Category: Product Management

  • Still howling about product management for L&D

    Still howling about product management for L&D

    Why is product management not more prevalent in L&D? Is it because the profession does not want to change?

  • Learning has been unbundled – what do we do about it?

    Learning has been unbundled – what do we do about it?

    Perhaps the most important change for L&D in the internet era is the unbundling of learning. The internet has exploded all the parts bundled into a course and allowed open access to them. Everything has changed.

  • Principles for designing a useful learning service

    Principles for designing a useful learning service

    [This is an extract from an issue of my regular 10L newsletter. You can sign up for it here.] “Too much delivery and not enough design”. Anonymous learning leader This quote from a conversation over the last few months sums up my reservations and anxiety about Learning & Development. And, by design, I mean ‘big […]

  • Where is the value in learning products?

    Where is the value in learning products?

    Digital learning strategy needs product strategy to be sustainable Since arriving in the learning industry more than a decade ago, I have held a strong belief that product management is one of the keys to its future. (The curious, either of you, can read more of these ideas here). For much of this time, there […]

  • The four horsepeople of learning tech?

    The four horsepeople of learning tech?

    Who asks you to solve a problem defines the problem as much as the real challenge itself. This phenomenon dogs so many learning technology efforts. The framing of objectives and success by a combination of IT (and its ‘People Systems’ cousin), Finance, Procurement and PMO departments can squeeze the life out of what might be […]

  • Pushing or pulling? (or share of compliance)

    Pushing or pulling? (or share of compliance)

    Much of my time has been spent in recent months considering useful metrics for learning products and services. What are the handful of measures that tell us how our team/business/department is doing and help us decide what to do next? A fair share of the debate about metrics in L&D focuses on learning metrics and […]

  • Changing what already works (is a good idea)

    Changing what already works (is a good idea)

    Doing familiar things differently is deeply challenging. When those activities are highly successful, or seem to be, even the idea of taking on that challenge seems foolish. Yet, this is what successful teams and organisations do. They challenge themselves through a curiosity as to what will work better. Apple is a good example (I type […]

  • Managing products for learning: stories from the coalface

    Managing products for learning: stories from the coalface

    On Thursday 10th March at 11am (UK) we are hosting a conversation about the messy and complicated reality of managing products for learning. In the recognition that genuine Best Practice is hard to come by, we will be sharing lessons learned from the challenges and barriers confronted in the real world of the work place. […]

  • They are not us.

    They are not us.

    “You are not the user” has been a rallying cry of the user experience design profession for some time. That cry is still needed in so many areas, as decisions are taken from false consensus about what people want and what they think. There is a strong tendency for us to believe that people are […]

  • Get the basics right first

    Get the basics right first

    This article about the US free COVID test website not falling over stirred memories of my time as a product owner of an LMS. It tells of a simple need shared by a large proportion of potential users. It tells of very low expectations amongst that population. History has told them it is highly likely […]