Category: 2.7 Product Management
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Research Questions on Product Management of Open Source in Commercial Products
I’m seeking advice on how to frame the research question for a research project (Ph.D. thesis) on software product management and open source. The simple heuristic “non-differentiating -> open source it, competitively differentating -> keep it closed” doesn’t cut it because of secondary effects like development efficiency resulting from open sourcing, market opportunities resulting from…
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Example Login Designed to Make Users Go Away
Schufa is a German credit rating agency. By law it is required to provide information to consumers (while it makes all its money, for now, off corporate customers). As a consequence, its password and login screens have been designed, I suggest, to be as unusable as possible. Below please find a screen-shot of the PIN…
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M.B.A.s or Engineers for Product Management?
I teach product management at a public German engineering school, where I am a professor of computer science. Product management is my nod towards “business informatics”, otherwise I only teach engineering courses (and one general how-to-perform-research class). There is an old debate as to who makes better product managers: M.B.A.s or engineers? Having worked on…
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Looking for Simple Examples of Product Management Failures and Challenges
I’m looking for simple examples of product management failures and challenges that I can use in teaching our product management course. Photos or short stories would be great. To give you an idea of what I’m after, here are three examples. Unmaintainable Teacup This unmaintainable cup with saucer is probably a best seller, but I’d…
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If Fitbit Sales in Germany are Sluggish, Here is a Reason
A screenshot from Fitbit’s German website this morning. The issue is circled in red, a scale with a “feel-good” weight of 122.5. Amusingly enough, this only feels good if you live in the colonies. Germany is not part of it. Here, the metric system rules, not the imperial one. 122.5 on a scale will be…
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Product Management and I Know Who You Are (Price Discrimination on the Web)
During a trip to New Zealand I found this wool store near Taihape, on the road between Taupo and Wellington. I bought a couple of pieces and was so happy that I went to their website to buy some more, which also turned out to be a pleasant experience. However, when I returned yet again,…