Continuing with our series on Team Objectives, there are several forms of collaboration that are essential, yet often confusing to product organizations as they optimize for team autonomy and empowerment. Shared Objectives The first and most basic form of collaboration...
In the last article I discussed the importance of integrity, and how it is the basis for decision-making in an empowered product team. In this article, I’d like to focus on how I coach product managers in making good decisions....
Last month I published an article describing common areas of confusion I see product managers struggling with. That article generated considerable discussion, and lead to some very good conversations. It also made visible several other common problems, which I decided...
Recently I was at a dinner with several product leaders, and I was asked what the most common areas of confusion I encounter in product teams today? I thought it was a good question, and I described several situations, and...
Recently I published an article Revenge of the PMO that argues against a particular framework for agile at scale known as SAFe. This was a bit unusual for me in that I normally don’t like to write much about process...
One of the most enduring myths in the product world is that great products result from listening to your customers (or prospective customers). But just as Jeff Bezos said in his latest Shareholder Letter, “No customer ever asked Amazon to...
I have a little heuristic which I find useful. If I see a particular issue going on in at least three companies at the same time, I figure it’s a common and serious enough issue that it’s worth writing about....
I have been working exclusively with technology product teams now for a full 35 years, and I’ve seen countless processes, methodologies and techniques come and go. In large part that’s the nature of the beast. People are always searching for...
Most people by now have read Marc Andreessen’s Why Software Is Eating The World. This was written back in 2011, and I’ve been watching his predictions play out in companies all around the world. While my focus is primarily...
To continue on the series on team autonomy (see autonomy vs. leverage, autonomy vs. mission and autonomy vs. ownership), I wanted to add one more important dimension to this discussion which concerns the practical implications of working on large, multi-team initiatives....
One question that I continue to get from many company leaders is whether or not product managers should be given P&L responsibility for their products. The origin of this question comes from the days when companies had a portfolio of...
In my last article, I discussed the power of milestones and I promised I’d talk about one of my favorite techniques for rapidly delivering on milestones. First, as a reminder, by milestone I mean delivering on some significant achievement for your business....
One of the most significant changes in how we do product today is our use of analytics. Any capable product leader today is expected to be comfortable with data, and understand how to leverage analytics to learn and improve...
This article is a little bit different, but if you make it to the last paragraph, I’m hoping it will help better explain where I’m coming from. In the spirit of the inspirational This I Believe project, I thought I would share...
