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“Design and development move so fast, it’s often hard to keep up with the newest trends and techniques.”*

This Sunday morning I was reading an article named “Inspiring Pro Tips For 2007” written by Jason Walsh. I borrowed his framework, e.g. the following 10 items shown in italics, then adapted some of the concepts, and expanded upon them in this blog to share my own thinking.

1.- “RESEARCH” Future-gazing can be a hazardous business, but spending some time thinking about how the various web technologies are developing and what kinds of experiences users expect from the internet is never going to be time wasted.*

Effective product management requires both, a hands-on tactical approach to tap into today’s opportunities, as well as the ongoing refinement of longer term perspectives to ensure that enough ground work is undertaken today to remain in business tomorrow.

This means managing trade-offs. The key is to find the equilibrium point at which adequate time and resources spent on “today’s tasks for today” and “today for tomorrow” (e.g. innovation research) in parallel, delivering and sustaining the business.

As our environment is constantly evolving, business objectives become moving targets. Research applied to scenario planning helps with thinking in advance about what (a) kind of decisions we should be ready to make at what specific (b) turning points or events operating under what (c) trade-offs. It also involves allowing enough room to maneuver when the going gets tough under unexpected circumstances (e.g. contingency planning).

2.- “GET CLUED UP ON USABILITY”. Designing things that people can use takes a different skill set.*

Understanding “value and performance” as “experienced and perceived” by users/customers is a critical success factor.

Unless your area of work is confined to the machine-to-machine systems, consider prioritizing human factors in product and/or service design (physical, psychological, and social aspects). This involves research on ergonomics (user behavior) and marketing (consumer behavior) as a combined source of innovation.

3.- FIND YOUR PLACE. Do not neglect your business’ own identity, set the time aside to asses how you can best position your products and services. Rebrand if needed.*

Leverage your best assets in your value proposition prioritizing those messages that deliver a quick and crisp understanding on your competences and competitiveness.

Deliver “value and superior performance” for your customers and the customers’ own clients and markets. Think of the value chain, everyone’s place in it and how your products and services might help trigger possitive chain reactions.

4.- “GET TO CONFERENCES”. Network, keep on top of what the rest of the industry is up to and even get new clients.*

Follow up. Leverage professional networking tools such as Linkedin.

5.- “RAISE YOUR PROFILE“. “Don’t just visit industry conferences, speak at them. A higher profile means more work and one of the best ways to build a profile is to give talks, join discussions and talk to the press.”*

Thought leadership has become a management practice in most leading corporations whose value proposition involves innovation. Focus on positive contributions and keep criticism (if any) down to honest problem statements and constructive solution approaches.

Most typically, it pays to understand interrelationships across different functionally areas, instead of solely focusing on a given technical silo. Share your expertise by managing complexity, focus on priorities without over-simplifying to get your message across. Note the make up of your audience and target your messages accordingly.

6.- “BE AWARE“. Make sure you know what others are doing. No only your customers and competition, but also your colleagues. Keeping abreast of the latest and greatest work is a must.*

Being aware of the ecosystem you are operating in (partners, suppliers, colleagues, competitors, suppliers, regulations, politics, economics) needs to be coupled with a self-awareness (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). Innovators themselves can (a) contribute to market trends (market evolution), (b) changes and disruptions (market creation), and can also (c) capitalize on early trends (incipient market demand).

7.- “GET OUT”. Immerse yourself in all aspects of culture. Don’t simply rely on your business network for inspiration. Look at the world around it and the people in it.*

Basically, this means tapping into creative techniques such as “idea association”, using “analogies and metaphors”, as well as any other “proxis” that might help with your own problem solving skills. Remember this might not necessarily be about 1 to 1 translations (e.g. from an analogy to the task at hand) as different problem areas might require distinctive solutions.

8.- “GET TRAINED”. Don’t put it off. Make the most of the learning environment.*

It is no longer enough to ingest and absolve class materials. Don’t take them for granted. Adapt and apply what you learn as you see fit. Make the most from socializing and creating professional relationships with classmates. On the job learning is also part ones’ continuous improvement. Sometimes, this requires going beyond one’s confort zones, beyond one’s competences to acquire new and valuable skills.

9.- “TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT”. Don’t just think of new things, use them, experiment.*

10.- “GO BACK TO BASICS”. Learning new things is important, but so is learning old things. Don’t just live in a bubble.*

True. I recall having read articles about management and design schools which have placed the emphasis on “thinkers” and “thought processes” disregarding the basic business and/or design skills necessary when getting one’s hands dirty to begin with.

*FYI- I have not managed to locate a link to an online version of article I used as a reference source. So I would have to refer you to the print version of “Practical Web Design“, page 48, issue 160 - March 2007, for those of you interested in that specific article.