Balsamiq

Guest Post: The Product Group

Hi everyone! The following is a guest-post by Jeremy Horn, organizer of The Product Group, a meet-up for Product Managers based in New York City. The group is currently composed of 84 members who are devoted to excellence in all aspects of Product Management, Strategy, Experience, etc.

Since Balsamiq Mockups was originally designed as a way to enable Product Managers to participate in the wireframing process we were happy to offer Jeremy our support via a discount code for the group's members and some exposure on our little blog. Plus they had such nice things to say about us! 😉

The following is a quick recap of their latest meet-up. Sounds like a fun and productive time!

A very big thank you to everyone who made it to our most recent meet-up of The Product Group, as well as to our very special sponsor, Balsamiq Studios!

We all had a blast discussing Product People-oriented topics and enjoying Wonderful food.

In our latest meet-up we discussed…

Product Positioning: from the ‘what’ to the ‘when’ and ‘why’

Event Planning Product: brainstorming solutions to the chicken-or-egg problem of a real-world startup product with the founder

Credibility Online: from establishing to maintaining

… and more …

We also frequently discuss methods of wireframing and storyboarding our products, and I asked those who could, to share their experiences with Balsamiq Mockups.

The Product Group’s, Product Person, Ilya Blokh said...

Balsamiq has quickly become an essential tool for me as a PM.  I recently started at a new position and was tasked with creating a series of mockups on the first day, which I would be presenting to various groups throughout the company during the week.  I had never worked with Balsamiq before, but it was the only tool available to me at the time.  The fact that it took about 10 minutes to figure out the application and maybe another 30 to get my process completely nailed down meant that I had a series of clear, constructive mockups by the end of the day.  The ease of use combined with the clear visual style - one that shows enough substance to get my point across, but is clearly distinct from the finished design - mean not only that I can quickly iterate on interface design on my own, but that others can have a go if they want, without being intimidated by the software.

The Product Group’s, Product Person, Janey Wong said...

My experience with Balsamiq Mockups have been excellent. It's intuitive and so simple to use - making wireframes creation and explaining the vision of a webpage or website to clients, designers and developers so much easier.  Balsalmiq Mockups cuts a lot of time trying to organize, size and create different webpage elements.  I feel much more efficient and definitely less frustrated when I have to put wireframes together and quickly. The only thing that is missing that would be nice to have in this application is the ability to create flow charts so I can also draft an overview of the website architecture and how various users would navigate through it.

The Product Group meet-ups are an opportunity for Product People (managers, strategies, marketers, etc.) to come together to meet, interact, and network in a roundtable setting.

It’s awesome to meet fellow Product People in a laid-back, conversational gathering like this one and I am looking forward to seeing everyone, new and familiar, at our next meet-up …

Thursday, January 7th @ 7PM
@ Wonderful @ 172 8th Avenue (bet. 18th and 19th St)
NYC

If you would like to attend our next meet-up, RSVP today or visit our group webpage at…

http://tpgblog.com/TheProductGroup

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

Do you also host or participate in a meet-up with fellow UX lovers? Get in touch, we'd love to support your effort to delight your customers. Remember, together we can rid the world of bad software! 🙂

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