As a new director of product at Clarizen, I wanted to learn more about the role of the Product Manager and about PM best practices.  Through thorough research online, I looked for great Youtube lectures, and ultimately found some interesting and practical lectures which seem to provide useful information for project managers at any point in their career.  The following five videos stood out from the video crowd, and I recommend watching each one for the following reasons:

1. How to be a Lean Product Ninja by Dan Olsen

In this great presentation, Dan focuses on how to achieve a product market fit and provides some practical tools that every product manager can work with. Dan covers the main areas of  Product Management including: customer needs analysis, product value proposition definition , wireframe/mockup creation and feedback acceptance. This lecture is a must for new Product Managers.

2. User Interface (UX) Techniques by Janne Jul Jensen

In her lecture, Janne Jul Jenses, explains how software should interact with people. Jensen shares lessons learned from her academic and professional experience- including points to focus on when building software products. Some of the great tips Jensen gives during the lecture are:

• Build a clear exit – the user should always know how to exit (how to go back – instead of clicking on the“back” button)
• Users do not trust information systems – We should include messages such as “action completed successfully”.
• Use white board as a tool for wireframing – it does not make the user feel inferior

3. The Fundamentals of User Experience

Amanda Morrow, Interactive Designer at BitMethod and Lead Designer of Change, introduces some of the basics of user experience design. Morrow gives a brief overview around “What is UX”, before walking through the general process of UX design and all of its elements. In the end of the lecture, Morrow provides some useful tips for making better design decisions.

• MoScoW – Prioritize requirements by Must, Should,Could, Would
• Parenting Tips – Guide the users, don’t get in their way but don’t leave them hanging.
• Be Human. Make your product act like a human and not like a machine.

4. Why You’re Over-Thinking Your UI/UX with Rohan Puri

In this talk, Rohan explains about the importance of making data driven decisions when it comes to UX. Rohan gives a few examples of how data helped him improve his own app in areas where he didn’t even think people would be using. The main take from the lecture is that you should not overthink your UX as a startup and focus on making quicker iterations rather than trying to strategize everything and assume you have the answers.