In a time when people are advocating simplicity, mobile phones are becoming pocket computers. A year ago, Seth Godin wrote, “I think we're going to discover a whole new universe of cell phone services that people want to pay for, things that we won't be able to live without. Like ringtones....”

And I’m fairly sure that I want to buy the new Apple phone as soon as it becomes available. I don’t care about ringtones but I very much care about elegant design and ease-of-use. But that’s me. There are a great many people who want a mobile phone to just be a phone. You know... a good phone.

This week I stumbled across the Jitterbug phone. They offer two phones: one with 10 numbers and Yes and No buttons and the other with only three buttons: Emergency, a number that you choose, and Operator for everything else. Have a question? Just call the operator.

As vendors, we always have a customer who wants one more feature or a developer with a great idea or a sales person who can close a custom deal. And so, our products get more features, and more, and MORE! But the more we add, the more our customers complain that the product is hard to use.

Which of the following phone features do you frequently use?

• ring tones
  
• syncing contact with your computer
  
• calendar
  
• camera
  
• screen saver
  
• any of the side buttons
  
• Google mail
  
• shopping
  
• web surfing
  
• messaging via SMS or IM
  
• games
  
• conference calling
  
• wireless headset (ie Bluetooth)
  
• calculator
  
• alarm clock
  
• voice recording
  
• voice dialing
  

Or put differently, which of these would you actually miss if they were removed? By the same token, how many features in your product are used by fewer than 20% of your clients? Would those 20% really miss the features if they were gone? And would the 80% benefit from their absence?

The web team has been working for the last few months on a new look & feel for our web site and we’re now live. I’m really pleased with the new organization and I think you will be too.

We’ve added some new features including comments on articles and blog posts (your opinion is welcome!) and a new job board for companies to post open product management and marketing positions. We’re tagging all the content, so you will be able to find related content much more quickly, a work in progress. As is getting all of the old blog posts into the new system, but we are working on it!

All the information from the old site is still available although perhaps in a new location or with a different URL. The entire site is searchable—and the searching is fast!

The site isn’t perfect, I’m sure. If you find a problem or get a 404, please send me a note and we’ll get it fixed right away.

See what made a real-estate salesman stammer and then become speechless in this article about the "tell, tell, tell" method of selling versus the "ask, then tell" method. Read more in Revenue Journal.

I've just returned from a trip overseas with limited internet access. Golly, it's amazing how attached one becomes to reading email and surfing the web. And in 2007, apparently not every hotel room has internet access! I didn't know how much I missed it until it was gone. So I'm back home again with an incredible backlog of posts in my favorite blogs.

Agile is a hot topic nowadays. The Cranky Product Manager writes So You Think "Agile" Methodologies Exempt You From Product Management. Scott Sehlhorst wonders Is Agile Bad For Software Development? (Scott has re-organized all of his articles on agile.) My take on the subject is here.

Bob at ack/nak adds to the agile converation, reminds us that nothing good comes of email, and offers a quick trick for doing a competitive assessment.

Those are the highlights of what I've been reading this morning in my RSS reader. Interesting stuff indeed.

On May 10th, Barbara Nelson speaks at the San Diego Software Industry Council. Barb will explore the strategic role of product management using the Pragmatic Marketing Framework. The session will also include action items for reviewing and assessing the product management role at your company.

It seems no amount of process can overcome dysfunction. Perhaps the biggest challenge of developing tech products is respect among the team members. Or as we say in Requirements That Work, "friends build products."

Joel St-Denis writes in the Agile vs Waterfall debate: It was interesting to see that 2 of the companies in question had success in moving from a Waterfall to Agile methodology and both Product Management and Development had made the transition with success. On the other hand, 2 of the other companies had found challenges, and continued to struggle with the shorter sprints, or scrum approach, to Agile. The consensus seemed to be that there was a lack of respect between the PM and Dev groups in the companies which had issues, and this led to both departments pointing the finger at one another for delivery failures.

We commented on the role of product management in agile environments in Extreme Product Management with more specifics in how to deliver products people want to buy in an agile development environment.

Regardless of the development methodology, product managers should serve as conduits of market information. Too often we're attempting to control product development through rigorous requirements and a comprehensive Gantt chart. Instead we should influence with market information in the form of stories and personas.