The July 2008 meeting will be held on July 29, 2008 and we will have a Product Management Advice Session. Having issues, problems, questions, or challenges related to product management? We’ll break up into small groups to discuss topics that YOU — the attendees — choose, and then share what we learned. This will give you a chance to talk with other product managers and get their advice and suggestions.

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. Go in the main entrance, up the stairs, and turn left. The meeting is in the last room at the end, on your left. Just follow the signs for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Group Meeting.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

The June 2008 meeting was held on June 24, 2008 and the topic was Customer Councils. In this presentation, Jennifer Ruffino discussed how she set up a customer council for the web site product that she manages.  She reviewed the lessons learned from initiation to execution.  She shared video clips and presented a how to guide for establishing a customer council for your product. You can download the (PPT) slides from the meeting.

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. If doors are locked (they shouldn’t be), please buzz to security and let them know you are here for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Association Meeting. Sign in as a visitor to the front desk for this meeting and reception will point you in the direction of the meeting room, which will be close to reception.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

Stacey Weber of Pragmatic Marketing was our special guest speaker, talking about The Strategic Role of Product Management.

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns
• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. If doors are locked (they shouldn’t be), please buzz to security and let them know you are here for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Association Meeting. Sign in as a visitor to the front desk for this meeting and reception will point you in the direction of the meeting room, which will be close to reception.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

Presentation summary

Product management is often ill-defined and misunderstood in typical technology companies. Yet the role can be one that propels the company to the next level of performance. Rather than running the business like a hobby, effective product managers focus on the business aspects of defining and delivering products to market. Stacey Weber explores the strategic role of product management using the Pragmatic Marketing Framework. Also included are action items for reviewing and assessing the product management role at your company.

About Stacey Weber

Stacey Weber is an author, speaker, and instructor for Pragmatic Marketing. She specializes in developing and delivering market-driven technology products. An accomplished product manager who has successfully launched many products, she has used the Pragmatic Marketing Framework to help increase market focus and dramatically increase revenue. Stacey now helps other companies reap those benefits through her role at Pragmatic Marketing.

Prior to joining the company, Stacey was a director of product management at Business Objects. She began her technology career as a software tester in a privately held company and soon learned that her passion was for product management. She moved into a product specialist position and worked her way up through product manager, product line manager, department manager, and director. Over this period, she brought many new products to market, managed products in late-life maintenance, and ushered products out of the market at obsolescence. She is particularly interested in the dynamics of market-led organizations, and the interactions between Product Management and Development.

Stacey has the experience and knowledge to view situations from a myriad of perspectives. This, coupled with her ability to understand details and communicate vision, have been key to Stacey’s many successes.

Pragmatic Marketing is coming to St. Louis May 19-21 to present the well known Practical Product Management and Requirements That Work seminars. Designed for IT professionals, product managers and other members of the product team, these seminars define the role of technology product management, providing tools, processes and real-world techniques to get products to market more efficiently. You can register online or get more information below.

In addition, the instructor, Stacey Weber, will be giving the keynote presentation on May 19 at a special meeting of the St. Louis Product Management Association.

Seminar descriptions and recommended attendees for each session:

• Practical Product Management (PPM), 2-day: Delivers a market-driven model that provides the tools for managing and marketing technology products that the market will embrace. PPM includes the Pragmatic Marketing Framework, a model for finding and solving pervasive market problems profitably. Ideal for Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers, Technical Product Managers, Architects, Marketing Communications, Development Leads, Sales Operations, and anyone associated with product direction.
• Requirements that Work (RTW), 1-day: Focuses on how Product Management communicates requirements to Development. The approach uses personas and Use Case Scenarios to describe what needs the product satisfies and whom it will benefit. In addition, requirements are prioritized, based on market need and impact. The goal is to create product plans that developers will embrace for solutions the market will buy. This approach produces clearer requirements and leads to quicker time-to-market and better solutions. It can decrease ramp up time for new staff, by using a consistent methodology for to document requirements. Ideal for Product Managers, Technical Product Managers, Architects, Development Leads, and anyone associated with product definition and direction.

You can also sign up to be notified of upcoming Pragmatic Marketing Events in the area

• PJ Farmer, SAVVIS
• Suvit Nopachai, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Mark Dickinson, SAVVIS
• James Fisher, CitiMortgage
• Stephen Thomson, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Ceci Bartels, Naked Branding
• Scott Rismiller, Monsanto
• Jennifer Ruffino, Monsanto
• Hugues Belanger, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Vivek Talyan, Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Jeff Lash, Elsevier

The April meeting was held on April 29, 2008. James Fisher presented on Components of a Product Vision/Strategy. Slides from the meeting are available (PowerPoint).

Here’s the details:

• 5:00pm: Arrivals, snacks, informal networking
• 5:30pm: Meeting begins
• 7:00pm-ish: Meeting adjourns

• Location: SAVVIS; 1 SAVVIS Parkway, Chesterfield, MO, 63017. (Google map of SAVVIS)
• The parking lot is located on the South side of the building. If doors are locked (they shouldn’t be), please buzz to security and let them know you are here for the St. Louis Product Manager’s Association Meeting. Sign in as a visitor to the front desk for this meeting and reception will point you in the direction of the meeting room, which will be close to reception.
• Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!

The March meeting was held on March 25, 2008. Due to illness, our scheduled presenter had to be postponed. Jeff Lash filled in with his presentation: Ten Tips For New Product Managers. This presentation was also given as a webinar for The Product Management View, and you can also download the slides: 2MB PPT.

Thanks to SAVVIS for providing the facilities for this meeting!