Turn on any news channel today and you can't help but hear the dreaded "R" word. That's right, according to the "experts" we are well on our way to a full blown recession.

So what does that mean for product managers? Do we just hold on and hope for the best? Is there really anything we can do?

I would argue that for most of us, there is a lot that can be done. And now is the perfect time to do it. It seems like every year we are asked to "do more with less" and do it faster, but if this recession is as bad as some are predicting it will be, we're going to see some serious tightening of the purse-strings like never before.

Fortunately, it appears the recession is not fully upon us yet, so there is still time to prepare and "Recession-proof" your product management process. Sure, you could just cut expenses and head-count, that's always worked before when things got tough, right? Well, that may have worked in the past, but times have changed and we can't expect to just tighten up our belts and ride it out like we used to.

We have to find some way to cut development costs while at the same time reaping some other benefits, like increased product quality and decreased time to market. That doesn't come through just reducing headcount but rather through implementing best practices and tools for better product management.

Since you're here, reading this blog, you probably already know that. So why will a lot of us still not react by changing our ways? Is it just the fear of change that Peter recently blogged about in A tale of two monkeys? Is changing process and adopting new tools with a recession on the horizon just adding more risk to an already risky equation? Or is now the perfect time to look at new ways of product management? I would be interested to hear your comments on this.