Agile Product Management, Marketing, and More
Austin
Thoughts on the Social Media scene in Atlanta
Jul 4th
Let me begin by saying: I’m seeking contrary opinions.
I’m synthesizing my perceptions of the social media scene in Atlanta, Georgia as it compares to the scene in the city I relocated from, Austin, Texas. Both cities consider themselves social media “capitals,” but they are very different from each other. Having lived in both and participated in the Austin scene, I want to paint an early picture of how I see Atlanta’s scene and see if it resonates with others.
Atlanta’s scene seems less populated with casual social media users, and is more occupied by the professional media/marketing/PR crowd, than I experienced in Austin. This is not bad in and of itself, but it does represent a great opportunity to build stronger connections within the community in the Atlanta area.
First of all, the cities are vastly different. Austin is a city of semiconductors, internet startups and recent graduates of the University of Texas. Oh, and Dell. Metro Atlanta is 4 times larger than the Austin area, and it’s dominated by Fortune 500 companies which drown out its surprisingly large internet startup scene. Several universities in and around the area contribute to its technology talent pool. But it is primarily a large-company city.
These cultural differences contribute to the social media climate. In Austin, social media events are dominated by startups, casual social media users, people seeking work at startups, college graduates, and a few representatives of larger organizations. In Atlanta, in my admittedly limited experience thus far, the scene is more strongly dominated by representatives of the Fortune 500 companies and marketing firms serving them, as well as students seeking to work in the marketing/PR/social media space within large companies. Some startup folks participate, but others gravitate toward startup-specific events (such as SUDS).
Due to the composition of the people involved in social media, social media events in both cities have a different feel. In Atlanta, they revolve around seminars on how to apply social media techniques to messaging efforts in the enterprise. In Austin, at events like BASHH and Austin Tech Happy Hour, it’s about small startups finding relationships to support and expand their business. Thus Austin’s events tend to be a bit more open and welcoming, where Atlanta’s feel a little more like a convention. The Social Media Day had a surprising number of people from local radio and TV stations and locally-headquartered national news organizations. Heavy emphasis on the “media.”
To me, social media is more about the “social” than the “media.” The recent Social Media Day event in Atlanta, sponsored by a local media outlet, was the first time I had people look at me strangely when they realized my “day job” is not media-related. They wondered why I was there! I wondered why others weren’t, though I realized: there aren’t many non-”insider” social media events in Atlanta to help build that feeling of community.
This was one of the major reasons for putting on the inaugural Atlanta BASHH, and why I already look forward to the next. BASHH is an event strongly oriented towards crossing boundaries, mixing groups, and involving casual social media users. The breadth of people that attended was phenomenal. Helping people understand viscerally the benefits they can obtain by participating seems much more rewarding on the interpersonal level than showing Powerpoint slides about how to use Twitter better. I had no strange looks when I volunteered I don’t work in media at BASHH.
Is this contrast I’m painting due to the nature of the companies and opportunities present in the two markets I’m comparing? Am I unfairly characterizing the scene in Atlanta (or the scene in Austin)? Tell me in the comments!
First year in Austin
Dec 25th
Merry Christmas!
Enjoying a lazy Christmas provides a bit of time for reflection, so I am taking this opportunity to collect and publish my observations–both good and bad–of life over the last 50-51 weeks. For those of you who don’t know my background, I moved from Atlanta last January after spending 19 years in the Atlanta area. We chose Austin because of its proximity to family, its climate, and its employment outlook. Indeed, the move was exacerbated because my wife found a job here. As a native of New Orleans, I looked forward to a place that was closer in population to my home and that had some of the sense of community I grew up enjoying.
A few months ago, I happened across a similar one-year retrospective published by Alora Chistiakoff, and I recommend reading it for its thoroughness. I share her perspective on a lot of the items she mentioned. With that contrast of Austin and California as a model, I shall share my perspective on moving west from Atlanta after growing up in New Orleans:
- Climate: While I could have done without 60+ days over 100 degrees this past summer (a record, apparently..Welcome to Texas!), it still beats what this Gulf Coast native considers frigid winters. Being further south, Austin‘s average high and average low are 5-10 degrees warmer than Atlanta‘s for most months of the year. I much prefer heat to cold.
- Community: I have found it quite easy to network and make friends in Austin. People are warm, open, and friendly and seem to enjoy participating in community activities. The technology and entrepreneur communities are very active and energetic here, and that’s something I wasn’t used to in Atlanta. In fact, I would not be considering a few side business ideas if I were still in Atlanta–the people around me in Austin make this kind of thought second-nature. To be fair, this perception is subject to bias: I wasn’t as active in the community there either.
- ProductCamp: The product management community here is strong, and I’ve been lucky to become involved with the planning team on the marketing side. Great people from whom I’ve learned a great deal, and to whom I hope I’m able to contribute enough.
- Twitter: Everyone here seems to be on Twitter. Apparently Twitter got its start at SXSW, which I’m sure is a contributing factor, but i think the ethos of the people here plays a big part. I was aware of Twitter in Atlanta, but at least in the circles I frequented, it wasn’t even close.
- Civic pride: There is definitely a gargantuan difference in the pride people have living in the Austin area, as compared to the Atlanta area–at least among the circles I frequent. Austinites boast about being from Austin, and enjoy opportunities to experience the city, even though they may disagree with some of the city’s policies; metro Atlantans in the suburbs bemoan having to drive ITP (“inside the Perimeter”) and resent the City of Atlanta due to their disagreements over policy. To me, this has been a wholeheartedly refreshing change.
- Festivals: Austin has two giant ones every year, SXSW and Austin City Limits Festival, and practically some small festival every week. People here enjoy community (am I repeating myself?) and opportunities to enjoy life. The Atlantis Music Conference is the closest Atlanta has to SXSW’s Music segment, and sadly, Music Midtown went dormant a few years ago. I haven’t been able to attend either Austin festival yet, but perhaps 2010 will provide that opportunity.
- The motto: Austin’s unofficial motto is “Keep Austin Weird.” There’s not just a support network for small business, it’s an ecosystem. People go out of their way to support local businesses. Loads of independent coffeeshops, for example, that people actively support. How cool is that?
- Food: So, Austin is more BBQ and Tex-Mex than anything. It’s not New Orleans, but neither is Atlanta. There’s enough variety to keep me happy, although finding good pho and other ethnic delicacies is more difficult than saying “just go to Buford Highway.” Austin has the Whole Foods HQ downtown, although my wife is partial to HEB’s snooty brand, Central Market.
- Surroundings: Atlanta’s rolling hills and trees were a bit more visually appealing – Austin has that in the western “Hill Country” suburbs, but the city itself is flatland built amongst farms rather than cut out of forestry. To my Georgia friends who think Austin is all cows and cowboys, I have to point out it’s more semiconductor engineers than cowboys in Austin proper.
- NOLA: Partly due to the similar ethos, I find a lot of New Orleans natives here – and I can’t get away from crawfish boils in the Spring, and snowball stands (or “sno-cone stands”) in the summer. Lots of Saints fans–literally hundreds gathering at Shoal Creek every Sunday. And no Falcons fans, though they’re even hard to find in Atlanta
So not enough to feel “just like home,” but it’s enough of a taste to be comfortable. - “Live Music Capital of the World”: Another aspect of the city I haven’t been able to enjoy enough. The most prominent sounds of Austin are indie-rock, but there is good blues, an upcoming soul scene and a touch of jazz to be found. I’m probably a heretic for thinking Austin’s music scene needs to be more diverse to challenge New Orleans’, but I’m thankful for the diversity to be found and hoping to enjoy it in person more.
- No State Income Tax: My net income went up once my address changed to Texas. That said, when we buy a house, I’ll have to watch for property tax.
- Bars: Although most of my going-out experience in Austin is for happy hours, I feel at home visiting bars with personality. Bars. Atlanta, much like other large metros such as Dallas, is more of a dance-club town. New Orleans is a bar town. I’m in my element.
- Transplants: Atlanta brings in lots of New Yorkers; Austin brings in the Californians.
- Politics: I was more plugged into Atlanta’s suburbs, which are definitely deep red. Austin’s burbs (Williamson County) are just as red, but i keep hearing that one of the reasons for Austin’s success is that it’s a blue city within a red state. I need to live here longer to really figure out if that’s accurate.
- Population: 25 million people between Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, all within 3 hours (not counting Traffic). Crazy.
- Water: Austin’s as land-locked as Atlanta. Atlanta’s drought is finally over, Austin is finally working on its own. This fall seems rainy, so the lake has been rising. Out of the frying pan…
- Climate: People here aren’t worried about being the “flash flood capital” although they are conscious of places that are flood-prone (Spicewood Springs Road, Shoal Creek, etc). What people actually dread — and rightfully so, might I add — is hail. This spring my car was pelted to oblivion along with much of NW Austin. Thunder seems epic here, I believe because of the extended horizon and the flat terrain. Hoping to wait to replace my old clunker until we have a garage.
- Blue Laws: In Texas, unlike Georgia, you can buy beer on Sundays in a store….but not before noon. I don’t drink enough for that to matter, but it’s amusing.
To summarize, it’s been an enlightening year. I’m considering ideas for side businesses, which is a massive change of perspective from my life in Atlanta. Atlanta’s mindset is corporate in nature, and while I had a couple of friends who ran their own businesses, they seemed like oddities and I didn’t quite “get” it. In Austin, the entrepreneurial spirit and the sense of place is alive and strong. So although it’s been a separation from friends and family, the move has been fruitful in terms of personal growth.
Now…back to being Merry!
ProductPotluck Austin
Oct 3rd
Attendees at each of the ProductCamp “unconference” events held in Austin have provided feedback reqeusting more frequent events for the product management and product marketing communities. In response, the folks behind ProductCamp have unveiled a smaller version of the unconference, calling it ProductPotluck Austin. Before you make any plans, be sure to “bring ideas — not food.”
The agenda includes networking and 2 presentations, to be voted upon by the attendees. For the first meeting on October 21, two topics have been selected: Marketing and Product Strategy. Participants are asked to submit topics, and registered attendees can vote upon the sessions offered between October 12 and October 16. On the 21st, the participants will vote from among the top 4 vote-getters to determine the two topics to be presented that evening. Much like ProductCamp, this format engenders a bit of good-natured competition and brings out better presentations.
We hope that this periodic mini-unconference between the biannual ProductCamps can help advance the product management and product marketing community in Central Texas.
Currently, 54 people are signed up out of a maximum 150. Hope to see you there!
NOTE: Please see Paul Young’s more extensive write-up of the event.
Marketing and Product Strat
ProductCamp Austin – Summer 2009 – recap
Aug 17th
I’m writing to share my recap of ProductCamp Austin. As expected, the event was fantastic – over 300 product management and marketing professionals sharing their knowledge and tips. I met some great folks, and wish I could’ve met more. The only negative was the day wasn’t long enough! But that leaves us wanting for next time, and leaves open a bunch of unfinished conversations.
My own cryptic notes from several sessions are published on Slideshare for whatever value they may provide you. They include audience comments and are not in a narrative, but are rather cryptic and choppy. They’re free; leave me alone. Along with that, a few slide decks and better notes by others that I’ve found shared so far. Note, more may be collected on the PCA website over time.
Meanwhile, I must simply reiterate that the ProductCamp experience is as much about the things you can learn as the people you meet. If you are interested in product management, agile, product marketing or even user experience, make it a date next time ProductCamp rolls into your town.
Session notes etc
Personas to Production / Paul Sherman
Employee to Entrepreneur / Kevin Koym
Down and Dirty Marketing Ideas / Jonas Lamis (notes)
Buyer Personas Justify Bigger Online Marketing Budgets / Brian Massey
Podcasting Means Business / Fred Castaneda
Agile and PM / Growth Acceleration Partners
10 Ways to Predict an Impending Launch Disaster / Dave Daniels @ Pragmatic (best presenter)
Notes by ID University
Session notes etc
Personas to Production / Paul Sherman
Employee to Entrepreneur / Kevin Koym (mindmap)
Prove and Disprove your Ideas / Jonas Lamis (notes)
Buyer Personas Justify Bigger Online Marketing Budgets / Brian Massey
Podcasting Means Business / Fred Castaneda
Agile and PM / Growth Acceleration Partners
10 Ways to Predict an Impending Launch Disaster / Dave Daniels @ Pragmatic (best presenter)
Others’ notes
Session 1:
Jonas @ TechRanch
Prove and Disprove your ideas
Industrial revolution was an anomaly, bc of the cost of information. Companies will have 0-10 employees, rather than 1000s.
Getting paid;
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what you do = advertising
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keywords–>correct audience–>testing mesages–>browsers to buyers.
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Landing page with 3 plans, and buy button – lead to a ‘not live yet’ page with signup and a reward for signing up.
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“nothing happens til somebody sells something.”
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what you know = thought leadership
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Passion/Knowledge/Domain => sweet spot is all 3 shared area.
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Perceived value by most readers: Least = your co’s products and services. Most = industry trends.
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Find the best 5 blogs in your subject area, and ask to write a guest post.
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Google rankings: video is 1st, audio 2nd, blogs, then website.
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who you are
Colleen & SmartWoman
Thought Leadership for Consultancy
Vicki: I increased my business by doubling my price.
Colleen: offer classes to mid size orgs with staff of Pms;
team with marketing firms to bring in PM/mktg expertise.
Time tracking and estimation is key to running your own business.
Commoditization of templates: set of deiverables.
Smart: My biz Skyrocketed after $ back guarantee at end of project. Only 2% do this.
Many of my customers I’ve never met in person.
I do gap analysis repeatedly. Commoditize that; FAQ=product. 1-2 months or less –> this is a proposal for a bigger project.
I frequently fire clients if i learn they are nuts, when the gap analysis is completed.
Polite but insistent with slow payers. Pay dates @ milestones. Smart does 50% up front.
Be able to identify your ideal co. In 1-3 sentences.
How important is your experience? Put yourself in ideal client’s shoes. If they need a specific subject area, it’s more important.
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Bag the Elephant = book about bagging large companies as clients.
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Results with companies and clients = your “experience,” where it’s NOT your time in an industry. Testimonials also help.
Smart: Position yourself so you don’t NEED to know the industry. Process > domain knowledge.
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Roger: Domain knowledge is important for strategy-interested clients.
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Positioning: Product expert of type (SaaS) in an area (Medical) or Process (prod mgt know-how).
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Strategy–>higher in the org., CEOish.
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First: Interview prospective cust, lay out the probs.
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Roger: They don’t do it, and do NOT hire us to do it.
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They want right side of pragmatic grid (tactics) not left: they believe they already have good strategy.
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Idea: sell a win/loss to sales manager, then develop a strategic proposal.
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Smart: I have increased my biz in this economy. Relationships are my #1 job.
Rate Examples:
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$150-225 hr
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monthly
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Colleen: Doubled my hourly rate as an employee, added a bit more, and calculated for a job. $10k engagement, cust said “fine.” I should have asked for more.
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Agile PM and Requirements
Roger on Pragmatic: Practical Product Management, + req’s that work, by Barbara or Steve only. Did not help me monetize my business, but helped me greatly to be a better product manager.
Typically, 1 yr to 18 months to successfully adopt agile.
Agile requires more intensity and more mature company.
Balance between documentation and conversation.
Challenge if marketing, customer talk, sales and training are also demanding time.
Rigorous prioritization; If you don’t prioritize, the dev team will do so, and will not use yours. Riskiest or biggest payoff should come first.
Daily accountability achieved by The daily scrum, where you hear each person say what they did.
UI may be scaffolding
QA gets shafted frequently.
“Wagile” = agile sprints + a testing cycle afterwards. This often leads up to real agile, as an intermediate step.
Roger: most do functional decomposition. You lose site of the user benefit.
Make progressively more demanding exit criteria, using versioned user stories.
Quality must be built in from day 1, not at the end.
Sell a company on reducing config time on large scale implementation, without knowing look and feel; that allows input on the implementation of solution itself. Sell the “realtime feedback” of agile.
When and how for UI? As soon as possible. Change to UI usually means big underlying changes.
Roger: frame metrics without interactoin. Ace criteria = x seconds to achieve x. Also design persona to show why this is important.
Roger on PO: Product owner = product manager + architect + UI/UX.
Growth Accel Partners.
Pragmatic
see above
Your status + value goe up with knowledge about the market, NOT the product.
Who does CEO go to about market data? VP of Sales, because they are known to have people in the market. Fallacy is that these people just know recent deals, NOT what’s actually happening in the market.
Knowing the buyer and knowing how they buy makes you a rock star.
Don’t promise the future and kill today’s sale, or you lose the trust of Sales. Make sure those you speak with are not in the pipeline, so you don’t sabotage a sale and they may not tell you everything. Open ended problem discovery vs. Validation of ______.
Colleen – Time Management
with Tom Evans from Lucrum Marketing
Paul Y: How to avoid things that provide less value or don’t move the revenue needle?
Sometimes, be an asshole and push back on meetings.
Identify schedule in 4 categories, color coded
green = add value
blue = other work
yellow = rest/exercise
pink = errands
“The Time Breakthrough.” The Strategic Coach, by Dan Sullivan.
Buffer day = prep for focus/free days. Use this as delegate/calls/etc.
Focus day = midnight to midnight, 80% or more must be focused target value add.
Free day = required for rejuvenation; must do No work.
Focus day on Friday because no-one pays attention.
Zero inbox.
Minimize context switching.
Tom Evans:
MS Framework team/model/role clusters (c) 2004.
Program management + UI + Testing are all non-PM funcitons that product managers get stuck with.
Blackblot strategic PM
Become a market expert.
Mrd= prob space
mkt opp = biz case
plan + guide market docs (mkt plan, positioning)
goal: market req doc, not even product req doc.
Maxims on last slide
disconnect on off days
multitasking is a myth
block productive time
deleted/delegated = completed
manage your time in Project
gannt to show how adding a task pushes others back.
Randypausch.com
Daniel Pink: Whole new Mind (creativity)
Babuta: Zen to Done (Simplified GTD)
Covey; spend time in Important/Not urgent Quadrant
closing suggestions
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some 2 hour sessions to get us more depth on some topics
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response back from volunteering requests
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know highest rated sessions from last year
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vote online the night before
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hashtags for each room / effective use of Twitter during the day
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printed schedule
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mroe roundtables
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some 30 minute sessions to give us access to more topics
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small group discussions over lunch
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More time between sessions for networking
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longer day, 9-5, to get in more sessions
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Timekeeper in each room
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Informal follow-up in 2 weeks
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repeat selected events from sessions that overlap
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take time to introduce newbies to folks
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post schedule changes online
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post meetings for partnering; link up and share interests
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tracks; beginner and advanced (from Tweetcamp)
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Badges for volunteers
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stickers for volunteers/rookies/etc
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Label sessions novice/intermediate/advanced
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feedback online sessions and overall
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bios of speakers before sessions
Best session = John / PM & PM?
Best speaker = Dave Daniels
Olga re info interview
heard about your work, want to learn about your background. Let me buy you lunch.
ProductCamp Austin Summer 2009
Jul 26th
Others have summarized ProductCamp better than I; for that, I’ll cite the driving force behind ProductCamp Austin, Paul Young:
ProductCamp, the free unconference for marketing and product management, is teaming with the McCombs School of Business to return to Austin for its Summer edition! ProductCamp is a must-go event for marketing and product management professionals. ProductCamp is a free, collaborative, gathering for interesting, smart people to network and learn from one another. ProductCamps have been held in Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston, New York City, Toronto, Atlanta, with more in the planning stages. This is Austin’s third ProductCamp, and will be one of the largest in the country. If you are in Austin, or can get here, ProductCamp will be well worth your time.
Paul covers the concept of “uncoference” quite nicely, but suffice it to say that the important piece is that this event is free, and put on by those who attend. Everyone attending is asked to participate somehow, whether it be by manning the welcome table, coordinating sessions, coordinating the venue, etc. In that way, everyone gains and everyone gives, and the group has a common experience to share afterwards. As Paul’s been known to say, it should start conversations, not end them. I personally participated in the last event by helping to secure note-takers and videographers for the sessions; this time, I’ve taken on social media by running the Twitter and Facebook presence of the event.
So far, and this is only 9 days after the official public launch, there are 267 people signed up to attend/participate. In the spring, the event was capped at 250 and saw true attendance around 150-160 if I remember correctly. Also to compare, the inaugural event in Atlanta (my previous home, and a metro area 4 times as large) that just occurred in June was attended by a little under 200. New York’s event only captured about 150. Clearly Austin’s community is large and active, no surprise to those familiar with the area.
If you haven’t registered yet, get to it!
ProductCamp Austin – Winter 2009
Jan 10th
On Saturday, January 24, 2009 it appears that I will be attending ProductCamp Austin. ProductCamp is part of the BarCamp family of participant-driven conferences, focused on product management and marketing.
Paul Young describes the experience of ProductCamp:
You head to the back wall and read the session names, offered by people just like you. You recognize a friend-of-a-friend’s name who is giving a session about “Connecting with Customers.” That sounds good – you use one post-it note. You see another session about “Agile Product Management.” Your engineering team is moving to Agile so that might be a good session to attend, and use your second note. As you step back to consider your third note, you see a dozen other people doing the same thing, and people feel geniuely torn about what to vote for – there are so many good sessions to choose from! Finally, you put your last sticky on a session called “Career Building in Product Management and Marketing.”
The conference currently cites over 156 participants including representatives from small startups to large technology players such as Dell, Cisco, and AT&T. I look forward to the organic mingling of people in the product management field, to sessions led by people experienced in the field, and of course to the happy hour after it’s over!
Hope to see you there!