Product Journeys: Recent Episodes
Presenters: Fran and Lauchlan
Every 2 weeks we invite a Product Manager from Xero to tell us about their journey into product and to share some gold nuggets they have found on that journey. We want to inspire our Product Owners on their product journey.
The final episode for Season 2 featuring Andrew "Tokes" Tokeley in conversation with Fran and Lauchlan. Enjoy our take aways and final thoughts from the 10 episodes in Season Two.
Thank you to all our guests and listeners!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In today's episode with Elizabeth Griffiths, CEO of NFT.Storage, we dive into web3 and how product management can be applied to a emerging space.
Elizabeth explains the evolution of the internet to Web3, emphasizing the significance of owning digital assets and the decentralized ledger system of blockchain. The discussion also touches upon the potential societal benefits of these technologies, such as improving voting systems and medical records management.
The episode highlights the challenges and the excitement of working with cutting-edge technology and emphasizes the importance of following one's passion, exploring new opportunities, and continuous learning. Elizabeth shares her experiences and insights, offering valuable advice for those interested in Web3 and the broader tech landscape.
Key points:
- Introduction to Web3 and the evolution of the internet.
- The problems digital ownership and decentralization through blockchain technology can solve and how it might just change the world we know.
- The value of taking risks and seizing opportunities in one’s career.
- Complexities and learning curve associated with working in the new industries
- Read: Read, Write, Own by Chris Dixon
- Listen: Bankless, Overprice Jpegs with Carly Riley and Green Pill
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we chat to Ross Howard, CPO at Tradify.
Ross brings his graphic design and creative director background as a lens to Product Management. He talks about his experience with products that fail and when you know to pull the plug. We focus mostly on innovation and why it's so important to design processes that are specific to your company, your culture and your product.
Some things to put on your read and listen list:
- Read: The Mac is Not a Typewriter by Robin P. Williams
- Listen: Lenny's podcast
- Listen: Sharp Tech and Stratechery by Ben Thompson
Enjoy this episode and get in touch with any questions or comments!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I'm sure we've all read these great product books and thought I wish that's how my company operated. In today's episode with Bridget Cowie we explore how leaning into the messy and fast paced aspects of a job could be exactly how bringing 'ideal product management' to life feels.
We explore how being pragmatic with your approach and being okay to iterate and make changes over time is key to building trust and helping a growing business achieve it's goals!
Some key points:
- Good product isn't alway good product
- Doing things by the book isn't always the best and a slow iteration to meet the needs you have and solve problems is important
- Change only moves at the speed of trust.
- Build empathy with your founders and leaders and then work to share that trust and context with the great people on your team
- Read: John Cutler's The beautiful mess
- Listen: Product thinking with Melissa Perri
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen to our episode with Para Muraleedharan, who currently leads two product companies under the Evercommerce portfolio: Timely in ANZ and SalonBiz in the US.
Para walks through the product ladder from PO to PM to GM to CPO. Her insights are invaluable as she describes the changes she experienced at each step, with the biggest being GM to CPO level. This is a great round-up to previous episodes in the season, bringing back similar themes of the differences between the C-suite and working within a specific area.
Some things to put on your read and listen list:
- Read: Playing to win by A.G. Lafley, and Roger L. Martin
- Read: Turn the ship around! by L. David Marquet
- Listen: Diary of a CEO and Lenny's podcast
Enjoy this episode and get in touch with any questions or comments!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we have the pleasure of sharing with you our conversation with Product Leadership Coach Andrew Tokeley, known by everyone as "Tokes".
Tokes is well known in the Aotearoa Product Community. He launched ProductTank Wellington and is chair of Product Aotearoa. His claim to fame is being the first Product Manager at Xero back in the day. He is currently focusing on Product Leaders in Aotearoa and developing a network of CPOs across the country. We dig into this and more in the episode!
Some things to put on your read and listen list:
- Read: The VP Product Role (M. Cagan)
- Listen: Unconformable Conversations with Josh Szeps
- Listen: Left, Right & Center
- Listen: Diary of a CEO
We hope you enjoy!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we welcome Corinna Stukan to talk about the topic of data! Corinna is the author of The Insights Driven Product Manager: Master Product Metrics And Uncover True Data Insights.
Gumroad - ebook
Amazon - paperback or Kindle
We have an amazing conversation that explore some of the many complexities around making great decisions as a product person using data.
Some key areas we explore are:
- Understanding the value your products are delivering and how you can prove that through data.
- How data can help you make good decisions as a PM.
- What are the ways you should approach setting up a data culture.
- What are some common pitfalls and how can you avoid vanity metrics.
- The key metrics you should pay attention to for your business
- Read: Zero to One by Peter Thiel
- Listen: ReThinking with Adam Grant
We hope you enjoy!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of Product Journeys, we speak to Product Leader and Consultant Anthony Marter. on the topic of business acumen and his work to bring Product Leaders in Aotearoa together.
Anthony is chair of Product Aotearoa and co-founder of ProductTank Auckland. Anthony spoke at ProductTank Auckland with Melissa Firth, who we interviewed in Season 1, Episode 42. Listen to their talk: World Product Day - Getting real on commercial acumen.
Some of the key takeaways from this conversation:
- How to start thinking about business acumen and some small steps to begin learning and flexing that muscle
- Bridging the gap between Product Leaders and the Exec Table
- Why solving organisational problems is key for Product to thrive
- Read: Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet
- Listen: One Knight in Product Podcast
We hope you enjoy!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of Product Journeys, hosts Fran Gleisner and Lauchlan Robertson go on a journey with Andy Hovey, from Xero to Xerra (but not yet Xerox), and dipping into the Andes on the back of a bike.
Andy has worked on websites, apps and software for over two decades. He’s currently the Chief Product Officer at Starboard, a ~25 person company making geospatial maritime software that governments buy to tackle issues like illegal fishing, biosecurity risks and smuggling at sea. Previously he’s led teams designing software that’s used by millions of people around the globe at technology companies like Xero and Amazon. He’s an enthusiastic but slow cyclist that likes long cycle touring trips and exploring the limits of what’s possible in ultra-endurance bikepacking races.
In this episode we dig into how to think about high performing teams (described as dots), how to think about impact that doesn't involve just shipping a feature, and how great features take many many many many small changes.
What you'll learn:
- Why it's worth potentially expanding beyond your Job Description (JD)
- Using OKRs to drive collaboration in a company
- How feedback and collaboration can be combined
- Giggly demos and why it's important to just play with your product
Read & listen:
- Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda
- Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
- The mom test
- Gibson Biddle on Medium
- Sam Harris and Lex Fridman podcasts
We hope you enjoy!
Please follow us and share with your colleagues and network. We've got an exciting season ahead so make sure you subscribe on your platform of choice!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to Season 2!
In this episode of Product Journeys, hosts Fran Gleisner and Lauchlan Robertson kick off the second season with an engaging conversation with Ben Pujji, the Chief Product Officer at atomic.io. We talk about influence and how important it is for building to build credibility and keep showing up. Ben brings a wealth of knowledge from his extensive career in Product management and other fields and we talk about the role influence plays in creating successful products.
What you'll learn:
- The difference between influence and influencing
- How to build influence (and why you would want to do that).
- The importance of credibility
- How your seniority impacts what type of influence you might need.
It's a great episode! Please follow us for me and share with your colleagues and network. We've got an exciting season ahead so make sure you subscribe on your platform of choice!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This episode is an intro to our season two!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Here is a rerun of an episode with Elina. We had a lot of fun chatting to her, so we hope you enjoy this throwback.
Elina is a co-founder of Storyo, a platform that shares the journeys of women and gender diverse people in Aotearoa. With 170+ stories in the bag, Elina does a lot of advocacy work around diversity, equity, inclusion and storytelling. She works as an Experience Designer in the health sector, with a background in product and strategy. Combining her experience in the tech sector and passion for equity work, she recently launched an Equitable Product cohort course, alongside 4 other kick-ass facilitators.
We talked through lots of interesting things including:
- Ethics and equity in product management
- Read: Design Justice by Sasha Costanza-Chock
- Listen: Asian in Aotearoa
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we have a rerun of an early episode talking to Ramanan Moorthy.
Ramanan is a Product Manager at Xero and has been with the company nearly 4 years. Ramanan is a pragmatic product leader who subscribes to modern product management practices. In the recent past, he contributed to the product community via Product Tank Auckland; by connecting NZ product people with international product thought- leaders. His career goal is to help demystify product management and help create good product leaders. His proudest achievement outside work is climbing Everest Base Camp which is about 5400m height in Himalayas.
Ramanan shared some awesome links, and we hope you enjoy them too:
- Motivational mapping & Developmental plan https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPfuGJ-g=/
- Success triangle http://cohenbrown.com/performance-grapevine/5-behaviors-that-effect-change-my-personal-journey/
- Transformational listening https://productmasterynow.com/blog/384-why-listening-is-the-next-product-management-superpower-with-christine-miles/
- 1 Hour 1 Page https://medium.com/on-human-centric-systems/one-page-one-hour-c064e27009ee
- Getting stakeholder buy-in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7MWiLvMXXQ
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Here is a re-run of Season 1 Episode 30. We hope you enjoy this episode with Tanya Johnson.
Tanya has worked in product teams for 20+ years, with leadership roles spanning across strategy, product management, design, and software development. Specialising in high growth fast-scaling technology and SaaS companies, Tanya strives to create diverse team environments - championing the development of innovative products that reflect our communities.
Tanya leads multiple product and engineering teams in her role as Chief Product Officer at Auror, and is responsible for its ethical product development focus. Tanya understands the pivotal role software plays in minimising the harm to marginalised communities, and draws on her significant experience in tech and SaaS to navigate this path.
A champion of women's and LGBTQ+ voices, Tanya is the founder of the well-known organisation NZTech WomeNB (formerly Women in Tech), advocating for greater visibility, voices, and roles for women and non-binary people in the wider tech industry.
In this episode we talked about many things including:
- How having 1-1s fills Tanya's cup and how she worked out what brings her joy at work
- Executive coaches and mentoring new PMs
- How diverse teams help solve problems
- The secret sauce: what Tanya looks for in a Product Manager
- AI: global responsibility and government legislation
- Negative roadmaps (what's not on the roadmap)
- Read: Intelligent Disobedience by Ira Chaleff and Shouting Zeros and Ones by Andrew Chen
- Listen: We F*@kin Love Startups hosted by Troy Hammond
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We are back with a rerun of our conversation with Chloe Leon.
Chloe is an empathetic product leader with a passion for creating elegant solutions that solve real-world problems. Her background is in technology consulting which led to her to the world of Product Management. Chloe prides herself in continuous learning and building structures that lead to high performing, empowered product teams.
Here are some of the things we discussed during our conversation:
- Learn customer empathy with Teresa Torres and Continuous Discovery Habits and the opportunity solution tree
- Instrumentation and metrics - cost to serve and cost of acquisition
- Read: Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
- Listen: Freakonomics Radio
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this Episode, Fran and Lauchlan reflect upon season one. They focus on the things that surprised them, the learnings they took away and some of the key points that resonated.
They would love to know what surprised you, what you learnt and what has resonated for you. And if you could choose one episode to re-run which episode would that be?
Our rapid fires:
- Do you have any books or articles you would recommend?
- Do you listen to any good podcasts?
- What are you grateful for?
- What is your call to action?
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this Episode, the final episode of Season 1, we talk to Melissa Firth.
Melissa Firth is an experienced software executive and product & CX leader with 25+ years in digital media, product development & innovation in B2C, B2B, SaaS and public sector. She’s currently working as a “fractional executive” helping kiwi tech companies realise their growth goals.
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- Experimenting to learn is key when you're on leading edge of technology
- Creating space for innovation is important and safe to fail spaces are a must
- You need to understand the Profit and Loss (P&L) of products, go make friends with your finance department
- You need to link value creation to value capture, the dollars are a direct connection to success of a product.
- The missing 33% by Susan Colantuono
- 3 Horizons by Mckinsey
- Running Lean by Ash Maurya
- Hard fork with Kevin Roose and Casey Newton
- Lenny's podcast
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this Episode we talk to Penny Wildash.
In March 2008, as an accountant and mum looking to return to work, Penny sought a role that provided flexibility and, unwittingly joined a very hectic early stage Xero as part of customer team. 5 years later she moved into the product team as a BA, following into PO, PM & finally the Snr Group Product Manager role. She describes it as a very personal journey of growth, and baptism of fire with her first solo product lead role. Her current role is the dream job she had never dreamt of, collaborating with other product teams, sharing knowledge & experiences, creating a product strategy that changes SBs & ABs lives for the better, doing more with less and helping BAs & product leaders grow and develop. Penny is under no illusion that her growth journey will ever be done.
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- What it's like being a shy, less confident product leader
- Methods to help get better at presenting and public speaking (including a session with kiwi icon Jason Gunn)
- Story mapping by Jeff Patton - a tool for your toolbox!
- Read: Atomic Habits - by James Clear
- Read: The Cold Start Problem - Andrew Chen
- Listen/Read: Radical Candor - Kim Scott
- Listen: We F*kin Love Startups
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this Episode we talk to Adam Wright. This is part 2 of 2:
Adam began his product journey as a leap from QA, and gained experience at Flux federation building energy management software, before heading to Xero, a stint at a digital conferencing startup, before returning to Xero and now at Kiwi edtech Education Perfect. Adam has learned a tonne along the way and seen the good bad and the ugly and learned a lot about operating in each of these environments.
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- Deciding what your next role should be and factors to consider
- How to interview for a product role
- Mentors, coaches and sparring partners
- Building a product toolkit
- Read: Loom driving people back to their product - the curiosity gap
- Read: Measure what matters - John Doerr
- Listen: Product School podcast
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this Episode we talk to Adam Wright. This is part 1 of 2:
Adam began his product journey as a leap from QA, and gained experience at Flux federation building energy management software, before heading to Xero, a stint at a digital conferencing startup, before returning to Xero and now at Kiwi edtech Education Perfect. Adam has learned a tonne along the way and seen the good bad and the ugly and learned a lot about operating in each of these environments.
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- Deciding what your next role should be and factors to consider
- How to interview for a product role
- Mentors, coaches and sparring partners
- Building a product toolkit
- Read: Loom driving people back to their product - the curiosity gap
- Read: Measure what matters - John Doerr
- Listen: Product School podcast
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this Episode we talk to Hannah Eickmeier
Hannah's career began 10 years ago with a Google search for her own job title when her team adopted Agile, making her a Product Owner. From that moment, she embarked on a journey of continuous learning and empowering others. Throughout her career, Hannah has been a driving force in facilitating communities, including the Xero Tech Sisters group and the Product Management Community of Practice. Her passion? Creating products that empower small business owners to run efficient and successful businesses. Outside of work, Hannah is learning to DJ, walking the beaches of sunny Nelson & Tasman and reviewing restaurants for her food blog Umami Indulges.
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- We cover main difference between startup and corporates
- Startups need to have a different tolerance for risk and action
- To grow as a product person, join a startup
- Book: How to Do the Work by Nicole LePera
- Podcast: Women in Product podcast
- Reach out at hannaheick.com to talk more!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we talk to Penny Goodwin;
Penny Goodwin (she/her) is a Māori/ Pākehā Product leader from Aotearoa. She is currently the Head of Product at Optimal Workshop and loves to chat all things product! She is an experienced facilitator who is always searching for ways to be more inclusive in the way she runs her sessions to get the most from the brilliant people she works with. In her spare time you can find her watching murder mysteries (although often incorrect in guessing the murderer)
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- Product people need to be comfortable with the grey areas
- The best product leaders aren't always high energy and charismatic
- Team building and challenging your assumptions on the best ways to do things is important to get the most from your teams
- Some great resources to help with this process:
- Personal User Manual
- Constellations exercise
- Read: Linda Zhang Newsletter
- Listen: Off menu British comedian fan
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we talk to Chloe Narain:
The bulk of Chloe’s career has been spent in start-up environments where she’s juggled product and marketing roles. She’s experienced first-hand the power of product-led growth… even when you’re working with a tiny budget, one developer…and within a market that does not yet exist. She doesn’t see product as a set “role” within early-stage start-ups. More a mindset and directive that the team shares. The diverse nature of the product function and how much potential there is for growth (both personally and for businesses) is why she loves working in this space. Despite the war stories she can share about her journey so far!
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- The overlap between Product and Marketing
- The importance of internal sponsorship and alignment
- Being part of a team building a product from scratch in a start-up
- Read: Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
- Listen: Lenny's podcast
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we talk to Nevetha Mani:
Nevetha is a fellow product human currently working at Hectre, an AgTech startup. Her foray into product has been evolutionary - starting as a developer, then a coach/Scrum Master, dabbling as an Engineering Manager and now in Product. Her extensive background encompasses utilities, e-commerce, insurance, fintech, and AgTech.Until recently she was at Sharesies, another NZ success story. She loves working in fast-paced startups, using first-principles thinking to get to the crux of problems. Her superpowers - the insatiable desire to keep learning and building sustainable, high-performing teams
Here are some of the key points we talked about:
- How agile as a concept is misunderstood
- Creating and validating hypotheses
- How to build a better product community in Aotearoa
- Nevetha's Achilles heel: writing a good narrative
- Read: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Listen: Masters of Scale
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we have something new - a duo - Nicole Williams and Sue Anderson who are both Head of Product at Trade Me:
Nicole Williams: Nicole is passionate about learning and helping grow others. She’s currently Head of Product at Trade Me, where she leads the vision and strategy for their Marketplace team. It’s the perfect environment for her endless curiosity and appetite for gnarly customer problems. She’s previously worked across product and marketing for open source software, platform technology and hardware. Her passions are learning and helping others grow.
Sue Anderson: Sue might have product leadership experience but doesn’t have all the answers - she loves spending time in the uncomfortable problem space, figuring out what’s the right problem to solve. A strong advocate for a customer-led approach that fosters collaboration across customer facing and product & engineering teams. Sue is Head of Product at Trade Me focussed on consumer product and product practice across the verticals. Experienced in leading product teams across the different Trade Me businesses, Mobile telecoms and even did a stint in a B2B Fintech startup.
These are some of the things we talked about:
- Building a product practice at Trade Me including
- A shared product skillset matrix
- Making space for discovery
- Reframing failure as learning experiences
- Creating shared ways of working across verticals
- Creating trust and partnerships among the leadership group
- What defines a leadership role in product versus and individual contributor
- Read:
- Product Waste by Richard Moff
- Invisible Women by Caroline Cleo Perez
- Atomic Habits by James Claire
- Essentialism by Greg McOwen
- Outlive by Peter Attia
- Listen:
- My Dad Wrote a Porno (for a bit of fun)
- Mary Portas - how to thrive in the new kindness economy
- Lenny's podcast
- Powrup (kiwi podcast)
- Business is Boring (Spinoff podcast)
- No Stupid Questions podcast (from Freakonomics + Stitcher)
Trade Me is New Zealand’s largest and most trusted online marketplace and classified website. Every day around 650,000 Kiwi visit the website to browse over seven million items. There’s everything from cars to property, job listings to clothing, no matter what you're after, Trade Me is the place to be. Trade Me has been around for 24 years and since then, it’s evolved into a dynamic and diverse platform that connects millions of buyers and sellers across Aotearoa.
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Check out our conversation with Norie Ape:
Norie Ape is a Samoan born, Auckland raised and now Wellington based Digital Product Manager at Te Pūkenga. She focuses on utilizing design thinking, data story-telling and cognitively diverse teams to enable positive outcomes for vocational education in Aotearoa (New Zealand) with priority groups Māori, Pasifika & disabled learners.
Outside of her "Tech Explainerer" role at Te Pūkenga she's a passionate advocate on diversifying the technology talent pipeline in Aotearoa - in particular increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika wahine in technology. With experience in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors she focuses on ‘using tech for good’ and also on raising awareness on digital equity challenges in Aotearoa.
She loves to connect with other wahine in Tech across Aotearoa & in the Pacific to connect, celebrate and collaborate and key issues and challenges.
Here are some of the nuggets we talked about in this episode:
- How a Samoan upbringing benefits the way she interacts in her role
- Building relationships (and how you can't beat 'in person' in a remote first world)
- How to think about diversity in product teams
- Imposter Syndrome
- Read: The Odyssey by Homer (non product related)
- Listen: Dateline (true crime podcast)
Norie's takeaway message: Connect with other product people and build your product network!
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week we talk to Tim Neiman:
Tim started his product career at New Zealand Post, with the rather elaborate job title of “Associate International Solutions Specialist”. Since then, his career has spanned a wide range of product roles. At one end of the scale, he joined as the 20th employee at a UK SaaS scaleup. At the other end, he worked as a Senior Product Manager for US giant Expedia. In 2020 Tim returned to New Zealand after 7 years in the UK and is currently a Principal Product Manager at Trade Me.
In this episode we talked about many things including:
- The different flavours of a Principal Product Manager role
- Product strategy, how to approach it and take people on the journey
- Engaging with senior stakeholders
- How Product Management in NZ differs to other parts of the world
- Read: Teresa Torres - Continuous Discovery Habits
- Listen to this idea: Frontiers of Understanding Framework (referenced in Lenny's Podcast)
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode join Lauchlan and Fran as we debrief on the Tech Layoffs. Lauchie shares his story of being let go and his journey to finding a new job (hooray). He also shares heaps of insights that might help others in a similar situation.
We hope you enjoy this slightly different format for a change.
In this episode here are a few things we explored:
- Skills based CVs
- Connecting through x-company networks, coffee and meetups
- Tips to keep motivated while on the job hunt
- Our understanding of the tech layoffs
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I hope you enjoy this episode with Tanya Johnson:
Tanya has worked in product teams for 20+ years, with leadership roles spanning across strategy, product management, design, and software development. Specialising in high growth fast-scaling technology and SaaS companies, Tanya strives to create diverse team environments - championing the development of innovative products that reflect our communities.
Tanya leads multiple product and engineering teams in her role as Chief Product Officer at Auror, and is responsible for its ethical product development focus. Tanya understands the pivotal role software plays in minimising the harm to marginalised communities, and draws on her significant experience in tech and SaaS to navigate this path.
A champion of women's and LGBTQ+ voices, Tanya is the founder of the well-known organisation NZTech WomeNB (formerly Women in Tech), advocating for greater visibility, voices, and roles for women and non-binary people in the wider tech industry.
In this episode we talked about many things including:
- How having 1-1s fills Tanya's cup and how she worked out what brings her joy at work
- Executive coaches and mentoring new PMs
- How diverse teams help solve problems
- The secret sauce: what Tanya looks for in a Product Manager
- AI: global responsibility and government legislation
- Negative roadmaps (what's not on the roadmap)
- Read: Intelligent Disobedience by Ira Chaleff and Shouting Zeros and Ones by Andrew Chen
- Listen: We F*@kin Love Startups hosted by Troy Hammond
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we have a kōrero with Miria Royal:
Miria has been working within technology and product across multiple industries including telecommunications, energy and banking. Her career spans engineering, sales, architecture and product ownership, and she now works as a Product Owner within the Digital space at Westpac. Outside of work, Miria spends time with her partner, daughter and second child – her fluffy 70kg dog.
Some of the things we talked about include:
- User journeys and Product Roadmaps
- Financial literacy and engagement for young Māori
- Building relationships with stakeholders
- Advocating for Māori and minorities in your company
- Read: an article on insurance and solving the underlying problems
- Look: Hidden Figures on insta (and listen on spotify: Hidden Figures)
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Come listen to our conversation with Martha Palmer:
Martha is a Product Manager at Volpara Health, a Wellington-based software company which works to prevent advanced-stage cancer. She has an insatiable curiosity and is passionate about ongoing learning and growth.
Before joining Volpara, she spent nearly a decade at Rolls-Royce, where she established a UX Design practice on a long-standing product team, and won a Rolls-Royce Gold Excellence Award for bringing the customer into the heart of the business.
Martha has presented at conferences in New York, London, and the UAE, as well as in her home city of Wellington, and is passionate about solving the right problems for customers in a scalable way.
Some of the things we talked about include:
- Innovation and the 'innovation funnel'
- Usability, Viability and Feasibility
- The design of everyday things and mission critical products
- Read: Blue Ocean Strategy by W Chan Kim, Competing Against Luck - Clayton Christensen
- Listen: Product thinking with Melissa Perri
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Come for the journey today with Miranda Young:
Miranda Young is a SaaS Product Manager who loves working on things real people can use to make their lives easier. She drinks "her own champagne" which is why she banks with ASB, connects with 2degrees, has shopping habits that are a who's who of Paymark Online EFTPOS customers and applies for leave in Datacom's My Pay app. Day to day Miranda practices CDD (Cake Driven Development) and has baked (and blogged) her way through all five of Jordan Rondel The Caker's recipe books.
She says this approach to bringing a team together is the ultimate blend of her two passions for product delivery and baking. And she literally drunk her own champagne when she served her team a slice of prosecco cake with a glass of bubbly "leftovers".
Some of the thoughts Miranda shares:
- Minimum lovable product (rather than the classic MVP)
- being a good digital citizen (maybe something to read more here)
- pictures tell a thousand words
- Read: the Obama's autobiographies : A Promised Land and Becoming
- Listen: Dead Bodies podcast
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We would love to talk to you, our listeners, and find out more about your product journey. Please get in touch. You can:
- fill out this quick google form.
- email us: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
- Get in touch on linkedin Lauchlan Robertson or Fran Gleisner
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Come for the journey today with Niall Convery:
Niallis a passionate product professional who loves data integrations of all shapes and sizes. He came to New Zealand after working in the US, Ireland & the UK, and is currently a Head of Product at Xero helping his team to make sense of their world. He is a firm believer that trust, communication and enough coffee can get you through anything.
We talked through lots of interesting things including:
- The airline industry (Niall's background)
- touching on AI
- Prioritisation frameworks and affinity diagrams
- Watch: Jeff Patton - Outputs vs Outcomes & Impact
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we are trying something a little new with the amazing Elina Ashimbayeva.
Elina is a co-founder of Storyo, a platform that shares the journeys of women and gender diverse people in Aotearoa. With 170+ stories in the bag, Elina does a lot of advocacy work around diversity, equity, inclusion and storytelling. She works as an Experience Designer in the health sector, with a background in product and strategy. Combining her experience in the tech sector and passion for equity work, she recently launched an Equitable Product cohort course, alongside 4 other kick-ass facilitators.
We talked through lots of interesting things including:
- Ethics and equity in product management
- Read: Design Justice by Sasha Costanza-Chock
- Listen: Asian in Aotearoa
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Come and listen to our conversation with Chloe Leon.
Chloe is an empathetic product leader with a passion for creating elegant solutions that solve real-world problems. Her background is in technology consulting which led to her to the world of Product Management. Chloe prides herself in continuous learning and building structures that lead to high performing, empowered product teams.
Here are some of the things we discussed during our conversation:
- Learn customer empathy with Teresa Torres and Continuous Discovery Habits and the opportunity solution tree
- Instrumentation and metrics - cost to serve and cost of acquisition
- Read: Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
- Listen: Freakonomics Radio
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week's episode features Liam O'Neill:
Liam is Head of Cloud at Totara Learning. He's part of a passionate product team who are making it easy and fun to grow talent in organisations right across the world. Liam thinks that the media industry are to blame for nobody knowing what a Product Manager is and is keen to see Netflix correct this. He's been a PM for 12 years and thinks it's the best job on the planet. His mantra is to trust in Marty Cagan and get to know the Finance team.
Check out these links to learn more about some things we talk about with Liam:
- A/B testing with a fake door (or door to nowhere) ...
- and related to this read: The Mom Test
- Check out: everything Marty Cagan (and sign up to his newsletter)
- Listen: Lenny's podcastand We F*@kin Love Startups podcast
- Read: Trillion Dollar Coach
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week we talk systems thinking and more with Bailey Lenart:
Starting her career in accounting, Bailey leveraged her experience and understanding of the ‘language of business’ to pivot into Tech.
Bailey spent eight years at Xero in a variety of leadership roles across sales, marketing, product and technology where she discovered a love of leadership, organisation design, collaborative decision making, product thinking and creating empowered teams.
After Xero, Bailey joined the team at Sharesies where she established and led empowered product teams and led change initiatives to support scale across the business.
Bailey realised during her stint at Sharesies that she was passionate about supporting purpose driven businesses to do the inner work needed to make a positive impact on the world.
In July 2022 Bailey read the phrase ‘world changing business’ in a book by Carol Sandford and went straight to the Companies Office website. Since then Bailey has been establishing a new way of working using all of the skills she learned along the way.
We talk about lots of things which you should google, and also find some links here:
- Systems thinking - try this or this and of course google it!
- Benefit Corporations aka B-corps
- Listen: Rich Roll podcast and Pretty Intense
- Read: Carol Sanford, and Reinventing Organisations by Frederic Laloux
- Find out more about Bailey and her business at www.worldchanging.business
We are Fran and Lauchlan, both Product Managers, and we are discovering the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. We aim to inspire product people on their journeys. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Get in touch: productjourneyspodcast@gmail.com
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
This week we speak to Elliot Chisholm.
Elliot has held a variety of product management roles over the last 12 years and is excited seeing how the craft has gained visibility, progressed and evolved. Before joining Xero he worked defining and delivering solutions using a mixture of hardware, firmware and software for primary industry supply chains like quarrying and fresh produce. He remembers "nobody asked you to show up" and get excited by happy users.
Check out some of the things Elliot refers to:
- Weighted average frameworks
- Answer first communication
- The art of product management by Ken Norton
- Read: Think Again by Adam Grant
- Listen: a16z podcast ... good stuff on technology and future trends
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
This week we have a re-run episode with Ross Stanley.
Ross is Chief Product Officer at Figured, an insights provider for farming. Previous roles include GM of Product in accounting practice management at Xero and global Head of Product at Vend. Starting his career as a software engineer, Ross is experienced in all aspects of the creation of cloud-based software, and loves making the end user a central part of the process of creating delightful digital experiences.
Here are some links for things Ross mentions:
- The Lean Canvas / Lean Startup: https://leanstack.com/lean-canvas
- The Phoenix Project: https://itrevolution.com/the-phoenix-project/
- The 70/20/10 rule of innovation management: https://www.easygenerator.com/en/blog/e-learning/70-20-10-business-innovation/
And a correction, Ross mentions a history podcast this is history, which is actually called The Rest is History! Check it out if that's your jam.
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Today we are chatting to Sarah Cunliffe.
Sarah is a Product Leader located in Wellington, most recently working for CoGo.
Sarah's first experience of a 'retro' was at 3am in a war zone when a UK Special Forces unit returned from an operation aimed at closing down a bomb network. From there, she stumbled her way into Product Management and has remained passionate about helping teams working together for better ever since. She champions Product Ops wherever she goes. Her 2 girls are a constant reminder to stay curious, keep asking why and remember 'you are not your user'!
Among some of the nuggets Sarah shares with us, includes:
- User Journey Mapping
-
A way to assess your PM skills:
- What’s Your Shape? A Product Manager’s Guide to Growing Yourself and Your Team
- The PM Competency Framework: Making Product Management growth a team effort
- Knowledge repository for research, data and insights - Gleanly
- Read: User Story Mapping, Geoff Patton
- Listen: We can do hard things, Glennon Doyle
I took away a reminder to sunshine failure - a very important point we talk a lot about, but don't often do - and get comfortable with just enough.
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Join us in this episode with Lauren Croft.
Lauren is a Product Manager at Sharesies, her team focuses on the existing Sharesies platform that investors know and love, building tooling to make the corporate action and tax experience lovable and fun. Lauren originally started her career as a Structural Engineer, working on projects such as Transmission Gully, the Kaikoura earthquake recovery in Wellington and a number of bridges and wharfs in the lower North Island. After a stint travelling through Europe, Lauren returned to NZ in early 2020 and began working at Sharesies. Lauren has found the perfect opportunity in Shareises and Product combining her passion for solving complex problems, efficiency and processes, and sharing knowledge, as well as connecting with communities and empowering everyday people to grow their wealth.
Some of the things Lauren touches on include:
- OKRs as a framework
- 2x2 prioritisation matrix (Impact vs Effort)
- The importance of feedback
- Listen: The imperfects podcast
- Listen: Esther Perel - How's Work and Adam Grant podcasts.
- Read: Continuous Discovery Habits - Teresa Torres
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Today we have Jess Birchall on the podcast:
Jess immigrated to New Zealand 10 years ago with a pretty cool family connection to the country. She is passionate about digitising small business and enabling them to succeed. She has spent over eight years working in the software industry and she loves that her current role as a People & Product leader at Xero enables her to grow and coach others while building valuable solutions for customers.
She also co-founded her own business called Toastable, a marketplace to book your events, which has been an incredible learning journey for her on how to develop a product from just an idea and then build a business around that.
If you want to get in touch you can find her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicabirchall/
Some of the things we talked about with Jess include:
- OKRs and assumption mapping
- Adoption curve
- Read: Think Again by Adam Grant
- Listen: The Daily by NY Times
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Today we are chatting to Chris Baker:
Prior to being a group product manager at Xero, Chris has spent time in project management, people leadership along with coaching and consultant type roles. He is passionate about building great product teams that are able to deliver on his company's global ambitions.
Some of the things Chris mentions that might interest you include:
- Servant leadership
- Read anything Marty Cagan (try this)
- Listen to: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal tech podcasts
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
This week we have the awesome Dion Eade joining us.
Dion joined the world of product 3 years ago as a PO in the Expenses team having made an unconventional pivot from sales. Although sales isn't the usual (or even ideal) background for product management that was where he had developed his passion for solving customer problems and has taken key learnings gained from sales and from his previous studies and interests in Economics and Finance, into his role. Now in the Senior Product Manager role, Dion is committed to helping drive modern practices and mindsets into his team, like continuous discovery and behavioural science/design.
Some of the things we discussed with Dion include:
- Time value of money (TVM)
- Opportunity Cost
- One pager / initiative scoping doc (ask Dion for a link!)
- Read: Thinking fast and slow
- Listen: Lenny's Newsletter - podcast
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Come listen to our conversation with Phil Metcalfe.
Phil has worked in product management his entire career. That’s 15 years experience in enterprise, start-up and consulting environments building successful products and building healthy cross-discipline teams. His roles have taken him from New Zealand to Melbourne then New York and Los Angeles. He is passionate about lean product development, user-centered design and extreme programming practices and is always pushing for continuous learning and improvement in his role and across his teams.
Phil's go to framework is the retrospective. And if you don't already know Song Exploder and love music, you gotta check it out!
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Today we are talking to Ramanan Moorthy.
Ramanan is a Product Manager at Xero and has been with the company nearly 4 years. Ramanan is a pragmatic product leader who subscribes to modern product management practices. In the recent past, he contributed to the product community via Product Tank Auckland; by connecting NZ product people with international product thought- leaders. His career goal is to help demystify product management and help create good product leaders. His proudest achievement outside work is climbing Everest Base Camp which is about 5400m height in Himalayas.
Ramanan shared some awesome links, and we hope you enjoy them too:
- Motivational mapping & Developmental plan https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPfuGJ-g=/
- Success triangle http://cohenbrown.com/performance-grapevine/5-behaviors-that-effect-change-my-personal-journey/
- Transformational listening https://productmasterynow.com/blog/384-why-listening-is-the-next-product-management-superpower-with-christine-miles/
- 1 Hour 1 Page https://medium.com/on-human-centric-systems/one-page-one-hour-c064e27009ee
- Getting stakeholder buy-in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7MWiLvMXXQ
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Jump into our conversation this week with Staci Scott!
Staci has worked in tech for 12 years - starting out as a grad spending months writing functional specification documentation before a developer would even write a line of code, to now coaching product practitioners and supporting multiple products in her current Snr Product Manager role in the Connected Workplaces division at Xero. She has a passion for people leadership and proactive comms.
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
Today we get to speak to Ben Watts.
Ben is the Principal Product Manager in the Practice area of the Accountants and Bookkeepers division at Xero. In this episode we talk everything from the art of visual communication, senior stakeholder engagement, jobs to be done frameworks and making sure you grab those opportunities that will push you out of your comfort zone.
Books Ben talks about:
- Competing against luck: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/28820024-competing-against-luck
- Trillion dollar coach: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42118073-trillion-dollar-coach
- Good strategy, bad strategy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11721966-good-strategy-bad-strategy
Shout out to Villainy (https://www.villainymusic.com/)
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
This week we have the pleasure of chatting with Ross Stanley.
Ross is a General Manager of Product in the area of accounting practice management at Xero and ex-global Head of Product at Vend. Starting his career as a software engineer, Ross is experienced in all aspects of the creation of cloud-based software, and loves making the end user a central part of the process of creating delightful digital experiences.
Here are some links for things Ross mentions:
- The Lean Canvas / Lean Startup: https://leanstack.com/lean-canvas
- The Phoenix Project: https://itrevolution.com/the-phoenix-project/
- The 70/20/10 rule of innovation management: https://www.easygenerator.com/en/blog/e-learning/70-20-10-business-innovation/
And a correction, Ross mentions a history podcast this is history, which is actually called The Rest is History! Check it out if that's your jam.
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
In this episode we have an interesting conversation with Toby Delamore.
Toby is a co-founder of COLAB and GM Product at Xero. At Xero, he provides product leadership to the Practice product portfolio and strategic direction to cross-functional teams of talented people. At COLAB he drives the growth of product professionals through cohort-based learning. He previously worked at TradeMe and Roam Creative. Through his time in product, he's learnt that creating successful products is hard. With that challenge, however, comes the reward of leading teams to understand and tackle the challenge of finding the strategic balance of solving customer problems while delivering business value. When not working to pull together the elements that create the magic of product success, you will most likely find him tackling fatherhood, trying to master some coffee art, or taking the dog for a walk.
To find out more about COLAB check out the website https://colabcohorts.com/ or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/colabcohorts
Enjoy listening!
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
In this episode we are joined by Chloe Kyrke-Smith.
Chloe has been with Xero along most of its journey, for over 8 years on both the Go To Market and Product teams. Before Xero she was a Chartered Accountant at one of Xero’s first large Partner firms.
Here are a few of the things we covered and you may want to check out after listening:
- Field Guide to Human Centred Design
- Steve Jobs Biography by Walter Isaacson (Apple)
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (Nike)
- Podcast - Business is Boring by The Spinoff
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that are out there in the product world. Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not express the views of our employers.
In this episode we chat to Gopi Ravi.
Gopi is a new Product Manager. He is also part of the team promoting workshops to develop Future Product Managers in Xero. Gopi talks to us about how "having a target on your back", a passion to help others, and saying yes all the time has led him to being a passionate PM at Xero today.
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, product owners at Xero, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that make up our product team.
Today we have Christie Russell on the pod, who has has been with Xero for the last couple of years working in the Mobile team (she was in Payments when we recorded the episode). Christie has a passion not just for solving customer problems, but for empowering engineers to be as close to those problems as possible. She loves a good framework, going back to the basics, and uses these to visualise the problem and help get the team excited for the problem space.
Christie talked through these in the episode:
- Value / Complexity (or Effort, they tend to be interchangeable): https://www.productplan.com/glossary/value-vs-complexity/
- Product Management Fundamentals course: https://online.rmit.edu.au/course/sc-product-management-fundamentals-dtr102
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, product owners at Xero, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that make up our product team.
We're chatting to Duncan Buchanan today. Duncan's experience running a successful software startup led him to Xero, where he is combining his Lean Startup mindset, a focus on Human Centred Design, and his Product Discovery experience, to build innovative products for Accountants and Bookkeepers.
Here are some links for you to check out:
- Advisor Connect: https://advisorconnect.xero.com/
- Impact Mapping: https://www.impactmapping.org/
- Product Kata: https://melissaperri.com/blog/2015/07/22/the-product-kata
Get in there!
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, product owners at Xero, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that make up our product team.
Miranda Adams joins us today and brings a creative spin. Miranda describes herself as a strategic problem-solver with a business brain and a customer obsession. Working in multi-disciplinary, agile teams to re-imagine end-to-end services is her sweet spot. She also spent a year in Serbia as an advisor to the Prime Minister, and you'll have to listen on to hear more about that.
Here is a link to Miranda's recommended read:
Art should be a habit, not a luxury
Enjoy this one!
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, product owners at Xero, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that make up our product team.
Today we are talking to Kevin Ryan. Kev is a bit of a generalist with 12+ years diverse experience. The bulk of it in software development - bringing humans together to solve problems for other humans.
Some of the things Kev talks about can be found here:
- Thinking in bets
- First principles thinking (because everyone loves Elon)
- 5 why's
- Opportunity / solution trees
- Cagan's big 4 risks
- Good strategy / bad strategy
Have Fun!
Music Credit: Harry Charles - Deer Park Remix
Presenters: Fran Gleisner, Lauchlan Robertson
Join us, Fran and Lauchlan, product owners at Xero, as we discover the diverse skills and experience that make up our product team.
This is the first episode of the series and we are speaking to Jamie Diamond. Jamie is a product manager at Xero with five years experience. He guides the efforts of the invoices team, working on on Fox UI mod and us sales tax.