About Vaccines and Logistics
Vaccine distribution is a critical priority for the United States, but logistics planning is needed to make it happen.
Observations on the Retail Pivot
This summer I was on a multi-state road trip during the month of July to help one of my sons move. In the process, we also squeezed in some vacation. However, in this summer of the Covid-19 pandemic, even formerly simple activities such as staying at a hotel or picking a place for lunch got…
Reflections on Robot Proof
I recently finished reading the book Robot Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, written by Dr. Joseph Aoun, the President of Northeastern University. My interest had been sparked by a panel on which Dr. Aoun participated concerning the future of work and how it will be affected by developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI).…
Shifting Gears — From Product Management to Teaching
The year 2018 was a time of career changes for me. My last corporate assignment, as a Product Line Manager for the Converged Communications Division of Dialogic ended in early January. The division was divested to another company, Sangoma, and all of the roughly eight product lines I managed were part of the deal, but…
Virtual Software: Changing Business Models
One of the best texts I’ve ever read about business models was written by Cory Doctorow, a famous writer and entrepreneur. His novel Makers was not only a great story, but virtually a doctoral thesis on how business models can change and have a radical impact on everything they touch. A couple years ago, I…
Testing Product Proof of Concepts
Product managers are called upon to accomplish many tasks at different points in a product life cycle. One which can be important and potentially even a game changer is to develop a proof of concept for a product and then test the idea out. I’ll provide an example. In one case, my division wanted us…
Refining the Product Vision
One advantage I gained when I went independent for over a year was to consider how to be an effective Product Management leader with a fresh perspective. As a Product Line Manager, it’s very easy to get caught up in the product, the enhancement of various features and dig deep into the technical aspects. All…
Going Independent — Again
After a challenging but rewarding three year stint in product management at Dialogic, I am now independent again early in 2018. Four years back, I ran my consulting business for a year and gained some additional training before re-joining Dialogic. In this post, I’ll talk about some new and different approaches I took in my…
Need to Manage a Career Change? Try SCRUM
One of the major challenges of a career change is to manage all of the details. Whether you are looking for a new full time position or would prefer consulting assignments, you’ll need to have a clear direction and an execution strategy. Some of the tasks are to identify prospective companies and potential roles, make networking contacts…
Lean Six Sigma – Taking it Forward
This is the second post in a two part review of the discipline called Lean Six Sigma. The first part of the discussion can be found here. When I was in college at RPI, I segued from the core Engineering curriculum into a degree called Management Engineering. This degree had elements of Industrial Engineering, but…