Posts

Product Management is not Project Management

These two terms are often used interchangeably and yet, other than having the word “management” and sort of sounding the same, they are vastly different things.

In many organizations senior management will point to a project manager and say “He’s our product manager.”

Product Tunnel-vision

Focus on the problem, not the solution. I just spent about a half an hour looking online for replacement photo sleeves for a baby album that sits on a shelf in my office. I needed to do this because the sleeve was torn. After coming up empty and thinking I’d have to toss the whole thing in the trash I realized something pretty obvious… There were about two dozen unused sleeves in the back of the album.

My Productivity Workflow

Working efficently is the hallmark of a great product manager. Here's the workflow I use to get s**t done.

Finally! Never Look at Another Piece of Paper in Your House Again

Note: This is an update to the post I originally published here. I don’t update that site anymore and am pulling relevant content onto this website. I have a huge filing cabinet and I hate using it. Each day, I get mail – junk mail, bills, medical records, brochures, manuals, school work, investments. You name it, I get it. These papers end up stacked like little mountains in my kitchen, on my step and on top of my filing cabinet.

What to do with your physical stuff after a GTD sweep?

I’ve recently jumped back into Getting Things Done after a year or so lapse. Yesterday I “corralled my stuff” by going through my office and clearing out every self, nook and cranny.

Following David Allen’s method, I processed all of that stuff by tossing it, filing it or making a note of it as a Next Action in my system. It was an incredibly freeing process. I feel like at least as far as my office goes, I have a pretty good handle on all of my open loops. I was using a laundry basket as a giant container for the physical stuff that I needed to do something with.

Getting Things Done Book Outline

I’ve been a practitioner of the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen for years. I reread the book every few years. I finally got around to outlining it. Note that this is a work in progress, I’ll remove this note when the outline is complete Part 1 - The Art of Getting Things Done 1 - A New Practice for a New Reality Overview You have all the tools you need to be in a high performance state.

Eat That Frog Book Summary

I am reading the book “Eat That Frog” a few years ago. It’s a book that helps focus you on getting stuff done and avoiding procrastination. If you’re listening to the audio version of Eat That Frog this outline might be helpful to you. Note: I’m blogging live while I read it. If you want an email when the summary is finished let me know. Introduction Author has read many different productivity books and articles.

Great sites for picking website color schemes

I have a hard time with colors. I don’t know if I’m actually color blind but I will admit that from time to time I’ve left the house with two different color socks. I know my inability to ascertain color can hamper my ability to create visually pleasing web sites but I don’t want to stick to black and white. However, finding color designs to steal (ahem, borrow) is extremely tedious.

The Rabbit Hole

Distractions are a bitch. I’m writing this as the last step in a hole that I found myself in. It went something like this. Wanted to work on a checklist for my morning routine. Had to decide best tool to create my morning routine in. Realized I already had it in a text file. Opened the text file. Made some updates to the existing checklist. Thought “Hmm. Doesn’t Tim Ferriss have a process he follows every morning?