Category: Product Management

  • Becoming Product Led

    Becoming Product Led

    Recently I was asked how I would go about moving an organisation to being Product Led; when agile and user centric design are equally new to the company, or when agile has not delivered in the way that was expected. Before diving into the how, I think it’s worth first considering the what and they […]

  • Product vs Service vs Programme?

    Product vs Service vs Programme?

    How we define a product vs a service is a debate that comes up regularly; as proved by Randal Whitmore (Deputy Director of New Propositions at the UKHSA) today on Twitter: In fact, it comes up so regularly, I could have sworn I’d blogged about it before; but if I have, it isn’t on here! […]

  • Service Owner vs. Programme Manager vs. Product Lead

    Service Owner vs. Programme Manager vs. Product Lead

    What’s the difference? Does the name matter? Over a year ago, following an interesting chat with David Roberts at NHSBSA, I got to thinking about the role of the Service Owner; and why the role wasn’t working in the way we intended back in the dawn of the Service Manual. This in turn (as most […]

  • How to be a Product Advocate

    Why you need a Product Person in your team. Since joining Kainos a few weeks ago, I’ve had a number of conversations internally and with clients about the relationship between Delivery and Product; and why I as a Product Person moved over to Delivery. My answer to that question was that, having spent over 10 […]

  • Notes from some Digital Service Standard Assessors on the Beta Assessment

    The Beta Assessment is probably the one I get the most questions about; Primarily, “when do we actually go for our Beta Assessment and what does it involve?”  Firstly what is an Assessment? Why do we assess products and services? If you’ve never been to a Digital Service Standard Assessment it can be daunting; so […]

  • Why SME’s are important, but shouldn’t be the Product Manager

    Along time ago in a land far away; well four years ago and sat in a very cold office in trafalgar square; Ross Ferguson , Alex Kean , Scot Colfer and I plus a few others sat discussing the DDaT capability framework for Product Management. The discussions we had at the time focused on “how […]

  • How do we determine value?

    And how do we make sure we are delivering it? In a previous blog I discussed the importance of understanding the value you are trying to add, and how you measure cost vs vale. How we measure value and ensure we are delivering a valuable return on investment is one of the ‘big’ questions at […]

  • Thoughts from the other side

    No, don’t worry, I’ve not passed on and started speaking from beyond the grave; but given I’m now 3 months into my role at Difrent I thought it might be worth reflecting on how I’ve found things on the other side of the commercial table so to speak. In the first 3 months I’ve worked […]

  • Measuring cost vs. measuring value?

    Discussing the differences between Product Management in the Private and Public sector. There has always been a perceived difference in how Product Managers in the public and private sector work, what their priorities are and their key focuses. Historically at its most simplistic the view has been that within the Public sector the Product Manager […]

  • Producing Code or Fixing Problems?

    The role of Developers in user centric design. I’ve been working with Developers of different flavours for almost a decade now, and in that time I’ve worked with some amazing Devs, and some frustrating ones; the same as any role it depends on the person. I’ve also encountered a lot of stereotypes about Developers, primarily […]