I’m proud to announce that the Tech Product Management program we’ve been building at NYU Stern was formally announced recently. Lots of work put in and much more to come as we expand. Exciting to be the first TPM degree granting program that I’m aware of.
I’m using the summer to dive deep into a couple of new business pursuits:
Both have tested well.
This is in addition to running two other businesses, teaching and my personal projects and kids needing attention being home all the time.
Those who know me might wonder if I’m violating two of my key rules: a) staying focused and b) keeping it simple. I’ll take the 2nd one first. Both these ventures have had substantial research leading up to them using a solid lean, iterative process knowing that either could be pivoted or killed at any point (and still could be). Each one has clear, simple goals for their early experiments as we deepen time (and dollar) investments.
Focus is a more complex item. I pondered sequencing them. I didn’t because I knew each one would be bursty with times of intense work and times where others were pushing them forward. The main issue would come if they burst at the same time and I said that the apparel business took precedence given there is seasonality for that product.
The reality has been manageable but it reminded my why focus is so important: the ability to have depth of focus for a period of time. Sometimes you just need to sit and think. Having so much to do makes you task oriented. But there are times, especially when researching or experimenting, to glean insights or solve tricky UX, business or build issues.
In addition, personally, I cannot just designate a time to go deep on something and assume I’ll be able to jump into that mode. Context switching and distractions are difficult to overcome. I find that weekends or times when you can have 3 hours with no distractions are best. But you have to be in the mood and mode and that doesn’t work on a planned schedule. August is a big focus month for me so we’ll see how I do.
If you’re looking for an interesting “what new tech will be born out of the work/learn-at-home movement” discussion, try this article about what comes after Zoom. While Zoom has burst upon the scene for a wider audience, this period also showed how limited the UX is. There is interesting stuff being worked on with the most compelling from mmhmm.
The semester recently ended and what a semester it was. Having 48 hours notice to switch all classes online was a bit of a fire drill. This was exasperated in having a new class, Tech Product Management II, which was meant to be all cases and workshops mostly delivered by guest speakers. We pulled it off and I think it went reasonably well but I would make some changes to the class if it were to stay online exclusively as the Socratic method doesn’t directly translate to video.
The next month gives me cycles to explore the building of several businesses. I value these times and, if I can keep focused, find them highly productive. Its never a good idea to pursue multiple new products at the same time. Thus, I run short cycle (typically 1-3 weeks depending on the complexity of the research) deep dives to get a qualitative sense of whether the need exists and my potential solution is viable. My goal is to get down to one primary area of focus for the next few months via this process. If I don’t whittle it down then I can’t put the depth of cycles around building one thing that’s required for any new product. A likely death knell.
However, I afford myself these times periodically to go expansive and heavy on research so I have some evidence that my most valuable resource, time, is best utilized. It also doesn’t mean that others are killed but might be put on hold or pivoted as I did to one product line extension recently moving from building myself to looking to acquire — saving time but costing money.
If focused efforts by small teams can build ventilators in a month, I think I can handle it. Doing this last August was highly productive and got me focused on building a new class and specialization in my teaching, a successfully expanded digital business and the groundwork for this plan. I just don’t know if I can come up with something so timely and innovative as this.
There’s been much discussion of AI taking jobs and all of the concerns/benefits around this. The current state of tech is less about AI and more about automation as our ability to have machines do repetitive tasks that humans are less inclined toward (and more error-proned at) is upon us.
That debate has shifted in an interesting way due to the pandemic. We rightfully now have great concern for the well-being of workers in what has been deemed “essential” jobs in the service economic like logistics, food service, retail and others who are needed and have contact with people. The same jobs that were starting to be automated. The technology rush was already happening given the huge cost savings and quality improvements around automation. Now, those ethics questions have shifted as we’re trying to find way to expose service workers less. How do we deploy automation alongside humans to make them more efficient and now lessen their human contact?
The threat of the virus isn’t going away anytime soon. Stay safe.
First, I hope you and your family are healthy and well. The coronavirus outbreak has thrown life into a bit of chaos. We’ll see how our home schooling goes but b-school starts for my kids next week so I can’t wait for my 13 and 8 yr old to be talking about gross vs. net margin.
I have been thinking about what some of the longer term implications, good and bad, might be for an extended period of life, health and business disruption. Here are some of the things I’m keeping my eye on:
I have been thinking a lot about brand especially in the era of Amazon. On one hand, its never been more challenging (read: expensive) to establish a new retail brand. On the other hand, its never been easier and cheaper as long as you’re willing to give a few things up. Oh, and keep an eye on Amazon Advertising. Already takes 95% of my spend.
Also, for the PMs out there, here’s a guide to compensation.
I’m using January to work on a real need I see on both sides of a multi-sided market. At any time, there are 10s of thousands of tech product management jobs open. Product Manager now seems to be the title du jour both in traditional companies adopting a more user/product centric org design and also by re-titling positions like business analyst and project manager to PM (not a good idea but I’ll cover that one another time).
That would seem great for a PM job seeker, right? Not really. Most of these jobs require many years of PM experience. That’s because its difficult to have an entry level PM given the responsibility you have and experiences you need to draw upon. And few companies are investing in extensive training and mentorship programs now with the average job tenure for the <30 crowd at 18 months.
Thus, a chicken and egg problem.
One way we’re solving this is our new Tech Product Management program at NYU Stern. But there still is a gap especially in the process of certifying skills and talents for PMs given many are soft. There’s no code test or portfolio review which is why PM interview processes are so exhaustive.
Watch this space.
I’m not one for making calendar predictions however there are a few trends heading into 2020 that bear watching:
Wishing everyone a joyous and safe holiday season. After venturing into the deep cold woods of upstate NY I’m off to Fla for some sun before the deep winter grind hits. I have several notable projects teed up for Jan & Feb that I’ll write about more once I get them underway. As always, hit me up if I can be of help.
A bunch of announcements and activity this week around the forthcoming streaming battles. It seems that the tipping point has finally arrived with cord cutting that content providers are going all-in on direct to consumer streamers with Disney+ garnering 10m subs in 24 hours (likely a record).
The forthcoming landscape is not sustainable as subscribing to Disney, Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, etc. will run you more than cable. Walls are being built and there will be consolidation but these are all big players so interesting to watch esp as others enter the fray with boxes meant facilitate like Verizon did this week.
I’ve been heads down on a couple of exciting projects this month in addition to my teaching and running my digital businesses. The only one I can talk about is the new program that I’m building at NYU’s Stern School of Business for a Tech Product Management MBA. We believe its the first of its kind and aligns with the school’s focus on building its reputation and offerings in tech.
The first stage will launch this spring with a new advanced class for future product managers building upon the one I’ve taught for the past 5 years. Very experiential. I’m looking for guest product speakers so if you have an interesting case study, please reach out.
In the future we’ll be offering a specialization (roughly a “major” at Stern) and track for the new Tech MBA. Allows me to realize a passion and idea I’ve had for years to bridge the gap in product management applicants with a qualified background.
Election season is amplifying the focus on tech and possible regulatory actions which are picking up steam. Seems tech doesn’t have many friends on either side of the aisle. I suspect this is somewhat due to not being sophisticated (historically) with their lobbying staying on the political sidelines. It takes a lot of time (money) to build false friends. However, I think there’s something deeper at play which you can see in recent employee incidents at Google: tech people tend to occupy the poles of the political circle. They tend toward extreme libertarian or liberal. I said “poles” instead of ends as I believe its not a political spectrum but circle. There’s often only a small gap between “liberal” and “libertarian” positions. Being at the poles — even while the tone in Washington appears more polarized — is not a good place to be. What could regulation do? Would a Warren administration take this on?
I’ve been recently thinking about how I simplify my approach whether its developing my own products, advising companies on theirs or in my teaching. One way I’ve done this is focusing pretty singularly on ROI as the way to measure all opportunities in front of me. It might seem obvious, but too many people get distracted by lesser or vanity measures. Let me know what you think.