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Agile Product Owner

Bob is a master of Product Ownership, in the Scrum/Agile sense, and of Product Development and Management. Bob digs deep into the product, from both customer and developer perspectives, and walks the knife-edge of prioritization with courage and aplomb. He sets a fantastic example for development teams, delights his customers, and finds time to counsel and mentor other Product folks. I’d love to work with him again!

-David Posey, Agile coach

Leader

Bob wore three hats: Visionary, Communicator, and Leader. As a visionary, he was never satisfied with a good-enough product. He wanted it to be ever-simpler, ever more capable, and everywhere. As a communicator, he was an evangelist to customers and executives around the world, as well as to his development and delivery team. As a leader, he was not not content to improve himself and his direct reports, he worked to improve everybody around him. I intend to keep repeating some of his favorite questions: ‘How did THAT go? What could we have done better?’

Marco Parillo, Program Manager

Product Manager

I first met Bob when he was working with the auto-support and appliance customer portal at Veritas. He brought a fresh perspective to the program and drove for initiatives that delivered value to the customer install base. He has a way of bringing excitement to the development team he is guiding, where they want to work harder for him.

Bob is an elegant communicator. He is able to break down technical problems to their base and bring solutions that address both the technical challenge and deliver business value. He articulates novel concepts well and is great at getting people to have, “ah-ha” moments.

The Product Manager and Networking

A successful product manager is an avid networker. Every successful product is a direct result of a team or teams working together to develop and deliver the product. At IBM, I would network with development teams within other product brands to learn more about their...

Continuous Improvement and the Product Manager

“What happened and what are we going to do so it doesn’t happen again?” With a new development team and a new project manager, I seemed to always repeat myself. They would often come to me with the latest bug or issue that would need resolving. Delays would hit the...

The Most Important Person on the Project

As a product manager, it’s important to recognize the most important person on the project. When you notice and recognize him or her, they will put more effort into the product. The key point is that everyone on the project is the most important person on the project....

The PDCA of life

I recently attended a Scaled Agile Training as well as I have been listening to CD’s by Orrin Woodward. A common theme was this idea of PDCA. PDCA was made popular by Edward Demming.  His lean thinking has had a huge impact on the world. [amazon template=iframe...

5 tips to keeping balance as a product manager

Balance as a product manager Starting a job and establishing a reputation in a new company can be tiring. Keeping balance as a product manager was not a high priority when I started my new position. I have always tried to guard against burn out, but I also believe...

Enthusiastic Product Managers make a difference

There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment. -Norman Vincent Peale As a product manager, it’s easy to get caught in the grind and lose your enthusiasm. After all, there are so many things on your plate.   I...

Stakeholder Management and The Product Manager

I was at a Product Manager meetup the other day and was asked the question how often do I get the executives together.  A young product manager looked somewhat confused when I said, “it depends”. Startups here in Silicon Valley can move so quickly sometimes daily is...

The Product Manager and The Magic of Thinking Big

A product manager must be a big thinker. Instead of asking can we do this, be sure to ask why can’t we do this? When managing “call home” for IBM, I continued to ask why can’t we create a common cross-platform solution? We faced plenty of architectural challenges...

5 Reflections on My First 100 Days

I read many books about the first 100 days at your new position. I now reflect on my first 100 days at Symantec. I’ve put a lot of energy into building momentum, casting vision and building my network. I have had a few key successes and continue to build on my...

To Eat or Not to Eat? The Question That Changed My Thinking

I was the guest of honor. I had traveled 27 hours to reach China, spent 2 days training the local team, and I was tired!  The people from work were taking me to dinner.  We sat in a big circle with a lazy suzan in the center. I didn’t understand a word when my...

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