I think of a persona as a specific (yet generalized) instance of a role to “personify” and represent what users that play that role, might be like. While we originally argued over the details of the personas, a great by-product was that we focused on the distinctions across our various customer sets. This helped reduce ambiguity during product design. It also helped us make calls on where to put our resources and effort.

While researching the future, I came across IBM’s Global CEO Study: The Enterprise of the Future. It’s a compilation and distillation of insights from more than 1,130 CEOs, general managers, and senior public sector and business leaders from around the world. I think of it as a set of “hot spots” for today’s CEOs and a set of success patterns for the Enterprise of the future.

My background is such that I am able to straddle the fence between development and business. I got my MBA in Marketing and my MS in Computer Engineering and I have worked in both capacities in the past, although over the past several years, I have focused on building strong Marketing and Product Management teams. I often get asked “What is a Product Manager?”

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What does it take to be an effective Program Manager at Microsoft?  I’m responding to some requests for my take on what it takes to be an effective PM.  I figured I could use a familiar 7 habits approach to help frame out a start.
To pick a set of habits, I started with a set of reference examples.  I used the most effective and ineffective PMs that I’ve seen over time.  I considered their track record, their ability to influence, and their leadership skills.  Most importantly …

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What’s your map for your career growth?  Do you follow a plan for structured improvement or do you simply move project to project hoping to gain the right skills?   If you think of capability as a function of knowledge and experience, then you can create a map of knowledge areas and a set of experiences that you can use as milestones or checkpoints in your development path.  In Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers …