Category: Product Management

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… Continue reading The four horsepeople of learning tech?

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… Continue reading Pushing or pulling? (or share of compliance)

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… Continue reading Changing what already works (is a good idea)

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.… Continue reading Managing products for learning: stories from the coalface

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… Continue reading Get the basics right first

Is L&D really changing or just innovating the ordinary?

This is a revisited post. Or, reused for a fresh context. I first wrote this as preparatory thinking exercise in advance of the Learning Technologies exhibition in 2020. I bumped into it again as part of a curated learning experience. (This, I think, is a compliment). As we conjure with covid, I think it has… Continue reading Is L&D really changing or just innovating the ordinary?

Does learning analytics feel good?

This autumn has been a season of data analytics work. I realise that we are not all fans of data analysis, but I have found this to be cause for some modest celebration. It is a largely absent topic of work in learning – rarely something we chose to do whilst recognising that we should.… Continue reading Does learning analytics feel good?

Design needs to work and sometimes boring is OK

That is not an entirely representative title of a post to summarise our conversation this week. Although some attendees may claim that we took this advice too seriously and caused a quieter conversation. (If you were there, do tell). We were gathered to discuss “Learning, design and Products”, the call for boring was a thread… Continue reading Design needs to work and sometimes boring is OK

Another conversation about product management for learning

On Thursday the 8th of July, we hosted a second conversation about product management for learning. Our previous event (summarised here) focused on what we mean by product management and why it is vital for success in the learning world. This time we delved a little further into the characteristics and capabilities of the role… Continue reading Another conversation about product management for learning