Google+

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Wall Street Journal Mindmap

Considering ‘Customer Migration – Transition (offline / online users), Advertiser Yield and Cross Subsidies (Digital / Print)’ as the centre piece of the Wall Street Journal & Dow Jones research, please click here to download the Wall Street Journal - Research Mindmap - prepared in late 2012.

Though it may not make a great deal of sense, here are a few of the major points underpinning the notes made on the Mindmap:
  • Product Management Position, Consumer Digital
  • Review of the US / European WSJ website(s)
  • Freemium Model – What’s free? What’s Paid?
  • Issues & Challenges of Paywalls
  • Lessons from the Gaming Industry – Pay to Play
  • Products & Packages
  • Ideas & Suggestions for new features based on research & observation
  • Internationalisation – missed opportunities
  • Desktop / Tablet / Mobile experiences
  • Content & Editorial Calendars
  • SEO and other such traffic driving considerations
  • Current Strategy / Future Options
  • Media Kit – current sales approach and / or pricing
  • Competitive Landscape
AND – OBVIOUSLY - how my background in content, publishing and digital marketing can be applied to the Product Management role being discussed:
  • Product planning and execution throughout the product lifecycle; manage the product roadmap, from strategic planning to tactical activities. Developing and implementing a company-wide go-to-market plan, working with all departments to execute the roadmap.
  • Gathering and prioritising product, business and customer requirements. Deliver Product Requirement Documents (PRDs) with prioritised features and corresponding justification.
  • Defining the product deliverables; working closely with in-house and external dev teams, sales, marketing and support to ensure the product meets business and localisation needs.
  • Enhancing the functionality existing products to launching new products. Run beta and pilot programs with early-stage products and samples. Undertake competitor analysis.
  • Build products from existing ideas, and help to develop new ideas based on your industry experience and your contact with the business, our customers and other stakeholders. Work with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities. Analysing potential partner relationships for the product development.
  • Possess a unique blend of business and technical savvy; a big-picture vision, and the drive to make that vision a reality
  • Enjoy spending time in the market to understand the gaps and problems, and find innovative solutions for the broader market
  • Champion localisation and product innovation within the company. Driving a solution set across development teams (primarily Development/Engineering, and Marketing Communications) through market requirements, product contract, and positioning.
  • Acting as a co-ordinator and listening to needs and requests from our business and channelling these requests (mini-projects and small tasks) to other teams based internationally.
More tips on Preparing for an Interview

Monday 25 November 2013

Mindmapping your Research

When preparing for an interview or, researching a company in the days before a direct approach - do you use a mind map to gather your thoughts, ideas and possible questions?

Although the old school approach of pen & paper is still acceptable, the use of iThoughtsHD on the iPad now makes life considerably easier. If you're not familiar with their use OR, need a reminder why they can be so useful (courtesy of Mindmeister):
  • Mind maps are interactive.
  • Mind maps are flexible.
  • Mind maps are easy to create.
  • Mind maps are clear.
  • Mind maps are visually driven.
  • Mind maps are practical.
I'll post a few examples at some stage this week.

More tips on Preparing for an Interview

Thursday 21 November 2013

How to Delete Microsoft Office Recent Documents

In each of the Microsoft Office programs WORD, VISIO, POWERPOINT and EXCEL, you are get to see  recently used documents - providing quick access to your files. Each of the programs lets you customise this list of recent documents to suit your preferences; for instance, you can pin certain documents to the list, so they will always show up.

By clearing the list, the feature is turned off and you will no longer see any recent documents. To turn the feature back on, you just have to tell Word the number of documents you want to include in the list and reopen your documents.
  • Open Microsoft Word.
  • Click the "File" - Select "Options" (this may vary across versions though I'm using 2010)
  • Click the "Advanced" tab - Scroll down to the "Display" section.
  • Click "0" in the "Show This Number of Recent Documents" list" to clear the list.
  • Click "OK." To turn the feature back on, go back to this menu and select a different number.
  • The list will update when you open your files.
Note.

If you are planning to give the PC away, give it back to your employer if / when you're planning to leave or, are simply disposing of it - setting the 'Show This Number ...' to ZERO won't necessarily clear the list 'forever'. In Word 2010, there is a feature you can use to quickly clear all the unpinned items in the Recent Documents list. Click the "File" tab, then click "Recent" Right-click one of the files in the list. Click "Clear Unpinned Items." Click "Yes."

More such posts in Starting a Fresh Life