Until the Ice Cream Truck: Recent Episodes
Howard Dierking & Glenn Block
Howard Dierking and Glenn Block both have more than 20 years on the engineering and product side of the house. The name for the podcast derives from a running joke between them about quitting the tech industry and opening an ice cream business. In each episode, they will look at the intersection of product management and software development and talk through lots of different ways that the two disciplines can work together to build great products - or drive everyone in the organization crazy while wasting time and money.
In this episode, Glenn and Howard talk about taking a balanced approach to hot new technology - even when everyone around you (especially your business partners) is all in on the promise.
What does it mean to be data-driven? That is the topic of this episode. Howard and Glenn delve into what it means from an organizational perspective and how it impacts product and engineering. We talk about quantitive and qualitative data, the value of each, and how they are connected. And, we discuss some of the problems in over-indexing on one or the other such as missing out on understanding why you are seeing what you are seeing. Another topic we explore is the danger of confirmation bias in interpreting the data. And we can't forget product analytics, metrics, KPIS, OKRS, and DORA. Just some of the many topics we touch on in this jam-packed session!
Links:
- Striking a balance between Quantitative and Qualitative data
- Product Analytics
- Amplitude
- Pendo
- Heap
- DORA
- OKRs
After a LONG hiatus, we're back and this time we're seriously serious about sticking to keep this going. Unlike the last time when we were just serious. Seriously! We thought we could jump back on a topic that is truly unique, something you've never heard of. Drum roll........Gen AI! Join us for a lively conversation about Gen AI. Will it destroy the world?
Has Skynet truly arrived?
What are these agent things? We'll answer these questions and more and also shed some light on our experiences in using Gen AI and what tools we recommend. Links from the episode
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Github Copilot
- TabNine
- CodeScene (A very cool tool Howard and I talked about offline)
- Nilou Salehi's talk on "LLMs for Product Managers" (Reliable AI)
Roadmaps, why do we have them? Do they help? Is there a better way to do them? These are all topics near and dear to Janna Bastow's heart. We're honored to have her as our guest.
In this episode, we go deep into talking about the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of traditional roadmaps, and about her pioneering Now Next Later approach. The show is full of gems and insights from Jenna on how to build great products and reduce waste. Thank you Janna! Enjoy!
SHOW LINKS:
Why I invented the Now-Next-Later Roadmap
ProdPad
Perfecting product roadmaps with Janna Bastow
Minimum Viable Product, what is it that all about? In this episode, Howard and Glenn dive in:
- What is MVP and its purpose?
- Where does the term come from?
- What common misconceptions, misunderstandings, and fallacies about MVP?
- How does MVP relate to tech debt and scale?
- What are the variations of MVP? Minimum Lovable Product, Minimum Effective Dose, Minimum Marketable product
We had a great exchange of ideas and shared our raw personal experiences and perspectives.
Enjoy!
SHOW LINKS:
- The Lean Startup
- A Review Of The Minimum Viable Product Approach
- The Minimum Lovable Product
- The Minimum Effective Dose
- My short interview with Nils Davis on MED
In this episode, Glenn and Howard talk about the value of mentoring, both in serving as a mentor as well as having a network of mentors who can help in various aspects of personal and professional life. Additionally, mentorship and coaching are compared from the perspective of both techniques used and expectations set.
Show linksMen: want to increase diversity in tech? Be a mentor
Let's talk about Mentoring - Cascadia JS
Supporting black employees with mentorship
GROW Model
It's been a while, but Glenn and Howard are back at it, and in this episode are answering some of the questions sent in by you! To send in a question for a possible future episode, email us at untiltheicecreamtruck@gmail.com.
Some resources mentioned in this episode include:
- Atomic Habits
- Traction
In this episode, Howard and Glenn spend some time talking about the leadership principles they apply in their roles as managers of people and as leaders within their respective disciplines. The guys also spend a few minutes talking about some of the tech behind producing the podcast.
You can reach us with questions or comments at untiltheicecreamtruck@gmail.com.
Some resources mentioned in this episode include:
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6452796-drive
- https://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/949515.Coaching_for_Performance
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29342515-the-coaching-habit
In this episode, Glenn interviews our first guest on the show, Jessica Tucker. Jessica transitioned into tech as a software engineer and then moved into more of a product role. She's now left her corp job, has her own tech consulting company and has launched her own wearable-tech company! We have a rich conversation on her journey, what she learned moving into different roles and becoming an entrepreneur, also what it means to be a Black woman in tech, and the challenges and trauma that Black women face navigating the tech world.
I, II, Senior, Staff, Principal, Distinguished, Fellow.....ahhhh!! What does it all mean? In this episode, Glenn and Howard take a look at the various levels and titles found in many technology companies and then break it all down into some guiding principles for thinking about leveling at your own organization.
While it's existed in nearly every organization for as long as anyone can remember, technical debt has taken center stage recently in a number of high profile outages, including those at Southwest Airlines and the US Federal Avaiation Administration. In this episode, Glenn and Howard talk cover the topic of technical debt from several angles, including:
- What is technical debt?
- How does it accumulate in an organization?
- What are some strategies for reducing it?
Resources
- https://youtu.be/Ed94CfxgsCA
- https://youtu.be/SxdOUGdseq4
In this episode, Glenn and Howard go a level deeper into the world of product management and look at some of the specific activities and deliverables of the discipline. They then take a look at what it means to be "product-led" as an organization and what steps need to be taken at a structural and operational level to ensure that an organization can achieve the desired outcomes promised by being product-led. Resources
- https://productled.com/blog/product-led-organization-todd-olson
- https://www.spencerstuart.com/research-and-insight/product-organization-structure
- https://www.prodpad.com/blog/invented-now-next-later-roadmap/
What is Product Management? Where did it come from. Tune in to this episode where Howard and Glenn answer these questions and more!
Resources
- History of Product Management
- McElroy's "Brand Men" memo
- The Secret Product Manager's Handbook
At present, the tech industry is going through a painful cycle of contraction. It seems like everywhere you look, another company has just implemented a massive round of layoffs, and no company is immune. In this episode, Glenn and Howard talk about what it looks like to lead through layoffs - from the reasons behind them, to how decisions are made in forming "the list", and how those decisions are communicated. In each of these topics, the guys will talk about some examples of where the process was done well and where it was done terribly (looking at you, Twitter). They'll also share some personal "behind the curtain" insights on some of the decision making that goes into the process.
Welcome to the inagural episode of "Until the Ice Cream Truck"! In this first episode, Glenn and Howard introduce themselves as well as talk about the purpose and goals of the podcast.