Stacie Frederick, Chief Product Officer at Stanza, discusses how her engineering background informs her work in product management, particularly in understanding user needs and building solutions for Stanza, which focuses on improving reliability engineering for development teams. Stacie shares her approach to balancing the needs of current users with future growth, the importance of clear customer personas, and how friction can arise when product teams misalign with user goals. The conversation also touches on how technologists can develop a product mindset by staying connected with customers, and the unique challenges of working across different industries where technology intersects with non-tech domains. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:00 - Transition from CTO to CPO 03:00 - Understanding Users in Product Development 06:00 - Role of Personas in Building for Users 09:00 - The Balance of Serving Current and Future Users 11:30 - Challenges of Startups and Growing with Users 14:00 - Product vs. Engineering: The What and the How 17:00 - Blending Product and Engineering Roles 21:00 - Encouraging Product Mindedness in Engineers 24:00 - The Importance of Understanding Users in Tech 28:00 - Industry-Specific Challenges for Technologists 31:00 - Closing Remarks Follow Stacie Frederick on Social Media: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacie-frederick/ Sponsored by This Dot: thisdot.co