My writing in 2021 was focused on new product development, publishing, and licensing strategy with an occasional thought piece on the intersection of platforms, business models, and negotiating strategy. This piece is a departure from form in that I would like to share my four most significant observations from 2021 in regard to the higher education … [Read more...] about 2021 In Review: My Four Critical Observations
Publishers
Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 8: Iterate
How many times have you heard a seasoned product manager describe their product failures as a learning experience? In job and client interviews, in podcast and press interviews, and over drinks at conferences, I told the story of an early product failure of my making. The specific product and the failure itself are less important than the larger lesson I … [Read more...] about Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 8: Iterate
Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 7: Go-To-Market
In part six of this series the concept of Product-Market-Fit was presented as a “market ready” product; that is a product that has the minimum necessary set of features and attributes required for a customer to begin using and/or begin paying. Of course this is not the end of product development (product improvement is iterative as will be discussed in part … [Read more...] about Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 7: Go-To-Market
Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 6: Product Market Fit and Minimum Viable Product
In part five of this series on new product development for content-based products for learning and research, I focused on the management of the road map. The overriding objective of carefully managing the road map is to ensure the delivery of a product that meets the most basic and essential requirements of a paying or using customer audience. If the road … [Read more...] about Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 6: Product Market Fit and Minimum Viable Product
Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 5: The Management of the Roadmap
Congratulations! The senior leadership team and the product leadership group have approved your business case and you are now ready to engage the product team, including engineering, user design and product ownership who, with your leadership, are responsible for delivering on the product concept. In your approved business case wire frames, mock-ups, product … [Read more...] about Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 5: The Management of the Roadmap
Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 4: The Components of a Business Case
We have arrived at the moment we need to sell our new product concept to senior leadership. We have completed customer discovery and established a concept that satisfies a significant unmet need for our customers. We have established with a representative mix of our publishing partners a model they will support with licensed content. Finally, we have … [Read more...] about Developing Content-Based Products for Learning and Research Part 4: The Components of a Business Case