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Chad McAllister, PhD and Chad McAllister에서 제공하는 콘텐츠입니다. 에피소드, 그래픽, 팟캐스트 설명을 포함한 모든 팟캐스트 콘텐츠는 Chad McAllister, PhD and Chad McAllister 또는 해당 팟캐스트 플랫폼 파트너가 직접 업로드하고 제공합니다. 누군가가 귀하의 허락 없이 귀하의 저작물을 사용하고 있다고 생각되는 경우 여기에 설명된 절차를 따르실 수 있습니다 https://ko.player.fm/legal.

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Via Podcast

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Whether you’re just beginning to explore the Western United States or you’ve been living here since the day you were born, the Via Podcast will introduce you to new and unique adventures that will change your perspective. Hosts Mitti Hicks and Michelle Donati bring their travel expertise to interviews with some of the West’s most fascinating experts, residents, and adventurers. In each episode, you will discover deep conversations in the hopes of igniting a new interest—foraging anyone?—or planting the seeds of a new-to-you road trip. You might even learn something about a place you’ve explored dozens of times before.

Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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Chad McAllister, PhD and Chad McAllister에서 제공하는 콘텐츠입니다. 에피소드, 그래픽, 팟캐스트 설명을 포함한 모든 팟캐스트 콘텐츠는 Chad McAllister, PhD and Chad McAllister 또는 해당 팟캐스트 플랫폼 파트너가 직접 업로드하고 제공합니다. 누군가가 귀하의 허락 없이 귀하의 저작물을 사용하고 있다고 생각되는 경우 여기에 설명된 절차를 따르실 수 있습니다 https://ko.player.fm/legal.

Welcome to Product Mastery Now, where you learn the 7 knowledge areas for product mastery. We teach product managers, leaders, and innovators the product management practices that elevate your influence and create products your customers love as you move toward product mastery. To see all seven areas go to https://productmasterynow.com. Hosted by Chad McAllister, PhD, product management professor and practitioner.

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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Chad McAllister, PhD and Chad McAllister에서 제공하는 콘텐츠입니다. 에피소드, 그래픽, 팟캐스트 설명을 포함한 모든 팟캐스트 콘텐츠는 Chad McAllister, PhD and Chad McAllister 또는 해당 팟캐스트 플랫폼 파트너가 직접 업로드하고 제공합니다. 누군가가 귀하의 허락 없이 귀하의 저작물을 사용하고 있다고 생각되는 경우 여기에 설명된 절차를 따르실 수 있습니다 https://ko.player.fm/legal.

Welcome to Product Mastery Now, where you learn the 7 knowledge areas for product mastery. We teach product managers, leaders, and innovators the product management practices that elevate your influence and create products your customers love as you move toward product mastery. To see all seven areas go to https://productmasterynow.com. Hosted by Chad McAllister, PhD, product management professor and practitioner.

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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539: How to cultivate an environment where innovation thrives – with Catherine Connelly 32:09

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How product managers can build an environment for breakthrough innovation Watch on YouTube TLDR In my conversation with Catherine Connelly, a 20-year tech entrepreneur who co-founded MyYearbook at 15 and grew it into The Meet Group (a $500 million exit), we explored how to build environments where breakthrough product innovation happens consistently. Catherine emphasized that innovation culture starts with founders but can be cultivated by anyone willing to embrace failure, iterate quickly, and keep customers at the center of all decisions. The key is creating psychological safety, celebrating learning from failures, and making risk-free experimentation possible. Key Topics Building psychological safety that enables risk-taking Structuring product results meetings that celebrate learning from failures Creating systems that make experimentation truly risk-free Implementing a “kill fast” mindset for unsuccessful products and features Using customer stories to drive meaningful innovation Balancing operational execution with innovation initiatives Leveraging storytelling to gain support for innovation efforts Introduction Ever wondered why some teams consistently create breakthrough products while others are barely keeping up on maintenance work? Today, we’re tackling how to build environments where product innovation actually happens! Every product leader has watched promising ideas die because of organizational roadblocks, excessive caution, or flawed decision processes. You know firsthand that brilliant concepts mean nothing without the right conditions to develop them. From this episode, you’ll walk away with methods to immediately transform how your team innovates. Our guest, Catherine Connelly, is a 20-year female tech entrepreneur. She co-founded MyYearbook at 15 years of age and grew it into The Meet Group, a social dating company, later achieving exits totaling $600 million. Her recent book Designing Success: Lessons from 20 Years as a Female Tech Entrepreneur captures two decades of creating environments where breakthrough innovations thrive despite constant market shifts. Building a Foundation for Innovation Culture Catherine explained that innovation culture starts with the founding team and how they approach work from the very beginning. At MyYearbook, the foundation for innovation began with a sibling dynamic between Catherine and her brothers that created natural psychological safety. Working with her brothers meant they were used to bouncing ideas off each other without fear of judgment. This family dynamic established an environment where team members could pitch ideas without worrying about negative consequences if those ideas didn’t succeed. The understanding that a person’s worth isn’t tied to the success of their last idea became a cornerstone of their innovation approach. For product managers looking to foster innovation, the culture supporting innovation typically comes from the founders or founding team. How things work from the very beginning shapes the organization’s approach to experimentation and risk-taking. Catherine described how this initial foundation allowed her team to maintain a culture of innovation throughout the company’s growth: Open Communication: Regular team meetings where discussing failures was normalized Psychological Safety: Creating an environment where people could share “dumb ideas” without repercussions Focus on Learning: Treating unsuccessful experiments as valuable learning opportunities Collective Ownership: Recognizing that innovation can come from anyone, not just the product team This foundation of psychological safety made it possible for the organization to take the calculated risks necessary for breakthrough innovation. When team members don’t fear judgment or career consequences for failed attempts, they’re more willing to propose novel solutions and challenge established thinking. The key takeaway for product leaders is that building an innovative environment starts with establishing these foundational elements of safety, open communication, and a learning mindset. Without this foundation, other innovation practices and processes are unlikely to yield significant results, regardless of how well they’re implemented. Structuring for Innovation: Product Results Meetings Catherine shared how her team built systems that reinforced their innovation culture, with product results meetings being a crucial component. These weren’t typical status meetings focused on celebrating wins—they were structured learning sessions where teams reported experiment results regardless of outcome. What made these meetings unique was their deliberate emphasis on failed experiments. Catherine explained that at The Meet Group, they dedicated more attention and discussion time to experiments that didn’t succeed than to those that did. This counterintuitive approach recognized that teams often learn more from products that aren’t performing well than from successful ones. The structure of these meetings evolved from early practices at MyYearbook: Starting with 10:00 AM operations meetings primarily focused on what wasn’t going well Evolving into more formalized product results meetings as the company grew Requiring every team member to report on their experiments, successful or not Using failures as opportunities to brainstorm improvements and adjustments This system normalized talking about failure and created a culture where experimentation was expected and valued. By making these discussions a regular part of operations, The Meet Group reinforced that innovation requires trying new things, measuring results, and learning from both successes and failures. Beyond just the product team, innovation should involve everyone in the company. Regular all-hands meetings and company lunches ensured that all employees—whether in QA, trust and safety, product, or marketing—knew about current projects and initiatives. This approach recognized that innovative ideas could come from anyone, not just designated product teams. For product managers looking to implement similar practices, the key is creating consistent structures that highlight learning rather than just outcomes. By focusing meeting time on understanding why experiments didn’t work and what could be improved, teams develop a more nuanced understanding of their products and customers while building comfort with the experimentation process. Creating Risk-Free Innovation: Building Safety Systems For experimentation to truly flourish, Catherine explained that organizations need systems that make innovation genuinely risk-free. She shared an example about an incident over a Thanksgiving weekend when someone accidentally deleted their app from Facebook’s developer account, breaking all Facebook login functionality. Instead of asking “who did this?”, the team asked “how did this happen?” This fundamental shift in approach led to process improvements rather than blame assignment. The key was creating safeguards that allowed people to experiment without risking catastrophic consequences. By focusing on the process failure rather than individual blame, the team could identify ways to prevent similar issues in the future, such as limiting admin access to critical systems. Catherine also shared an example from her performance marketing work at The Meet Group. When their parent company expressed concerns about potential mistakes in campaign spending, Catherine explained that they had built-in safeguards beyond just spending caps. Their systems allowed them to monitor performance in real-time and quickly identify and correct any issues. What made this approach particularly powerful was that it enabled independent work without micromanagement. Team members could experiment confidently knowing that: Systems were in place to catch major issues quickly The focus would be on learning and improvement rather than blame The organization valued the insights gained from experiments, even unsuccessful ones Reasonable mistakes were viewed as part of the innovation process For product managers looking to implement similar systems, Catherine’s experience suggests focusing on: Creating appropriate access controls without stifling creativity Implementing monitoring systems that catch issues early Establishing clear recovery procedures for when experiments go wrong Building a culture that separates mistakes from personal performance evaluation Designing redundancies into critical systems to prevent catastrophic failures These systems didn’t just make innovation safer—they actively encouraged it by removing the fear factor from experimentation. This approach helped The Meet Group continue making innovative products over many years while building a reputation for creative solutions in a competitive market. The “Kill Fast” Mindset A “kill fast” mindset was essential to The Meet Group’s sustained innovation. This approach involved being willing to quickly end products or features that weren’t performing well, allowing the organization to reallocate resources to more promising opportunities. The Meet Group maintained an “app graveyard”—an updated slide documenting all their discontinued standalone apps and features. The team’s readiness to make decisive calls about what wasn’t working achieved: Quick resource reallocation: By killing underperforming products quickly, resources could be redirected to more promising opportunities Reduced attachment: Teams understood that each product was just one “shot on goal,” not a definitive measure of success Ongoing evaluation: Even successful features were regularly assessed for continued relevance Objective decision making: Data rather than emotions guided decisions about which products to continue supporting Catherine shared how one of their features called “Match” (similar to the Tinder queue, but developed before Tinder existed) had been very popular and drove significant growth for years. However, when it eventually stopped performing well, the team was willing to acknowledge this and move on rather than keeping it alive out of sentiment or past success. For product managers looking to implement a “kill fast” mindset, the key is creating clear evaluation criteria and regular review processes for all products and features. This approach requires: Setting clear success metrics before launching new initiatives Establishing regular review periods for all products and features Creating a culture where sunsetting products is viewed as a success (you learned something) rather than a failure Documenting discontinued products to preserve organizational learning Celebrating both the launch and the ending of products as natural parts of the innovation cycle The most valuable aspect of this mindset was recognizing that no single product determined the company’s success. By maintaining a portfolio approach with multiple “shots on goal,” The Meet Group could afford to kill underperforming products quickly while continuously developing new opportunities. Learning Through Iterations Catherine shared several examples of how iteration drove innovation at The Meet Group. She explained that their approach wasn’t about getting products right the first time, but rather about putting capabilities out quickly, gathering customer feedback, and making continuous improvements. One of her favorite examples involved the evolution of a feature called “Battles.” This popular feature began as “Superlatives,” a yearbook-inspired concept where users competed for titles like “funniest” within their networks. When users provided direct feedback that they didn’t find the feature valuable, the team didn’t get defensive. Instead, they listened and recognized legitimate problems—the same people were winning the same categories repeatedly, making the experience stale and boring. Rather than abandoning the concept entirely, they iterated by creating “Battles,” a one-on-one image contest between friends. This iteration transformed an underperforming feature into something significantly more engaging by addressing the core user complaints while preserving the competitive element that made the original concept appealing. Another instructive example came from the team’s experience with video features. In 2012, they released a feature called “Live” that enabled one-on-one video chats with games like backgammon and checkers. Despite significant development resources, Catherine acknowledged that this feature did nothing interesting. However, this apparent failure provided crucial learnings that influenced later successful products: They discovered that most users were reluctant to appear on camera in one-on-one situations They learned that playing simple games like backgammon with chat partners wasn’t compelling They gained valuable experience with video moderation and identifying inappropriate content These lessons directly informed their approach years later when developing a more successful livestreaming feature (also called “Live”). This time, they built it as a one-to-many feature rather than one-on-one, addressing the camera reluctance issue they had identified earlier. The team also applied their trust and safety learnings from the earlier video experience. Catherine shared that they had discovered a correlation between faces visible in video streams and reduced instances of inappropriate content. This insight helped them develop more effective moderation systems for their later video products. For product managers, the key takeaway is that iterations should be viewed as learning cycles. Each product version, successful or not, generates insights that inform future development. By embracing this perspective, teams can extract value even from unsuccessful products while continuously improving their offerings based on real user feedback and behavior. Customer-Centered Innovation Truly effective innovation must be grounded in deep customer understanding. Catherine explained how The Meet Group consistently put their users at the center of their innovation process rather than building features based on what the product team thought would work. This customer-centered approach involved several key practices: Regular user surveys: The team conducted frequent surveys to understand user pain points and preferences, not to determine exactly what to build next but to identify real user challenges. Rapid deployment and feedback collection: Rather than trying to perfect products before release, they quickly deployed capabilities and gathered user reactions. Direct incorporation of feedback: When users provided blunt feedback (like “this feature sucks” for their Superlatives feature), the team used this input to drive improvements. Avoiding the “Tech Echo Chamber”: Catherine noted how important it was to resist the temptation to build features just because they were being discussed in tech circles. Catherine explained that no user survey will explicitly tell you what to build next, but surveys can reveal actual pain points that users experience. By understanding these challenges, product teams can develop solutions that address real needs rather than perceived ones. This approach helped The Meet Group avoid a common pitfall: building features that the product team wants rather than what users need. Catherine shared how they would use surveys to identify the gap between what they perceived as user pain points versus what users actually experienced as problematic. For product managers, this customer-centered mindset requires: Regular, direct communication with users through multiple channels Developing systems to capture and analyze user feedback Creating quick feedback loops between user input and product iterations Maintaining skepticism about industry trends that aren’t validated by user needs Measuring success based on user-focused metrics rather than internal preferences By keeping users at the center of their innovation process, The Meet Group was able to develop products that resonated with their audience even as market conditions and user preferences evolved over time. Balancing Operations and Innovation Catherine shared insights about navigating the tension between operational execution and innovation as organizations grow. She highlighted how traditional management approaches often prioritize efficiency and optimization, which can inadvertently push out the innovative spirit that fueled a company’s initial success. One example Catherine provided was The Meet Group’s transition from web to mobile platforms around 2010. This transition presented significant challenges since the company had just gone public in a $100 million SPAC deal in 2011, with all their revenue coming from web properties. Public company investors typically expect consistent revenue growth, creating pressure to maintain existing business models rather than pursuing innovative directions. Catherine explained that this critical juncture required balancing several competing priorities: Maintaining the existing web properties that generated current revenue Investing resources in mobile development with uncertain short-term returns Managing investor expectations during a period of strategic transition Shifting team focus and capabilities toward new platforms and technologies The team recognized that despite having a successful web platform, mobile represented the future of social connection. For an app about meeting new people nearby, everyone having a GPS device in their pocket made perfect sense. The way people communicated through text messaging aligned perfectly with mobile experiences. What made this transition successful was The Meet Group’s transparent communication with stakeholders. They clearly explained that investors would see declining web revenue for several quarters as users migrated to mobile apps where monetization hadn’t yet been fully established. Catherine emphasized the importance of educating investors about the long-term vision while acknowledging short-term performance impacts. For product managers navigating similar transitions, Catherine’s experience highlights several key strategies: Recognize when market and technology trends necessitate fundamental shifts Communicate openly about expected “quarters of pain” during transitions Create a compelling narrative around why change is necessary for long-term success Balance resource allocation between current revenue generation and future growth Use data to validate directional shifts while acknowledging short-term performance impacts Catherine shared another example from later in The Meet Group’s journey when they made a significant bet on live streaming video in 2016. At that time, few companies were pursuing this approach in Western markets, though it was gaining traction in Asian markets like China with apps such as Momo. This represented another “bet the company” moment when the organization needed to balance current operations with forward-looking innovation. Through these experiences, Catherine demonstrated that successful product organizations must continuously balance optimization of current offerings with exploration of new opportunities. The key is creating structures and communication approaches that allow both to coexist, even when they sometimes appear at odds with each other. The Power of Storytelling in Innovation Storytelling plays a critical role in gaining support for innovation initiatives. Product leaders must develop the ability to craft compelling narratives that help stakeholders understand the “why” behind strategic shifts and innovation efforts. When The Meet Group was transitioning from web to mobile, transparent storytelling became essential for managing investor expectations. The team needed to communicate that while they would see declining web revenues as users migrated to mobile platforms, this short-term pain was necessary for long-term success. This required creating a narrative that helped stakeholders understand the future vision while acknowledging current challenges. Catherine shared that effective innovation storytelling requires several key elements: Clear articulation of the vision : Explaining where the market is heading and why change is necessary Transparent discussion of trade-offs : Acknowledging short-term impacts while emphasizing long-term benefits Customer-centered perspective : Using customer stories to demonstrate why changes matter Data-driven foundation : Supporting narrative with relevant market and user data Emotional connection : Helping stakeholders feel excited about the future direction Another example came from The Meet Group’s decision to build live streaming video in 2016. At that time, this represented a significant departure from their existing business model. Catherine explained that when presenting this direction to investors, they needed to focus on the story behind it and convince investors that the whole market would soon move toward live streaming. For product managers, winning stakeholders’ hearts and minds is essential for successful innovation. Without effective storytelling, even the best product ideas may fail to gain the necessary support and resources. This applies to both external stakeholders like investors and internal team members who need to be motivated by more than just incremental improvements. Catherine noted that engineers aren’t excited by instructions to add another penny to ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)—they want to understand how their work transforms the user experience and creates meaningful impact. By connecting innovation efforts to compelling stories about user problems and solutions, product leaders can inspire their teams while securing the organizational support needed for breakthrough innovation. Actionable Strategies for Product Leaders Catherine concluded our conversation by sharing specific strategies that product leaders can implement immediately to transform how their teams innovate. These actionable approaches don’t require organizational overhauls but can significantly impact innovation culture when consistently applied. The first strategy Catherine emphasized was for product leaders to create structures for reporting experiments that didn’t go well, starting with themselves. By modeling vulnerability and openly discussing their own failed experiments, leaders establish psychological safety for their teams. This approach demonstrates that learning from failure is valued and expected within the organization. Catherine suggested that product leaders should: Create dedicated meeting time for failure discussions : Allocate specific time in regular meetings to discuss experiments that didn’t work and what was learned. Establish a “learning from failure” framework : Develop a consistent approach for analyzing unsuccessful initiatives that focuses on insights rather than blame. Celebrate meaningful learnings : Recognize team members who share valuable insights from failed experiments, reinforcing that this behavior is valued. Connect experiments to customer impact : Always frame innovation discussions around how efforts ultimately affect customers and solve their problems. Document and share learnings : Create systems for preserving insights from both successful and unsuccessful experiments so the organization builds cumulative knowledge. Throughout our discussion, Catherine consistently returned to the importance of keeping customers at the center of innovation efforts. She stressed that bringing customer stories into product development discussions helps teams maintain focus on solving real problems rather than just building features. Conclusion Creating environments where product innovation thrives requires deliberate design and consistent attention from product leaders. As Catherine Connelly demonstrated through her experience growing MyYearbook into The Meet Group, successful innovation cultures combine psychological safety, structured learning from failure, customer-centricity, and a willingness to quickly redirect resources from underperforming initiatives. The most valuable insight from our conversation was that innovation requires regular action—taking multiple “shots on goal” rather than seeking perfection on the first attempt. For product managers and leaders looking to transform their teams, Catherine’s advice offers a clear starting point: model vulnerability by discussing your own failed experiments, create dedicated structures for learning from what didn’t work, and keep customer needs at the center of all innovation efforts. By implementing these practices consistently, product teams can develop the resilience and creativity needed to deliver breakthrough products even as markets and technologies continuously evolve. Useful Links Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn Get a free copy of Catherine’s book, Designing Success , just for Product Mastery Now listeners, and be sure to leave an Amazon review of the book Visit Catherine’s website Innovation Quote “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso Application Questions Learning from Failure : How could you restructure your team’s product review meetings to place greater emphasis on learning from unsuccessful experiments? What specific changes would make team members more comfortable sharing what didn’t work? Psychological Safety : How could you demonstrate to your team that a person’s worth isn’t tied to the success of their ideas? What actions could you take in the next week to model vulnerability and create an environment where people feel safe proposing “dumb ideas”? Kill Fast Mindset : How could your organization better identify and sunset underperforming products or features? What criteria or review process could you implement to make these decisions more objective and less emotional? Customer-Centered Innovation : How could you bring more authentic customer stories and feedback into your product development process? What mechanisms could you create to ensure your team is solving real customer problems rather than building features based on internal preferences? Risk-Free Experimentation : How could you create safeguards in your systems and processes that would allow team members to experiment more freely without risking catastrophic consequences? What specific changes would make innovation less risky in your environment? Bio Catherine Connelly is a marketing leader, entrepreneur, and author of Designing Success: Lessons from 20 Years as a Female Tech Entrepreneur . Catherine co-founded The Meet Group, a NASDAQ-listed social dating and livestreaming company connecting millions of active users globally. The Meet Group was acquired in a $500 million sale in 2020. Catherine served as SVP of Marketing, leading marketing and communications across its portfolio of social entertainment apps and livestreaming and creator economy solutions. Now, Catherine loves contributing to the entrepreneurial ecosystem through her weekly newsletter, Growing Up Startup , and her free office hours. Catherine graduated from Georgetown University and holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. To learn more about Catherine, visit https://www.cconnelly.me/ . Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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538: Improve your focus in a distracting world- with Jones Loflin 19:42

8일 전19:42

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나중에 재생

19:42

How product leaders can stay as focused as a bee Watch on YouTube TLDR In today’s distraction-filled world, product managers and leaders struggle to maintain focus. In my recent podcast interview with Jones Loflin, author of Focused as a Bee , we explored how the honeybee’s remarkable focus and intentionality can teach us valuable productivity lessons. Jones shared six “permissions” that form a framework for improving focus, along with practical strategies for managing distractions and creating environments conducive to deep work. This article unpacks these concepts specifically for product leaders looking to enhance their productivity and effectiveness. Key Topics Lessons from honeybees for product managers The difference between being “busy” versus being “focused” The six permissions to focus: Prioritize, Plan, Be Unavailable, Recharge, Change, and Be Consistent Practical strategies for managing both internal and external distractions Creating triggers and environments that support focused work Applying focus techniques with limited schedule control Using focus to drive product innovation and change management Introduction Have you ever reached the end of your workday and wondered, “What did I even accomplish today?” With endless emails, notifications, and distractions pulling us in every direction, staying focused feels harder than ever. But what if we could take a lesson from one of nature’s most efficient workers—the honeybee—to regain control of our attention and productivity? That’s exactly what today’s guest, Jones Loflin, will share with us—practical tips and mindset hacks for improving our focus. Jones is a successful speaker and the author of several books including his latest, Focused As A Bee , as well as Always Growing , Juggling Elephants , and Getting To It . He also worked as a senior trainer on the best-selling book, Who Moved My Cheese? Jones has 30 years of experience, growing confident leadership, implementing change and improving productivity with simple, no-fluff solutions. Focused as a Bee The statistics are sobering: 79% of professionals find it impossible to focus for more than an hour, with 59% unable to maintain focus for even 30 minutes. Our thoughts typically shift to something else after just three minutes. Most of us have heard the phrase “busy as a bee,” but Jones challenged this common expression. Being busy implies activity but not necessarily accomplishment. Through his experience as a beekeeper, Jones observed that bees are actually “focused as a bee” — intentionally directing their time and energy toward what’s most important at every moment. This distinction is critical for product leaders. In our world of constant demands and shifting priorities, we can easily fall into the trap of being perpetually busy without achieving meaningful outcomes. The honeybee, however, demonstrates an unwavering commitment to what matters most for the colony’s survival and success. Jones’s journey into beekeeping began when he and his daughter received a hive as a gift. Their first colony died after a year because they weren’t good beekeepers yet. This experience taught them an important lesson: Bees have a mind of their own and remain laser-focused on what they want to accomplish. While humans can assist them, we can’t change their fundamental nature. For product leaders, this serves as a reminder that success requires more than just activity. It demands intentional focus on outcomes that drive value for customers and the organization. Just as a bee’s focus is often a matter of colony life and death, our ability to focus on what truly matters can determine the success or failure of our products and teams. The book Focused as a Bee takes the form of a business parable about two individuals: one struggling with focus and another who has learned focus principles through beekeeping. Through their story, Jones introduces six key permissions that can help anyone, especially busy product leaders, improve their focus and productivity. Permission to Focus The first step of Jones’s framework is giving yourself permission to focus. This might sound obvious, but Jones’s pointed out that most of us naturally give ourselves permission to be distracted without realizing it. We respond to every notification, allow frequent interruptions, and rarely create conditions that support deep concentration. For product leaders, intentional focus requires acknowledging that it doesn’t come naturally in our distraction-filled environments. It demands conscious effort and deliberate actions. Without this fundamental permission, we end up with those days where we ask ourselves, “Where did the time go?” or “What did I actually accomplish?” Under the overarching permission to focus, there are six other permissions that we can must give ourselves in order to stay focused. 1. Permission to Prioritize The first permission involves determining what’s most important based on your desired outcomes. Jones shared an interesting historical perspective: the word “priority” was originally singular, not plural. It was only during the industrial revolution that we began using the term “priorities,” suggesting we could focus on multiple important things simultaneously. For product managers, prioritization is familiar territory. However, Jones emphasized that effective prioritization requires asking: What outcomes do we want to achieve? What will get us closer to our goals? What deserves our time and attention right now? This permission is as much about saying “no” as it is about saying “yes.” By clearly identifying what deserves your focus, you create boundaries around your time and energy. This is especially relevant in product management, where competing demands from stakeholders, customers, and technical teams can easily fragment your attention. 2. Permission to Plan The second permission involves investing time to plan your day, week, or month. Jones compared this to how honeybees prepare before swarming to a new location. Days before leaving, worker bees begin gorging on honey, ensuring they’re ready to depart without delay. For product leaders, planning goes beyond creating simple to-do lists. Jones cautioned against stopping at list-making, which he called “scary” when done in isolation. Effective planning includes: Planning Element Application for Product Leaders Time estimation Calculate how long tasks will realistically take Optimal timing Schedule high-focus work during your peak mental energy hours Time blocking Reserve dedicated chunks of time for specific types of work Location planning Identify the optimal environment for different types of work Even if your day is only 70% planned and you complete just half of those planned activities, that’s still better than having no plan and simply reacting to whatever seems urgent in the moment. Jones acknowledged that most product professionals have limited control over their schedules, but planning can still help you optimize your time. If you only have control over 10% of your day, use that 10% more intentionally. 3. Permission to Be Unavailable The third permission—being unavailable—may be the most challenging for product managers who pride themselves on their accessibility. Jones explained that we need to be unavailable to three key sources of distraction: First, we must be unavailable to our inner thoughts. Product leaders often juggle numerous responsibilities, and our minds frequently interrupt our focus with unrelated tasks and concerns. Jones described how undone tasks roll around in our heads, making it difficult to concentrate. Having a solid plan (from permission two) helps minimize these mental interruptions. Jones also discussed the “inner critic”—that internal voice questioning our abilities or decisions. Rather than fighting this voice, he suggested making friends with it. He named his inner critic “Frank,” after a lovable but crusty farmer who would question his home improvement projects. By acknowledging this voice with humor and understanding it’s trying to protect us, we can move past its interruptions more easily. Second, we need to be unavailable to external distractions. For product leaders, these come in many forms: email notifications, Slack messages, open office environments, or even unfinished projects visible from our workspace. Jones suggested these practical strategies: Move to a different environment when deep focus is required Use headphones to block out noise Disable notifications during focus periods Clear visual distractions from your workspace Third, and perhaps most relevant for product leaders, is being unavailable to the expectations of others. How often do we struggle to focus because we’re uncertain what stakeholders really want? Clarifying expectations upfront—understanding precisely what success looks like—creates mental space for focused execution. For product managers, this might mean asking more detailed questions during requirement gathering or having explicit discussions about acceptance criteria before starting work. 4. Permission to Recharge The fourth permission recognizes that focus requires energy—mental, physical, and emotional. Jones shared that in a healthy hive, bees take about 40 naps per day. Even more surprising, foraging bees—those with the most demanding work—take up to 50 naps daily. These aren’t long breaks, but brief moments to recharge before the next focused effort. For product leaders, this translates to strategic pauses throughout the day. Jones cautioned against the common practice of scheduling back-to-back meetings without breaks. By the third consecutive meeting, our focus and effectiveness significantly diminish. Instead, he recommended: Taking short breaks between major tasks or meetings Using transitions to capture thoughts from the previous activity Consciously “resetting” before moving to the next priority Recognizing when pushing through fatigue becomes counterproductive For product managers specifically, these strategic recharge moments can be particularly valuable when switching between different modes of work—moving from a customer interview to a technical discussion, or from data analysis to creative brainstorming. 5. Permission to Change The fifth permission involves being willing to change your approach when current methods aren’t working. Jones described how bees immediately adapt their behavior when their environment changes, such as when a hive is split. They don’t waste time continuing with ineffective behaviors. For product leaders, this means regularly assessing: What’s not working in your current focus approach? What processes or habits need adjustment? Which environments or times of day are proving unproductive? How might you reorganize your schedule to align with your energy patterns? Jones shared a personal example of adjusting his schedule to take advantage of beautiful afternoon weather for outdoor tasks, which required changing his morning routine. This willingness to adapt, rather than rigidly sticking to established patterns, enables more effective focus and greater productivity. 6. Permission to Be Consistent The final permission emphasizes the power of consistency. Jones observed that honeybees exhibit remarkable consistency in their behaviors—emerging from the hive when temperatures reach 55-60 degrees and maintaining consistent roles and activities within the colony. This consistency, over time, yields the results they need for survival and success. For product leaders, consistency means establishing reliable routines and triggers that signal to your brain it’s time to focus. Jones shared a personal example of using scent as a focus trigger. He keeps a specific candle in his office and simply removes the lid (without lighting it) when it’s time for deep work. Through conditioning, that scent now signals to his brain that it’s time to concentrate. Product managers can create their own focus triggers: A specific location designated for certain types of work Background music or sounds that signal focus time Physical objects that represent the transition to focused work Consistent routines before important thinking sessions Environmental cues that train your brain to enter flow state more quickly Practical Strategies for Managing Interruptions Beyond the six permissions, Jones offered tactical advice for handling the interruptions that inevitably punctuate a product manager’s day. One simple but effective technique is verbally stating your intention before starting a task. Simply saying aloud, “I’m going to LinkedIn to look up this specific person’s profile” helps your brain stay on track and resist tangential distractions. Jones suggested celebrating when you complete your intended action without getting sidetracked, reinforcing the positive behavior. Create Friction for Distractions Drawing from James Clear’s Atomic Habits , Jones recommended making the right things easier and creating friction for distractions. This might include: Moving your phone to another room during focus sessions Closing unnecessary browser tabs Using website blockers during designated focus time Setting up your workspace to minimize visual distractions Creating physical distance from potential interruptions Interruption Filters Particularly useful for product leaders working in busy environments is Jones’s concept of “interruption filters.” Before beginning focused work, explicitly decide which conditions justify an interruption. Write these down rather than keeping them in your head: What types of messages warrant immediate attention? Which team members can interrupt during focus time? What level of urgency justifies breaking your concentration? By defining these boundaries in advance, you train your brain to filter out less important interruptions and maintain focus on high-value work. Conclusion In today’s hyper-distracted world, the ability to focus has become a rare and valuable skill for product leaders. Through the wisdom of honeybees and Jones Loflin’s six permissions framework, we can develop practices that help us direct our attention to what truly matters. By giving ourselves permission to focus, prioritize, plan, be unavailable, recharge, and be consistent, we create the conditions for meaningful productivity rather than mere busyness. As product leaders, our effectiveness depends on our ability to balance competing demands while maintaining focus on strategic priorities. The honeybee—with its unwavering commitment to what matters most for the colony—offers an inspiring model. By applying these focus principles in our daily work, we can not only enhance our personal productivity but also lead our teams more effectively, drive innovation more consistently, and create products that truly matter to our customers. Useful Links Check out Focused As A Bee Connect with Jones on LinkedIn Visit Jones’s website Innovation Quote “Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you can see farther.” – Zig Ziglar Application Questions How could you apply the “permission to prioritize” concept to your current product roadmap? What items might you need to remove or defer to maintain better focus on your highest-value initiatives? Think about your personal work environment. What specific distractions most frequently interrupt your focus, and how could you apply the “permission to be unavailable” to create better boundaries around these interruptions? How could your team implement the concept of strategic “recharging” during your sprint or development cycles? What might dedicated focus and recharge periods look like within your existing process? Consider your most recent product initiative that faced challenges. How could applying the “believable first step” approach have changed the outcome? What would that first step have looked like? How could you create consistent focus triggers or environments for different types of product management work (user research, story writing, stakeholder management)? What environmental cues might help you and your team transition more effectively between these different modes? Bio Jones Loflin is a keynote speaker, coach, and author who helps individuals and organizations struggling with too much to do. With three decades of experience, he offers simple yet powerful strategies for focus, time management, and change. His books include Juggling Elephants and Always Growing. His latest release, Focused As a Bee, offers fresh insights on how to maintain focus in a world where we are constantly being distracted. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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537: Step-by-step community engagement for your product – with Jake McKee 39:41

15일 전39:41

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39:41

How LEGO built a passionate community that drives product growth Watch on YouTube TLDR Community-driven product development transformed LEGO from near-bankruptcy to industry leadership by engaging adult fans and positioning LEGO as a creative medium. This approach creates authentic relationships with customers who become collaborators, advocates, and co-creators for your products, ultimately driving innovation and business results. Key Topics Relational not transactional : Build genuine relationships where “everybody goes home happy” rather than viewing community as free marketing or support Four-part framework to build a community : Find the right people, identify the right timing, define clear outcomes, and design engaging activities The “Octopus Theory” : Community engagement delivers multiple simultaneous benefits including better product decisions, advocacy, team motivation, and competitive differentiation Ecosystem thinking : Communities influence broader audiences beyond direct participants Executive champions : Senior-level support is crucial for sustainable community initiatives Power of direct interaction : Engineers and product teams respond to feedback when hearing directly from customers Shared purpose : Rally around something bigger than either individual benefits or company goals Introduction Today we are talking about building passionate communities that drive product growth. How can you create authentic, engaged communities that transform your product’s trajectory? We’re talking about turning fans into collaborators, advocates, and even co-creators. As a product manager, you need to know how to build something customers don’t just use—but love. This discussion will explore the steps to tap into the power of community, learning from successful examples at LEGO and Apple. Our guide to make all this happen is Jake McKee—the original LEGO Community Guy. He didn’t just grow a community—he helped change the culture of one of the world’s most iconic brands, reviving a rapidly declining company. Today, he advises organizations on how to build loyal communities that fuel innovation and drive business results. This discussion will help you avoid disaster and instead deliver sustained growth. The LEGO Turnaround Story: A Community-Driven Renaissance When Jake McKee joined LEGO in the early 2000s, the iconic brand was heading toward a financial cliff. By 2003, the company was nearing bankruptcy – a fact that many people today don’t fully appreciate. The problem stemmed from a fundamental misunderstanding of what made LEGO special. In an attempt to stay relevant in a world where children had less free time for play, LEGO had simplified their products – replacing multiple bricks with larger, single-piece components that reduced building time. As Jake explained, this strategy backfired spectacularly. The simplified products lost the core appeal of LEGO– the ability to build and rebuild with flexible components. The result was “the world’s worst toy” – not good as a traditional toy and not good as a LEGO product. Jake joined LEGO Direct, a division tasked with centralizing all direct-to-consumer efforts, including: Catalog sales Early online presence Exclusive kits development Adult fan engagement What’s particularly interesting is that Jake took on a dual role – performing his official job as a senior web producer while simultaneously building relationships with adult LEGO fans, a group the company had completely ignored for decades. Initially, this community work gained little traction within LEGO. But when the financial crisis hit and marketing budgets were slashed, Jake’s “free marketing” approach through community engagement suddenly became attractive to colleagues who had previously dismissed it. Key Phases of LEGO’s Community-Driven Turnaround Phase Challenge Community Solution Result Pre-crisis Declining sales Identifying adult fans as untapped market Early exclusive kits for adults Financial crisis (2003) Near bankruptcy Leveraging fan enthusiasm for marketing Opening company to external collaboration Recovery Rebuilding brand relevance Co-creating with adult fans (Mindstorms 2.0) Featured on Wired magazine cover Long-term growth Sustaining innovation Establishing LEGO as a creative medium Adult fans now represent 45% of business This transformation didn’t happen overnight. Jake spent years building relationships and gradually shifting the company’s perspective. The breakthrough moment came with the Mindstorms 2.0 (NXT) project, where LEGO brought in adult fans to help design the product – a radical departure from their previous closed development approach. Beyond Demographics: The Ecosystem Approach to Community Building One of the most valuable insights from my conversation with Jake was his emphasis on thinking beyond demographic segments. Rather than simply targeting adult LEGO fans as a market, he positioned LEGO as a creative medium – a perspective that opened possibilities across multiple audience segments. This ecosystem approach created several new marketing avenues: Adult enthusiasts build impressive displays at public venues Parents and grandparents see these creations and recognize LEGO’s creative potential They purchase LEGO as a creative medium rather than a disposable toy Educators incorporate LEGO into classrooms as a learning tool These expanded uses inspire new product ideas and innovations Jake emphasized that community building isn’t just about catering to your most passionate fans – it’s about understanding how their enthusiasm can influence the broader ecosystem around your product. When an adult brings a LEGO model to work, they’re not just expressing their personal interest; they’re demonstrating the product’s creative potential to new audiences. This perspective shift from “LEGO as toy” to “LEGO as creative medium” allowed the company to sell products across age groups while maintaining brand consistency. Jake’s Apple Experience: Building a Global Support Community Jake managed Apple’s Global Support Community – a platform that handled tens of thousands of technical support questions monthly across multiple languages. Apple Community Component Function 200+ Volunteer Super Users Answered significant percentage of community questions Internal Support Team Validated community responses and addressed complex issues Community Moderators Maintained community standards and facilitated discussions Regular Users Asked questions and occasionally provided answers Unlike his LEGO role, which focused on co-creation and product development, Jake’s Apple work centered on peer-to-peer support – demonstrating how community strategies can be adapted to different business objectives. The multi-tiered approach he managed included approximately 200 volunteers who provided a substantial portion of support answers, supplemented by internal teams that validated responses and addressed more complex issues. This structure illustrates a different but equally valuable community model for product managers to consider. While product development communities like those at Lego might involve smaller numbers of highly engaged participants, support communities scale to handle larger volumes of interactions with varying engagement levels. Jake explained that the key to successful support communities lies in creating an ecosystem where: Questions receive prompt, accurate answers Super users feel valued and recognized for their contributions Internal teams maintain quality control without stifling community participation Knowledge flows efficiently between all participants The Apple experience demonstrates how community-driven approaches can extend beyond product development into other aspects of the customer journey. Communities can support various organizational goals throughout the product lifecycle, from initial concept through ongoing support and retention. The Four-Part Framework for Building Product Development Communities Based on Jake’s experience with LEGO and subsequent work with other companies, he developed a four-part framework for community-driven product development. This practical approach can help product managers integrate customer voices throughout the development process. Two Levels of Community A community may consist of two different levels, and a particular product could be associated with either or both. Customer voices for product development: a small community, perhaps 5 to 50 people, that works side-by-side with the product team A space to maintain interest after product launch: hundreds or thousands of users who are passionate about the product and participate in activities or programs together 1. Finding the Right People The first step is identifying community members whose voices will resonate with the broader customer base. When you announce that you developed a product with community input, other customers should react with: “I’m jealous they were involved, but I understand why they were chosen and believe they represented my interests.” Selecting the right representatives builds credibility with your wider community and ensures the feedback you receive reflects diverse user needs. 2. Identifying the Right Timing Community involvement should be strategically timed throughout your product development cycle. This could mean increasing the size of the community as you near completion, or you could stick with the same community throughout. The timing and size of community involvement depends on several factors: Project secrecy requirements Technical complexity Development timeline Available resources Some community members might participate throughout the entire process, while others join for specific stages. The key is designing intentional touchpoints rather than random engagement. 3. Defining the Right Outcomes Before engaging your community, clearly define what you hope to achieve. Are you looking for: Fresh ideas and perspectives? Validation of existing concepts? Identification of potential issues? Specific feedback on particular features? Testing in real-world scenarios? Community engagement isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Your outcomes should align with specific business needs and development challenges. 4. Designing the Right Activities The final component involves creating structured activities that are enjoyable and productive for all participants. This requires: Formal program design (not ad-hoc interactions) Consistent engagement (not disappearing for weeks) Relationship-building opportunities Meaningful contribution channels Community-driven product development differs fundamentally from traditional research studies. Rather than one-off surveys, it builds ongoing relationships that allow for deeper insights, more honest feedback, and collaborative problem-solving. The “Octopus Theory”: Eight Benefits of Community-Driven Development Jake described what he calls the “Octopus Theory” – the idea that effective community engagement delivers multiple benefits or “tentacles” simultaneously. When you bring passionate customers into your development process, you gain significant advantages including: Great Feedback Leading to Better Product Decisions : Direct customer input improves feature prioritization and design choices Deeper Relationships : Ongoing engagement creates comfort with giving and receiving challenging feedback Real-Time Marketing Insights : Product marketers can observe what features generate excitement before launch Built-In Launch Advocacy : Community participants become day-one advocates when products reach market Team Motivation : External enthusiasm reinvigorates internal teams facing development fatigue Jake shared a personal example of team motivation: When he shows a detailed scale model he’s built to family members, they express polite interest without truly understanding the achievement. But when he shows the same model to fellow scale modelers, their specific, knowledgeable enthusiasm is deeply motivating. Product teams experience renewed energy when interacting with passionate customers who truly appreciate their work’s complexity and impact. Common Mistakes in Building Product Communities Despite the clear benefits, many organizations struggle to build effective product communities. Jake identified several common pitfalls that product managers should avoid: Transactional vs. Relational Mindsets The most fundamental mistake is approaching community as a transaction rather than a relationship. Many companies view communities primarily as cost-saving mechanisms: “If we have a community, users will support each other and we can hire fewer support professionals” “If we have a community, they’ll do marketing for us and we can reduce our advertising budget” While communities can deliver these benefits, starting with a transactional mindset undermines the relationship-building necessary for sustainable engagement. As Jake put it, his mantra for over 20 years has been “everybody goes home happy” – ensuring both the company and community members get value from the relationship. Missing the Shared Purpose Successful communities rally around purposes larger than either individual benefits or company goals. Without a compelling shared purpose, engagement feels hollow and manipulative. At LEGO, Jake faced initial skepticism from adult fans who assumed he “just wanted to sell them things” or get them to “work for free.” His solution was to start by asking what they needed from the company and delivering on those needs first. Only after establishing trust did he request their help with company priorities. The LEGO community’s purpose is to drive the idea that “LEGO is as a creative medium.” Jake’s responsibility is to fulfill this purpose by making and selling amazing products. LEGO sales support the community’s shared purpose and create value for both the company and customers. Selecting the Wrong Community Managers Not everyone is equipped to build effective customer communities. While you might assume extroverts make the best community managers, Jake noted that many successful community professionals (including himself) are actually introverts who have learned to play extroverted roles. What matters most is: Genuine passion for both the product and the community Understanding of social dynamics Commitment to relationship building Ability to serve as an effective “party host” Lacking Executive Champions Community initiatives often stall without senior-level support. Jake emphasized the need for executive champions who understand the long-term value of community engagement and can provide necessary resources and political backing. Conclusion Building passionate product communities has evolved from a nice-to-have into a genuine competitive advantage. The transformation at LEGO demonstrates how powerful this approach can be – taking the company from near-bankruptcy to industry leadership by reimagining its relationship with customers. What began as a small initiative to engage adult fans eventually reshaped the entire business model and product philosophy. For product managers looking to drive sustainable growth, the community-driven approach offers a pathway to deeper customer insights, more effective advocacy, and products people don’t just use but truly love. By applying the frameworks and principles Jake outlined, product managers can harness the transformative power of passionate community engagement – turning their most enthusiastic users into partners in innovation and growth. Useful Links Visit Jake’s website Listen to episode 391: Product VP of Wyze uses community for product innovation and you can too – with Steve McIrvin Innovation Quote “Somewhere someone is practicing and when you meet them they will beat you.” – Michael Jordan Application Questions Community Assessment : How could you identify the passionate users in your current customer base who might form the foundation of a product community? What signals or behaviors would indicate they’re potential community contributors rather than just satisfied customers? Relational Approach : How could your team shift from transactional interactions with customers to building more relational connections? What specific activities or touchpoints could you redesign to emphasize relationship-building rather than just extracting value? Community-Driven Innovation : Where in your current product development process could you integrate community voices? Which stages would benefit most from external perspectives, and how might you structure these engagements to get meaningful feedback while protecting confidential information? Shared Purpose Development : What larger purpose could unite your company and customers beyond the product itself? How could you articulate this shared purpose in a way that resonates with both internal teams and external community members? Executive Alignment : How could you build support for community initiatives among your leadership team? What metrics or success stories would demonstrate the value of community engagement to executives who might be skeptical about the return on investment? Bio Hi! I’m Jake McKee, the original Community Guy. Going all the way back to 1996, I’ve played an instrumental role in building online communities for some of the world’s most successful and recognizable brands, including LEGO, Apple, Southwest Airlines, Canon, and H&R Block. I consult with organizations of all sizes to help solve community and business challenges of all kinds. I’ve co-authored books on social media and community strategy, and spoken to and run workshops for audiences of business professionals countless times. I created CX 5essions, a community project that connects senior-level online professionals every month for conversation, connection, and camaraderie. As if that’s not enough community nerdery, I also created a web comic about community management, Confessions of a Community Manager. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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536: Every product role is a sustainability role – with Kaila Bryzgalski 30:44

22일 전30:44

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30:44

Sustainable product management drives business success Watch on YouTube TLDR Sustainable product management integrates environmental considerations into the entire product lifecycle, creating value for businesses, customers, and the planet. Kaila Byrzgalski’s experience at Steelcase demonstrates how a dedicated sustainability role can bridge the gap between corporate environmental goals and product innovation. By approaching sustainability as a core business strategy rather than a separate initiative, product managers can discover opportunities to reduce costs, attract environmentally conscious customers, and build more resilient products. Key Topics Cross-functional integration is essential – sustainability connects portfolio management, marketing, design, and operations Three layers of sustainability exist in organizations: corporate reporting, product stories, and detailed product data Lifecycle assessments help identify environmental hotspots and improvement opportunities in products Sustainable materials innovation can simultaneously reduce costs and environmental impact Business benefits include cost optimization, market expansion, and strengthened customer relationships Getting started requires overcoming analysis paralysis by taking small, meaningful steps Every role can be a sustainability role, with product managers uniquely positioned to drive meaningful change Introduction We’re diving deep into a topic that scarcely existed a decade ago: sustainable product management. Sustainability is no longer a buzzword—it’s a core strategy for product leaders like Kaila Bryzgalski at Steelcase. If you’ve ever wondered how sustainability improves product innovation and business success, this discussion is for you. You’ll gain insights into real-world practices from Kaila, a leader who’s created her role from scratch, making a tangible impact at Steelcase. Together, we’ll learn why sustainability is not only vital but also how to integrate it into product strategy. Creating a Sustainable Product Management Role Steelcase has approached sustainability as part of its corporate DNA for over 100 years. The company has long valued “people and planet” alongside profit. This foundation made it possible for Kaila to create a specialized role focused on product sustainability marketing. The company employs what Kaila called a hub-and-spoke sustainability model: The Hub : A central sustainability team of subject matter experts The Spokes : Specialized sustainability roles in different departments: Marketing Operations Supply management Design Understanding a Portfolio Manager for Product Sustainability Role The portfolio manager for product sustainability position at Steelcase sits at the intersection of multiple departments. This cross-functional role connects brand communications, marketing, portfolio management, and product development with the sustainability hub and corporate ESG impact team. Kaila described managing what she called “the layers of sustainability”: Sustainability Layer Description Example Highest Level Corporate impact reporting and stakeholder communications Annual sustainability reports, investor communications Middle Level Product-specific sustainability stories Marketing materials highlighting sustainable features Foundational Level Detailed product data and metrics Lifecycle assessments, environmental product declarations As a portfolio manager for product sustainability, Kaila manages both: The green product portfolio (products with differentiated sustainability features like the carbon neutral product line) Sustainability attributes for Steelcase’s broader catalog of 500+ global products For product managers looking to enhance their sustainability skills, understanding this layered approach helps create a comprehensive strategy rather than isolated initiatives. How to Create a Similar Role in Your Organization If you’re interested in creating a similar sustainable product management position in your company, Kaila identified three key factors that enabled the role at Steelcase: Company values aligned with sustainability (research and insight-focused culture) Leadership support for the position Customer demand creating market pull for sustainable products Practical Steps for Creating a Sustainability Role For product managers looking to establish a similar role, Kaila recommended these actionable steps: 1. Research your company’s impact report and materiality assessment Consider using AI tools to help summarize lengthy reports Look for mentions of product design or sustainability in the materiality spectrum 2. Gather evidence of customer demand Collect data points from sales teams about customer requests Research market trends in sustainability for your product category 3. Make a business case to leadership Present findings on company values and customer demand Show how a dedicated sustainability role could address both Creating a sustainability-focused product role has become easier over the past five years as more customers prioritize environmental attributes. The role has gone through what Kaila described as a “storming, forming, norming” evolution, becoming increasingly integrated into standard product development processes. Practical Steps for Improving Sustainability in Product Management One of the most valuable aspects of Kaila’s role is her collaboration with other product managers to integrate sustainability into their work. She described her function as that of a guide or consultant, helping product teams understand environmental considerations alongside traditional product attributes like quality and durability. For product managers looking to improve sustainability in their own products, Kaila shared three key action items: 1. Study Your Company’s Impact Report Use Ctrl+F to quickly find mentions of product design and sustainability Understand what sustainability aspects matter most to your organization Identify how product development connects to broader company sustainability goals 2. Learn About Lifecycle Assessments (LCA) Determine if your products already have lifecycle assessments If not, find assessments for similar products or categories Identify environmental “hotspots” in your product lifecycle Use this data to guide material selection and design decisions 3. Know Your Sustainability-Conscious Customers Research which customer segments value sustainability Understand what specific environmental attributes matter to them Target these segments with appropriate sustainability messaging By incorporating these practices, product managers can make sustainability a core consideration in product development rather than an afterthought or add-on feature. Practical Examples of Sustainable Product Innovation To illustrate how sustainable product management works in practice, Kaila shared a case study from Steelcase’s Sustainable Materials Summit. This event brought together cross-functional teams including quality, safety, engineering, and marketing professionals to address environmental hotspots in their products. The summit focused on sustainability in material selection, one of the most impactful areas for environmental product design. Participants developed several innovative solutions: Innovation Approach Specific Example Business Benefit Alternative materials Exploring eco-friendly foam alternatives Reduced environmental impact Increased recycled content Higher recycled polypropylene in task seating Lower carbon footprint Supply chain optimization Consolidating tabletop sizes Reduced waste and manufacturing costs These examples demonstrate three core approaches to sustainable product development: Eliminating materials where possible Using less material through design optimization Finding alternative materials with lower environmental impact What makes these approaches particularly valuable is that they often result in both environmental benefits and business advantages, creating a win-win for sustainability and profitability. The Business Case for Sustainability A common misconception about sustainable product management is that it always increases costs. Kaila explained that sustainability and business success are “truly symbiotic” rather than at odds. Many sustainability initiatives actually reduce costs through: Manufacturing optimization that eliminates waste Consolidation of product lines reducing inventory and complexity Packaging optimization saving materials and shipping costs Product managers sometimes miss opportunities by failing to communicate the sustainability benefits of cost-saving measures they’ve already implemented. This highlights the importance of connecting product development and marketing to tell a complete sustainability story. The business value extends beyond direct cost savings. Sustainability literally means “enduring into the future”—exactly what most businesses want. By helping customers understand the value of durable, sustainable products, companies build stronger brands and customer relationships. Implementing Sustainability at the Product Level At Steelcase, sustainability has become increasingly integrated into standard product development processes. They’ve added a “sustainability intention” section to their product charters, requiring product managers to consider environmental impacts even if sustainability isn’t a primary focus for a particular product. This systematic approach ensures that: Product managers consciously evaluate sustainability for every product Teams conduct competitive research on sustainability features in similar products Sustainability considerations carry through the entire product development lifecycle Even when a product team decides that their target customers don’t prioritize sustainability, the process still creates awareness and may identify opportunity areas for future improvements. Getting Started with Sustainability in Product Management For product managers interested in enhancing sustainability but unsure where to begin, Kaila shared a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “Nothing worth having comes easy.” She acknowledged that sustainability can be “wild and wicked” with many complex considerations, leading many to experience analysis paralysis. To overcome this, she offered several practical approaches: Reframing Sustainability for Skeptics If you encounter resistance within your organization, try these alternative framings: Business endurance : Positioning sustainability as ensuring the company’s long-term viability Cost optimization : Highlighting waste reduction and efficiency improvements Market expansion : Identifying new customer segments attracted by sustainable offerings Value Chain Collaboration One of the most valuable approaches is to look beyond your own company: Connect with suppliers about their sustainability initiatives Learn from customers about their environmental priorities Form partnerships that strengthen relationships throughout the value chain The key message here is to start somewhere rather than waiting for perfect information or conditions. By taking even small steps toward sustainable product management, you create momentum that can lead to more significant changes over time. Conclusion The conversation with Kaila reinforced the importance of the triple bottom line approach to product management—balancing people, planet, and profit. All three elements are necessary for long-term business success. Without profits, companies can’t take care of employees or customers. Without considering people, there are no employees or customers to serve. And without respecting planetary boundaries, companies face increasing risks and missed opportunities. Increasingly, sustainability is a business imperative. By integrating sustainability into product strategy, you can: Create products that meet evolving customer expectations Identify cost-saving opportunities through more efficient designs Build more resilient products and business models Appeal to growing segments of environmentally conscious consumers Product managers have a unique opportunity to influence both what products are made and how they’re created, placing them at the center of corporate sustainability efforts. While creating truly sustainable products takes work, the benefits for your customers, your company, and your career make it well worth the effort. Useful Links Check out examples of Steelcase’s sustainable products Connect with Kaila on LinkedIn Innovation Quote “Nothing worth having, comes easy.” – Teddy Roosevelt Application Questions How could you assess the current state of sustainability in your product portfolio? Consider what environmental product declarations or lifecycle assessments might reveal about your products’ environmental hotspots and improvement opportunities. How could your team integrate sustainability considerations into your existing product development process? What specific checkpoints or documentation (like Steelcase’s sustainability intentions in product charters) might you add to ensure environmental impacts are considered? What sustainability stories might already exist within your product development work that haven’t been communicated to marketing? How could you better connect cost-saving measures with their environmental benefits? How could you identify which customer segments in your market most value sustainability features? What research methods would help you understand their specific environmental priorities? If you were to organize a sustainable materials summit like Steelcase did, which cross-functional teams would you invite, and what specific sustainability challenges would you focus on solving? Bio With background experience ranging from product management, customer service management, marketing to supply chain, the common thread for Kaila has been the belief that better business is a sustainable business. She is responsible for the development and implementation of product sustainability marketing cross-category and globally at Steelcase; most recently leading the strategy to expand Circular by Steelcase capabilities in the Americas. Her education includes an MBA with a concentration in sustainable business from the University of Colorado and B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Science from Purdue University. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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535: What students at Daemen University learn about innovation that you should know too – with John Spero 37:33

29일 전37:33

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37:33

The most important takeaways from past episodes of Product Mastery Now TLDR Product innovation requires deliberate approaches to teamwork, problem-solving, and customer understanding. John Spero, former senior R&D manager and current innovation professor, highlighted frameworks and methodologies that help product teams work effectively together. These include using tools like DISC assessments to build stronger teams, applying Design Thinking approaches to understand customer needs, and using creative problem-solving techniques to tackle innovation challenges systematically. Key Topics Building innovation cultures and effective product teams Using DISC assessments to improve team dynamics and productivity Applying Design Thinking frameworks to solve complex problems Voice of the Customer methodologies for deeper customer insights Divergent and convergent thinking techniques for innovation Tackling the “fuzzy front end” of product development Facilitation tools like Six Thinking Hats and Phoenix Checklist Best practices for prototype development and testing Professional development paths for product managers Introduction In this episode, our guest is highlighting some takeaways from previous episodes of Product Mastery Now and sharing how they connect with his work today, teaching innovation. With us is John Spero. John has had a long and successful career in product development and management and related roles, including being a senior R&D Manager at Praxair and then Lean Specialist as well as an Agile Coach for the same organization, including after the acquisition by Linde, the global industrial gases company based in Ireland. Now he teaches at Daemen University in their Leadership & Innovation program, focusing on critical thinking, decision making, and problem-solving skills for complex innovation situations. John and I met through the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), and he invited me to help onboard product managers at Praxair. John assigns podcast episodes, including Product Mastery Now, to his students, and recently he suggested that we discuss key takeaways from these episodes. Let’s see what he has found that is essential for innovators to know. Building Culture and Teams for Innovation Success Creating successful products starts with having the right innovation culture and effective teams. John explained that before students can create valuable products, they need to understand how to foster an innovation culture within their organizations. This means creating an environment where creative thinking is encouraged, risk-taking is supported, and learning from failure is valued. He referenced 493: Perfecting Product Culture and Teams , noting that many students come into his program with academic research experience but struggle to transfer that knowledge into actual product development. The bridge between research and product creation requires a supportive team culture. What Makes an Effective Innovation Team? John has found that the most successful innovation teams share several key characteristics: Complementary skills that cover different aspects of product development Understanding of behavioral styles and work preferences Clear communication about how team members prefer to work Mutual respect for different approaches to problem-solving John shared how he uses DISC assessments in his teaching and previous corporate work to help team members understand each other’s work styles. This behavioral assessment tool identifies four primary work styles, each with different strengths in the innovation process. DISC Style Common Traits Innovation Strengths Dominance (D) Direct, action-oriented Driving projects forward, making decisions Influence (I) Outgoing, enthusiastic Generating ideas, building connections Steadiness (S) Supportive, team-oriented Maintaining harmony, following through Conscientiousness (C) Analytical, detail-focused Ensuring quality, attention to details Tension often emerges between team members with different styles. For example, sales professionals (typically high in D and I traits) might grow frustrated with engineers (often high in C traits) for what they perceive as moving too slowly. By understanding these different work preferences, teams can appreciate that engineers’ thoroughness is actually ensuring quality rather than causing unnecessary delays. This understanding of team dynamics creates a foundation for effective innovation. When team members recognize and value their different approaches, they can collaborate more effectively to solve customer problems. Design Thinking Approaches for Effective Innovation John highlighted the importance of Design Thinking as a structured framework for product innovation. Tom Granzow has a four-phase Design Thinking approach ( 480: Putting Design Thinking into practical action – with Tom Granzow ). When John teaches Design Thinking, he extends the framework into a six-step process that works well in academic settings. This expanded approach gives students a clearer roadmap through the often messy innovation journey. Design Thinking isn’t a linear process. It’s intentionally messy and iterative, allowing teams to jump back and forth between phases as they incorporate new data and feedback. This flexibility is important for product innovation because the path to understanding customer needs is rarely straightforward. What makes this framework particularly effective is how it encourages teams to stay open to new insights throughout the process. When teaching Design Thinking to his students, John helps them understand that the framework serves as a guide rather than a rigid set of steps. This approach helps product teams remain adaptable while still maintaining a structured approach to innovation. Voice of the Customer: Mastering the Art of Problem Discovery Effective product innovation begins with truly understanding the customer’s problem, through Voice of the Customer (VOC) research ( 477: Three-step VOC system – with Andrea Ruttenberg, PhD ). The Depth of Customer Interviews Creating effective customer interview questions is just the beginning. The real value comes from analyzing the responses properly. John teaches his students to look beyond the obvious answers and find deeper insights that might not be immediately apparent. VOC Challenge How to Address It Asking the right questions Focus on problems, not solutions; ask about specific experiences The curse of knowledge Turn off your expertise; listen without imposing your understanding Analyzing responses Look for patterns across multiple interviews; have others analyze your interviews Personal bias Depersonalize the process; focus on customer needs, not your vision John referenced the seminal Voice of the Customer paper by Abby Griffin and John Hauser from 1993, which laid the groundwork for many modern customer discovery methodologies. Avoiding the Curse of Knowledge One of the most challenging aspects of customer discovery is what John called “the curse of knowledge.” This happens when product teams have so much expertise in their field that they can’t see problems from a beginner’s perspective. Good Design Thinking practices minimize the team members’ personal desires and wishes. For more on this, see 483: Nailing the customer experience to improve product value – with Jason Friedman . John talked about how he uses classroom exercises to help students overcome this challenge. He has them develop solutions for problems in innovation and leadership, then forces them to “turn off” their own knowledge and focus solely on what the customer experiences. The “aha moment” comes when students realize that even though they’re knowledgeable about a topic, their product will only succeed if it addresses the customer’s actual experience of the problem, not their expert understanding of it. Effective innovation requires setting aside your expertise long enough to truly empathize with and understand your customers’ experiences. Divergent and Convergent Thinking: The Rhythm of Innovation We discussed the powerful combination of divergent and convergent thinking in the innovation process. This approach to problem-solving has deep roots in creative thinking methodologies, particularly the Osborn Parnes Creative Problem Solving process. Understanding the Dual Process Effective innovation follows a rhythm of opening up possibilities (divergent thinking) and then narrowing down to practical solutions (convergent thinking). This pattern repeats throughout the product development journey. Phase Divergent Thinking Convergent Thinking Problem Definition “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could solve…?” Selecting the most impactful problem to solve Customer Research Generating many possible interview questions Choosing the most revealing questions to ask Solution Development Brainstorming many possible solutions Evaluating solutions against criteria Prototyping & Testing Exploring different ways users interact with prototype Deciding what the product should be John detailed how this dual process works in practice. In the early stages, teams use invitational language like “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could solve this problem?” or “In what ways might we approach this challenge?” This open phrasing encourages broad thinking without limiting possibilities. The Language of Creative Problem Solving John pays attention to the language used during innovation sessions. He explained that phrases like “How might we…” create mental space for exploring options without judgment. This invitational language is fundamental to the Creative Problem Solving methodology. The real power comes from alternating between these two modes of thinking throughout the product development journey: Expand possibilities through divergent thinking (generate many options) Narrow focus through convergent thinking (select the best options) Repeat this pattern at each stage of development John referenced 522: Stop the stupid using proactive problem solving – with Doug Hall on breaking free from reactive problem solving. Defining problems effectively is challenging, but getting ahead of problems is even more difficult. This proactive approach to problem-solving requires both creative exploration and disciplined evaluation—the essence of divergent and convergent thinking. This approach isn’t just theoretical. John explained how these techniques were applied in his corporate work at Praxair and Linde, helping teams tackle complex engineering and product challenges more effectively by balancing creative exploration with practical decision-making. Tackling the “Fuzzy Front End” of Innovation John shared his team’s approach to reducing uncertainty in the early stages of product development—what innovation professionals often call the “fuzzy front end.” Accelerating Innovation Decision-Making John’s team at Praxair adopted an approach for solving complex problems similar to the two-hour Design Spring ( 499: How to implement a 2-hour design sprint to solve complex problems – with Teresa Cain ). They faced a common challenge in product development: how to quickly determine if an idea deserved further investment without spending months in preliminary investigation. Their solution was to bring together a diverse team to “declutter the fuzziness” in a single day or two, rather than having one person spend weeks or months investigating. This approach allowed them to: Quickly gather all available knowledge about customer needs Assess technical feasibility from multiple perspectives Evaluate business potential with input from various stakeholders Make faster decisions about whether to move ideas into the formal Stage-Gate process This accelerated approach delivered significant value by reducing the time to make go/no-go decisions. Teams could either advance promising ideas more quickly or fail fast on concepts that wouldn’t work, freeing up resources for more promising opportunities. Traditional Approach Accelerated Approach One person investigating an idea Cross-functional team evaluating together 1-2 months of preliminary work 1-2 days of intensive collaboration Sequential information gathering Parallel processing of information Slow entry into Stage-Gate process Rapid movement into Stage-Gate evaluation The approach aligns with lean innovation principles: Gather just enough information to make an informed decision, test assumptions quickly, and don’t waste resources on extended analysis when a faster process can achieve similar results. For product managers facing pressure to innovate more quickly, this compressed fuzzy front end approach offers a practical solution to balance thoroughness with speed. By gathering the right people in a focused session, teams can achieve in days what might otherwise take months. Facilitation Tools for Better Innovation John highlighted several facilitation tools that product teams can use to improve their innovation process. These structured approaches help teams think more effectively and overcome common biases in problem-solving. The Phoenix Checklist: A Declassified Problem-Solving Tool One resource John mentioned was the Phoenix Checklist , a problem-solving tool originally developed by the CIA and declassified in the 1990s. This comprehensive list of questions helps teams thoroughly define problems and develop solution plans. Problem Definition Questions Solution Planning Questions What is the real problem we’re trying to solve? How can we test this solution? Why does this problem need solving? What resources will we need? Can we look at this problem differently? How will we know if we’ve succeeded? Experienced product managers would recognize many of these questions as ones they already use intuitively. The structured format, however, ensures that teams don’t miss critical aspects of problem definition or solution planning. Six Thinking Hats: Different Perspectives for Better Decisions Another facilitation tool John mentioned was Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. This method helps teams look at problems and decisions from multiple perspectives by having everyone adopt the same thinking mode simultaneously. Thinking Hat Focus Area White Hat Facts and information Red Hat Emotions and feelings Black Hat Risks and potential problems Yellow Hat Benefits and positive aspects Green Hat Creative ideas and alternatives Blue Hat Process management and overview John prefers to have everyone adopt the same “hat” or thinking role simultaneously, rather than assigning different perspectives to different team members. This helps prevent people from becoming entrenched in one perspective and creates a safer space for various types of thinking. By incorporating these facilitation tools into the product development process, teams can overcome biases, explore problems more thoroughly, and arrive at better solutions. For product managers looking to improve their team’s innovation capabilities, these structured approaches offer practical, immediately applicable techniques. Prototype Development Best Practices We discussed John’s approach to prototyping—the process of creating early versions of products to test with customers ( 458: Selecting, planning, and prototyping product features – with Matt Genovese and 509: Prototyping mastery for product managers – with Matthew Wettergreen, PhD ). The Art of Minimum Viable Prototypes John observed that many innovators, especially students new to product development, struggle with creating appropriately minimal prototypes. The tendency is to build too much functionality too early, wasting time and resources on features that might not deliver value. Common Prototyping Mistakes Best Practices Building too many features Focus on the core value proposition only Perfecting the prototype Create just enough to test the core concept Delayed testing with users Test with users as early as possible Becoming attached to initial ideas Be willing to pivot or abandon based on feedback To illustrate the power of simplicity in prototyping, John shared a historical example: Microsoft Word in 1987. The original product came on two 5.25-inch floppy disks and offered just the essential text editing capabilities—type, format with a few fonts, underline, and bold text. It was, by today’s standards, incredibly basic. Yet even this minimal version was sufficient to test the core value proposition. John pointed out that what we consider essential functionality today was built incrementally over decades, not delivered all at once in the first version. Pretotyping: Fake It Before You Make It John highlighted Alberto Savoia’s concept of “pretotyping”—creating even simpler simulations of product ideas to test market interest before building actual prototypes. This approach focuses on quickly validating whether people would use a product concept before investing in development. The core principle is “fake it before you make it”: Create the simplest possible simulation of your product idea Test it with potential users to see if there’s genuine interest If people use it, proceed to more developed prototypes If people ignore it or lose interest quickly, move on to other ideas John shared how he encourages students to test their concepts with classmates, friends, and family first. For example, one student with a sustainable clothing concept was advised to test it with friends before investing time in more elaborate prototypes. If the idea doesn’t resonate with their immediate circle, it’s unlikely to work at a larger scale. This “fail fast” approach to prototyping aligns perfectly with lean innovation principles. By recognizing that most new product ideas will fail, teams can use rapid prototyping to discover which ideas have promise without wasting resources on elaborate development for concepts that won’t succeed in the market. Teaching Innovation in Graduate Programs John shared how he structures his graduate-level innovation course to help students develop practical skills they can apply in their organizations. The innovation course at Daemen University is part of a Leadership and Innovation graduate program that attracts professionals from diverse backgrounds—healthcare, higher education, industry, and nonprofits. Rather than focusing solely on theoretical concepts, John helps students understand how to apply innovation frameworks in their specific organizational contexts. Course Element Learning Approach Shared class example Five-week collaborative project applying innovation frameworks Digital collaboration Daily standups via Zoom when not in class Visual documentation Using tools like Mural to make work visible to all team members Adaptive teaching First four weeks structured, then adapting based on student needs John structures the first four weeks of his course rigorously, setting a solid foundation of innovation principles. Then, as he observes how students are progressing, he adapts the curriculum to address their specific challenges. This mirrors how product teams should approach innovation—starting with a framework but remaining adaptable as new information emerges. Creating “Aha Moments” About Innovation One of John’s primary goals is to help students experience breakthrough moments when they truly grasp how product development works. These “aha moments” typically occur about 3-4 weeks into the course, when students begin to understand how to use customer feedback to develop viable products. John brings a cardboard box into the classroom and asks students to consider how ubiquitous this innovation is—appearing in countless forms across the world—and how different our lives would be without it. This helps students recognize that innovation isn’t always about dramatic technological breakthroughs; sometimes it’s about simple solutions that solve widespread problems effectively. This teaching approach offers valuable lessons for product leaders. By focusing on the fundamentals while remaining adaptable, and by recognizing innovation in everyday objects, professionals can develop a more nuanced understanding of what makes products successful. Conclusion Innovation is never a straight line from problem to solution. As John Spero shared through Robert Quinn’s quote about “building the bridge as you walk on it,” effective product managers must balance structure with adaptability. The frameworks and tools he discussed—from design thinking and divergent-convergent problem solving to facilitation techniques like Six Thinking Hats—provide practical resources that can immediately improve how product teams innovate together. Perhaps most importantly, John’s journey reminds us that innovation requires continuous learning. Even after 15 years as an R&D leader, he found tremendous value in comprehensive product management training. For product managers looking to enhance their capabilities, his advice is clear: understand the entire product development landscape, not just your specialty; learn practical frameworks; master facilitation tools; and don’t overlook leadership development. By approaching innovation as a continuous learning journey rather than a destination, you’ll be better equipped to create products that truly solve customer problems. Useful Links Connect with John on LinkedIn Learn more about Daeman University’s Leadership and Innovation program Read about the Phoenix Checklist Innovation Quote “Build the bridge as you walk on it.” – Robert Quinn Application Questions How could your team implement the divergent-convergent thinking approach in your next innovation challenge? What specific areas of your product development process would benefit most from deliberately separating idea generation from evaluation? How might your understanding of team members’ work styles and preferences (like DISC profiles) improve collaboration on your current product initiatives? What tensions exist between different work styles on your team, and how could you address them? How could you apply the “fuzzy front end” acceleration technique to reduce uncertainty in the early stages of your next product concept? What would a 1-2 day intensive session look like for your team, and who would need to be involved? In what ways could your prototyping process be simplified to test core concepts more quickly? What are you currently over-building in your prototypes that could be eliminated without compromising your ability to validate key assumptions? How might you incorporate facilitation tools like Six Thinking Hats or the Phoenix Checklist into your next product decision meeting? Which specific product challenges would benefit most from these structured approaches to thinking? Bio John Spero has had a long and successful career in product development and management and related roles, including being a senior R&D Manager at Praxair and then Lean Specialist as well as an Agile Coach for the same organization, including after the acquisition by Linde, the global industrial gases company based in Ireland. Now he is an adjunct professor at Daemen University in their Leadership & Innovation program, focusing on critical thinking, decision making, and problem-solving skills for complex innovation situations. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators podcast artwork

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534: Adapt Amazon’s innovation framework for product excellence – with Marcelo Calbucci 17:04

5 weeks 전17:04

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Use the Press Release FAQ Framework to make better product management decisions Watch on YouTube TLDR The Amazon PRFAQ framework is a powerful product strategy tool that helps teams “work backwards” from customer needs to create successful products. Unlike traditional approaches that start with solutions, this method begins by envisioning the finished product as if it already exists, forcing teams to clarify their vision, validate assumptions, and make better decisions before investing significant resources. Key Topics: The PRFAQ is a strategic document with three parts: press release (1 page), customer FAQs (1 page), and internal FAQs (4 pages) The framework’s value comes from the discovery, debate, and decision process it creates Review sessions involve multiple stakeholders reading and critiquing the document Common mistakes include treating it as a marketing tool or including too many implementation details Benefits include stronger stakeholder alignment, better execution, and clearer distinction between facts and assumptions The approach is suitable for innovators beyond Amazon, including product managers, founders, and executives Introduction How can you transform your product innovation with Amazon’s revolutionary PRFAQ Framework – a proven approach not just at Amazon, but adopted by many organizations, resulting in successful product development and launches. That is what we’ll discover together in this episode. You’ll learn how to implement this “work backwards” approach in your organization, how to craft compelling press releases that define customer value from day one, and practical techniques to anticipate and address the tough questions that can make or break your product. Our guest today is Marcelo Calbucci, author of The PRFAQ Framework and an experienced product and technology leader. With over 25 years of experience, Marcelo has founded multiple startups, after getting the entrepreneurs itch, building on the experience he gained while working as a development manager at Microsoft. He has served as CTO at various companies, and developed the PRFAQ Framework based on his firsthand experience at Amazon. His deep expertise in product development and innovation makes him the perfect guide to help you apply and adapt Amazon’s innovation approach for your work. Use what Marcelo shares today to improve how you conceptualize, develop, and launch products that customers want and love. Amazon’s PRFAQ Framework: Transforming Product Innovation Through Working Backwards The “working backwards” methodology, centered around the PRFAQ framework, offers a structured way to conceptualize, develop, and launch products that customers genuinely love. This approach isn’t just limited to Amazon – many organizations have adopted it with impressive results. Marcelo developed this framework based on his firsthand experience at Amazon, building on knowledge gained as a development manager at Microsoft and through founding multiple startups. His deep expertise in product development makes him the perfect guide to help product managers adapt Amazon’s innovation approach to their own work. Understanding the PRFAQ Framework PRFAQ stands for Press Release and Frequently Asked Questions. It’s a strategic document consisting of three main components: Section Length Purpose Press Release 1 page Paints a vision of the future as if your product already exists Customer FAQs 1 page Addresses questions customers would ask about the product Internal FAQs 4 pages Explores feasibility, viability, customer problems, solutions, and go-to-market strategy The press release portion helps you create an aspirational vision of your product’s future. You write it as if your product has already launched, describing what it does and the value it provides to customers. This forces you to think from the customer’s perspective from day one. The customer FAQ section anticipates questions that potential users might have. These typically include practical considerations like pricing, data migration, and getting started with the product. The internal FAQ section, which is the most substantial part, addresses deeper questions about feasibility, market opportunity, and business strategy. This is where you explore whether your product idea is viable and worth pursuing. What the PRFAQ Is Not The PRFAQ framework should not include: Tactical execution details Feature specifications Wireframes Branding elements Technical architecture These elements come later in the product development process, after you’ve decided the opportunity is worth pursuing. The PRFAQ is focused exclusively on vision and strategy, helping you determine if the product idea deserves your team’s time and resources. By keeping the framework focused on strategic elements rather than implementation details, you can make better decisions about which opportunities to pursue before investing significant resources in development. The Value of the PRFAQ Process The PRFAQ document itself is useful, but Marcelo explained that its real value comes from the process of creating it. This process consists of three key phases that help teams discover, debate, and decide on the right product strategy. Discovery, Debate, and Decision The PRFAQ framework creates a structured approach to product innovation: Discovery : Identify what you know (facts) and don’t know (assumptions) Debate : Get input from various stakeholders to strengthen the concept Decision : Build conviction to move forward or not with the opportunity The PRFAQ is what you do “before day one” – before you start planning, developing roadmaps, designing user experiences, or building proof of concepts. The goal is to answer one fundamental question: Should we pursue this opportunity? Forcing Critical Questions One of the framework’s greatest strengths is that it forces teams to answer hard questions about customers and problems before committing resources to development: Critical Questions Why They Matter Who is the customer? Ensures you’re targeting the right audience What problem are we solving? Confirms you’re addressing a real need How are they solving it today? Identifies competitors and alternatives Is the problem growing or shrinking? Determines future market potential Is it urgent? Affects adoption rate and pricing power Do they have a satisfactory solution already? Indicates how difficult displacement will be By addressing these questions early in the process, teams can identify what they know with certainty and what assumptions need validation. Writing a coherent PRFAQ requires either facts or assumptions – and identifying assumptions is the first step toward turning them into facts through market research. Distinguishing Facts from Assumptions A well-crafted PRFAQ clearly distinguishes between: Facts about customers – Their problems, existing solutions, and market conditions Assumptions about your solution – How it will deliver value and differentiate from alternatives Marcelo pointed out that many product failures stem from treating assumptions as facts. The PRFAQ process helps teams recognize what they don’t know, creating opportunities to validate assumptions before making significant investments. When you identify gaps in your knowledge through this process, you can develop targeted research to fill those gaps, significantly improving your chances of creating a product customers actually want. The PRFAQ Review Process At Amazon, the PRFAQ isn’t just written – it’s reviewed, debated, and improved through a structured process. Review Session Structure The PRFAQ review follows a specific format designed to generate productive feedback: Led by a “single threaded leader” responsible for the document Small groups of 2-6 people per session First 20 minutes: Everyone reads the document Next 40 minutes: Questions and feedback This structure might seem awkward at first – Marcelo admitted it felt strange during his first weeks at Amazon – but it offers distinct advantages over traditional review methods. The Power of Reading During Meetings Having everyone read the document during the meeting offers several benefits: Allows people to read at their own pace Provides time to highlight unclear points Enables reviewers to revisit sections for better understanding Ensures everyone has actually read the document before providing feedback During the discussion portion, reviewers typically ask for clarifications or point out potential issues with the concept. This feedback strengthens the PRFAQ and helps you identify blind spots in the strategy. Recommended Review Sequence Marcelo suggested a specific order for conducting PRFAQ reviews: Start with other product managers who are comfortable with ambiguity Expand to other departments with relevant expertise Include executives and key stakeholders This progression helps refine the concept gradually before it faces more rigorous scrutiny from decision-makers. Typical PRFAQ Cadence At Amazon, product managers are deeply immersed in this process: A typical product manager reads 1-2 PRFAQs per week They lead creation of one PRFAQ every 6-12 months Most reviews involve stakeholders with direct interest in the product This regular exposure to others’ PRFAQs provides learning opportunities, helping product managers understand what kinds of questions they should anticipate when developing their own documents. After gathering feedback, Marcelo recommended waiting a day before making edits. This pause allows the product manager to digest comments, think through implications, and make thoughtful improvements rather than reactive changes. The review process creates alignment and buy-in across teams, ensuring that if the project moves forward, everyone understands the vision and feels ownership in its success. Practical Applications of the PRFAQ The PRFAQ framework isn’t just for large companies like Amazon. Marcelo shared how he’s applied this approach to his own projects, demonstrating its versatility across different contexts. Case Study: Using PRFAQ for a Book Project Marcelo explained how he used the PRFAQ framework to prepare for writing for his own book, The PRFAQ Framework . By treating the book as a product, he gained valuable insights: Initially planned to write “PRFAQ for Founders” as his working title Through the PRFAQ process, discovered the target audience was too narrow Market research revealed 20 times more product managers than founders Expanded focus to “innovators” regardless of title This shift in target audience wouldn’t have happened without the structured thinking the PRFAQ framework enforced. By questioning his assumptions about who would benefit from his book, Marcelo made a strategic pivot that significantly expanded his potential readership. Market Research Through PRFAQ Another valuable application Marcelo described was using the framework for competitive analysis: Identifying what solutions already exist in the market Understanding how customers are currently solving their problems Finding gaps and opportunities for differentiation For his book project, this meant researching other product strategy frameworks (like OKRs and Business Model Canvas) to ensure he was offering something unique and valuable. Simply providing a PRFAQ template wouldn’t be sufficient – just as explaining OKRs without implementation guidance wouldn’t be helpful. This insight led him to focus on the method behind creating and using the PRFAQ, not just the document structure. By applying the framework to his own project, Marcelo demonstrated how it helps innovators validate their ideas before investing significant time and resources. This practical example shows how product managers in any organization can benefit from this strategic thinking approach. Common Mistakes to Avoid Marcelo identified several common mistakes that can undermine the PRFAQ framework’s effectiveness. Understanding these pitfalls can help product teams implement the approach more successfully. Treating the PRFAQ as a Marketing Tool The most common mistake Marcelo has seen is treating the PRFAQ as a marketing document rather than a product strategy tool. The PRFAQ is not what you create a month before launch It’s not a substitute for launch marketing materials Marketing teams have better tools for launch preparation Using the PRFAQ only at launch time misses the entire point of the framework, which is to validate ideas before significant resources are invested in development. Treating the PRFAQ as a Roadmap Another common mistake is packing the PRFAQ with excessive plans and details about execution: What to Avoid Why It’s Problematic Detailed wireframes Suggests design decisions are already made Feature lists Shifts focus to solutions before problems are validated Technical architecture Implies technical approach is predetermined Roadmap details Assumes timeline before strategy is approved Proof of concepts Represents significant investment before validation If you’ve already done all this work, you’re halfway committed to this project, but the PRFAQ is supposed to help you decide whether to invest in development, not document decisions you’ve already made. Not Distinguishing Facts from Assumptions Another mistake is failing to differentiate between: Facts : Information about customers and their problems that is supported by evidence Assumptions : Hypotheses about your solution and its potential impact Many PRFAQs present assumptions as facts, which can lead to flawed decision-making. Statements like “most users will love this feature” without supporting data would never be acceptable in an Amazon PRFAQ review. Instead, assumptions should be clearly labeled: “We assume that most users would prefer this approach.” This clarity helps teams identify what needs to be validated before proceeding. Not Right-Sizing the Effort Marcelo suggested that a PRFAQ should take about 1-2 weeks to develop (after you’ve done a few of them), not months. This timeframe: Is substantial enough to think through the strategy Isn’t so lengthy that it becomes a project in itself Allows you to decide whether to invest 3-9 months in development The PRFAQ is meant to be a strategic tool that helps you make good decisions quickly, not an exhaustive planning document that delays action. By avoiding these common mistakes, product teams can use the PRFAQ framework as intended – as a focused strategic exercise that helps determine which opportunities are worth pursuing. Key Benefits of the PRFAQ Approach The PRFAQ framework offers substantial benefits that extend beyond product planning. Marcelo highlighted several advantages that make this approach valuable for organizations of all sizes. Stakeholder Buy-in Through Participation One of the most significant benefits is how the PRFAQ process creates natural buy-in across the organization: Team members feel part of the decision process Energy and commitment to approved projects increases dramatically Avoids the “throwing over the wall” problem many organizations face Traditional approaches where product teams develop plans in isolation and then try to “sell” them to other departments often create resistance. Marcelo contrasted this with the PRFAQ approach, where stakeholders participate in shaping the strategy from the beginning. This collaborative process transforms how teams engage with new initiatives. Instead of being told what to execute, they help decide what’s worth pursuing in the first place. Better Alignment During Execution The PRFAQ creates remarkable alignment when implementation begins: Team members share a common understanding of strategy Less need for constant checking and clarification Fewer misunderstandings about vision and goals Marcelo identified this alignment as critical to execution success. When everyone has participated in early strategic discussions, they understand not just what they’re building, but why they’re building it. This shared context prevents the confusion that often plagues product development projects. As Marcelo noted, “the biggest problem with most product projects is a lack of strategy, not a bad strategy.” Conclusion The Amazon PRFAQ framework offers product teams a powerful way to validate ideas before investing significant resources in development. By writing a press release and FAQs for a product that doesn’t yet exist, teams are forced to clarify their vision, understand customer problems, and make better strategic decisions. As Marcelo demonstrated through his own experience applying the framework to his book project, this approach works for organizations of all sizes and can transform how teams approach innovation. While implementing the PRFAQ process requires some cultural adaptation, the benefits far outweigh the initial awkwardness. Teams gain stronger alignment, better decision-making capabilities, and a clearer distinction between facts and assumptions. By focusing on strategy before execution, organizations can avoid building products nobody wants and instead create solutions that truly solve customer problems. Whether you’re a product manager, founder, or innovator within your organization, the PRFAQ approach provides a structured path to more successful product development. Useful Links Check out The PRFAQ Framework Connect with Marcelo on LinkedIn Innovation Quote “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – attributed to Henry Ford Application Questions How could you adapt the PRFAQ review process to fit your organization’s current meeting culture? What specific changes would you need to make to ensure stakeholders engage meaningfully with the document? How could your team better distinguish between facts and assumptions in your current product planning process? Where do you see assumptions being treated as facts, and what steps could you take to validate these assumptions? How might you implement the PRFAQ approach for an existing product that needs significant improvement? What would be different compared to using it for a completely new product? How could you use the PRFAQ framework to evaluate multiple competing opportunities? What additional criteria might you add to help prioritize between several promising PRFAQs? How could you measure the effectiveness of implementing the PRFAQ process in your organization? What indicators would show that it’s improving your product development outcomes? Bio Marcelo Calbucci is an entrepreneur, innovator, and technologist. He’s been building software products for over thirty years, having sold his first software at age fourteen. He has worked at Microsoft (Exchange Server & Bing) and Amazon (People eXperience & Technology), leading software engineering, product, data science, and UX. He has founded six startups in Seattle and London and launched a dozen tech projects. He’s the inventor of eleven patents. Marcelo has been a community builder in Seattle, organizing dozens of meetups, events, and conferences, and he has written over one thousand blog posts and articles on his web-site and other tech publications. Outside of tech and startups, Marcelo loves to cook elaborate meals for friends, run marathons (eight and counting), and travel with his wife and kids. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators podcast artwork

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533: The brain science necessary for creating products customers are compelled to buy – with Laurier Mandin 19:55

6 weeks 전19:55

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19:55

How product managers can create irresistible products Watch on YouTube TLDR Product psychology goes far beyond traditional product-market fit. When customers feel compelled to buy products, they move from rational comparison to emotional connection. Successful products trigger what Laurier Mandin calls “the flip” – transforming wants into psychological needs, making purchasing non-negotiable. Key topics: The psychology of “I need that” responses vs. traditional product-market fit How the “dog brain” makes purchase decisions 250x faster than rational thinking The “coveted condition” framework for emotional product connections Why products need to be 10x better to overcome status quo bias The CLIMB framework for identifying functional, emotional, transformative, and transcendent needs Integrating product development and marketing from the concept stage How craftsmanship and attention to detail create emotional value Introduction What makes a product not just desirable, but absolutely necessary in the minds of customers? In this discussion, we’re investigating the psychology of product development and marketing with Laurier Mandin. He is a product marketing strategist who has spent over three decades guiding hundreds of innovative products to market success. As founder of Graphos Product, he’s helped numerous startups and established brands through need-centric product development and compelling marketing strategies. With a deep understanding of consumer psychology and behavioral economics, he brings a unique perspective to product creation and marketing. He is also the author of I Need That and creator of the Product: Knowledge podcast . You’ll come away from this conversation with fresh insights and practical frameworks for creating products that customers don’t just want – but feel they absolutely need. Beyond Product-Market Fit: Creating Products Customers Are Compelled to Buy Product managers often focus on achieving product-market fit – that sweet spot where a product satisfies a specific market need well enough to sustain itself and grow. I asked Laurier what the different is between a product that achieves product-market fit and a product that a customer is “compelled to buy.” While product-market fit focuses primarily on rational factors like features, pricing, and market size, being “compelled to buy” taps into something deeper – the psychological transformation that happens when a want becomes a need. The “Flip” From Want to Need Laurier described this transformation as “the flip” – the moment when our mind converts a desire into a psychological need. Beyond basic physiological needs, our perceived needs are mental constructs. When a product triggers this flip, owning it becomes entirely non-negotiable. Customers will overcome any friction or barrier to get it. Traditional Product-Market Fit Products Customers Are Compelled to Buy Focuses on rational factors (features, pricing) Focuses on emotional triggers Aims for customer satisfaction Aims for “I need that” reactions Faces constant price pressure and competition Breaks through resistance and friction Customers compare features Customers imagine life with the product Products that merely satisfy a need constantly battle price pressure and competition. In contrast, products that trigger an “I need that” response bypass these challenges because customers are no longer rationally comparing features – they’re emotionally invested in owning the product. This shift from satisfaction to compulsion represents a powerful strategic advantage for product teams who understand how to engineer it. The Psychology Behind Purchase Decisions Understanding how customers make buying decisions is crucial for creating products they feel compelled to purchase. Laurier explained that our brains have two primary decision-making systems: the “dog brain” (limbic system) and the rational brain (neocortex). The Dog Brain vs. The Rational Brain The dog brain is our emotional center, where intense responses and impulsive behaviors originate. It operates about 250 times faster than our rational brain. This explains why buying decisions often happen in milliseconds, driven by emotion rather than logic. Here’s what makes this understanding so powerful for product development: Purchase decisions start in the emotional center of the brain The rational brain only rationalizes decisions after they’re made emotionally Creating emotional connections happens before rational feature comparison Why Our Brains Prefer Emotional Decisions Our brain’s preference for emotional decision-making isn’t random – it’s about energy conservation. While the brain represents only about 2% of our body weight, it consumes approximately 20% of our energy. This creates a natural tendency to avoid energy-intensive rational thinking. The brain prefers activities like daydreaming, which require less energy than analytical thinking. This presents a major opportunity for product teams: If you can trigger your customer’s brain to daydream about your product, you’ve found a neurological shortcut to desire. The Coveted Condition Framework Building on this understanding of brain function, Laurier introduced the “coveted condition” framework – a tool for creating products that trigger emotional buying decisions. The framework focuses on what customers dream of becoming through using your product. It follows a simple structure: “I need [product] to become [coveted condition/desired future state].” The coveted condition isn’t about the product’s features – it’s about the better version of themselves that customers aspire to become. When you understand this aspirational state, you can design products that naturally trigger emotional desire. For example, truck commercials rarely show the everyday uses of pickup trucks. Instead, they show vehicles conquering rugged terrain, conveying power and freedom. The actual product experience might involve commuting and hauling supplies, but the coveted condition is about adventure and capability – emotional states that trigger the “I need that” response. By focusing on the coveted condition in your product development and marketing, you can bypass rational feature comparison and tap directly into your customers’ emotional decision-making system – making your product feel like a necessity rather than just an option. Integrating Product Development and Marketing Laurier described the value of integrating product development and marketing from the earliest stages of product development. In many organizations, these functions operate as distinct phases – engineers and product managers build the product, then throw it “over the wall” to marketing to make people want it. Breaking Down Functional Silos This separation creates a fundamental problem in product development. Engineers and product managers tend to excel at functional outcomes, while marketers are better at understanding emotional connections. When these teams work in isolation, the result is often a product that functions well but fails to create the emotional response needed for the “I need that” reaction. Laurier explained that successful companies introduce marketing thinking at the concept stage, having marketers involved in early product discussions. This approach ensures products are designed with emotional triggers in mind from the beginning. Learning from Apple’s Approach The interview highlighted Apple’s approach under Johnny Ive, who designed many of their most successful products starting with the colorful iMac. Ive often discussed how product development, design, and marketing were inextricably linked at Apple. This integration created feedback loops that ensured products weren’t just functional but emotionally compelling. Steps to Better Integration For product managers looking to implement this approach, consider these practical steps: Invite marketing team members to early concept discussions Focus early conversations on emotional reactions you want to trigger Create cross-functional feedback loops throughout development Prioritize features that spark emotion, not just solve problems Design onboarding experiences that deliver immediate gratification Build in shareable moments that encourage word-of-mouth marketing The 10X Better Rule for Product Success For a product to breakthrough the competition, it must be at least 10 times better than the existing product. Incremental improvements often fail to generate significant market traction, despite seeming like they should be sufficient. Why Incremental Improvements Don’t Break Through Many product managers assume that making a product twice as good as existing solutions should be enough to drive adoption. However, Laurier explained that a major psychological barrier stands in the way: the dramatic mismatch between how consumers and innovators perceive value. Research shows two critical factors at play: Consumers overvalue what they already have (the status quo) by a factor of 3 Innovators overvalue their new product by a factor of 3 This creates a 9:1 perception gap that must be overcome for a new product to break through. This means your product needs to be 10 times better than existing solutions to truly trigger the “I need that” response. Examples of 10X Better Products Laurier shared several examples of products that achieved this 10X improvement threshold: Tesla’s early electric vehicles : Not just electric, but better in nearly every measurable category – more powerful, more user-friendly, and featuring innovative details like pop-out door handles The original iPhone : Dramatically superior to stylus-based touchscreens on devices like the Palm Trio and Blackberry, making the interface vastly more intuitive A cycling computer : Compared to a basic speedometer, it tracked multiple metrics simultaneously, providing transformative data for serious cyclists Implementing the 10X Better Rule For product managers looking to apply this principle, consider these strategies: Identify the emotional metrics that matter most to your target customers Focus innovation on dimensions with high emotional impact Don’t spread improvements thinly across many features Concentrate resources on making a few aspects dramatically better Test whether your improvements actually trigger the “I need that” response The 10X Better Rule reminds us that breaking through consumer inertia and triggering psychological need requires dramatic improvement, not incremental change. This understanding helps explain why some innovative products succeed while others with seemingly good improvements fail to gain traction. The Role of Customer Research Understanding customers is fundamental to creating products they feel compelled to buy. Going Beyond Surface-Level Research Traditional customer research often focuses on functional needs and use cases. While this information is valuable, Laurier suggested that product teams need to dig deeper to uncover the emotional drivers that trigger the “I need that” response. Effective customer research for compelling products should: Identify what outcomes customers truly want to achieve Uncover the “coveted condition” customers dream about Determine what triggers genuine excitement Test emotional reactions, not just feature preferences Discover pain points that have emotional weight Finding the Emotional Connection Laurier explained that great products transcend being mere tools – they become pathways to who customers want to be. This perspective shifts customer research from focusing solely on what tasks customers need to accomplish to understanding how they want to feel when using your product. Testing for Emotional Response One advantage of modern digital marketing is the ability to test different emotional triggers quickly. Laurier described how nimble ad testing allows teams to: Try multiple emotional angles simultaneously Measure which messages create the strongest response Scale up approaches that trigger genuine excitement Quickly discard messaging that fails to connect emotionally By incorporating emotional testing into customer research, product teams can better understand what will transform their product from useful to necessary in the minds of their customers. This deeper approach to customer research provides the foundation for applying the frameworks Laurier discussed, ensuring that products aren’t just built to functional specifications but designed to trigger the psychological transformation that makes customers feel they need your product. The CLIMB Framework for Identifying Product Needs Laurier shared the CLIMB framework – an acronym for Customer Life Improving Mechanisms and Benefits. This tool helps product teams identify four levels of need that compelling products address. The Four Levels of Need The CLIMB framework breaks down customer needs into a hierarchy from basic functional benefits to transcendent impacts: Functional Needs : The practical benefits like saving time, reducing costs, and improving performance Emotional Needs : Feelings such as security, pride, belonging, enjoyment, and status Transformative Needs : Personal growth areas including health, sense of purpose, relationships, and confidence Transcendent Needs : Impact beyond the user, such as helping others, environmental benefits, and legacy building Laurier explained that while any good product addresses at least one level, the most compelling products typically address needs at multiple levels of the framework. Applying the CLIMB Framework For product managers, the CLIMB framework offers a structured approach to creating more compelling products: Identify your product’s position : Which levels of need does your product currently address? Find gaps and opportunities : Which higher-level needs could you incorporate? Prioritize applications : Determine which needs are most important for your target customers Guide marketing : Use insights to craft messaging that resonates emotionally Target audience selection : Identify customer segments most likely to value the needs your product addresses Using CLIMB for Persona Development Laurier described how the framework can enhance persona development by viewing needs through the eyes of specific customer types. For example, a family-oriented vehicle buyer might prioritize the transformative need of being a better parent (through safety features) while also valuing the emotional need of appearing successful and responsible. By systematically applying the CLIMB framework, product teams can move beyond feature-focused development to create products that connect with customers at deeper psychological levels – making them far more likely to trigger the coveted “I need that” response. The Role of Craftsmanship in Product Value Laurier explained that perceived craftsmanship creates emotional connections to products. This aspect of product development is often overlooked but can significantly influence whether customers feel compelled to purchase. How Craftsmanship Creates Emotional Value Laurier explained that when customers perceive craftsmanship in a product, they value it more highly – even for seemingly utilitarian items. This principle applies across product categories: Physical products : Attention to detail in design and construction signals value Digital products : Clean interfaces and thoughtful user experiences create emotional connection Services : Care and precision in delivery builds trust and loyalty The “Made with Love” Effect During our discussion, Laurier shared a personal example – telling his 10-year-old daughter that he made her sandwich “with love” genuinely enhances her enjoyment of it. This illustrates how the perception of care and intention transfers emotional value to the product experience. Similarly, when companies share behind-the-scenes glimpses of their development process, they tap into what Laurier called the “IKEA effect” – people value things more when they see or participate in their creation. Applying Craftsmanship Principles Product managers can leverage this insight by: Highlighting the care and attention in your development process Ensuring user interfaces reflect thoughtful design decisions Creating “evidence of craftsmanship” in product details Communicating the expertise behind your product Showing rather than telling about quality By incorporating craftsmanship into both your product development and marketing approaches, you can create deeper emotional connections that help trigger the “I need that” response from customers. Conclusion Creating products that customers feel compelled to buy isn’t about clever marketing tricks or feature overload—it’s about understanding the psychology that transforms wants into needs. By focusing on the emotional brain’s role in decision-making, integrating marketing and product development from the start, and applying frameworks like CLIMB, product managers can create offerings that trigger that coveted “I need that” response. As Laurier demonstrated throughout our conversation, successful products don’t just solve problems—they connect to customers’ aspirations and help them become who they want to be. The journey from product-market fit to creating products customers can’t resist requires a fundamental shift in approach. Rather than asking “What features should we build?” successful product teams ask “What will delight customers?” By aiming to be 10x better in ways that matter emotionally, showcasing craftsmanship in every detail, and focusing on innovation rather than imitation, product managers can create offerings that transcend rational comparison. When customers imagine their lives with your product and feel genuine excitement about owning it, you’ve created something truly compelling—a product they don’t just want, but absolutely need. Useful Links Visit Laurier’s website to get his book and sign up for emails with key takeaways Check out Laurier’s book, I Need That: Creating and Marketing Products People Are Compelled to Buy Connect with Laurier on LinkedIn Learn more about Graphos Product Search for Product: Knowledge on your podcast player Innovation Quote “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs Application Questions How could you identify the “coveted condition” that your product helps customers achieve? What specific aspirational state does your product enable, and how might you redesign your development and marketing approach to emphasize this transformation? Where in your current product development process could you integrate marketing thinking earlier? What specific changes to your team structure, meeting cadence, or decision-making process would help bridge the gap between engineering and marketing perspectives? Consider the CLIMB framework (functional, emotional, transformative, and transcendent needs). Which levels does your product currently address? How could your team elevate your product to address higher-level needs that might trigger stronger emotional connections? How could your team apply the 10X better rule to your current product roadmap? Which aspects of your product could realistically be made dramatically better in ways that matter emotionally to customers, rather than pursuing incremental improvements across many features? Where could you enhance the perception of craftsmanship in your product? What specific details could you improve to signal quality and care to customers, and how might you better showcase the expertise and intentionality behind your product’s development? Bio Laurier Mandin is a product marketing strategist and go-to-market expert who has guided hundreds of innovative products to market success. As founder and CEO of Graphos Product, he brings over three decades of expertise in helping product makers identify and penetrate resistant markets through visionary positioning and strategy. Laurier developed the company’s proprietary CLIMB scoring system and Innovative Product Go-to-Market Roadmap process, which have become trusted frameworks for reducing launch risk and maximizing product success. His strategic insights have transformed struggling products into category leaders and helped numerous B2B and consumer innovations achieve breakthrough market performance. A recognized thought leader in product marketing, Laurier is the author of “I Need That” and creator of the Product Knowledge podcast as well as an award-winning business columnist. When not working with clients to craft winning product strategies, he can be found cycling, cross-country skiing, hiking or enjoying paddle sports in his local community. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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532: Make problem solving fun and effective using a workshop approach – with Alison Coward 18:56

7 weeks 전18:56

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18:56

Transform product team collaboration with Workshop Culture Watch on YouTube TLDR In my recent conversation with Alison Coward, author of Workshop Culture , we explored how product managers can transform collaboration and problem-solving through effective workshop facilitation. Alison shared that workshop culture isn’t about running constant workshops but about applying workshop principles to everyday collaboration. The key is a three-part approach: thorough preparation before, skilled facilitation during, and consistent follow-through after. By starting with the end in mind and focusing on creating the right environment for both introverted and extroverted team members, product managers can break down silos and foster innovation as a collective outcome. Key Topics Defining workshop culture and its importance for cross-functional collaboration The three-part workshop process (before, during, after) Starting with the end in mind when planning workshops Effective facilitation techniques that balance different communication styles The power of being the “ignorant” facilitator without domain expertise Creating the right physical environment for productive workshops Ensuring post-workshop implementation and follow-through Real-world example of transforming organizational collaboration Innovation as a collective outcome requiring effective team dynamics Introduction Today we’re exploring how product managers can improve their work with stakeholders, promote collaboration and trust, and apply a problem-solving approach. Our guest is Alison Coward, author of Workshop Culture: A Guide to Building Teams That Thrive . With over 20 years of experience leading creative teams, Alison has helped organizations worldwide boost team creativity, productivity, and collaboration. We’ll unpack what workshop culture means, learn practical steps for product managers to design impactful workshops, and hear real examples of how these techniques have helped teams overcome challenges. Understanding Workshop Culture Alison defined workshop culture as “ a team culture that uses the principles and practices of workshops and facilitations to achieve creativity and productivity and to build a more effective environment for team collaboration.” It doesn’t mean a team is running workshops all the time. Instead, it’s about applying the principles and practices of workshops and facilitation to create a more effective environment for team collaboration. Think about the last great workshop you attended. Remember that feeling at the end of the day – ideas flowing freely, people engaging meaningfully, and clear outcomes achieved. Often, this feeling disappears when you go back to work the next day. Workshop culture aims to capture this energy and extend it into everyday work. Despite recognizing the importance of collaboration in theory, many product teams struggle to make it work in practice. Meetings become status updates rather than problem-solving sessions. Stakeholders protect their territory rather than exploring possibilities. The implementation gap between idea and execution grows wider. Workshop culture bridges this gap by focusing on three key elements: Element Description Principles The mindsets that drive effective collaboration (curiosity, active listening, synthesis) Practices The specific techniques that facilitate shared understanding and decision-making Environment The physical and psychological conditions that enable creative thinking For product managers, implementing workshop culture means transforming how your team approaches problems. Rather than defaulting to the highest-paid person’s opinion or the loudest voice in the room, you create structured opportunities for all perspectives to contribute to solutions. The result? Teams that not only collaborate more effectively during dedicated sessions but carry that collaborative mindset into all aspects of product development. The Three-Part Workshop Process Effective workshops involve much more than just the session itself. Alison described a three-part process that many product managers overlook when planning collaborative activities: 1. Before: Preparation and Planning Preparation represents nearly 60% of what makes a workshop successful. This phase involves researching context, understanding team dynamics, clarifying objectives, and designing activities that will achieve your desired outcomes. 2. During: Facilitation and Activities This is what most people think of as “the workshop” – the actual time when participants gather to collaborate. While important, Alison noted that even the best-planned activities can go sideways if you’re not prepared to adapt to what emerges in the room. 3. After: Implementation and Follow-Up Perhaps the most neglected aspect of workshops is what happens afterward. Without deliberate follow-through, even the most energizing session can fail to create lasting impact. This phase transforms insights into action. When I work with product teams, I often see an overemphasis on the “during” phase – selecting cool activities or techniques – while neglecting thoughtful preparation and consistent follow-up. Alison’s framework provides a more balanced approach. For product managers, this three-part process applies to various collaborative scenarios: Customer journey mapping sessions Feature prioritization workshops Roadmap planning meetings Retrospectives and lessons-learned reviews Cross-functional problem-solving sessions By treating each phase with equal importance, you significantly increase the likelihood that your collaborative efforts will produce meaningful results rather than just generating ideas that never see implementation. Starting with the End in Mind When preparing your workshop, rather than starting with activities or exercises, Alison advised beginning with what happens after the workshop ends. Imagine yourself at the end of the workshop. What results did you get? What did you achieve? This approach resembles the “pre-mortem” technique I often use with product teams. While a post-mortem analyzes what went wrong after a project ends, a pre-mortem imagines potential failures before you begin. Alison’s method takes this concept further by envisioning success and working backward. Here’s how product managers can apply this approach: Envision successful implementation : Picture your team three months after the workshop. What specific changes have occurred? What decisions have been implemented? How has your product development process improved? Identify necessary outputs : Based on your vision of success, determine what tangible deliverables the workshop needs to produce. These might include prioritized feature lists, customer journey maps, or action plans with clear ownership. Research context thoroughly : Understanding team dynamics and project history represents about 50-60% of effective workshop planning. Connect with key stakeholders : Conduct one-on-one conversations with participants before the workshop to understand their perspectives, concerns, and desired outcomes. This approach transforms workshops from isolated events into strategic inflection points in your product development process. By starting with the end in mind, you ensure that every activity and discussion directly contributes to tangible progress rather than just generating ideas that never see implementation. Designing an Effective Workshop Once you’ve envisioned what success looks like after your workshop, Alison recommended a structured approach to designing the session itself. This process helps product managers move beyond generic brainstorming to create truly purposeful collaborative experiences. Alison outlined key steps that form the backbone of effective workshop design: 1. Identify Clear Purpose and Outcomes Begin with a concise statement of why you’re bringing people together and what you intend to achieve. For product managers, this might be “Align on our Q3 roadmap priorities” or “Identify the top customer pain points to address in our next release.” 2. Determine Tangible Outputs Define the specific deliverables you need the workshop to produce. These tangible outputs should directly support your post-workshop implementation plan. Examples include: Prioritized feature list with effort/impact estimates Refined user personas with key insights Journey maps highlighting critical moments Decision matrix for evaluating options 3. Brainstorm Essential Questions Instead of jumping to activities, Alison suggested brainstorming all the questions you need answered during the session. This question-based approach focuses on curiosity rather than predetermined outcomes. 4. Design Agenda Based on Questions Structure your agenda to address these questions in a logical flow. This ensures your workshop tackles the right problems in the right order. 5. Select Appropriate Activities Only now should you select specific exercises and techniques that will help answer your essential questions and produce your desired outputs. This methodical approach prevents a common pitfall I’ve observed in product teams—choosing workshop activities because they seem fun or trendy rather than because they serve your specific purpose. By following Alison’s process, you create workshops that deliver meaningful results rather than just generating temporary enthusiasm. Facilitation During the Workshop Even the best-planned workshop agenda must be held lightly. When facilitating product team sessions, you’ll need to adapt to the dynamics that emerge once everyone is in the room together. Setting the Tone Alison recommended starting workshops with an interactive exercise that signals “this isn’t a normal meeting.” These opening activities establish psychological safety and participation norms that carry through the entire session. Foundational Facilitation Techniques Alison shared several foundational techniques that she frequently includes in workshops. Breakout discussions: split into smaller groups for more intimate discussions. Individual reflection: Provide time for people to think about a question individually before discussing it. The Cycle of Facilitation Alison broke down effective facilitation into a repeating four-part cycle that product managers can master: Asking questions : Pose clear, thoughtful questions that drive toward your workshop goals. Active listening : Pay close attention to responses, watching for both verbal and non-verbal cues. Managing discomfort and chaos : Get comfortable with the messiness of divergent thinking. Synthesizing insights : Connect ideas and identify patterns to move the group forward. This cycle repeats throughout your workshop as you guide participants through different activities and discussions. For product managers, effective facilitation is about creating the conditions where your team’s collective intelligence can emerge. By mastering these techniques, you’ll transform unproductive debates into collaborative problem-solving that drives your product forward. The Facilitator’s Role The Advantage of Not Being the Expert As product managers, we often feel pressure to be the domain experts, but this can actually hinder effective workshop facilitation. Alison explained that she has successfully facilitated workshops in industries where she had no specific expertise—finance, pharmaceuticals, energy—precisely because her outsider perspective allowed her to: Ask basic questions that insiders might avoid Notice when discussions become too detailed or technical Pull the group back to higher-level objectives Help participants explain concepts in clearer terms While evolutionary improvements may benefit from deep domain knowledge, revolutionary innovation often requires fresh thinking unencumbered by the way things have always been done. Separating Facilitation from Content A subject-matter expert acting as a facilitator may have difficulty separating the needs of the group from their own preconceived ideas about what the workshop’s outcomes should be. For product managers, this means making a conscious choice before each workshop: Will you participate as a content contributor, or will you focus on facilitating the process? Trying to do both simultaneously often leads to suboptimal results in both roles. Facilitator as Process Guide As a facilitator, your primary responsibility is to keep your eyes on the process level: Is the team headed in the right direction? Are we getting into too much detail? Are we managing time effectively? Is everyone contributing? By focusing on these process questions rather than content details, you create space for your team’s collective expertise to emerge in ways that a single expert’s perspective never could. Physical Workshop Environment The environment of a workshop sends powerful signals about the type of interaction expected. Walking into a properly set up workshop space immediately communicates “this is different from a normal meeting.” Key elements can include: Post-it notes arranged on tables Flip charts positioned around the room Different seating arrangement from standard meetings Visible thinking tools and workshop materials These visual cues prime participants to engage differently from how they would in routine meetings. Dynamic Movement and Interaction Effective workshops should feel physically dynamic. Participants should: Get up and move around the room Interact with different team members Physically manipulate ideas (moving post-its, drawing on boards) Stand together while discussing concepts Research shows that standing meetings can be more productive because they engage participants physically as well as mentally. Choreographing the Workshop Space Alison thinks about the choreography of a workshop, viewing the room as a canvas for collaboration. She likes to get an image of what the workshop room looks like beforehand, so she can start planning the physical setup of the workshop. For product managers, this might mean planning specific areas for customer journey mapping, another for prioritization exercises, and separate spaces for small group discussions. This intentional use of space helps guide the energy and focus of your team throughout the workshop. Following Through Post-Workshop The excitement of a productive workshop often creates momentum that quickly dissipates once participants return to their daily responsibilities. Designing for Implementation Successful follow-through begins during the planning phase, not after the workshop ends: When designing your workshop, clearly define the specific outputs needed for implementation Create templates and frameworks that make post-workshop action straightforward Assign ownership for follow-up tasks before the workshop concludes Schedule check-in meetings to review progress on workshop outcomes The Reality of Behavior Change Workshops often aim to change behaviors and working relationships. Alison explained that behavior change does not happen overnight. Workshop culture involves the workshops themselves and the work afterward to make sure changes stick. For product managers, this means viewing workshops as catalysts within a longer transformation journey rather than one-time solutions. Persistent Follow-Up Effective post-workshop implementation requires: Regular check-ins with participants Revisiting key conversations and decisions Potentially scheduling follow-up workshops to continue progress Consistent reinforcement of new collaborative behaviors This persistent attention to implementation is what distinguishes workshops that create lasting impact from those that generate only temporary enthusiasm. For product teams, this might mean incorporating workshop outputs into sprint planning, creating visible artifacts that remind the team of decisions made, or establishing new rituals that reinforce workshop outcomes. Real-World Example: Creative Agency Transformation To illustrate how workshop culture transforms organizations, Alison shared a case study from her consulting work. She described a creative agency with ambitious growth goals that struggled with departmental silos despite producing high-quality work. Breaking Down Silos The agency’s challenge was familiar: Departments worked effectively in isolation but rarely collaborated across boundaries. Their meetings were primarily transactional, focusing on immediate deliverables rather than strategic thinking or innovation. Alison’s approach involved: Bringing teams together in regular workshop settings Facilitating conversations they wouldn’t normally have Moving beyond transactional interactions to forward-looking discussions Creating space for big-picture thinking and creative collaboration A Framework for Team Development Alison implemented a structured framework to guide the agency’s transformation: Framework Stage Focus Area Workshop Purpose Alignment Shared vision Creating clarity on collective direction and success metrics Cohesion Role clarity Understanding how individual contributions connect to the bigger picture This methodical approach helped team members see beyond their departmental boundaries and understand how their work contributed to the organization’s larger goals. Measuring Success The transformation became evident when team members began saying, “We need to run more of our meetings like these workshops.” This shift in mindset indicated they had recognized the value of structured collaboration not just in special sessions but in their everyday work. For product managers, this case study demonstrates how workshop culture can transform siloed product development into true cross-functional collaboration. By creating structured opportunities for alignment and cohesion, you can break down the barriers that often separate product, engineering, design, and business teams. Conclusion Workshop culture offers product managers a framework for transforming how teams collaborate and solve problems. As Alison explained, it’s not about running constant workshops but about applying workshop principles to everyday work: starting with the end in mind, creating space for diverse thinking styles, facilitating effectively without dominating, and following through persistently. These practices help break down the silos that often impede product innovation. If you’re looking to improve cross-functional collaboration and drive more effective product decisions, consider how you might implement these workshop principles in your next meeting or problem-solving session. Small changes in how you approach collaboration can yield significant improvements in both team dynamics and product outcomes. Useful Links Check out Alison’s book, Workshop Culture: A Guide to Building Teams That Thrive Connect with Alison on LinkedIn Learn more about Bracket Creative Innovation Quote “Leaders encourage and support the individuals in those groups because they are the source of ideas that constitute the raw material of innovation. Yet the ultimate innovation will almost always be a collective outcome, something devised through group interaction.” – Linda Hill, Collective Genius Application Questions How could you adapt your current product planning meetings to incorporate workshop culture principles? Which specific meeting would benefit most from being redesigned as a workshop? When facilitating cross-functional collaboration, how could you better balance the needs of both introverted and extroverted team members? What specific techniques might you implement in your next product discovery session? Think about your last product workshop or collaborative session that didn’t lead to effective implementation. How could you have designed it differently, starting with the end in mind? What specific post-workshop mechanisms could you put in place for your next session? How could your team apply the concept of “workshop choreography” to your physical or virtual workspace? What signals or environmental changes could help transition your regular meetings into more collaborative problem-solving sessions? Consider the tension between individual contributions and collective outcomes in your product development process. How could you structure your next feature prioritization or roadmap planning session to better harness both individual creativity and collective wisdom? Bio Alison Coward is the founder of Bracket, a consultancy that partners with ambitious, forward-thinking companies to help them build high-performing team cultures. She is a team culture coach, workshop facilitator, trainer, keynote speaker and author of “Workshop Culture: a guide to building teams that thrive” and “A Pocket Guide to Effective Workshops”. Clients include: Google, Meta, Wellcome and the V&A. With 20 years’ experience working in, leading and facilitating creative teams, Alison is passionate about finding the balance between creativity, productivity and collaboration so that teams can thrive and do their best work together. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

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531: Using AI in risk-adverse industries – with Matt Coatney 23:24

8 weeks 전23:24

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나중에 재생

23:24

AI in product management – perspectives from the legal industry, education, and entrepreneurship Watch on YouTube TLDR In my recent conversation with product executive and former colleague Matt Coatney, we explored how artificial intelligence is transforming product management and innovation. The technology has evolved dramatically in the past decade, from fragile, expensive systems to powerful tools that integrate seamlessly into workflows. Product managers can leverage AI for everything from customer research and brainstorming to prototyping and workflow automation. While organizations must balance specialized versus general AI tools and address concerns like hallucinations and data privacy, the benefits for productivity and innovation are substantial. The most successful implementations focus on solving real customer problems and seamlessly integrate into existing workflows. Key Topics Using AI as a brainstorming partner to overcome creativity blocks Accelerating product development with AI-powered prototyping tools Integrating AI into product management platforms and workflows Balancing specialized AI products versus general-purpose models Managing AI hallucinations and verification challenges Learning from AI adoption in risk-averse industries like legal Impact on mentorship and professional development Future trends: local AI models and data privacy Introduction In this episode, we had a free-form discussion. My guest doesn’t know what I’m going to ask him and I don’t know what he is going to ask me. Our goal is to make the discussion valuable for product managers, leaders, and innovators. Joining me is a former colleague, Matt Coatney. We worked together on an important product for LexisNexis. I went on to teach graduate courses in innovation and coach product managers and leaders in organizations, while Matt got more involved in Information Technology, leading professional services and consulting operations for a few organizations as well as serving as CIO for one of the large law firms in the US. His career started in AI systems some 25 years ago and today he continues learning about and applying AI and is also is a product executive. The Current State of AI in Product Management Matt asked about my observations of the effects of AI, from the perspective of a product manager, entrepreneur, and educator. Last year at the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) conference, three separate sessions featured AI tools specifically designed for customer research. This wasn’t just theoretical discussion. These were practical applications already being implemented by forward-thinking product teams. At the PDMA conference, I participated in a workshop led by Mike Hyzy, where we completed what would normally be a 3-5 day Design Sprint in just three hours. Our team consisted of four humans and one AI companion, which functioned as a fifth team member. The AI was operated by someone skilled in prompt writing who understood the product space. What impressed me most was how the AI accelerated our work. When we brainstormed customer problems, the AI helped us explore details we hadn’t considered. It suggested unmet needs, offered additional perspectives, and helped us develop a comprehensive view in a fraction of the time it would have taken traditionally. By the end of those three hours, we had developed a solid marketing description for solving a customer problem and created a decent prototype—impressive results for such a compressed timeframe. Practical AI Applications for Product Professionals On a personal level, I’ve found AI tools like Claude to be valuable as brainstorming partners. Rather than trying to craft lengthy prompts with all my requirements upfront, I’ve shifted to a more conversational approach. Kicking ideas around with AI helps me overcome the inertia of starting a task. Matt shared similar experiences, noting that this brainstorming use case is often underappreciated. While many focus on productivity enhancements like email responses and content generation, the creative thinking support is particularly valuable for entrepreneurs and product innovators. Many professionals today lack the “water cooler culture” opportunities to casually discuss ideas with colleagues, especially with remote work becoming more common. AI tools help fill this gap, providing an always-available thinking partner. We also discussed the prototyping capabilities of AI. Matt mentioned tools like GitHub Copilot for assisting developers, and V0, which can build functional web applications directly from human prompts. These tools allow people with little or no coding knowledge to write code. For entrepreneurs and product managers, these prototyping tools address a common challenge: developing clear user workflows before engaging software developers. Taking time to create detailed prototypes helps clarify thinking and identify assumptions that might confuse users. AI accelerates this process, allowing teams to get clarity on user experiences sooner and save significant time and money during development. AI Application Value for Product Professionals Brainstorming partner Overcomes creative blocks and inertia Idea validation Tests concepts quickly without scheduling meetings Prototyping assistance Accelerates creation of user interfaces and workflows No-code development Allows faster proof-of-concept creation Design iteration Enables rapid exploration of alternative approaches AI-Enhanced Product Management Platforms The integration of AI into existing product management tools represents a significant opportunity for enhancing team effectiveness. ProdPad, one of the more popular platforms for managing product management work, and many competitors, have recently added AI capabilities—currently called Co-pilot—to their toolkit. What makes these integrated platforms valuable is their ability to serve as a central repository for product information. They help teams maintain alignment with overall strategy, track progress toward objectives, and understand user stories. With AI enhancement, these platforms can now help identify gaps in strategy alignment, surface unmet customer needs based on existing data, and answer questions from stakeholders outside the immediate product team. Matt and I discussed an important consideration when choosing AI solutions: whether to invest in specialized AI products or use general-purpose AI with custom prompts. Many specialized tools are essentially using the same large language models as ChatGPT but with carefully engineered prompts and workflows tailored to specific use cases. For organizations making these decisions, Matt shared insights from his experience co-leading AI initiatives at his law firm. They’ve taken a tiered approach, using one solid general-purpose language model for most applications while investing in legal-specific AI products for their revenue-generating lawyers. For highly specific tactical use cases, they evaluate additional specialized tools—but only when the return on investment justifies the significant cost. AI Tool Approach Pros Cons General-purpose AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude) Lower cost, versatility, continuous updates May require custom prompt engineering, less specialized Industry-specific AI solutions Optimized for domain-specific knowledge and workflows Higher cost, potential duplication of capabilities Integrated platform with AI features Seamless workflow integration, centralized data May have less advanced AI capabilities than specialized tools Custom-built internal AI tools Precisely tailored to organization’s needs Resource-intensive to develop and maintain Matt emphasized that the bar should be high for investing in specialized products when general tools can accomplish 90% of the required tasks. Organizations must consider whether the additional 10% improvement justifies spending five to six figures on multiple specialized tools, which could quickly add up to a million-dollar investment. Workflow integration is important for successful AI implementation. Matt provided an example: if an organization has employees manually uploading invoices to ChatGPT, extracting data, and re-entering it into systems, they’re missing efficiency opportunities. The real value comes from automating these workflows to minimize manual steps. Implementation Focus Key Considerations Model Selection Balance between general and specialized capabilities Integration Level How seamlessly AI fits into existing workflows Data Strategy What information AI can access to maximize value ROI Analysis Justification for specialized AI investments User Adoption Support for different user groups based on needs Matt also reflected on the current state of AI capabilities. He noted that today’s models are becoming so robust that it’s increasingly difficult to find use cases they can’t handle, at least for English language applications. This growing general applicability raises the bar for specialized solutions to prove their value. We briefly touched on the debate around artificial general intelligence (AGI), acknowledging that while the term itself may be somewhat ambiguous, the general applicability of today’s AI tools is already impressive. This evolution has significant implications for how organizations approach their AI strategy, suggesting that for many use cases, the focus should be on integration and workflow rather than pursuing incrementally more powerful specialized models. Addressing AI Challenges and Concerns Implementing AI in product development isn’t without challenges. Matt and I explored several concerns that organizations must address to effectively leverage these tools. We discussed the potential impact on professional development, particularly in apprenticeship-model professions. If senior staff rely on AI instead of junior team members for certain tasks, how will those juniors develop expertise? Matt raised this concern for lawyers and software developers, and we discussed its relevance for product management as well. However, we identified a potential upside: AI could handle routine tasks that would previously occupy junior employees’ time, freeing them to engage in higher-value learning experiences. By eliminating basic tasks like fixing simple coding errors or catching obvious document mistakes, AI might actually create more meaningful mentorship opportunities focused on strategic thinking and core professional skills. Product managers should be aware of risks of AI hallucinations AI hallucinations—where models generate plausible but incorrect information—remain a persistent challenge despite recent improvements. I shared a personal experience using AI to analyze a detailed lease agreement. While the AI successfully identified unfavorable clauses and accurately referenced their location in the document, I was initially concerned it might fabricate issues. In other contexts, I’ve frequently encountered hallucinations where AI adds information not present in the source material. Both hallucinations and omissions pose serious risks, particularly in contexts like legal work. Matt’s firm strongly advises lawyers to verify all AI outputs, treating them as they would work from a junior associate. As Matt put it, the AI is like “a first-year associate that doesn’t sleep and is always there,” but still requires careful review. Type of AI Error Risk Mitigation Strategy Hallucination Introducing incorrect information Verify all outputs against source material Omission Missing critical information Verify outputs and use multiple prompts to ensure comprehensive analysis Misinterpretation Drawing incorrect conclusions Apply domain expertise to evaluate outputs Over-confidence Presenting speculation as fact Require citation of sources for key claims For organizations implementing AI, establishing appropriate guardrails is essential. Matt described how his firm has developed policies that provide guidance without outright prohibiting most AI use cases. They focus on education about appropriate usage contexts, data confidentiality protections, and verification requirements, creating a balanced approach that manages risks while capturing benefits. AI Adoption in Risk-Averse Industries The legal profession offers insights into how AI transforms traditionally cautious industries. As a product management professional, I pay special attention to adoption patterns in risk-averse sectors—when they embrace new technology, it often signals well-established value and manageable risks. Matt shared a progression of attitudes toward AI within law firms over the past two years. Initially, many leaders experienced fear about AI’s potential to disrupt their profession. This concern was both practical and financial: AI tools represented a significant investment while potentially reducing billable hours by increasing efficiency—a challenging value proposition in an hourly billing model. Over time, with education and exposure, these perspectives evolved into more nuanced views. Today, many firms, including Matt’s, are bullish on AI’s capabilities within appropriate boundaries. Some see it as a competitive differentiator, while others pursue AI implementation to avoid falling behind competitors. The adoption curve among individual lawyers follows patterns familiar to any technology implementation. Matt observed that his organization has moved beyond early adopters and is now entering the early majority phase. While some users try AI briefly before abandoning it, those who integrate it into their workflow show steadily increasing usage over time. AI Use Case in Legal Description Value Content summarization Condensing contracts, briefs, proceedings, and statutes Saves time on document review Synthesis Combining information from multiple sources Creates comprehensive understanding Drafting assistance Generating initial document drafts Accelerates document preparation Strategy brainstorming Exploring alternative approaches and counterarguments Enhances case preparation Provision analysis Identifying favorable/unfavorable contract terms Improves negotiation position What particularly impressed Matt after 25 years in the AI space was how dramatically the technology has evolved. The systems he worked with 15 years ago were fragile, expensive, rules-based, and easily broken when applied to adjacent use cases. Today’s models understand language nuance, adapt to specialized terminology, and apply reasoning to novel situations—capabilities previously thought to require years more development. For product managers serving risk-averse industries, this evolution suggests several insights: emphasize verification and human oversight in your AI implementation, focus on specific high-value use cases with clear ROI, and recognize that resistance often transforms into enthusiasm as users experience benefits firsthand. The legal industry’s journey provides a roadmap for introducing AI into other conservative sectors, from healthcare and finance to government and education. The Future of AI in Product Management The most successful AI implementations in product management will be those that seamlessly integrate into existing workflows. Matt and I agreed that transparent integration represents the next frontier for AI tools, moving beyond standalone applications to become embedded features within the systems product teams already use. This parallels our experience at LexisNexis, where we worked together on a product that integrated new capabilities without requiring users to change their behavior. I expect platforms like ProdPad to succeed by making AI assistance transparent and aligned with users’ natural work patterns. By contrast, Microsoft’s Copilot approach in Office applications often feels disconnected from the actual workflow. As I mentioned to Matt, I frequently close the Copilot prompt when opening Word because it feels like an extra step that interrupts my process rather than enhancing it. Our conversation also touched on recent developments in AI democratization. We discussed Deep Seek, which enables running sophisticated AI models on relatively inexpensive hardware—from Raspberry Pi devices to modest servers. This trend capability allows organizations concerned about data privacy and security to maintain complete control over their AI systems and data. Matt predicted this will lead to a bifurcated market: cutting-edge models will continue to require substantial computing resources, while slightly older generations will become commoditized and available for edge computing applications. He envisioned an “AIOT” (AI + Internet of Things) future where smart devices incorporate local AI processing. Future AI Trend Impact on Product Management Workflow integration Reduced friction in adoption and usage Local AI models Enhanced data privacy and security control Edge computing AI New product possibilities with embedded intelligence Democratized access More accessible AI for smaller teams and organizations Specialized fine-tuning Tailored models for specific product domains Beyond technical advancements, Matt expressed enthusiasm about AI’s potential social impact. He’s personally focused on applying AI to health and climate challenges. He noted that while large pharmaceutical companies are exploring AI applications, there’s tremendous untapped potential for nonprofits, NGOs, and small mission-driven organizations to leverage these tools. This social dimension presents an opportunity for product managers to apply their skills beyond traditional business contexts. As AI becomes more accessible, product professionals can help mission-driven organizations integrate these capabilities into their workflows, potentially creating outsized impact through enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in addressing critical social challenges. Key Insights for Product Managers Throughout our conversation, several actionable insights emerged that product managers can apply immediately to their work with AI. We discussed the need to reframe executive demands for adding AI into customer-focused questions. Matt and I both encountered situations where leadership teams push for AI integration without clarity about the specific value it will provide. Too often, senior executives make broad statements like “we need to add AI to what we’re doing” without understanding what that actually means for products or customers. As product professionals, our responsibility is to translate these directives into customer-oriented questions: How can we enhance our product’s value using AI to solve problems customers actually care about? Will AI help solve these problems faster, better, or more comprehensively? This reframing helps ensure AI serves genuine customer needs rather than becoming a superficial feature. Another opportunity Matt highlighted was AI’s ability to process unstructured data. He noted how frequently we encounter friction in our daily lives—retyping information into forms or manually extracting data from documents only to re-enter it elsewhere. These pain points represent prime opportunities for AI-enhanced products. Customer Pain Point AI Application Opportunity Form completion Auto-extraction of information from existing documents Data transcription Converting formats without manual retyping Information synthesis Combining data from multiple sources automatically Content transformation Converting between visual and text formats Pattern recognition Identifying trends in unstructured information Matt shared personal examples of AI’s potential, including using it to solve scientific puzzles from Scientific American and helping his daughter understand idioms in her schoolwork. These seemingly simple applications demonstrate how AI can remove friction points that we’ve previously accepted as unavoidable. Conclusion The integration of AI into product management isn’t just a passing trend—it’s fundamentally transforming how we research customer needs, prototype solutions, and create value. AI has evolved from a specialized, experimental technology to an essential tool in the product manager’s toolkit. The question is no longer whether to incorporate AI into product development processes, but how to do so most effectively. As you incorporate AI into your product management practice, remember that the technology itself is just a tool. The true value comes from how you apply it to understand customer needs, solve meaningful problems, and create products that improve people’s lives. By focusing on these fundamentals while embracing AI’s capabilities, you’ll be well-positioned to thrive in this new era of product innovation. Useful Links Connect with Matt on LinkedIn Learn more about Matt’s mission-based organization, 10 Billion Ventures Innovation Quotes “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – attributed to Alan Kay and Peter Drucker “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney Application Questions How could you integrate AI as a brainstorming partner in your current product development process? What specific activities (customer research, feature ideation, user story creation) might benefit most from this partnership approach? In what ways could your team use AI to accelerate prototyping without sacrificing quality? How might this change your current approach to validating product concepts before full development? How could you transform executive requests to “add AI” into customer-focused initiatives? What specific customer problems in your product area could AI help solve more effectively? How could your organization balance investment in specialized AI tools versus leveraging general-purpose AI models with custom prompts? What ROI metrics would you use to make these decisions? How could you ensure AI integration enhances rather than disrupts your existing product workflows? What would seamless integration look like for your specific product and team? Bio Matt Coatney is a seasoned C-level AI and product executive with 25 years of diverse experience. His expertise includes: artificial intelligence, business growth, and product development. Matt has also supported a wide range of industries such as manufacturing, media, law, life sciences, government, and finance. His client list includes some of the largest, most well-known organizations in the world, including Microsoft, IBM, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pfizer, Deloitte, HP, and the US government. Matt writes and speaks frequently on technology and product topics. In addition to a TED talk and keynotes, his work has been published by MIT, HarperCollins, and O’Reilly and has appeared in books, journals, and international conferences. Matt’s latest book is The Human Cloud: How Today’s Changemakers Use Artificial Intelligence and the Freelance Economy to Transform Work , with Matthew Mottola. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. 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Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators podcast artwork

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530: How to craft your path from IC to Product VP – with Elizabeth Samara-Rubio 37:50

9 weeks 전37:50

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Product management is the best path to senior leadership Watch on YouTube TLDR In my recent interview with Elizabeth Samara-Rubio, Chief Business Officer at SiMa.ai, we explored the journey from product management to senior leadership. Elizabeth shared how her product management experience at HP and other companies shaped her approach to business leadership. She emphasized the importance of setting a clear North Star for teams, challenging assumptions with data, and creating a culture that embraces calculated risk-taking. Her insights on Edge AI applications revealed how companies are gaining competitive advantages through both product-focused and process-focused AI integration strategies. Key Topics How product management experience provides a foundation for executive leadership Setting direction as a senior leader through clear vision and metrics Edge AI applications and benefits: privacy, security, and cost advantages Creating customer value through innovation and “getting your own truth” Building a data-driven leadership culture Two approaches to AI integration: product-focused and process-focused Advice for product managers aspiring to senior leadership roles Introduction When you meet an exceptional product manager – a product master – you’re often seeing a future business leader in the making. They have a spark – an obsession with customer needs, a knack for strategy, an ability to unite teams around a vision – it’s the same DNA that builds great companies. Our guest today embodies this evolution, taking her product management foundation to pioneer AI innovation and lead high-growth companies. From launching products at HP in the late 90s to driving AI innovation today, Elizabeth Samara-Rubio’s journey offers unique insights into how product management shapes business leadership. As Chief Business Officer at SiMa.ai, she’s now at the forefront of Edge AI technology, bringing artificial intelligence directly to devices where decisions need to be made. In this discussion, we’ll explore how Elizabeth’s early product management experience influences her approach to building high-growth, customer-focused companies. We’ll also dive into her perspective on AI’s transformative impact on industries, drawn from her work at the intersection of strategy, product, and artificial intelligence. Whether you’re a product manager looking to expand your influence or a business leader interested in the impact of AI on your industry, Elizabeth’s insights bridge the gap between product thinking and company building. From Product Manager to Business Leader Product managers are prepared to be leaders, as the challenges of balancing multiple stakeholders, making data-driven decisions, and keeping customers at the center of everything you do are experiences that translate directly to executive roles. The transition from managing products to leading businesses isn’t automatic, however. It requires developing new skills while leveraging the product mindset that made you successful in the first place. As Elizabeth’s journey shows, product managers who successfully make this leap often maintain their customer focus and data-driven approach while expanding their vision to encompass the entire business. Throughout our discussion, Elizabeth shared insights on setting direction as a senior leader, applying product management tools to business leadership, and leveraging AI to create competitive advantages. Her experiences provide a roadmap for product managers looking to grow their careers beyond traditional product roles and influence entire organizations. What makes this journey from product manager to business leader particularly relevant today is how technology – especially AI – is transforming products, services, and entire industries. Leaders with product backgrounds are uniquely positioned to guide this transformation. Setting Direction as a Senior Leader One of the differences between product management and executive leadership is the scope of direction-setting. While product managers focus on product vision and roadmaps, senior leaders must establish a North Star for entire organizations. Elizabeth emphasized that setting direction as a Chief Business Officer involves providing sufficient clarity for each function to understand its role. At SiMa.ai, this direction centered on customers who are both anxious and excited about AI possibilities. By establishing customers as the North Star, Elizabeth ensured every team—from product managers to field application engineers and sales—could align their work toward becoming trusted advisors in this space. But direction-setting isn’t just about vision. Elizabeth highlighted three essential components: North Star orientation – Creating a clear, compelling direction that guides decision-making Measurable objectives – Establishing metrics to track progress toward goals Cultural foundation – Building a culture that supports execution Setting the numbers is a big part of direction-setting. As her team closed 2024 and entered 2025, measuring their velocity toward objectives became as important as the objectives themselves. This approach creates an early detection system for course corrections. The cultural element proved particularly vital in a startup environment. As a veteran of six startups, Elizabeth underscored the importance of fostering good judgment, having a bias for action, and learning by doing. The combination of clear direction, measurable objectives, and supportive culture creates a framework where teams can execute effectively while staying aligned with organizational priorities. For product managers aspiring to leadership roles, this approach to direction-setting represents an expansion of the product-focused planning they already practice. As senior leaders set direction, they must balance ambition with realism, ensuring their vision energizes the organization while remaining achievable through disciplined execution. This balance becomes the foundation for sustainable growth and innovation. Understanding Edge AI: Current Applications and Benefits SiMa.ai operates at the forefront of Edge AI, which involves deploying artificial intelligence directly on devices rather than in the cloud, creating distinct advantages for certain applications. Elizabeth explained that Edge AI could take the form of conversational AI in vehicles or voice interfaces for industrial equipment operators. The key distinction is that processing happens on the device itself, at the “edge,” rather than in the cloud. This local processing creates three primary benefits driving Edge AI adoption: Privacy – Data remains on the device, reducing exposure of sensitive information Security – Reduced vulnerability to network-based attacks Cost – Lower operational expenses without ongoing cloud processing fees For product innovators, these advantages open new possibilities for creating differentiated experiences. Elizabeth described how Edge AI enables personal assistant functionality without requiring users to share personal data with service providers – a potential game-changer for privacy-conscious consumers. The applications span both consumer and industrial contexts. In vehicles, Edge AI powers conversational interfaces without connectivity requirements. In manufacturing settings, it enables speech-to-text capabilities that help operators follow instructions while performing complex tasks on production lines. This technology represents a significant shift from cloud-dependent AI systems that require constant connectivity and raise privacy concerns. By bringing AI processing to the device level, product teams can create more responsive experiences while addressing growing data privacy concerns. For product managers exploring AI integration, understanding this distinction between cloud and edge deployment models helps inform architecture decisions. The right approach depends on specific use cases, data sensitivity requirements, and cost considerations – all factors that product leaders must weigh when developing AI-enhanced offerings. Lessons from Product Management Experience When I asked Elizabeth about the most valuable insights from her product management career that influence her leadership approach today, she identified three key principles. You’re never going to be popular Challenge assumptions When innovating, always look for pockets of possibilities and clock speed. Product managers can’t satisfy everyone’s wishes, and this reality continues in executive roles where difficult trade-offs remain necessary. Learning to make decisions despite inevitable disagreement prepares product managers for leadership challenges. Challenge assumptions with data. Effective product managers combat confirmation bias by seeking customer conversations, studying competitors, and developing deep technology understanding. This evidence-based approach becomes even more critical in leadership positions where decisions have broader impact. To find pockets of possibility, Elizabeth looks for teams that have repeatedly tried to solve a problem without success. These represent fertile ground for innovation because they have both motivation and context. Every person, company, and market has a clock speed. Moving too quickly without bringing others along leaves you alone. Different individuals, organizations, and markets move at different speeds, and effective leaders must understand and accommodate these variations. This lesson proved particularly valuable as Elizabeth advanced in her career. While early-career product managers might prioritize speed and decisive action, senior leaders must ensure their teams move forward together. This doesn’t mean slowing innovation, but rather bringing others along through clear communication and shared understanding. Case Study: Creating Customer Value Through Innovation Elizabeth described a customer-focused innovation she spearheaded approximately a decade ago. This case study illustrates how product leadership principles translate into tangible business outcomes. Elizabeth had joined a company experiencing declining growth rates. The CEO wanted to break out of this pattern, but the parent company valued consistency and predictability, creating a challenging innovation context. Rather than pursuing entirely new products or markets, Elizabeth focused on identifying unmet needs within existing customer relationships. This meant going beyond what customers explicitly requested to uncover deeper problems. The company sold sophisticated machine vision systems to manufacturing clients – equipment costing between $200,000 and $500,000 per unit that could detect defects as small as black pepper at speeds exceeding 70 miles per hour. When customers began asking for price reductions, the typical response might have been to either refuse or comply. Instead, Elizabeth took a journalistic approach to customer research, seeking her “own truth” about what was really happening. Through direct observation and conversations, she discovered customers were incurring increasing costs managing these systems. Every morning, teams of four would walk production lines to document system health and operational status – a reactive, time-consuming process. With this insight, Elizabeth partnered with the CTO to create the company’s first cloud-based asset health monitoring system with an analytics dashboard and proactive alerts based on trending data. They accomplished this in just eight weeks, breaking numerous organizational rules in the process. Within those eight weeks, over 80 systems were running with the new monitoring service, opening a new revenue stream with existing customers without lowering prices. The innovation solved customer problems while creating business value. This experience reinforced Elizabeth’s belief in discovering customer truths firsthand. Rather than relying on secondary sources, Elizabeth advises product managers to act like journalists and “go get your own truth.” Product leaders who directly engage with customers often uncover opportunities others miss. Tools and Frameworks for Product Leadership Among the product management tools that Elizabeth has carried into leadership, “get your own truth” remains most valuable. As product managers advance into leadership positions, they typically have fewer opportunities for direct customer interaction and hands-on product work. This distance creates risk, making deliberate truth-seeking even more critical. She described how, as a product manager, she would meticulously document what she wanted to be true for a product to succeed, then deliberately seek evidence to disprove those assumptions. This practice protected against confirmation bias and ensured decisions remained grounded in reality rather than wishful thinking. In leadership roles, Elizabeth applies this same approach at a broader scale. While leaders must communicate optimistic, motivating narratives about the future, they must simultaneously maintain discipline in checking assumptions during execution. Leaders who fail to verify their assumptions often make costly strategic errors. This balancing act – between inspirational vision and rigorous validation – represents a key leadership skill that product management experience helps develop. Product managers regularly navigate similar tensions between aspirational roadmaps and practical constraints. The tools themselves matter less than the mindset behind them. Whether using formal frameworks like the Business Model Canvas or creating customized approaches, effective product leaders maintain intellectual honesty about assumptions and actively seek disconfirming evidence. For product managers aspiring to leadership positions, this suggests the value of developing robust processes for assumption-testing and truth-seeking that can scale beyond individual product decisions to organizational strategy. Building a Data-Driven Leadership Culture Elizabeth’s emphasis on challenging assumptions naturally connected to another key theme in our conversation: creating a culture where data drives decisions. She shared specific approaches for establishing this culture within her organizations. When Elizabeth joined her current company, she made her expectations immediately clear. She told her team, “I might not remember your names right away, but if you gave me your phone number, I would remember that.” This light-hearted comment conveyed a serious message: Numbers matter. She explained that she expects everyone to know their numbers intimately – not just as figures on a slide but as deeply understood indicators of performance. This expectation works both ways. Elizabeth models the behavior by knowing her own numbers thoroughly, ensuring she can respond immediately when her CEO asks for metrics. Beyond setting expectations, Elizabeth creates an environment where team members feel safe sharing negative information. She regularly tells her teams, “I’m going to tell you what I believe, but then you need to tell me what I missed.” This invitation to point out blind spots and challenge assumptions creates psychological safety while reinforcing the value of evidence over opinion. Elizabeth outlined five key indicators for customer success: Baseline number of users Velocity (how quickly users are being added) Recency (frequency of user acquisition) Duration (user retention) Expansion (increased usage or adoption) While traditional metrics like customer acquisition cost remain important, they function more as signals about investment efficiency rather than indicators of strategic direction. For internal operations, metrics focus on timeliness, early delivery, and error rates after launch. Elizabeth’s approach involves tracking 8-9 high-level KPIs annually, each supported by 2-3 subordinate metrics. This creates an early detection system for potential issues, allowing course correction before problems become serious. By establishing clear expectations around metrics, modeling data-driven decision-making, and creating safety for sharing concerning information, Elizabeth builds a culture where evidence trumps opinion and problems surface early enough to address effectively. AI’s Impact on Product Innovation and Business Processes Elizabeth identified two distinct approaches companies are taking in incorporating AI into their products and processes. On the product side, organizations are using AI for differentiation in increasingly competitive markets. Elizabeth shared an example of a company that ranked third globally in market share for equipment used in EV battery production. Facing price pressure from Asian competitors, they needed to differentiate without sacrificing margin. Rather than competing solely on price, they partnered with SiMa.ai to embed AI directly into their equipment. This shifted the value proposition from simply inspecting completed products to detecting early warning signs during the manufacturing process. The AI system identifies when processes are trending toward poor outcomes and automatically adjusts calibration to maintain quality. This approach transformed the offering from reactive quality control to proactive quality assurance. Instead of identifying defects after production, the system prevents them from occurring. For customers, this means higher yields and less waste. For the equipment manufacturer, it creates sustainable differentiation that justifies premium pricing. On the process side, Elizabeth described another customer in a regulated industry that integrated AI not into products but into their operational workflows. This company implemented AI for quality inspection while meeting strict FDA requirements. The technology enabled a complete process redesign that improved throughput by 20-40%. This AI implementation catalyzed broader transformation, leading the company to introduce robotics into their operations for the first time. The AI capability became the foundation for reimagining their entire production approach. Both examples highlighted the three key drivers for Edge AI adoption: reduced latency (faster processing), enhanced privacy (keeping data local), and optimized costs (avoiding ongoing cloud expenses). For product managers, these cases demonstrate how AI can create value beyond simple feature enhancement. Whether embedded in products or integrated into processes, AI enables fundamental rethinking of how value is delivered to customers. This represents a significant shift from earlier AI implementations that focused primarily on post-production applications. Advice for Product Managers Aspiring to Senior Leadership I asked Elizabeth what advice she would offer product managers who aspire to C-suite or other senior leadership positions. Her recommendations combined practical skills development with maintaining the essential qualities that make product managers effective. First, she encouraged product managers to develop a healthy attitude toward risk-taking. Elizabeth noted that product managers often become overly cautious and methodical, worried about making wrong decisions that could impact the entire company. While thoroughness matters, she advised taking more calculated risks while distinguishing between “one-way door” decisions (difficult to reverse) and “two-way door” decisions (easily changed if needed). Second, she emphasized the importance of knowing your numbers. Elizabeth categorized product managers into three types: “order takers” who simply implement what others request, “storytellers” who paint beautiful visions but struggle with execution, and balanced product leaders who center their work around customers and measurable outcomes. She strongly advised aspiring leaders to develop this balanced approach. Third, she recommended that product managers create their own narrative around business impact. “Your product is a business,” she stated, suggesting that even if not formally responsible for P&L, product managers should develop their own profit and loss mindset. This business orientation prepares them for broader leadership responsibilities. Finally, she urged product managers to stay true to what made them product managers in the first place, which probably includes curiosity. Whether exploring customer problems or experimenting with products, this fundamental quality helps product leaders avoid major mistakes. As responsibilities grow, maintaining connection to customers and products becomes more challenging but even more essential. Elizabeth also highlighted the importance of effective storytelling for leaders. She noted that 80% of communication is non-verbal, advising aspiring leaders to fully commit to their message delivery: “Put your whole body into it. Get into it. This is your thing.” Conclusion For product managers looking to expand their influence and move toward leadership roles, this balance between technological enthusiasm and business purpose provides a valuable compass. The journey from product manager to business leader isn’t about abandoning product thinking but about applying it at increasingly strategic levels. As Elizabeth’s career demonstrates, the skills that make exceptional product managers – customer obsession, strategic vision, and the ability to unite teams – are precisely the qualities that build outstanding business leaders. Useful Links Learn more about SiMA.ai and see what upcoming events they’ll be at Connect with Elizabeth on LinkedIn Innovation Quote “Science is wonderfully equipped to answer the question ‘How?’ but it gets terribly confused when you ask the question ‘Why?'” – Erwin Chargaff Application Questions How could you implement Elizabeth’s “get your own truth” approach in your current role? What specific steps could you take to gather firsthand customer insights beyond what’s provided through sales or marketing channels? How might you balance the “clock speed” of your product innovation with your organization’s ability to absorb change? What signals would tell you that you’re moving too quickly or too slowly? What metrics do you currently track for your product, and how do they compare to Elizabeth’s five key indicators (baseline users, velocity, recency, duration, and expansion)? Which additional metrics might you add to create an early detection system for potential issues? How could you apply the distinction between “one-way door” and “two-way door” decisions to take more calculated risks in your product development process? If you were to create your own P&L mindset for your product today, what would be the key revenue drivers and cost factors you would track? How might this perspective change your current priorities or decision-making approach? Bio Elizabeth Samara-Rubio is a 20+ year tech industry veteran where she’s led customer experience programs in industrial and manufacturing sectors in addition to global go-to-market efforts for AI services across many domains. As Chief Business Officer of SiMa.ai, Elizabeth is responsible for ensuring the company is developing products that serve client needs while going above and beyond the industry status quo. Elizabeth has held various high-level roles across the software industry, including a tenure at AWS. While at AWS, she was the Global Head of Language, Vision, Industrial, Applied AI+GenAI Use Case GTM & Business Development, leading the global go to market AI specialist team to adopt and scale AI services. She also founded and served as CEO at clean-energy startup, StorWatts. Elizabeth holds a BA in Business/Marketing Communications from the University of Illinois and an MBA in Information Management from the Texas McCombs School of Business. Thanks! Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below. Source…

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