Towards the end of this year Rosenfeld Media will be publishing my book Product Management for UX Designers (you may sign up there to be notified when it is available for order), the culmination of a multiple-year project that has unfolded with the input and support of the Design in Product community.

During the editorial and production process I am sharing early drafts of chapters, and I welcome any feedback here that will strengthen the material, so without further ado:

So far the role of product manager probably sounds pretty good. Maybe a bit broad and over-leveraged (scary!) but able…

Towards the end of this year Rosenfeld Media will be publishing my book Product Management for UX Designers (you may sign up there to be notified when it is available for order), the culmination of a multiple-year project that has unfolded with the input and support of the Design in Product community.

During the editorial and production process I am sharing early drafts of chapters, and I welcome any feedback here that will strengthen the material, so without further ado:

Most user experience professionals remember the first time we found ourselves working with a product manager.

In a meeting.

For…

Towards the end of this year Rosenfeld Media will be publishing my book Product Management for UX Designers (you may sign up there to be notified when it is available for order), the culmination of a multiple-year project that has unfolded with the input and support of the Design in Product community.

During the editorial and production process I am sharing early drafts of chapters, and I welcome any feedback here that will strengthen the material, so without further ado:

If you’re not sure what product managers do, you’re not alone. Quite a few hiring managers and entire businesses are…

Towards the end of this year Rosenfeld Media will be publishing my book Product Management for UX Designers, the culmination of a multiple-year project that has unfolded with the input and support of the Design in Product community.

In the weeks and months leading up to this publication date, I will be sharing initial chapter drafts for public review and feedback, in parallel with the more formal* editorial and publishing process. …

Where do you draw the line between product management and user experience?

This is really three questions in one:

1. First, it’s a question I am asking you. Where does one role end and the other begin in your shop? Is it a settled issue? How well is it working out?
2. Second, it’s an interview question most product, UX, and design practitioners will encounter as they seek opportunities in new environments and take on greater responsibilities.
3. Finally, it’s a question every product leader has to answer for their own team, mission, and organization. Does UX report to product or are they…

Product manager workdays change depending on where you are in the rhythmic development cadence, on the role you play on the team, and on the approach to product management pursued by your organization.

But there are recognizable patterns.

So, for example, across multiple product management roles I can synthesize a generic typical day that would fit many real days across those years, something like this:

At home / before official workday starts

4:30 am — wake up in the middle of the night and remember something important that nobody else is tracking. Either jot it down on the night-table or get out of bed, move to the…

Hummingbird, hummingbird,
Brand-new breakfast treat.

Cigarettes and Goobers,
Mighty good to eat.

Hummingbird, o hummingbird,
Bran-new breakfast treat.

Cigarettes and Goobers,
Might be good to eat.

It was the summer of 1987. A year earlier I had driven most of the way across the country (before driving off the road near Gillette, Wyoming), and flown the rest of the way to start my post-graduation life in San Francisco, crashing with a bunch of friends of mine, known as the Geebens, who had graduated, or dropped out, the year before me and were at the time crammed into a tickytack rental in Diamond heights.

Since then the Geebens had rented two houses a block apart from each other in the neighborhood of UC Med, near 9th and…