Published inThe Produx Labs·Dec 2, 2019Strategy: Getting 2020 ReadyIt’s that time of year — the mad dash to get everything figured out for the next year. Planning, budgeting, and roadmapping season is in full force. So let’s make it our New Year’s resolution for 2020 to do product strategy right. Most companies spend one day or a weeklong…Product2 min readProduct2 min read
Published inThe Produx Labs·Oct 31, 2019Prioritization Shouldn’t Be HardA while ago, I was interviewing a VP of Product candidate for a client. They were on the case study portion of the interview, where they had to prioritize major initiatives for the company. We explained that the objective wasn’t to get the prioritization completely right, and it was…Product Management5 min readProduct Management5 min read
May 19, 2019Remembering Martin BurnsI met Martin Burns in 2013 at Lean Agile Scotland. It was only the second conference I had ever talked at, and I didn’t know that many people. He welcomed me into the Lean Agile Scotland family with open arms. I’ve read two tributes about him online now and…Agile4 min readAgile4 min read
Published inThe Produx Labs·Apr 25, 2019Product Operations — the Fuel of Winning Product Strategies46.8% of product decision makers cite lack of quality data as the main challenge they make when making decisions and only 21.9% always or almost always use data to back decisions. Source: How Decisions Are Made by Alpha Everybody in Product has subscribed to the importance of data as a…Product Management1 min readProduct Management1 min read
Published inThe Produx Labs·Mar 27, 2019The Science of Product ManagementThe process is a means to an end, not the end itself. — Over the past five years, I’ve trained over 5000 Product Managers who were new to the field. These have been at large companies, small companies, online, in person. The works. While the work has been incredibly rewarding, it’s also left me conflicted. Why? Because year after year I get the…Product Management3 min readProduct Management3 min read
Published inThe Produx Labs·Oct 4, 2018Introducing the CPO AcceleratorI’m very excited to announce a new division of Produx Labs, specifically focused on growing future Chief Product Officers for growth stage companies. In late March of 2018, Insight Venture Partners reached out to me about an opportunity. When they asked me what I was passionate about, I said developing…Product Management3 min readProduct Management3 min read
Dec 29, 2017Please Try.“What have you tried to fix that problem?” Over the past year, I’ve spent most of my time working with Product Managers, UX Designers, and Leadership of companies going through some sort of change. Change in process, change in roles, and a lot of change in expectations. Usually this is…Product Management3 min readProduct Management3 min read
Sep 26, 2017What Everyone Gets Wrong About StakeholdersWhen I first started in Product Management, I was told that my job was to keep my stakeholders happy. My stakeholders were members of the sales team. I understand that many Product Managers are taught better today that stakeholders include customers and users, but I was taught the term was…Product Management4 min readProduct Management4 min read
Jun 29, 2017Product Manager vs Product Owner“What is the difference between a Product Owner and a Product Manager?” — It’s an interesting question and one that takes time to unpack. Let’s look at where these terms and disciplines originated from and how some common frameworks explain them. When I started my career, I was called a Business Analyst. I did very little “business analysis” as we would look at…Agile7 min readAgile7 min read
Published inAgile Insider·Apr 24, 2017Getting Sales + Product In SyncWhat does an effective sales team look like at a product-led organization? “Sales already promised it.” I once joined a B2B company as a Product Manager in the the middle of the year, so their entire product roadmap was set and in motion. My team was responsible for building a…Product Management7 min readProduct Management7 min read
