twitter search tool and lets you see actual conversations (if they exist) instead of individual tweets:

http://summize.com/search?q=%22product+manageme...

Michael Valiant