Sometimes I wonder about where are we going with ‘ease of use’. And whether innovation is synonymous with increased ease of use. And if so, is there a limit? Let’s look at some of the common scenarios. Delivery is getting easier and easier. You don’t even have to type your order now. You can order … Read more
While writing on the topic of Advertisements in my previous post, I thought about a couple of ideas that are worth implementing but probably haven’t been implemented yet. Let’s discuss those. 1. Automatic lowering of volume (or muting) when the Ads starts playing on TV. I have personally noticed that the volume actually goes a … Read more
In the good old days, YouTube was free and all content was actually free with some occasional Ads. But of late they have been pushing the customers too hard into their Subscription service and if you do not, then the amount of Ads shown is just getting insane. Let’s take a look at their journey. … Read more
Virality has been a common term for quite some time now. Every now and then we see new products and apps becoming ‘viral’ and everyone starts using it. It also applies to content (perhaps more to content than to apps) such as a blog post, a photo, or a video. Either way the key concept … Read more
Some of the most satisfying moments I have is when I am remotely telling my mom about some tech stuff, say how to use a new feature that she has never used before on her iPhone, or troubleshooting with her when she is stuck. These moments are also a great test of patience but once … Read more
Thriving, or even surviving in Tech industry is not easy. It is particularly difficult for people who are complacent and want to live off of their ‘experience’ alone and are not learning new things. There is a constant demand to upgrade and up-skill yourself or else you will become outdated (and of no value) soon. … Read more
The reach and ubiquity of internet and mobile phones have democratized content creation and consumption, and for good reasons. If you think about it, the following simple hierarchy exists for content. The lower you are in this inverted pyramid, the more valuable you are. The higher up you are, the more dispensable you are. Also, … Read more
Twenty years ago on July 17th 2000, I started my professional career and joined Newgen Software Technologies in New Delhi as a software engineer. Twenty years later today on the same day, as I look back, I wonder what a journey it has been… 5 companies, 2 careers, 2 countries, 4 cities and innumerable projects/products … Read more
I have often wondered about the speed of innovation these days. Is it the same as compared to say 100 years ago? Are we innovating at about the same rate as earlier, or much slower, or much faster? Electricity, Industrial Revolution, Automobiles, Airplanes, Computers… or Internet, Telecom, Smart Phones, SaaS, Cloud Computing, Social Media, Artificial … Read more
How would you feel if you hire a handyman to make a custom bed for you, and on the first day, he assembles few wooden pieces into a platform and then never returns because he got busy with other things… Not very happy, right? Sure, the platform can be used to put a mattress and … Read more
Apps and Services want to make money, and rightly so. After all if there is a product that customers are using, someone needs to pay for all the efforts to build, maintain, enhance and support that product. Typically these products … Read more
Deep customer empathy is an essential skill not just for the Product Managers, but for anyone who is working on creating, selling or supporting a product. You can have lots of data and hence lots of customer insights, but for … Read more
One of the primary jobs of a product manager is to define detailed requirements for features. If you are following Agile methodologies, you write Epics and User Stories and Acceptance criteria and all that fun stuff that constitute feature requirements. … Read more
I recently watched Intuit’s inspirational founder Scott Cook sharing the vision of some of the top companies like Google and Amazon. The vision of Google search is not just to deliver the best results, but The Result. As long as … Read more
Effective Product Management is a hard skill to have and a lot has been written about how to excel in this role. You need to be really good at Strategic thinking, Understanding customer needs, Executing really well and Leading and … Read more
Did I just do it again? Did I start yet another blog? Again? Yes, like many others, I have also tried writing on subjects that interest to me in the past… and failed. Okay, failed may be too harsh so … Read more
