About
As someone who’s worked in software product development for more years than I care to…
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Articles by Kent J.
Contributions
Activity
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Imagine how much better things would be if even experienced, successful people understood the importance of context in dealing with organizations and…
Imagine how much better things would be if even experienced, successful people understood the importance of context in dealing with organizations and…
Shared by Kent J. McDonald
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We're excited to host ProductTank Des Moines/Ames tomorrow night with Paul Barrett, ICF - PCC diving into the important topic of balancing leadership…
We're excited to host ProductTank Des Moines/Ames tomorrow night with Paul Barrett, ICF - PCC diving into the important topic of balancing leadership…
Liked by Kent J. McDonald
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If SaaS brands were brutally honest with their messaging: Slack: Clutter your brain, not your inbox. Notion: Organize everything, get nothing…
If SaaS brands were brutally honest with their messaging: Slack: Clutter your brain, not your inbox. Notion: Organize everything, get nothing…
Liked by Kent J. McDonald
Experience
Education
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Iowa State University
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Activities and Societies: Cardinal Key (ISU Honor Society), Alphi Pi Mu (Industrial Engineering Honor Society), Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society), Student Alumni Association, Union Drive Association Residence Hall Student Government, Inter-Residence Hall Association (President 1993-1994, 1994-1995), Freshman Honors Program
Minored in General Business
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Completed program specialized in Entrepreneurship and Information Technology
Volunteer Experience
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Co-Organizer
ProductTank Des Moines/Ames
- Present 7 years 7 months
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Agile2013 Conference Chair
Agile Alliance
- 1 year 1 month
Science and Technology
Coordinate planning and execution of Agile 2013 Conference, a week long conference featuring210 sessions covering various aspects of Agile Software Development.
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Co- Founder Agile Project Leadership Network
Agile Project Leadership Network
- 3 years 1 month
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Director Strategic Planning, Board Member, and President
Greater Iowa Chapter Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
- 6 years 1 month
Health
Publications
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The 2025 State of Product Management Report
ProductPlan
ProductPlan’s 10th annual State of Product Management Report is here! This year’s report analyzes insights from nearly 400 product professionals worldwide to deliver the most current data on product management practices, challenges, and opportunities.
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INDUSTRY 2024 - Official Conference Notes
Product Collective
Solving one of the biggest anxieties that conference-goers typically have, INDUSTRY attendees receive INDUSTRY Notes. These are a comprehensive set of notes for every session emailed to you immediately after the event.
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How To Turn Great Ideas Into Real Opportunities For Your Product
Product Plan
As a product professional, you understand that your product team may be drowning in ideas, feature requests, and feedback. Your goal is to bring a product to market that provides a solution for customers. Yet, how do we organize these product ideas without getting lost in the noise?
When your ideas align with your product strategy, you save time and create more strategic product opportunities.
In this ebook, you'll learn:
* How to manage product ideas
* Common product…As a product professional, you understand that your product team may be drowning in ideas, feature requests, and feedback. Your goal is to bring a product to market that provides a solution for customers. Yet, how do we organize these product ideas without getting lost in the noise?
When your ideas align with your product strategy, you save time and create more strategic product opportunities.
In this ebook, you'll learn:
* How to manage product ideas
* Common product pitfalls
* How to turn great ideas into reality
* Ways to capture and validate product ideas -
How to Transform Your Information Technology Department with Strategy Roadmaps
Product Plan
Digital transformation has changed the way organizations provide products and services to customers. This evolution saw the IT department at many organizations become strategic partners to executive stakeholders and product teams.
IT teams rely on roadmaps to communicate plans, develop an IT strategy, and provide status updates to stakeholders.
In this ebook, you'll learn:
* The current challenges facing IT professionals
* IT roadmap best practices and tips
* How…Digital transformation has changed the way organizations provide products and services to customers. This evolution saw the IT department at many organizations become strategic partners to executive stakeholders and product teams.
IT teams rely on roadmaps to communicate plans, develop an IT strategy, and provide status updates to stakeholders.
In this ebook, you'll learn:
* The current challenges facing IT professionals
* IT roadmap best practices and tips
* How to plan and prioritize initiatives -
The Ultimate Guide For Product Managers
Product Collective
SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT MANAGERS ARE INHERENTLY CONTINUOUS LEARNERS
They’re constantly learning about their customers. They need to learn about what opportunities exist to help those customers.
Product managers also need to keep up to speed with the new product techniques and trends in their domains.
And don’t forget that there are only a few, if any, formal degree programs for product management.
Fortunately, the broader product management community has made the lack of…SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT MANAGERS ARE INHERENTLY CONTINUOUS LEARNERS
They’re constantly learning about their customers. They need to learn about what opportunities exist to help those customers.
Product managers also need to keep up to speed with the new product techniques and trends in their domains.
And don’t forget that there are only a few, if any, formal degree programs for product management.
Fortunately, the broader product management community has made the lack of degree programs a feature rather than a bug. Because there is no official source of product management knowledge, product managers across the globe have taken it on themselves to share experiences: both successes and lessons learned the hard way.
In fact, there are so many resources available about product management that it can be difficult to find the truly helpful ones.
Don’t worry—your friends at Product Collective, ProductLed, Productboard and Chameleon have you covered. -
How To Be An Agile Business Analyst
KBPMedia
How To Be An Agile Business Analyst is about applying your business analysis skills in an agile manner. Keep in mind that the agile here describes how you approach business analysis.
This book helps business analysts be an effective member of a team working in an agile fashion. It explains how to add value to your team and how to apply your business analysis skills. It will help you understand how you can use your business analysis skills to make sure your team builds the right…How To Be An Agile Business Analyst is about applying your business analysis skills in an agile manner. Keep in mind that the agile here describes how you approach business analysis.
This book helps business analysts be an effective member of a team working in an agile fashion. It explains how to add value to your team and how to apply your business analysis skills. It will help you understand how you can use your business analysis skills to make sure your team builds the right thing.
Read the book to discover the five characteristics of an agile business analyst and how to adopt those characteristics. You are an agile business analyst when you:
consider your context so that you use appropriate techniques.
help your team focus on outcomes over outputs and use that outcome to define success and measure progress.
use tried and true business analysis techniques to build and maintain a shared understanding of the problem your team is trying to solve.
make sure decisions get made, whether you have the responsibility for deciding or not.
use short feedback cycles to learn about your users needs and adjust your product accordingly.
The book also explains the roles and responsibilities you may experiences and explores the impact an agile approach has on a common business analysis process.
Get this book to help you demonstrate to teams in your organization why they should have you on their team. At the end of the day, isn’t that really what matters? -
Beyond Requirements: Analysis with an Agile Mindset
Addison Wesley
Beyond Requirements shows how to use business analysis practices and techniques to understand stakeholder needs, identify the key problems to solve, determine the best solution, and build a shared understanding of that solution. Unlike most business analysis texts, it places analysis techniques in context, positioning them as a "means to the end" of solving organizational problems, not as an end in themselves.
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Business Analysis and Leadership: Influencing Change
Kogan Page
Business Analysis & Leadership features contributions from practitioners in the international business analysis field that discuss how business analysis practitioners can be leaders and catalysts for change from a variety of different perspectives.
I co-wrote a chapter about business analysis and leadership from an agile perspective. We structured the chapter by answering a series of questions commonly asked about business analysis in agile.Other authorsSee publication -
Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility
Addison Wesley
Brings together immediately usable frameworks and step-by-step processes that help organizations deliver business value and build competitive advantage.
Other authorsSee publication -
A Business Value Focus for Portfolio Management
Cutter Consortium
Organizations can deliver business value by managing their project portfolio with an agile-inspired focus that utilizes strategic intent, an understanding of uncertainty and complexity, real options, and a constant review of the business value of all projects. This Executive Report will help you achieve a business value focus by employing the following steps:
1) Defining business value
2) Utilizing strategy as a decision filter to select initiatives
3) Managing the project…Organizations can deliver business value by managing their project portfolio with an agile-inspired focus that utilizes strategic intent, an understanding of uncertainty and complexity, real options, and a constant review of the business value of all projects. This Executive Report will help you achieve a business value focus by employing the following steps:
1) Defining business value
2) Utilizing strategy as a decision filter to select initiatives
3) Managing the project portfolio by using purpose-based decision filters to reduce complexity and manage uncertainty
4) Maintaining focus on business value
5) Governing projects with an eye toward reducing risk, embracing change, and focusing on business value
Projects
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GrainDesk Pro
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Languages
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English
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Organizations
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International Institute of Business Analysis
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The biggest indicator of whether you still think Elon Musk is a genius or an idiot is if he has ever talked about the field of your expertise.
The biggest indicator of whether you still think Elon Musk is a genius or an idiot is if he has ever talked about the field of your expertise.
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