Gartner Blog Network

Clifton Gilley
Sr Director Analyst
1 year at Gartner
21 years IT Industry

Clifton Gilley is an analyst with Gartner's Tech Product Manager team within the Technology and Service Providers research unit. Mr. Gilley's research deals with product management across various technology domains, with a special focus on digital product management and Agile product design and development principles. He joined Gartner in 2018. Read Full Bio

Saying “No” is a Critical Product Management Skill

by Clifton Gilley  |  June 10, 2020

I’ve been working with a lot of clients recently who are trying desperately to make the transition from project-driven efforts to product-driven efforts. One of the most consistent struggles that these companies encounter is the difficulty of splitting their effort between customization needs of a few large customers and the standardization effort needed to create […]

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Agile: Separating Practices from Philosophy

by Clifton Gilley  |  May 21, 2020

There’s a tendency in the product management and product development communities to conflate Agile practices and Agile philosophy, and this poses a real danger to successful adoption, implementation, and deriving value from Agile transitions. This is well-evidenced when you watch how quickly and easily organizations conflate “doing Scrum” with “being Agile”. While this is a […]

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Agility v. Fragility in Product Management

by Clifton Gilley  |  May 7, 2020

At its best, product management is often an inexact science; at worst, a seemingly arcane art. Decisions that we make regarding vision, strategy, and tactics are nearly always being made with imperfect data. Due to this, those decisions — be they a short-term prioritization change, a long-term roadmap change, or even a business model pivot […]

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Product Managers Can Assist Others in Dealing with Uncertainty

by Clifton Gilley  |  April 23, 2020

As experts in dealing in the domains of the unknown, product managers owe it to their organizations to step in and help to coach others in the organization through these challenges. We bring a unique perspective to the table, and can communicate and train others to use some of the very tools that we deploy every day to deal with uncertainty. The time is here for product managers to provide more than just product leadership — we must reinforce our role in the organization as leaders in general. We must share our specific set of skills and coping mechanisms with teams struggling to deal with what may very well become a “new normal”.

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Product Management in a Time of Uncertainty

by Clifton Gilley  |  March 19, 2020

Product managers are used to operating in a climate of constant change. It is often the only constant upon which they can rely. Most change comes in fits and spurts, in predictable patterns, and with triggers which we can often see ahead of time. Most change allows us the opportunity to plan and strategize before […]

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