Innovation Talks

When we talk about systems, we are discussing a process and the software application that enables it. There are a glut of reasons why having an effective system is beneficial. Primarily, it has been p

Last year was an excellent year for Innovation Talks. We launched the podcast to discuss topics around innovation, providing value to you, our listeners. We brought in guests and experts—including pra

Steve Johnson is a speaker and product coach consulting on modern methods that move ideas to market. He is the author of Turn Ideas Into Product and has served as an advisor and executive for technical organizations and industry associates. He is a former instructor and vice president at Pragmatic Marketing and a co-creator of QuartzOpen Framework. He is also a founding partner of the Product Growth Leaders community. Steve has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Computer Science from Hallam College of Business at the University of Tennessee.

Steve joins me today to discuss the process of product management. He shares why leaders need to understand the differences between the roles of product managers and product owners. Steve shares his definition of product management and discusses the importance of a systematic approach. He reveals where companies should begin with their product process and why it is imperative to start with personas. He shares how to problem solve using design, as well as the issues businesses experience when product managers play the role of designer or developer.

“The goal of design is not beauty, but when you are done with the design, if it’s not beautiful, you have made a mistake.” - Steve Johnson

This week on Innovation Talks:

• How changing the role of product managers to product owners can cause problems
• Why you should only focus on ten or fewer of the 37 boxes of the pragmatic framework
• Finding your best practice and implementing product ops to create consistency and standardization
• How Steve’s “No Chaos Product Process” works and the differences between Waterfall and Agile product development
• The role of documentation in product management and why there should be a more significant focus on communication
• Why achieving superior product management involves loving the problem more than the product
• How many product managers are performing the roles of designers and developers and the problem this creates when building a business

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Turn Ideas Into Product by Steve Johnson

Connect with Steve Johnson:

• Under10 Consulting
• Under10 Consulting on Facebook
• Steve Johnson on LinkedIn
• Steve Johnson on Twitter
• NotExactlySteve.com

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

Steve Johnson is a speaker and product coach consulting on modern methods that move ideas to market. He is the author of Turn Ideas Into Product and has served as an advisor and executive for technica

Stage-Gate® is a risk management methodology that allows you to bring winning products to market. There are several concepts of stages and gates, and gates are where the decision is made to continue t

Peter Fürst is a managing partner for Five i’s Innovation Consulting and Qualify Your Innovation with more than 20 years of experience in idea generation, new product development and innovation, Agile

Noel Sobelman is the Principal at Change Logic, where he works with corporate leadership to accelerate new growth business and core business vitality. Noel has led venture programs that received national accolades, including PR Week’s Best High Tech Consumer Launch, PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice, USA Today/Rochester Institute of Technology’s Quality Cup, and CNET’s Best of CES awards. With a career spanning 25 years, Noel was the Managing Director at Kalypso, Segment Director at Kyocera Wireless Corporation, and Director of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development at Mobility Electronics. Noel has a Master of Business Administration degree in Innovation and Technology Management from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona University.

Noel joins me today to discuss ambidexterity: the concept of having to simultaneously manage your core business and your exploratory business. He outlines how leadership should tackle processes and resource balancing for short and long-term opportunities with low and high risk. He reveals why it is vital to create new behaviors and a pull for change from the top-down and the bottom-up. Noel also shares why PPM systems are necessary enablers for allowing ambidexterity and facilitating future growth.

"The companies that can figure this out and effectively manage both sides of this equation without trading off for the other are going to set themselves up for success in the future." - Noel Sobelman

This week on Innovation Talks:

• The dangers of focusing only on optimizing the core business in the current environment with a heightened pace of change
• How transformative innovation differs from core innovation and managing your business when it is in a transformative state
• The challenge of balancing and allocating resources to short and long-term opportunities
• The pros and cons of creating a spin-off versus business integration
• Examples of businesses that are capitalizing well on new sources of growth
• Why it is vital to confront tensions, introduce new behaviors, and build capabilities top-down and bottom-up
• The benefits of using a PPM system to ensure you execute your growth and innovation strategies

Resources Mentioned:

• Podcast: A deeper dive into Portfolio Management with Noel Sobelman
• Podcast: Evidence-Based Innovation Portfolio Management
• Book: Lead and Disrupt: How to Solve the Innovator's Dilemma, Second Edition by Charles O’Reilly and Michael Tushman

Connect with Noel Sobelman:

• Change Logic
• Change Logic on LinkedIn
• Change Logic on Twitter
• Noel Sobelman on LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.

Noel Sobelman is the Principal at Change Logic, where he works with corporate leadership to accelerate new growth business and core business vitality. Noel has led venture programs that received natio

Jeffrey Whitford is the Head of Sustainability, Social Business Innovation, and Life Science Branding at MilliporeSigma. During his 17 years with Sigma-Aldrich and MilliporeSigma, Jeffrey has develope

Mike Bauer is Sopheon’s Chief Product Officer, responsible for Sopheon’s product vision and roadmap, overseeing product marketing, user experience, and product management. He has more than 30 years of experience building and leading cross-functional teams and organizations to bring new products and companies to market. He has worked across industries focusing on enterprise software, data communications, connected products/IoT, sensor analytics, marketing automation, Big Data, IT, and embedded systems. He has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Ohio State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.

Mike joins me today to discuss Enterprise Innovation Management(EIM) and Project Portfolio Management (PPM). He shares insights from relearning product innovation and lifecycle management, including core roles that exist regardless of the product. Mike explores aspirational roles and decision-making across portfolio, project, product, strategy, and ideation. He defines EIM and PPM, revealing their differences and similarities. Mike also offers career advice for people looking to enter product management and highlights where he thinks the professionals will be in five years.

“The notion of product management is becoming a much more specific term.” - Mike Bauer

This week on Innovation Talks:

• How Mike got into innovation and product management with Hewlett-Packard
• Using the “jobs-to-be-done” framework and taking a step back to relearn product innovation and lifecycle management
• The core innovation and product jobs: aspiration, product portfolio management, project and resource management, and idea management
• Informed stakeholder and decision making roles across strategy, portfolio, products, projects, and ideas
• Defining Enterprise Innovation Management and Project Portfolio Management
• How product management is becoming a professional career
• Mike’s career advice for people entering product and project management
• Where project management will be in five years and unlocking the different ways to go to market

Resources Mentioned:

• innov8rs conference: EIM Versus PPM: Aren’t They on The Same Team?

Connect with Mike Bauer:

• Sopheon
• Mike Bauer on LinkedIn

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Innovation Talks. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | GooglePlay | Stitcher | Spotify | iHeart

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more listeners, like you.

For additional information around new product development or corporate innovation, sign up for Sopheon’s newsletter where we share news and industry best practices monthly! The fastest way to do this is to go to sopheon.com and click here.