The Secrets of Product Management Podcast: Recent Episodes
Nils Davis
Unveiling the PDMA Body of Knowledge with Chad McAllister This episode my guest Chad McAllister introduces us to the Product Development and Management Association’s (PDMA) Body of Knowledge (BOK), a valuable yet underappreciated resource in product management. Established in 1976, PDMA has been pivotal in advancing product development and management practices across industries. Chad, a Read More
Chris Mason on Product Management Jobs My guest on this episode is Chris Mason, the co-founder and leader of Intelligent People, a recruiting firm in the UK that focuses on product managers and other product people – designers, heads of product, etc. In our interview, he shares his insights on the state of the product Read More
Clifton Gilley of Gartner’s Tech Product Management team In this week’s episode my guest is Clifton Gilley, a long time product manager, and now a VP Analyst with Gartner’s Tech Product Manager team. Cliff made the jump from product management practitioner to analyst because they had the data. As he says, “What really made me Read More
Embracing Change and Customer Engagement in Product Management In this episode Mike Smart, an old friend and longtime product management leader, instructor, and consultant, says we can’t wait for the world to change (quoting an old John Mayer song). Product management needs to seize the day, and actively engage with customers even if it means Read More
The Transformative Power of Mindsets in Life and Leadership In this episode, an engaging conversation about mindsets with Ryan Gottfredson, a renowned leadership and management professor, author, and mindset expert. The core discussion revolves around the foundational role mindsets play in shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and overall success in life, work, and leadership. Gottfredson emphasizes Read More
Steve Johnson, OG product management thinker Steve Johnson is my guest on this week’s episode. I’m sure you know of him already. And if not, you will after this episode. He’s one of the OG product management thought leaders, especially in the software world. Many people got to know Steve during his long stint as Read More
Looking Back, Leaping Forward: 2023 Retrospective In the last episode of 2024, I go through a retrospective of the show for 2023, and share some of my plans for 2024. A few stats, lessons learned, things that went well and went badly, and then a sneak peek into what I’m planning for 2024. 2023 recap Read More
Welcome back Chris Butler! My guest on this episode is Chris Butler, whom we first heard from in episode 107! It’s great to have him back, sharing some of his new projects since we last talked 18 months ago. Chris is a self-described “chaotic good” product manager, as well as a prolific writer and speaker. Read More
This episode is a rerun of episode 323: The Secret Product Management Framework. Use that link to visit the show notes page. This episode is a rerun of episode 323: The Secret Product Management Framework. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
Product Manager’s Guide To Cognitive Biases That sounds funny, doesn’t it? I’m not giving you cognitive biases in this episode. I’m giving you information about cognitive biases so you can manage them better. What’s a cognitive bias? According to Wikipedia: “A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment.” Read More
Deconstructed storytelling can be your secret weapon I talk about “telling a story” and “using stories” all the time on this podcast. But I don’t mean sitting everyone around a campfire with a mug of hot chocolate and someone starting out “Once upon a time…” “Storytelling” often doesn’t mean literally “telling a story” in the Read More
There are no rules that define who will make a great product manager This episode was inspired by a “rant” (actually, a well-reasoned post) from Graham Reed on LinkedIn, and another post by Greg Prickril. Both were about the ridiculousness of the people posting nonsense and disinformation about product management and what it “really” is Read More
Mental Models for Product Managers – fundamental tools for creating impact Mental models are like tools in a toolbox. If you have only a few tools, you can only solve a few kinds of problems. Like the famous saying – If you only have a hammer, then you have to treat every problem as a Read More
86: Data-Driven Product Management (Rerun) This episode is a rerun of episode 86: Data-driven Product Management. Use that link to visit the show notes page. 86: Data-Driven Product Management (Rerun) This episode is a rerun of episode 86: Data-driven Product Management. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
Antifragility is the word of the day! The idea of antifragility kept coming up today and yesterday (more on that in the episode itself), so I thought I’d do a quick episode introducing the idea. Antifragility is the quality of a system that it gets stronger when bad or unexpected things occur. It’s like a Read More
The Product Bible In the previous episode I made a lot of complaints about PRDs, and then I made some claims that they could be better. In this episode, how you might actually make a better PRD. (This might be me tilting at windmills!) The overall argument PRDs are problematic. They go stale. No one Read More
PRDs are problematic Among other things, PRDs have problems like this: “They go stale fast” “No one reads them” “They are about what and not why” At the beginning of a real product effort, you have very high uncertainty There’s lots of experimentation What you know changes constantly They often don’t talk about the customer, Read More
What’s the first skill you should teach a new product manager? Carl Vellotti asked this question on LinkedIn a few months ago. (I can’t actually find the post, unfortunately.) My answer was about learning to do inquiry – asking good questions. I’ve covered this on the podcast before, in episode 114: Great Questions for Market Read More
Manan Modi, author of The Startup Product Manager My guest on this episode is Manan Modi, author of The Startup Product Manager, just published and available on Amazon. Manan reached out to me as part of his go to market plan for his book (good thinking, by the way!). And I was intrigued by his Read More
How to show up as the amazing unicorn you are in your resume and job interviews This episode was inspired by a LinkedIn post from Jason Knight, in which he gave product managers advice on their resumes. Basically, he’s not seeing what he wants to see in peoples’ resumes. They’re boring. They don’t do a Read More
This episode is a rerun of episode 66, Miles Davis Vs. The High School Jazz Allstars. Use that link to visit the show notes page. This episode is a rerun of episode 66, Miles Davis Vs. The High School Jazz Allstars. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
This episode is a rerun of episode 82, The Perfect Product Manager Resume. Use that link to visit the show notes page. This episode is a rerun of episode 82, The Perfect Product Manager Resume. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
This episode is a rerun of episode 124, Unconventional Perspectives on Product Roadmaps. Use that link to visit the show notes page. This episode is a rerun of episode 124, Unconventional Perspectives on Product Roadmaps. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
This episode is a rerun of episode 89, 3 Decision-Making Hacks for Product Managers. Use that link to visit the show notes page. This episode is a rerun of episode 89, 3 Decision-Making Hacks for Product Managers. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
Creativity and fear – daily realities for product managers We product managers are inventing stuff most of the time. Whether it’s new features, or designs, or go to market materials, or just making decisions. And that means we are going to have creative blocks. A lot. That is, except for those times when we can Read More
What stories can I tell? Everyone knows that “stories are fundamental tools of persuasion.” At least, that’s what everyone says. But what does it actually mean? It’s clear that they’re not just talking about any story, right? So, what stories are they talking about? And the answer is actually very simple, even if you’re not Read More
Why do product managers need to know about sales funnels? I’m not successful if my product doesn’t sell. And I’ve argued before on this podcast that I have a lot of influence – as a product manager – over the success of my product. And my framework, what I call the Secret Product Management Framework, Read More
“Your team is failing” This episode is inspired by a story a friend recently told me. In an interview, he got the question I used as the title, “Your team is failing. What do you do?” I thought, “Well, I have some opinions on this question!” (And note, I also incorporated his very good answer Read More
Russ Meek on (over) simplifying a business presentation My guest on this episode is Russ Meek, a product manager in the travel and hospitality industry. For many years he was with Sabre Corporation, focusing on Hotel Property Management. After several years of working on a very successful product line there, he volunteered to take on Read More
What’s the best way to learn product management? Can you learn product management from bullet points? Well. no. Or yes. Maybe? If you follow me or other product management people on LinkedIn, you know there are a LOT of posts about product management. They are short and pithy, often presented in bullet points. (Including my Read More
Authenticity is great – if you can fake that, you’ve got it made! Confidence is often a big challenge for product managers, because so much of the time we are in the realm of uncertainty. But to be persuasive we need to be confident – our audience is more likely to be persuaded by a Read More
How to Make an Impact As A Product Leader In this episode, how to accelerate your career growth by developing your leadership skills. Practical advice and actionable steps for product managers looking to advance in their careers. There’s a difference between management and leadership. John C. Maxwell said, “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or Read More
Managing Your Cognitive Resources To Be More Effective As a product manager, one of your most precious resources is your “cognitive storage tank.” It’s like a real fuel tank – when it’s exhausted, your cognitive abilities stop working well. And when that happens, it means you can’t be as innovative, you can’t be as creative, Read More
Increasing your luck surface area “Chance favors the prepared mind.” From Louis Pasteur, the famous 19th century biologist and biochemist. Having a “prepared mind” is one way to increase your luck surface area. It gives you “more opportunities to be lucky.” And it can have a big payoff! How do you make your luck surface Read More
Dan Balcauski, the product pricing guru (part 2) Dan’s interview is excellent – and long. It’s going to expand your mind on how to think about pricing – so much so, in fact, that I have to air the interview in two parts! And this is part 2. (Find part one at 134: Dan Balcauski Read More
Dan Balcauski, the product pricing guru Dan’s interview is excellent – and long. It’s going to expand your mind on how to think about pricing – so much so, in fact, that I have to air the interview in two parts! JJ Rorie introduced me to Dan a few months ago. She’s a product management Read More
Rerun of episode 108 This episode is a rerun of episode 108, Learning From Failure, and you can find the complete show notes at https://secretsofpm.com/108. Rerun of episode 108 This episode is a rerun of episode 108, Learning From Failure, and you can find the complete show notes at https://secretsofpm.com/108.
Irene Yu is Helping Product Managers Become More Technical (Without Learning To Code) Irene is a former developer turned founder of SkipLevel, a consulting and training company focused on improving the interface between product managers and developers. Specifically, by helping product managers become more technical (but not teaching them to code, because that’s not useful.) Read More
Leading impactful product teams If you’re a product leader, then you probably have a few goals for yourself and your team: Having a big impact on the business. Increasing sales, revenue, and profits. Perhaps you aspire to be a gifted, charismatic leader. But what if the team isn’t meeting the potential? It’s not having the Read More
5 Ways Product Managers Can Make More Money Software product managers are responsible for $5-$10 million in new revenue over the next 12 months. How do you get that? There are five ways your revenues can increase: Your market grows, and you grow with it naturally You beat your competitors more in your existing deals Read More
A look back, a look forward for the podcast In this episode I look back at 2022 and its highlights on the podcast, and what you can expect for 2023. Episodes I mentioned 121: Andrew Bowker on “Build Your Own Product” 106: Product Management And The Smart Sales Method, with Joe Morone 98: The 5 Read More
Putting knowledge in your product creates happier customers and great differentiation Even if it’s basic knowledge that everyone knows, putting it in your product will make your product more valuable. And of course, the more knowledge you can embed, the better. Links The article this episode is based on – Customers Don’t Buy Capabilities, They Read More
I asked ChatGPT some questions about product management. In this episode, I review its answers, and share my thoughts on this amazing new technology and its current limitations.
The goal is a repeatable sales process, but… One of the goals of a relatively early stage company is to establish some sales and marketing traction. This is often called “a repeatable sales model.” Which means that a trained sales person – trained on how to market and sell your product – can successfully sell Read More
The Value Inequality is about Risk vs Price vs Value This is the second of two episodes (here’s part one) centered around what I call the Value Inequality. It’s a way of thinking about your customer’s perception of risk versus cost and value of your product. This episode is a bit wider ranging than the Read More
The Value Inequality is new way of thinking about pricing, value, and the customer’s perception of risk.
Product Roadmaps – can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em Facts about roadmaps They are predicting the future As Neils Bohr said, “Prediction is hard, especially about the future.” A roadmap is interpreted as a commitment This is a cognitive bias of your audience You must manage it The audience doesn’t really want to Read More
Product Roadmaps – can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em Facts about roadmaps They are predicting the future As Neils Bohr said, “Prediction is hard, especially about the future.” A roadmap is interpreted as a commitment This is a cognitive bias of your audience You must manage it The audience doesn’t really want to Read More
Is the Value Proposition problematic? Shreyas Doshi wrote in a post on LinkedIn a few months ago: In product management, it is easy to BS yourself (and others) when framing a proposal in terms of “Value Proposition”. Any proposal with the right business speak can be made to sound compelling that way. This happens all Read More
Is the Value Proposition problematic? Shreyas Doshi wrote in a post on LinkedIn a few months ago: In product management, it is easy to BS yourself (and others) when framing a proposal in terms of “Value Proposition”. Any proposal with the right business speak can be made to sound compelling that way. This happens all Read More
You Can’t Test Quality In In this episode, some thoughts about quality: Two different ways of thinking about quality and its flipside, waste Fit for purpose vs lack of defects Mura, Muda, and Mira – the 3Ms of Japanese industrial engineering – waste (mura), inconsistency (muda), and overburden (mira) Links Shigeo Shingo A very thin Read More
Build Your Own Product That’s the title of Andrew Bowker’s email newsletter, and his advice to anyone trying to get into product management. Andrew is a fast rising LinkedIn star, at least among the product management segment, focused on helping would-be product managers get their foot in the door of our amazing discipline. Links Andrew Read More
Product manager interview tricks – what are they? In this episode, I share my insights on product manager interview tricks. Bottom line? There aren’t really tricks. But if you approach the interview with a product management mindset, and think about what the customer really needs when they say “I want faster horses,” you might gain Read More
Never Assume You can’t trust anyone. Even yourself. Product managers have to keep an open mind, be empathetic, and work in a world of uncertainty. That uncertainty extends especially to ourselves and our own assumptions. So my guest John Fontenot has a warning – Never Assume! John’s new book Never Assume: 10 Fatal Assumptions Great Read More
Never Assume You can’t trust anyone. Even yourself. Product managers have to keep an open mind, be empathetic, and work in a world of uncertainty. That uncertainty extends especially to ourselves and our own assumptions. So my guest John Fontenot has a warning – Never Assume! John’s new book Never Assume: 10 Fatal Assumptions Great Read More
Getting your first product management job without PM experience is hard. In episode 118 of The Secrets of Product Management, some ideas on how to navigate this challenge:
Getting your first product management job without PM experience is hard. In episode 118 of The Secrets of Product Management, some ideas on how to navigate this challenge:
The Secret of Great Social Proof One of the main jobs of our rational brain is to justify the decisions of our emotional brain. As product managers, the decision that interests us the most is people deciding to buy our product. That means we need to understand how to make our product, our positioning, and Read More
The Secret of Great Social Proof One of the main jobs of our rational brain is to justify the decisions of our emotional brain. As product managers, the decision that interests us the most is people deciding to buy our product. That means we need to understand how to make our product, our positioning, and Read More
Why do we care about getting better at product management? There’s a mini-industry of people posting on LinkedIn, and writing Medium articles, and doing podcasts about improving your product management skills. But why? Who cares? In this episode, I drill down into this question. It’s an interesting question, not least because no one else seems Read More
The Questions You Ask Can Change Your Life This episode is a direct follow on to last week’s episode on asking great market discovery questions. Last week Craig Davis left a comment on a LinkedIn post that I really liked, and it ties directly into last week’s episode on questions. He mentioned a course from Read More
How to ask great questions for market discovery In this episode, some guidance on asking questions for market discovery, sales, prompting your own creativity, and just having conversations with other human beings. A lot of times you find guidance on market discovery where they “be sure to ask open-ended questions,” without explaining what that means Read More
Risks, challenges, and obstacles In this episode I propose a new mental model for product managers – we need to always be thinking about risks, challenges, and roadblocks. They’re components of all the different things we do – market discovery, selling, persuasion, storytelling. And if they are important to us, the product manager, they are Read More
In this episode, Seth Erickson, Webby award-winning web designer-turned-storytelling maven. With his design and marketing company Storify Agency, he combines design and storytelling to create beautiful websites that also sell extremely well.
Strategic Product Management Do you want to be a more strategic product manager? Step 1: Start asking Why? I explain what I mean in this episode. And then I go into a lot of depth about what is a strategy, how are tactics and strategies related, and other useful concepts. Summary Strategies and tactics are Read More
Adil Berdai, founder of Calido My guest on this episode is Adil Berdai, creator of the new product management tool Calido. I’m very excited about Calido – first – it’s a new product management tool, and we don’t have enough of them. And, it looks pretty great! As you know if you’ve listened to the Read More
The importance of psychological safety My guest on the podcast is Mehmet Baha. He’s an expert in psychological safety, and I wanted to bring him on the podcast to share some secrets of high performing teams. As Baha mentioned in the episode, prganizational behavioral scientist Amy Edmondson of Harvard first introduced the construct of “team Read More
Learning from failure I worked on a product back in the mid-2000s called Accept360. It was a product for product managers. There’s no question that using Accept360 would make product management orgs more effective in a lot of different ways. But Accept360 failed as a product, and so in 2011 I started to realize I Read More
How “Adversarial Product Management” helps us overcome biases Our cognitive – and other – biases can lead to bad decisions and poor product designs. You see the results in products that are hard to use, or that simply fail to make a dent in the market. But there are ways to overcome and manage these Read More
Joe Morone, master salesperson and master sales trainer I love to talk to salespeople about how product managers and sales can collaborate and synergize – in episode 100 I had John Simmons on, another great sales leader. In this episode I welcome Joe Morone, author of The Smart Sales Method, which I’ve already mentioned a Read More
From Individual Contributor to Product Leader My guest Katerina (or Katia) Suchkova talks to us about the challenges – and the solutions – that ambitious senior product managers have when making the transition to product leadership and moving up the career ladder. A longtime product management professional, Katia was a senior product manager at ServiceNow Read More
Complexity and consistency and other challenges In this episode of the Secrets of Product Management, a quick look back at 2021, that leads me directly into some thoughts about complexity – the domain of product management – and some mental models that I find useful. In short: A quick retrospective Leading into a discussion of Read More
Customer success stories are marketing and sales gold In this episode I show how to slice and dice a customer success story up into different components that can be used for creating great, engaging marketing content, for qualifying new prospects during discovery calls, and for handling sales objections. In the previous episode, episode 102, I Read More
Transforming a customer success story I happened across this customer success story on a random website I visited. When I read it, I thought there were some opportunities for improvement. So, with a little bit of anonymizing and changing of details, this episode shares the original story, my observations about it, and a newer version Read More
Even though it’s a “sales” book, product managers will find The Smart Sales Method by Joe Morone incredibly valuable. In this episode I share why.
“We’re All In Sales” My guest on the pod today is John Simmons. John is not a product manager. But he represents one of our most important “customers” – I’m using air quotes – he’s VP of North America Sales for Methodics, at Perforce. The sales team is our #1 most important ally in a Read More
In this episode, my guest Jose Platero tells the story of how he created the Aspiring Product People community on Clubhouse.
JJ Rorie started out in sales and marketing My guest on the podcast this week is JJ Rorie. Like many of us, she transitioned into product management from a non-technical role, in her case sales and marketing. Since that initial transition, JJ moved up in responsibility to product management leadership. Then, for the last six Read More
In this Halloween-themed episode Kurt Stangl helps us understand how we can learn about lean software development from the zombie apocalypse-based video game "7 Days To Die."
Innovation is important, but how do you measure it? Mostly in this episode I actually talk about what innovation is, and some history of innovation in tech and other domains, but it all started with a LinkedIn post about “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Resources for this episode A web site Read More
Laplace’s Rule, aka The Rule of Succession I don’t know why it’s called the “rule of succession.” But it’s called Laplace’s Rule because it was developed by Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1774. It’s also called the Laplace-Bayes Estimator, because it’s related to, or a result derived from, Bayes’ Theorem of 1764. Say there is a event Read More
Product management and rules of thumb A rule of thumb is defined as “a broadly accurate guide or principle, based on experience or practice rather than theory.” A lot of what we “know” in product management is actually a “rule of thumb.” In this episode, I talk about three product management rules of thumb I Read More
This episode is a follow-on to last week’s. Andy Bowden asked the following on LinkedIn a few weeks ago: Do you show your value through quantifiable results? If so, how? If not, why not? Many of us struggle coming up with numbers that reflect what our employers seek from us. In last week’s episode I Read More
“Data-driven” Product Management Andy Bowden raised a great question for product managers on LInkedIn last week: Do you show your value through quantifiable results? If so, how? If not, why not? Many of us struggle coming up with numbers that reflect what our employers seek from us. That question was the springboard to this episode Read More
Retrospectives can lead to a 20-25% improvement in team performance. Yet most teams don’t do regular retrospectives. Why? Because 20% is boring. How to do the math to make 20% turn into 10x - and why this is such a critical skill for persuasion (not just retrospectives!).
What Is Agile Product Management? “Agile Product Management” is a common job description nowadays. What does it mean? In this episode let’s drill into the mental model of “agile,” how it arose, why it’s better than the alternatives, why it’s great for product managers, and what we need to know about it. Three things you Read More
Decision-making is a core competency for product managers Greg Prickril, who’s been a guest on the podcast, just did a LinkedIn post about the most important competency for product managers. He said it was “prioritization” – which I don’t disagree with. And one important facet of prioritization is decision making. And in this episode I Read More
Mental Models, Strengths, and The Tour de France Somehow in this episode I manage to make a souffle from the 2021 Tour de France, the winner of Stage 12 Nils Politt, Mark Cavendish winning his 34th TdF stage, tying Eddie Merckx’ record, and Eddie Merckx’ famous maxim for getting fast – “Ride lots!” Eddie Merckx Read More
In this episode, my good friend Sabrina Braham shares her insights on Clifton Strengths and amplifying your potential by applying strengths and other positive psychology ideas like the growth mindset. Sabrina is a celebrated executive coach and consultant, specializing in leadership excellence and business growth, with many years of experience coaching Fortune 500 executives and Read More
What does data-driven product management really mean? In episode 83 of this podcast my guest Noa Ganot reminded us that the term “data-driven product management” originally meant you weren’t prioritizing what to build simply based your own opinions, out of your own head, or the opinions of your colleagues. You would use “data” – such Read More
In this episode, answers to a few questions I get often when I’m presenting or training product managers on storytelling. A great story is about a problem worth solving, a difficult and challenging path to a solution that only you can navigate, followed by a meaningful transformation when the problem is solved. Very simple to Read More
This episode of The Secrets of Product Management is about strengths and weaknesses, and especially how to use mental models and other tools to augment your weaknesses. Rebranding the podcast This is the first episode of the rebranded podcast. I’m changing the name from All The Responsibility to “The Secrets of Product Management” so it’s Read More
Your storytelling power is not only a differentiator, it’s a risk reducer In this episode I’m talking about this challenge – roughly and simplistically let’s call it “getting your next product manager job” – from a few different angles. Your stories of what you actually did – although still somewhat subject to wariness on the Read More
In this episode Noa Ganot tells us about what being "data-driven" really should mean, plus how product leaders can be more effective. And why product leadership is so difficult even for experienced managers.
Is there a “perfect product manager resume?” Not really. But there are ways to make your resume a lot better. And it comes from thinking like a product manager.
Kristy Olinger – Communication Guru I met Kristy Olinger a few months ago, introduced by our mutual friend Greg Prickril (a guest on the podcast last year). We immediately hit it off and I knew she’d be a great guest for the podcast. In her day job Kristy is a product manager for credit card Read More
“How Can I Make A Name For Myself As A Junior Product Manager?” This episode arose from a question I got in a recent Clubhouse session: Q: How can I make a name for myself as a new junior product manager? I have an earlier episode on this (#72 – “Proven Ways Deliver Value Fast Read More
Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia solved his own problem with Product School In our interview, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia recounts what led him to create Product School back in 2014. It started as a one-many enterprise, and a first class of eight people. His goal? Helping others learn the product management skills and mindset he’d had Read More
This episode is a little trip down memory lane for me, as I recount two very influential articles about software engineering I read in the 2000s. But their influence extended far beyond software engineering, to product management and understanding how products can be successful. Links Rub-a-Dub-Dub, by Joel Spolsky The Guerilla Guide To Interviewing, by Read More
The end of the year always prompts thoughts and reflections on what went down, what was worth celebrating, and where tweaks or even overhauls are needed.
Psychological safety is essential for excellent team performance. In this episode, how product managers can contribute to their teams' psychological safety.
This episode addresses a fundamental concern for everyone - how to be better. How to achieve more. How to be more effective. my guidance is to focus on playing to your strengths, unleashing your aptitudes, and mitigating - not improving - your weaknesses.
As product managers, we intuitively understand Deming's 95/5 rule on behalf of our users. But we seldom turn the lens back on ourselves.
How to have more confidence when presenting This episode arose out of a conversation I had a while back with a young product manager. She was struggling with preparing a presentation, and not just with the content, but with how to present it effectively. She’d gotten some feedback that she needed to show more self-confidence. Read More
The secret techniques to deliver value fast What should you do when you first get started on a new product management job, or with a new product that you don’t know that much about? how can you start delivering value right away? “The first 90 days” There are tons of guides out there on “your first Read More
Authentic and brilliant storytelling - about of your product, your customers, and yourself - can be one of the most important tool in your toolbox for success. In this episode we delve into more of the stories you need to be able to tell, how to structure them. And I expose some negative patterns in storytelling you should avoid, as well.
Do you have a product that some customers love, but you haven't achieved a repeatable sales model? Then chances are you need to fix your go-to-market strategy - how you market and sell you product.
n this episode, a few of the uncomfortable - and often unmentioned - truths about product roadmaps. Predicting the future; different stakeholders have different needs; and what is the purpose of the roadmap anyway?
In this episode I share my approach to coming up with great questions to ask as the interviewee in a job interview. They'll help you find out things you want to know, and they'll help position you as a serious, smart, prepared product person.
This episode is a follow-on of sorts to episode 302, “Not Technical? No Problem.” This question of “I’m not a programmer – can I be a product manager?” is surprisingly common. Most experienced product managers would say “yes” – you do not have to have been a programmer to be a great product manager. But, Read More
In this episode, an exceptional high school jazz band and its leader give us some valuable lessons on how to build a high-performing product team.
Imposter Syndrome makes it tough to take on that next project, especially in an uncertain, complex domain like product management or product marketing. Here are some techniques you can use to get moving.
Your stories of what you actually did are the hiring manager's best way to assess what you can really do and what you are really like. They are critical for reducing the hiring manager's perception of risk of hiring you.
In this episode, three short "acts" - somewhat related brief stories that, hopefully, illuminate aspects of product management for you.
Product innovation can be defined as "Solving an important market problem in a new and better way, then taking it to market effectively" - but how do you find those important market problems that need better solutions? You have to talk to the market - and open-ended questions are your stock in trade for learning what you need to know.
Use your knowledge of the problems and challenges your prospects are facing, and the stories of your successful customers, to reduce the prospect's perception of risk about your product.
Liza Collin is the Market Readiness Director for Visma. In this episode she shares why she created this position, and how she helps Visma's product teams launch new products with much higher success rates.
Product managers create pitch decks and blog posts and user stories and sales trainings and ... the list goes on. But what if you hit a creative roadblock? Here are 3 techniques for blasting through these obstacles.
How to give your product marketing managers the product knowledge they need for a successful go-to-market.
This episode is a portion of my recent workshop on “product management for founders," that I gave at the Incepto startup incubator in Menlo Park, CA.
What are the most important soft skills for product managers? I think most of us intuitively understand that soft skills are important for product managers. But, given that, let's drill down a bit.
Greg Prickril has been coaching and training PMs for many years. He started noticing that product managers, on the whole, were not putting as much attention into their careers - their professional development - as they could be. And that simply applying product management skills and techniques could make a big difference for PMs' career outcomes.
There’s so much we could do as product managers – but we don’t have time to do it all. So you have to know where to apply your leverage, how to prioritize your time investment. You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule – what is the 20% you must do to get 80% of the value? Read More
In this episode I share an important mental model I learned from Brian Kurtz, from his book Overdeliver, about his career in direct marketing, and his advice for anyone doing marketing of any kind.
Retrospectives are a great, cheap tool your team can use to rapidly improve their effectiveness. Here's how to do them, how to sell your organization on them, and, as an example, a retrospective of this podcast's 2019.
Product management suffers from tool problems - we don't have a system of record. In this episode I describe the problem, its impact on us, and how to cobble a basic system of record together using tools and materials you probably have lying around the house.
10 tips you can start using today to become a better product manager, get your sales people to love you, win more deals, and watch your profits soar.
In this episode, a common product management metaphor that’s actually terrible, plus two GOOD metaphors you can use to help you create better products. We use lots of metaphors for understanding, justifying, and explaining the things we do as product managers. Whether it’s our analytics as “the cockpit of a plane,” or comparing design constraints Read More
Even highly cognitively capable people - including product managers - can forget to do simple things that they know they should do. In this episode I discuss the power of checklists in general, a product management-related checklist you can start using right away, and some ideas for how you can embed checklists in your products to help your customers solve their problems.
Product managers are unicorns - simply based on the numbers we are rare. But in another sense too - there's no formula for "great product manager."
In this episode I cover a fundamental skill and mindset about communication - the number one thing at which product managers must excel.
Like so many of my podcasts, this episode started from a Slack conversation last week. “What are some good products that were marketed badly?” Of course, if a good product is marketed badly, that usually means it’s going to fail, which usually means no one ever heard of it. But the fact is that there Read More
Compelling customer success stories are one of the most powerful tools in your go-to-market arsenal. In this episode I cover their structure, the questions to ask, and how to use them to help close more deals.
"How can I get my team to go faster?" The fact is, you really can't get them to go much faster. But you can make sure they're going the right direction.
In this episode I present a somewhat iconoclastic list of books related to product management that I’ve found extremely valuable, and which don’t often appear on those other "product management book" lists.
How do you describe product management? In this episode I share a framework that will help you answer this question.
The framework is simple and straightforward, so it's easy to remember. It uses short words in ways everyone can understand. It doesn’t depend on technical or specialized knowledge.
And yet, it's surprisingly powerful.
Your methodology, your process, is a means to an end. It’s not the end in itself. If it’s not helping you deliver on your goals, then you need to change it. And if you are looking for a high fidelity metric to use to manage your process or your people – consider the World Series. Read More
If the product organization doesn't provide the right product knowledge to Sales and Marketing, then they can't be successful. In this episode I share more Minimum Product Knowledge necessary for Sales and Marketing success.
If the product organization doesn't provide the right product knowledge to Sales and Marketing, then they can't be successful. In this podcast episode and the next one, I share the Minimum Product Knowledge for Sales and Marketing success.
Most people don’t know about this powerful technique for reducing churn and increasing retention. I call it the “What Have I Done For You Lately?” report. It’s a report or a message or an infographic that illustrates all the value that a specific customer got from your product in the last year, expressed in their Read More
I removed a feature from one of the applications I manage this week, and I used a Fermi estimate to validate that it would be safe to do so. What’s that you say, “a Fermi estimate?” And why do I think Fermi estimates are one of the most powerful analytical tools in the product manager’s Read More
Clearly prioritization continues to be one of the most important problems for product managers. In this episode I step back and take a look at feature prioritization from first principles.
Use the V.A.L.U.A.B.L.E. rubric to write requirements that result in better communication and higher quality features.
There are two critical stories every product manager should be able to tell about their product - about their poor beknighted prospect, and about their heroic, successful customer
As a product manager, one of your most precious resources is your “cognitive storage tank.” It’s like a real fuel tank – when it’s exhausted, your cognitive abilities stop working well. And when that happens, it means you can’t be as innovative, you can’t be as creative, and your decisions get worse. To improve our Read More
I love tools, but I am not thrilled with the choice of tools for product managers. There are some bright spots, but you can listen to this episode to learn why I think a lot of the tools on the market miss the mark. I also have a blog post on this topic, and a Read More
If someone asks “what do you think of my idea?" have them answer these 5 questions. If they can't, then the idea is a solution in search of a problem.
The “Minimum Effective Dose” of presentation excellence. This podcast episode is about the 20% of effort you need to get 80% of the value when preparing and delivering a business presentation. If you present to your colleagues on a regular basis, but you feel you’re not getting the best results, this episode is for you. Read More
In this podcast episode I talk about an alternative – or extension? – to the useful idea of “Don’t Make Me Think” that Steve Krug made famous. For some situations, though, the challenge is “Help me think better!” If your customers are doing knowledge work with your product, it’s especially important. A few useful and Read More
As you know, I’ve been doing a weekly video series on YouTube about various product management topics. I’ve found they make good podcasts as well. (Despite the fact that you can’t see the visuals in the podcast – a link to the original video is below!) The topic for this episode is some practical guidance Read More
Risk Versus Price Versus Value This is the second of two episodes centered around what I call the Value Inequality. It’s a way of thinking about your customer’s perception of risk versus cost and value of your product. This one’s a bit wider ranging than the last episode. I start out talking about some of Read More
This episode is about a new way of thinking about pricing, value, and the customer’s perception of risk. I call it the Value Inequality. Of course, the first rule of pricing is: Your product must cost less than the problem costs the customer. No customer will pay more to solve a problem than the problem Read More
This episode and the previous episode came about after some recent executive presentations. I guess I seemed very persuasive because a few colleagues asked me for tips on how to improve their persuasion skills. So I wrote a series of blog posts. Then, on a roll, I did two live videos on Facebook (part 1 Read More
After some recent executive presentations in which I guess I seemed very persuasive, a few colleagues asked me for tips on how to improve their persuasion skills. So I wrote a series of blog posts about this. Then, on a roll, I did two live videos on Facebook (part 1 and part 2) about persuasion. Read More
Bad news is product management stock in trade In this episode I talk about the best tactics for delivering bad news. Have you ever had to tell a customer you weren’t going to deliver their favorite feature? Or inform your executive team that your new product version will be later than you had promised? We Read More
This podcast is the first of a series discussing some of the key tech concepts you need to be an effective software product manager, even if you aren’t technical. I briefly cover all the different types of skills and characteristics product managers need to have (technical skills is just one of these, an equal among Read More
We are experts in our product, and often in our domain. How do we overcome our expertise – the Curse of Knowledge – to discover new things about our market? In this podcast, taken from my weekly live Facebook video, I talk about a few simple questioning techniques you can use. The video/podcast was inspired Read More
“You should never get attached to your idea because it will change.” In this episode of All The Responsibility, Nils and Rob interview Ryan Troll, co-founder of the PM Genome project. Ryan started focusing on startups and the startup space after reading a Harvard Business Review about the life of CEOs. In 2016 he and Read More
Market discovery and how to do it In this episode Rob and I continue our conversation on the things you can do as a product manager even before you have expertise in the product or space. In the last episode, our topic was common problems that product managers can start addressing on day 1 of Read More
“Always Problems” The genesis of episode’s topic came up in many conversations I’ve had with experienced product managers. Most product management job listings want you to have direct experience with the product you’ll be managing, or at least experience in the space. On the other hand, most experienced product managers think domain experience is the Read More
Innovation Options are superior to ROI for justifying investment in innovation At the end of 2016, Nils heard and met David Binetti at a Product Tank meetup. He was blown away by David’s take on the ROI of Innovation and Innovation Options. So we asked David to come in for a more in-depth interview. This Read More
At the end of 2016, Nils watched a Q&A with David at a Product Tank meetup. He was blown away by David’s take on the ROI of Innovation and Innovation Options. So we asked David to come in for a more in-depth interview. This is the first of two parts of what turned into a Read More
A few months ago, San Francisco played host to the Mind the Product conference, a meetup meant to inspire collaboration and bring together the ever growing community of product managers. The conference, now in its 5th year, was started by some of today’s leaders in product management including the founders of the ProdPad product management Read More
The power of retrospectives Teams that do structured retrospectives or debriefs are typically 25% more effective. What does this mean for you? That improvement can translate into very big business results, like multiplying your profits by a factor of 10. Want better retros? Download my 5 Tips To Unleash The Astounding Power of Retrospectives. A Read More
Taking on an existing product In this episode, we talk through an underrepresented topic in the world of Product Management: how specifically to approach the management of an already existing product. Much of the conversation in the podcast and blogosphere about Product Management focuses on the act of bringing a new product to market. But Read More
How did we learn product management? In this episode Rob and I share some stories about how we learned product management, how we learn new things in general, and what we’re focused on learning right now. How Did Nils Learn Product Management In The Dark Ages? I start out by talking about how I learned Read More
Rob created the Feature Canvas to help manage the development of major new features. We think other product managers would find it valuable. He presented about it at Product School recently, and offered to share it on the podcast. Some of you already have a picture in your head what that might look like, simply based Read More
In our earlier episode about how to answer the "product teardown" question in a product manager job interview, we promised a real life example. Here it is!
How do you lay the foundations for success when starting your first product management job, or your third, or your tenth? In this episode we go through a set of ten activities that - if you do them - will get you off to a great start.
In this pair of episodes, we focus on that very common and somewhat feared question that occurs in many product management interviews: What’s a product you like and how would you improve it? I think we can all agree that in an interview context, the interviewer does not really care what products you like. This Read More
We product managers are not our customers. Without good market information, we can’t make good product decisions. So, we need to spend a lot of time talking to customers and our market to find out what we should make. Here's how to do that better.
It's a question we all get a lot from our executives - “How much money will we make from this feature?” In this episode we explore a few techniques for answering the question.
How Much Is That Product Manager In The Window? In this episode we revisit a topic from last season – the business value of product management. How much is your time worth? How much should your PM work this year contribute to revenue next year? Does it make a difference if you’re managing enterprise software Read More
Rob and I both do some advising, are invited to advise various companies, and lead workshops. The conversation in this episode grew out of self-reflection we’ve both done about our advising, our readiness to be advisors, and what organizations seeking advice should consider when seeking out advisors.
This is part two of our interview with Hubert Palan, found and CEO of ProductBoard, and long time product management leader and executive. Part 1 is here. Three things you can start doing today As always, we like to give you actionable takeaways from our podcast episodes. The three ideas below come directly from our Read More
Nils first met Hubert Palan about a year ago at the Product Management Summit in San Francisco. Nils was presenting some ideas on a “roll your own product management system of record,” while Hubert was there to talk about the product he was building – a real product management system of record. This product, ProductBoard, Read More
We are very excited to unleash the first episode in our new season of All The Responsibility, None Of The Authority, a podcast for product managers, product marketers, innovators, entrepreneurs – everyone who wants to be more effective and more successful creating and selling products. Season Two has a lot of changes, including a new Read More
We will be publishing the first episode in our new season of All The Responsibility, None Of The Authority, a podcast for product managers, product marketers, innovators, and entrepreneurs in a few days. We’re very excited.We will be publishing the first episode in our new season of All The Responsibility, None Of The Authority, a Read More
Rob and I have been getting the new podcast ready to launch in November. This has involved a lot of technical stuff: Setting up this site, with its new domain name Buying mics and other technical stuff – we both got Audio Technica ATR-2100 mics, and some cheap mic boom arms. Coming up with an Read More