Dear all,

What is a product? In increasingly web-based environments, the lines between products, features, and components are becoming increasingly blurred.

This discussion also flared up a couple of times during the workshop I was running yesterday. Which got me thinking in the dense traffic (a euphemism!) that further delayed this issue of ‘weekend reading’…

Here are three reads that help define ‘product’:

Roman Pichler’s article provides a very solid definition of ‘product’ , arguing from an end user value perspective. While his blog entry sorts the ‘feature vs product’ dichotomy, it touches only briefly on another important discussion: the one of ‘products vs projects’.

Sriram Narayam’s article lays out why product thinking helps (as opposed to project thinking) to reorient quickly, reduces end-to-end cycle time, and supports the validation of actual benefits over working on pre-defined solutions.

Marty Kagan’s ‚Product v IT Mindset‘ dives into why product teams lose their ability to deliver ongoing value in more established companies.

Enjoy! I will certainly keep reading – Joshua Seiden: Outcomes Over Output – Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success – on this rainy day.

Have a great weekend,
Godehard