7 Responses

1. Colsy

   06|Nov|2008 1

   Hi Chris,

   Dropped in by accident, but found your presentation on “What does a Project Manager actually do?” interstesting. Short, informative and straight forward.

   Ironically, looking at your profile I notice you are in gaming. An industy I am looking to re-enter after gaining good working with a large Japanese gaming company.

   I will be dropping by more to have a look at your site!

   Cheers

   Colsy

2. chriscummings01

   06|Nov|2008 2

   Nice to meet you, Colsy, and thanks for the feedback.

   I’m presenting an expanded version of this presentation on Nov. 12 via free webinar at http://community.featureplan.com/community/2008/11/webinar_november_12_1200pm_edt.php Hope you can make it.

   Also: any questions about gaming, I’d be happy to discuss.

   Best,
   Chris

3. Jay Solomon

   19|Nov|2008 3

   Hi Chris. I just watched your webinar on this topic and found it to be really enlightening. I see the slideshare slideshow above but is there a way to download the actual Powerpoint presentation slides?

   Thanks,
   Jay Solomon

4. chriscummings01

   19|Nov|2008 4

   Hi Jay! Thanks for the feedback. Yes, you can download the slides directly at: http://christophercummings.com/images/ppt/pm101webinar.ppt

   Best,
   Chris

5.   Knowledge Jolt With Jack by ChristopherCummings.com

   05|Dec|2008 5

   [...] on product management, knowledge management, personal effectiveness, and more. Jack attended my webinar and wrote up a great review. Check out his [...]

6. nick coster

   14|Dec|2008 6

   Hey Chris, I used to see the role of the product manager as “the glue that binds teams together” but have now come to think that description grossly understates the imporance of product management.

   While it is often not the case in organisations, product management should be driving the product and market strategies, by determining what markets to serve, what market problems to solve, and what products to sell that will support the overall business strategy.

   By referring to the role as a binding or lubricating function, we acknowledge the disfunction of other teams and accept the burden of resolving their inability to work together. If instead we lead the teams and focus their outputs then we, as the leaders for our products, can drive better outomes for the business, our customers and ourselves.

   –nick coster
   http://www.brainmates.com.au

7. chriscummings01

   16|Dec|2008 7

   Thanks for the feedback, Nick. I don’t think we necessarily are disagreeing: They key part of the description isn’t just the binding/lubricating metaphor; it’s the ability to keep “the product moving in the right direction”. The right direction, to me, entails knowing the market, leading the product development, and making sure the product is meeting market demands and business goals. We should avoid doing things the Max Powers way (”the wrong way, but FASTER”).