The Heretech, episode 28: April Dunford on product marketing

April Dunford, who writes the blog Rocket Watcher, explains the product marketing challenges in the tech industry, and the special problems facing startups. We also talk about how PMs can embrace social media without a huge hit to their schedule. Plus, a juicy tidbit from the upcoming research document on requirements. (c) 2009 Tom Grant

The Heretech, episode 27: Rob Koplowitz on SharePoint adoption

Forrester's Rob Koplowitz tells us how organizations adopt SharePoint, and the lessons learned for other technology vendors. But first, a recap of last week's open house on "social product management," and some musings on the product strategy for Google Wave. (c) 2009 Tom Grant.

The Heretech, episode 26: Brian Drummond on Agile at Yahoo!

Brian Drummond tells us how Agile adoption worked at Yahoo! How did it start? How did different teams share best practices? How do you make Agile the status quo in a big software company? Plus, news of the first PM open house at the Forrester office in Foster City, CA. (c) 2009 Tom Grant

The Heretech, episode 25: Val Workman on the profession of PM

Val Workman of Ryma technologies talks about the professionalization of product management, by way of a visit to the metaphorical zoo. Oh, and Frank Capra is there, too. (You have to listen to the interview to understand.) Plus, for this week's review, I put my personal agony with a popular application on display for all to see. (c) 2009 Tom Grant

The Heretech, episode 24: Ellen Gottesdiener on building better requirements

Ellen Gottesdiener of EGB Consulting tells us why requirements depend more on group dynamics than templates. On a related front, where are the cross-industry requirements blogs? (c) 2009 Tom Grant.

The Heretech, episode 23: Catherine Connor on PM, CRM, and Agile

Catherine Connor and I talk about customer insights--how Agile adoption changes their significance, and how CRM systems can provide them. Plus, a review of one of the best little blogs about the best little innovations in the SaaS world. (c) 2009 Tom Grant

The Heretech, episode 22: Alex Bender on inbound social media

This week, our guest is a prime example of "inbound" social media, used to make smarter product decisions. Alex Bender of Archer Technologies describes how their community helps with the entire release cycle, from starting with the generation of good ideas. And whaddaya know, there's another research document, by Yours Truly, about this topic in the Forrester publication queue. Finally, if you're looking for a primer on Lean approaches to development and delivery, look no further than this week's review. Copyright (c) Tom Grant.

The Heretech, episode 21: Steven Haines on PM as a profession

This week, Steven Haines, author of The Product Manager's Desk Reference, discusses the growth of PM as a profession, and the harmonic convergence that led him to found Sequent Learning. Plus, if you don't know who Karl Popper is, maybe you're in the wrong job. (c) 2009 Tom Grant

The Heretech, episode 20: Luke Hohmann on serious gaming

This week, Luke Hohmann of Enthiosys tells us why people in the tech industry should take games seriously as a way of generating ideas and understanding customers. Or would you rather roll the dice and hope you're building the product that people want to use and buy? Copyright (c) 2009 Tom Grant.

The Heretech, episode 19: Steve Johnson on PM, pre- and post-Agile

Hot on the heels of Agile 2009, I talk with Steve Johnson of Pragmatic Marketing, who has been training PMs for over a decade. Steve gives his overview of the PM track at Agile 2009, and I give a quick review of the event. (c) 2009 Tom Grant