If you’re familiar with the game of baseball, you know the saying “batting a thousand”. It means getting a hit every single time you go up to bat. And no one bats a thousand - at least over the course of any real number of at-bats. Here’s the truth about product management - no one bats a thousand here either. Many products fail - or at least fail to fully meet their goals. And while we may not be able to “bat a thousand”, many companies - and product managers - are embracing techniques and...

Understanding customers is a bedrock of successful product management. But it is a lot easier to say than do. Truly understanding customers entails a deep knowledge of their motivations and behaviors. And, frankly, many product managers are not properly equipped to keenly grasp the nuances of customer behavior. On this episode Kristen Berman, CEO and co-founder of Irrational Labs, discusses ways that product managers can use use behavioral design to develop and design solutions that change...

We, in product management, live in complex worlds. We are often solving complicated problems. We are often using sophisticated, complex technologies or engineering solutions to solve those problems. We have various audiences to which we must communicate.  Effectively communicating to these various audiences and especially making complex situations understandable and relevant to each is one of the most important skills a product manager has in their professional toolbox. Deepti Tadala,...

Anyone who has been in product management knows that a timeline is part of everyday life. Frankly, it’s hard for a lot of people to imagine not living in this timeline-driven world. But why are timelines so important? More often than not, they are arbitrary and not tied to any real customer or market need. It’s not to say we should just take our sweet time and be lackadaisical, we still need to meet customer needs in a timely manner and beat the competition in providing value. But are...

In this episode, JJ Rorie, VP of Sequent Learning Networks and Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, CEO and Founder of Product School, discuss how product managers can move from *bad* - to good - to great!, and how the product community can help us all on this lifelong learning journey.

Regardless of industry, type of product, educational background, or development methodology, there are five commonalities among great product managers. In this episode, we discuss these common traits and how you can build your skillset around these 5 "truths".

The bedrock of successful product development is a deep understanding of what customers really need. In this episode, I speak with internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and coach Teresa Torres about Continuous Discovery Habits.

The Chief Product Officer (CPO) role is still a fairly new role. I get asked quite often where product management should sit within an organization. Historically, it has typically reported up through either marketing or technology, but more and more, organizations are realizing the value of having a product leader at the executive level, having a seat at the c-suite table when all important decisions are being made. The CPO is often that executive.  In this episode, Navya Rehani Gupta, Chief...

There is a lot of discussion about whether co-location / in-person work is best for product management and innovation or if remote work can be just as effective. Maybe there is no one right answer there, and certainly there are pros and cons to both. This episode is a conversation about being successful in product management with remote teams.

There are few things that can make a bigger impact on the ultimate success of a product than a true, deep understanding of customer needs. Without this understanding of customers, their problems, situations, environments, needs, it is really just a matter of luck if we end up with a successful product. This episode features Keerthi Hoback, Senior Director of Product Management at Major League Baseball, discussing the importance of user interviews and customer research in order to set that...

For those of us who build products for a living, how do we ensure that our products are equitable, inclusive, and are leaving a positive impact on customers and the world around us? This episode discusses how can organizations - and product people - can build equitable products.

Product-Market Fit essentially means having the right product to meet a market demand. Here’s the deal… if you don’t first understand what customers need and will buy AND the dynamics and attractiveness of the market in which your customers live and/or work, then it’s really quite difficult to build something that will achieve product-market fit.

Having an “entrepreneurial mindset” is a very beneficial trait for product managers. It will help them think and act in a way that drives ownership, accountability, leadership, strategic thinking, and other aspects of “owning the business of their product”.  This episode is is all about what product managers can learn from entrepreneurs and startup founders… regardless of what type or size of company a product manager works in, there are insights to be gleaned from entrepreneurs.

Design, of course, is a critical part of product development. It’s where the ideas in our heads start to take shape in the real world. These days, there are still the proverbial - and literal - ideas sketched on napkins, but technology is making it so that even the non-designers can express ideas in effective mockups and prototypes. While the expertise of designer and UX professionals is still paramount, everyone in the product management ecosystem can and should be a part of the critical...

All products have a lifespan. Some products live for a year or so. Some products - especially those attached to iconic brands - can live for decades or longer! Legacy products and brands - those that have stood the test of time and carved a place for themselves in their marketplaces -  often have a built-in credibility and can even have a sort of product folklore about them, but just like every product, these legacy products still must from time to time reinvent themselves to ensure they are...

Many experiences can help product managers hone their skills... including stand-up comedy! In this episode, Deepak Paramanand shares how learning how to find jokes that will land with his audience helped him become a better product manager.

Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) has become one of the most discussed frameworks among product people. Yet while it's simple in nature, JTBD is often misunderstood, making it difficult for some to begin applying it. In this episode, we'll discuss what JTBD is and how to get started.

An organization’s product leader plays a significant role in mergers and acquisitions activities - from both the buy side and sell side. In this conversation, Jodi McDermott shares her experience as a product executive during multiple acquisitions.

Is the product manager role different for a physical product than for a software product? My answer is that most of the role is the same, but there are some real nuances that matter. In this episode, I discuss a couple of differences that product managers who own physical products encounter and ways they can be successful.

Neurodiversity - having a team whose minds and brains work differently from each other - can be a superpower for organizations, leading to more innovation and better products. Marton Gaspar, The Product Whisper, joins us on this episode to discuss what companies can do to leverage this superpower. More information on neurodiversity in tech and product at product-whisperer.com.

While there are a few product management degrees popping up in universities these days - which is great, by the way - generally speaking, none of us get a degree in product management and then start our careers in a product manager role straight out of university. We start from somewhere else… be it sales or marketing or engineering. Or we have a completely different path like this episode's guest, Mamuna Oladipo, SVP of Product Design & Engineering at Kickstarter. We discuss how to move...

Product management is innately cross-functional. There are many key partners that help build and support products… product management, technology, sales, marketing, finance, supply chain, operations, and the list goes on. One of the most important relationships a product manager has is with his or her technology lead. As a product manager, it is our job to uncover customer problems. It’s the job of our technology lead and team to help find creative solutions for those problems. The tech...