Selling Problems (and Then Solutions) Instead of Philosophy
(this builds on my June difficult discussions post) As good product folks, we know that customers must recognize a problem…
Management
33 posts
Difficult Product Discussions with CEOs
I’m sometimes pulled into difficult discussions with CEOs, where I’m trying to describe systematic product-side failures that directly…
Hiring a Head of Product
Over the last three decades, across 10 full-time jobs and 180 consulting clients, I’ve headed up product teams 18…
Lying To Customers
I have a narrow, somewhat puritanical view about product manager conversations with customers and prospects: we should never lie to…
Delegation for Product Leaders
A topic that’s come up several times recently in my product leader coaching sessions: how much to delegate to…
Product Consequences and a Product Code of Ethics?
Prompted by discussions with Jumana Abu-Ghazaleh, Phil Wolff and John Sebes, I’ve been thinking about tech products that are…
What Do Product Leaders Do?
My last post briefly listed some broad responsibilities of product leaders which are distinct from the direct work of managing…
The Product Leadership Career Ladder
In addition to my formal coaching of product leaders (Directors, VPs and CPOs who directly manage teams of product managers)…
How (Industrial) Hardware Is Different from (B2B) Software
Product are products, yes? When we talk broadly and generically about product management, we assume that all products/services are…
“I’ll Quit Unless…”
(This post isn’t specific to product management, but a manager’s view of problematic communications. Not everyone on our…
How to Make Time for Customer Interviews & Validation
I got a lot of good responses from this recent post about the need to frequently talk directly with real…
Your Audience’s Real Roadmap Questions
I get pulled into lots of discussions among product managers about the best ways to represent (and then present and…