A year can feel like the blink of an eye in ProductCraft time. In fact, if we’re being precise, as we prepare to close the books on 2018, ProductCraft is still just shy of a year old.
But what a year it’s been! In addition to launching this site, we’ve published 135 original articles, fielded 40 weekly polls, published 23 “Product Love” podcasts, hosted 40 virtual debates on this site; five public ones in North American cities, including Seattle, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Boston and San Francisco; and launched a marquee event, ProductCraft: The Conference, featuring high profile headliners like Guy Raz from “How I Built This,” Jeetu Patel, CPO of Box, and Tatyana Mamut of Amazon and IDEO fame.
And what a time it is to be in product. It’s a bit of a breathless pronouncement (cue the eye roll emoji), but we feel it acutely these days. You probably do, too. There was a time when freshly minted MBAs beat a path to Wall Street investment banks or hedge funds and management consultancies. Today, they’re lining up for PM gigs with SaaS companies.
It’s no surprise, if you think about it. Product is the new marketing was one of the first articles we published on this site. And we still believe that the value, utility and design of your products are the single greatest determinants of the success or failure and eventual category leadership of a new venture. Good enough is no longer good enough.
The opportunity for product managers is unmistakable. But there’s also a lot at stake. The discipline of product management is both art and science, subject to empirical decision making and human instinct. While it’s increasingly data-driven, there’s plenty of subjectivity, which is ideally informed by deep empathy for the customer and their stated and unstated needs.
One of the primary aims for the ProductCraft community is to give product people a place to learn, reflect, contribute and connect. After a year of turning the crank on this humble site and expanding the ProductCraft brand into new media and new venues, we figured we’d take a moment to reflect ourselves.
In doing so, we’ve produced this new eBook as a compilation of all of the community polls and public debates we’ve run in 2018.
All you need to do is subscribe to ProductCraft’s weekly newsletter. There is no catch. You won’t hear from anyone trying to sell you something. Just product insights in your inbox every week.
We hope you enjoy Product Pulse: A Year in Product.
Happy holidays and thank you for your continued support!
