What happened? Was it an outright rebellion of the authors, editors and publishers? Maybe it was a boycott from the consumer. It may have been caused by our ousting the old worn out marketer. Perhaps the answer is a little, "All of the above." Whatever the reason, the publishing environment has changed -fundamentally. I'm sure the "Generation X" persona had something to do with it. There always trying to get involved.
Unlike the changes that took place to the word processing environment in the 70's; caused by easy to use and affordable software applications. This new change has multiple drivers. Pointing to the internet itself does little to shed light on the cause. We could blame everything on the internet if we wanted to.
For the Product Management Team, the question isn't so much of "Why", but of "How do these changes in the publishing environment impact our processes?" --- And they can in a very fundamental way if we let them. Of course, another question is should we let them?
"Conversation is KING!" That's the motto to remember. In the past, content was KING. Content is still important. It's just not sufficient, especially for Product Managers. The value of a published work is driven by the conversation contained in and around it. When conversation levels increase, the value goes up. This isn't new, but how that conversation is created, captured and published is.
If we recognize that the majority of Product Management processes are document centric, we can understand why this change impacts Product Management in such a fundamental way. The outcome of Product Management activities are published documents such as; strategies, reports, lists, rankings, roadmaps, schedules, and specifications. These kinds of documents are then consumed by other activities in the product innovation process. In fact, most product innovation progress stems from our ability to socialize the content of the product manager's documents within their enterprise, customer base, and even target market.
Now I can see that changes within the publishing environment can directly impact product management practices. Today Product Managers are beginning to feel the market pressure for quick adoption of the new publishing practices where "Conversation is KING." This is no surprise when we consider that our ability to socialize these documents increases product management efficiency and effectiveness.
When we define the purpose of Product Management as increasing the organization's competitive advantage through product initiatives, I see why adoption of the new publishing practices is seen as a competitive advantage of the entire enterprise.
I'm interested in the views of other Product Managers, Social Media Specialists, Innovation Practitioners, IP Specialists, Process Engineers, and Publishers. According to my own thoughts, all of my content isn't as important as your conversation.
Unlike the changes that took place to the word processing environment in the 70's; caused by easy to use and affordable software applications. This new change has multiple drivers. Pointing to the internet itself does little to shed light on the cause. We could blame everything on the internet if we wanted to.
For the Product Management Team, the question isn't so much of "Why", but of "How do these changes in the publishing environment impact our processes?" --- And they can in a very fundamental way if we let them. Of course, another question is should we let them?
"Conversation is KING!" That's the motto to remember. In the past, content was KING. Content is still important. It's just not sufficient, especially for Product Managers. The value of a published work is driven by the conversation contained in and around it. When conversation levels increase, the value goes up. This isn't new, but how that conversation is created, captured and published is.
If we recognize that the majority of Product Management processes are document centric, we can understand why this change impacts Product Management in such a fundamental way. The outcome of Product Management activities are published documents such as; strategies, reports, lists, rankings, roadmaps, schedules, and specifications. These kinds of documents are then consumed by other activities in the product innovation process. In fact, most product innovation progress stems from our ability to socialize the content of the product manager's documents within their enterprise, customer base, and even target market.
Now I can see that changes within the publishing environment can directly impact product management practices. Today Product Managers are beginning to feel the market pressure for quick adoption of the new publishing practices where "Conversation is KING." This is no surprise when we consider that our ability to socialize these documents increases product management efficiency and effectiveness.
When we define the purpose of Product Management as increasing the organization's competitive advantage through product initiatives, I see why adoption of the new publishing practices is seen as a competitive advantage of the entire enterprise.
I'm interested in the views of other Product Managers, Social Media Specialists, Innovation Practitioners, IP Specialists, Process Engineers, and Publishers. According to my own thoughts, all of my content isn't as important as your conversation.
Completely agree, Val!
My favorite "history" books / shows are the ones done by James Burke - he used to do a series called _Connections_ where he showed how the inventors - inspired by, in conversation with, and building upon each others ideas, truly innovated. It took them a long time to go from pasteurization (a solution to feeding Napoleon's army) to putting a man on the moon (an application of solid and liquid rocket fuel, relying on container technology.
With the acceleration of the gaining of knowledge, we have to look to conversation as the way to leverage content to inspire content. It's the conversations that lead to the sharing and creation of insights.