This is the second of two related articles talking about the alternatives to product managers and product leaders. In the first article, I discussed how the product manager’s responsibilities of value and viability can, under the right conditions, be covered...
I doubt anyone is surprised to learn that many people have been asking me about Brian Chesky’s recent comments. I’ve been hesitant to write about this topic for two reasons: First, I didn’t want to provide oxygen to this topic,...
By Marty Cagan and Joakim Sundén Marty’s Note: I have been a long-time fan of Spotify. The fact that they compete against some of the best product companies in the world (including Amazon, Apple and Google), yet they have continued...
NOTE: The context of this article is that for the upcoming book TRANSFORMED, this overview is intended to introduce the new core competencies that the product operating model requires. But unlike other descriptions of these roles I’ve published, these are...
The Product Operating Model Defined The product operating model, also referred to as the product model, is a conceptual model based on a set of first principles that leading product companies believe to be true about creating products. The product...
Over the past couple of years, I have been more vocal about the industry’s need for more skilled product coaches. Partly this is due to the sheer volume of companies that today realize they need to adopt the practices of the...
Most people today know that when we refer to “product,” we mean that in a very holistic sense. It’s not just the code. It’s not just the user interface. It’s not just the app. It is meant to reflect the...
When I announced the experimental Coach the Coaches session in London in May, I really didn’t know what level of interest to expect, but the demand has been remarkable and very encouraging. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to...
As Product School says in their survey article trying to define what Product Ops is: “Product Ops operates differently at every company.” Which might be true, but isn’t very helpful. From my own interactions with companies implementing or exploring Product...
So many people I meet naively believe that the key to empowering product teams is simply to get the management to back off, stop micromanaging, and give their product teams some space to do their jobs. But as I’ve tried...
In the previous article discussing product vision versus mission, I received quite a few follow-up questions. Most of these have been addressed in earlier articles and in INSPIRED, but I thought it would be useful to gather together an FAQ...
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The product vision is...
I promise this will not be one of those navel-gazing exercises. This is going to be a very pragmatic article about a critical and fundamental topic. One of the consequences of the popularity of the earlier article on empowered product...
Note: This is the narrative article version of a talk I’ve started giving recently at conferences, product meetups and corporate leadership teams. It is a long read, but I believe it’s a critically important topic, and it lays out for...
UPDATE: There is a new article that expands on this important topic: Two in a Box PM Five years ago I wrote an article arguing that it is essential that the product manager is also the product owner. My motivation, which I...
