Brian Lawley is the CEO and Founder of the 280 Group. He is the author of six best-selling books, Product Management for Dummies, Optimal Product Process, The Phenomenal Product Manager, Expert Product Management and 42 Rules of Product Management and is the former President of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association (SVPMA). He was awarded the Association of International Product Marketing Management Award for Thought Leadership in Product Management, and has been featured on World Business Review and the Silicon Valley Business Report. He is the editor of the Optimal Product Management blog and newsletter, and also writes guest articles for publications such as the Software Development Forum newsletter, Softletter and the SVPMA newsletter.
Prior to founding and running the 280 Group, Brian spent many years working on innovative products at world-leading companies, including Digidesign (acquired by Avid), Apple (Product Manager for the MacOS human interface), Claris, Symantec and Whistle Communications. Brian is a Certified Product Manager (CPM) and Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM) and has a bachelor's degree in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego with a minor in Music Technology and an MBA with honors from San Jose State University.