Mar-15-08: P-CAMP Unconference for Product Managers
Enthiosys was thrilled to sponsoring P-CAMP, the first Agile Unconference for Product Managers and other product champions.
We had more than 170 people joining us for this free Saturday event, and an additional 120 who responded but were not able to join us live. That’s larger than the first Agile Development Conference! (We know, because Luke helped organize that shindig.) Participants proposed their own topics, ran discussions and panels, and networked with peers.
This was so much fun that we’re already thinking about how to size this up for 2009. Join our Product Bytes list to be the first to hear about next year’s event.
There is a full page of session notes and presentations on the BarCamp wiki.
Among the talks and panels:
- Nancy Frishberg (MSB) showed us how to learn from our customers using the Product Box Innovation Game
- Christina Noren (Splunk) talked about automating product management with home-grown extensions to Jira. Here is a blog of the session.
- Perry Tancredi (VeriS’sign) shared some of the ways his company is using Agile roadmaps to bridge long-range planning with fast Agile cycles.
- Erin Kinikin ran a panel on the role of product management in a SaaS world
- Greg Cohen (280 Group) shared why open source makes sense for your product
- Steve Mezak (Accelerance) managed a panel on using a global team to create your software product
- Mike Freier (280 Group) taught us how to run a successful beta program. See his slides
- Meghan Ede (Meadow Consulting) organized an intense discussion of user interface, extreme design and Agile.
- Luke Hohmann (Enthiosys) led a rousing group on agilizing your Product Management backlog
- Nils Davis (Accept) had the group collaborating on PM tool challenges
- Chris Sims (Technical Management) had an overflow crowd for an “Agile 101” overview
- Sudha Jamthe talked about Product Management for the Facebook Economy. See the full presentation (with her introductory comments) on her blog, plus our own our blog notes.
- Unmesh Kulkarni (Covad) and Sandeep Jain talked about Distributed Scrum
- Nils Davis led a conversation about what tools product managers are using. See his notes.
- Jim Holland (Pragmatic) led a discussion about Agile Marketing
- Justin Quimby (Electronic Arts) talked about the challenges of product/project management in the video game industry
- Joy Montgomery (Structural Integrity) led a session on effective communication. See her slide deck.
- Richard Watson (DiVitas) recapped challenges for product managers on cross-vendor projects. Here are his slides.
- Chung Wu (Oracle) gathered a big group on defining PM roles and responsibilities
- Al Nevarez (Medallia) ran a hacking demo with GreaseMonkey. Here are some notes.
- Joe Katzman (Defense Industry Daily) moderated “what I wished I had known on my first PM assignment”
Blogs and posts about P-Camp:
- Kiran Thakkar came all the way from Pune (India) and blogged this
- Christina Noren’s presentation on automating PM functions,
- Glen Lipka blogging on whether Agile really exists, and big-company vs. small-company PMs
- Chris Sims recapping his talk and the day
- Nils Davis declaring P-Camp a success, especially the post-event beer
- ValleyWag had some fun with our event name, but missed (for instance) Christina Noren’s rocking presentation
Thanks to this year’s co-sponsors: Yahoo!, the Agile Alliance,
Where: Yahoo! Building C, 701 First Ave, Sunnyvale, CA.
When: Saturday, March 15th, 2008.
January 23rd, 2008 at 23 Jan 2008
In this offshore world, it would be interesting to hear about PM in the world of distributed development teams and how cultural differences impacts the PM process.
January 23rd, 2008 at 23 Jan 2008
I think a useful topic would be about designing product/launch in concert with designing sales force and processes.
January 24th, 2008 at 24 Jan 2008
What is wrong with this thinking—- Product Manager is CEO of the Product, without the power and resources of the CEO?
January 30th, 2008 at 30 Jan 2008
At oDesk we have a lot of experience using and enabling distributed development teams. We’d like to have a discussion about this and share the oDesk approach to the problem. We would also like to learn more about the challenges you face in combining agile PM with distributed development.
March 4th, 2008 at 04 Mar 2008
How will agile methods impact Marketing? I think a useful topics would be how marketing changes in an agile world.
March 11th, 2008 at 11 Mar 2008
I’m glad to see a diversity of topics covered here under the ‘Agile’ umbrella. Looking forward to some engaging discussions and case studies.
For me, ‘Agile’ is way of thinking, not just a product development process. The core Agile philosophy of ‘taking incremental steps forward with constant feedback and being nimble enough to change directions on a dime’ applies to practically every aspect of a business- Product Management, Product Marketing, Sales, ... even Fund-raising and Entrepreneurship!
If you’re an entrepreneur, ask me about ‘Agile Entrepreneurs’, a self-help, founders club where you get a weekly reality check from others in your shoes!
July 16th, 2008 at 16 Jul 2008
[...] the insight gained by two previous similar camps: ProductCamp Austin, and the infamously named, P-Camp in Silicon [...]