July 18, 2010
Just realised I never shared this presentation I gave at product management consultancy Brainmates. It was a while ago but many of the points I made are as valid (or invalid) now as they were then, including:
Product management is mostly about translation
Managing product development teams is easier if you can rephrase business requirements as interesting, challenging puzzles
Good product managers are...
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Some thoughts on product management
July 2, 2010
Advising a client this week on their marketing plans for a presence, it struck me they have a lot to learn about the medium they’re using, even though they already have their Facebook and Twitter presence up and running.
They’re showing how little they understand when they say they want to add a follow button to the order confirmation page in their shopping cart. Look, knock yourself out, it...
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Twitter and Facebook: millions of tiny broadcast audiences
June 11, 2010
“I say cut defence. I dont mean nibble at it or slice it. I mean cut it, all £45bn of it. George Osborne yesterday asked the nation “for once in a generation” to think the unthinkable, to offer not just percentage cuts but “whether government needs to provide certain public services at all”.What do we really get from the army, the navy and the air force beyond soldiers dying in distant wars...
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Sell the armed forces and do something constructive with the money
June 11, 2010
“I think most consumers use a search engine the same way they brush their teeth — with 90% of their attention on something else, with impatience, boredom and frustration with the whole category of search. They begin with unreasonable expectations about the quality of the result and with minimal patience for any request to contribute to the input.
As search product designers we find it very hard to...
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Hard to design products for people who aren’t paying attention
June 10, 2010
You want to sell music, TV, movies or apps on iTunes Store? First you apply for an iTunes publisher account, and when you’re accepted, the manual labour begins. You might have thought you were entering a Brave New World of media as digital bits, but for now, it’s back to the Stone Age for you.
Apple asks you to print out and sign a 70 page contract, in duplicate, for each geographic market...
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You’d like to sell digital content? First, print and sign these contracts
June 8, 2010
I can count on two hands the number of times I’ve liked an advertisement so much I’ve embedded it in a blog post. And since I practically lost my thumb in that regrettable Masterchef-worship incident, that leaves only 9.5 things I can count on two hands.
So take it from me: this ad from Melbourne public transport agency Metlink, artist Justin Heazlewood and agency Currie Communications is...
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“It’s like GPS for people who can’t drive” – Bedroomphilosopher.com
June 8, 2010
What do you do when you know you should be attending a weekly industry meetup but just can’t seem to get there, week after week?
As the crow flies, the nearest industry meetup to my home is North Shore Coffee Morning (#nscm) held each Thursday morning in Mosman, on Sydney’s leafy lower north shore.
It’s a great meetup: small, interesting, diverse group of people, good coffee, and great...
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Last tickets: Lower North Shore Coffee Morning tomorrow
June 3, 2010
I wasn’t going to write about the tragic incident between Israeli forces and the Gaza relief flotilla — this is usually a blog about my work and the issues facing my profession. And so much of it seemed inevitable from the moment the flotilla was first organised — a motley collection of dodgy vessels carrying people representing a broad spectrum of issues would limp towards the Gaza coast, it...
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Israel’s indefensible act: censoring Gaza flotilla journalists
May 28, 2010
alan jones (@bigyahu)
27/05/10 4:47 PM
Hey, sorry for the extra step but click the link and I’ll know you aren’t a bot. Please follow this link to validate your profile. http://truetwit.com/vy30301516 Thanks
MobileMojo (@phonesandplans)
27/05/10 10:57 PM
Thanks for the follow. For free unbiased comparison of over 100 phones and 300 plans from 13 carriers...
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Twitter101: be yourself, don’t be your brand
May 23, 2010
I’m still waiting for my iPad 3G and another iPad (just wifi) for Boy8 and MrsBigyahu. I’ve used several; I get it, they’re going to be huge. While I wait, I’m frustrated by friends complaining that they “don’t want a huge iPhone, without the phone” or “won’t be getting one because it doesn’t have a camera.” You’re not getting...
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In defence of the iPad I don’t yet have
