Scandinavian Product Podcast Afonso Franco

My guest today is Niko Noll. Niko is a software engineer turned product manager turned product discovery coach. 
He has learned Product at scale - shipping value to 18 million monthly active users - and spends most of his time coaching teams and being a founder at Juttu, a tool that helps product teams talk to users every week.
Niko is very dedicated and passionate about helping product teams discover value sooner - and so it was a bit of a no-brainer for us to get together and talk about all this discovery.
In our chat, we covered: 
* The ingredients to get started with continuous discovery 
* The pros and cons of product trios
* The dynamics of trios and bringing user research onboard
* Practical tips to foster collaboration within product trios
* Treating a product trio like a team of co-founders
* Testing assumptions rather than features
* Creating an environment to foster continuous discovery habits
* And more


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com

My guest today is my friend Carlo Mahfouz. He's the Vice President of Strategic Technology Partnerships at Laerdal Medical and the author of the book Reality Check. 
Carlo is such a well-articulated thinker. I love how he breaks things down and I really miss working with him. 
We talked about:
* How to become a better listener
* How to let go of your ego, and why this is key in great leadership
* How to foster collaboration between Engineering, Product and Design
* Why Engineers should be highly involved in Discovery and practical tips to foster that culture
* Why intense debate and “fighting” is a healthy sign of strong product teams
* Characteristics of great Tech Leads and differences between just a “senior” engineer
* Dangerous false assumptions that Product tends to make about engineering
* The impact of AI in society
* And more
Carlo is writing his new book “The Culture of Why and the Rise of AI” and you can follow his journey here, so you don’t miss out!


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com

My guest today is Gabriele Bufrem - one of the product coaches featured in Marty Cagan's new book Transformed.
I met Gabi last year and love talking with her. She's both a superstar product coach and a great human being. 
Today's episode is like a mini masterclass for product leaders and managers, where Gabi shares practical tips and advice from her experience coaching strong product leaders and teams in companies that we have all heard about.  
We covered:
* The 4 biggest challenges product leaders face
* How to craft an inspiring and clear product vision
* What does a great product strategy look like
* The importance of collaboration, listening, and facilitation in order for product leaders to craft a good product strategy
* Workshops and techniques to surface insights and foster strategic alignment
* How to communicate strategic context to product teams
* Product Principles and OKRs
* Why product leaders should spend most of their time coaching their teams
* And more


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com

My guest today is Marty Cagan.
Marty has probably observed and advised more product teams and leaders than anyone in the world.
For many, he's the Godfather of Product Management. Bestselling author of some of the most iconic books in our industry (Inspired, Empowered, and recently launched Transformed). Probably the world's most requested speaker in Product development conferences. And founder and partner at Silicon Valley Product Group - for many, the most credible and highest-quality product advisory group out there.
If you work in Product in Europe, lead product organizations as a product leader, or are a founder / CxO that wants to create a truly innovative company, don't miss this spicy episode. 
Marty and I discussed:
* Moving from Projects to Products
* Why Agile can only help with 1/3 of transformations (and why it's also the easiest part)
* Why Product Leadership is the key to enable transformation 
* Examples of successful transformation cases in Europe
* The importance of product coaches in driving transformation 
* How Europe took Agile in a different direction: process and governance
* Product Ops: good or bad?
* "Product Owners", as we sadly often see in many Scandinavian/European companies, and the risk of obsoletion or replacement
* How AI will impact how we build 
* And more


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com

My guest today is the one and only Hope Gurion.
Hope works together with Teresa Torres teaching and coaching product teams on all things continuous discovery, is the founder of Fearless Product, and is one of the featured product coaches in Marty Cagan’s new book Transformed.
Sometimes we meet people that we immediately know are special. 
Hope is one of them :) 
And this conversation is the evidence of why I’ve been such a big fan of Hope’s work for a few years now. 
We discussed, 
* Why is continuous discovery so important
* How to move from leading with outputs to outcomes
* Why shifting to outcomes requires both an upskilling in leadership and teams
* Why most transformations require bringing in strong product leaders 
* What can product teams do to drive transformation 
* Different types of outcomes and how to formulate them
* How product teams should approach business outcomes
* How to share outcomes with other areas of the business (e.g. Marketing, Sales)
* Why formulating and deciding on outcomes is a two-way negotiation between teams and leaders
* And more


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com

My guest today is the roadmap sensei Phil Hornby.
Phil is probably one of the few people in the world that has seen hundreds of Product roadmaps. 
He’s the co-creator of the renowned show “Talking Roadmaps” where he regularly interviews thought leaders like Teresa Torres, Marty Cagan, April Dunford, and John Cutler. 
Phill works together with the one and only Bruce McCarthy as a Product Coach at Product Culture, and is the founder of For Product People.
We could have talked about anything Product, but in today's episode we talked about all things roadmaps:
* Why some people hate roadmaps
* Common misunderstandings
* Different types of roadmaps
* How to navigate Now / Next / Later roadmaps and tweak it according to your context
* How can roadmapping - when done well - help us transform our organizations to become more outcome-oriented
* What roadmaps are really for
* How to create different views from your roadmap to communicate with different audiences
* Tips and tricks on all things roadmapping
* And more. 


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com