The Dirt: Recent Episodes
The Dirt
The Dirt is a podcast from @freshtilledsoil about digital product strategy and design.
Like any good story, the Fresh Tilled Soil name is a metaphor. A metaphor for nurturing the fertile creativity that’s inherent in all relationships. We’re like imagine farmers tending to our crops. To get the best yield from our crops we need to keep the soil in great condition. The fertile soil is the relationship. Solutions grow in that fertile soil.
Pluralsight is looking to change the way the world learns. That may sound like a big goal, because it is, but I wouldn't count them out. James Aylward is the Head of Data Product at Pluralsight. Part of his task is to lead this charge using data and human-centered design. Anytime I can talk to someone at Pluralsight I do it! I always walk away feeling inspired to up my product experience game, and this was no exception.
Who should talk to users? The answer is EVERYONE should talk to users. That means designers, product managers, sales, marketing, and yes, engineers. Without user research, how will you know you are building products that people will want? I sat down with Paul Cheek and C. Todd Lombardo of Vempathy to talk about quantifying qualitative user research using AI and machine learning.
Claudette Stevenson was on the forefront of the GPS-enabled sport watch. She started her career as a software engineer at Garmin International back in 2000, and by the time she left had co-invented eight patents that are the foundation of the successful Garmin GPS fitness enterprise. As a fitness enthusiast, I was particularly excited to have the opportunity to speak with someone who was so instrumental in bringing the first wrist-worn GPS device to what is now a six billion dollar global wearables market. And yes, I've owned just about every Garmin model since.
Ask any product manager how they got into the role, and they are likely to share some story about how it "happened by accident" or "they had some other job and they fell into product management." Some even say "I didn't know what a product manager did." And the current President of the Boston Product Management Association, Bruce McCarthy, is no different. In this episode, Bruce talks about the biggest challenge for product managers - product roadmaps. Roadmaps done right can be a powerful way to get everyone on board with your product strategy and focused on delivering value to customers and the organization. Done wrong they can lead to broken promises and unhappy stakeholders.