Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #9: 手 and Mickey Mouse's glove

Today's Hanzi is 手(Shǒu) that means "Hand".

The way I remember it is by figuring that the three strokes on the right are fingers, the three strokes on the left are the 3 joints you have on your hand and the vertical one is for the thumb that is opposite to your other fingers.

But really? Only 4 fingers? Just remember Mickey Mouse has only 4 because Disney said it was easier to draw and my mnemonics are all about drawing so why would we want to put 5? :D

Even better, the three left strokes are also pictured in the Mickey's glove, so for 手, just think of Mickey Mouse and you are good :)

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #8: 女,子,好

Today, 3 hanzi for the price of 1!

•  女 (Nǚ) means woman: think of a pregnant woman
• 子 (zi) means child: think of a baby in its cover
• 好 (hǎo) means good, fine: a woman and her child together is good, right?

Even easier is to associate all these 3 hanzi and meanings with famous representations of Saint Mary and baby Jesus such as the following ones (a classical one and a chinese one :))

 

THE big difference between Product Management and Project Management

The Product Manager checking whether the Project Manager builds the castle he asked for. 

Here in France (maybe in your country too), product management is often confused with project management mainly because there is the word management in both. In addition to that, in software companies where the Agile Scrum methodology is used, the product owner is a kind of hybrid making the distinction even more complex.

Please note, that I am not saying that one is better than the other. We need both and it is important to really understand what they mean.

In France, management often implies managing a team (even if no hierarchical ties exists). The relationships involved in product management do not seem to be understood as managing a product team whereas a project team is often clearly identified.

As a reminder, the product manager is responsible for defining the right product to sell, at the right price, at the right time, at the right place and at the right cost to ensure his business is profitable.

On the other side, the project manager is responsible for producing the defined product, at the agreed time by using the agreed resources.

The main difference I see between product management and project management is that the first one is strategical while the latter is tactical.

That has several consequences:

• 1 Product can contain several projects. 1 Project is in one product (most of the time).
• Product is about outwards success (company vs rest of the world). Project is about inwards success (within the company)
• Product management is central. Project management is peripheral.
• Product manager conceive and plan. Project management execute that plan.

What do you think?

Chinese Hanzi Mnemonics #7: 飞(Fēi)/Fly(in the air)

To remember the hanzi 飞(fēi) that means "to fly", I try to picture a kind of goose/chicken.

Pretty obvious, isn't it?