Last but definitely not least in #TwelveDaysOfProductChristmas, we have my chat with @cwodtke, author of numerous books, including The Team That Managed Itself & Radical Focus. I chatted with Christina about empowered teams, learning organisations & OKRs. Check it out right now!
The first OKR book I read was actually Measure What Matters, and I was surprised to find out that Radical Focus (first edition) came out before that book. I decided it would be a good idea to try to stoke some controversy and get Christina to say John Doerr sucks, but no dice 🎲
Christina did this interview wearing an arm cast but didn't let injuries get in the way and we had a wonderful chat about the state of OKRs today, what people are doing well, what they're doing not so well, and some of the common mistakes to avoid.
Check the episode out now on your favourite podcast app or the link below. And make sure to check out Christina's books!
I just finished "Never Split The Difference" by @fbinegotiator. Given that Product Managers live almost all their working lives leading indirectly & trying to influence others, I strongly recommend you add this to your reading list!
Here are some key takeaways: 👇
Chris Voss was an FBI negotiator turned business negotiation consultant. Many of the stories in the book involve hostages and the kind of super-high-stress situations that hopefully we privileged office workers never need to worry about, but we can apply many of his lessons:
1. Negotiation is not a battle, it's a discovery process
Develop empathy & use techniques like active listening, mirroring, being intentional with the voice you use (radio DJ, playful, assertive), preparing for surprises & pivoting where necessary. It's like product discovery!
As we near the end of our #TwelveDaysOfProductChristmas, we go back to my interview with @allenholub and ask ourselves.. is Scrum "agile"? Do we need to use all the stuff that's in it? Are structured frameworks bad? For all this & more, check out the interview on your podcast app
Like many of you, I've been following Allen for a while on Twitter, and I'm aware that he's a polarising figure for some in the agile community. His spicy, somewhat fundamentalist takes jar with some but I've got a lot of time for the discussions they provoke.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I got on the call with Allen - I mean, sure, I used to be a developer but I'm a product nerd now, and Allen can be somewhat dismissive of product people. That said, it was a great, good-natured conversation & shows the man behind the Tweets
For today's #TwelveDaysOfProductChristmas, we return to @parkercrystal_ to answer that age-old question "How do I get into product management?" - I chatted to Crystal about her journey into product management and how she's trying to help others get in. Check it out now!
I first bumped into Crystal on Twitter when she tweeted something along the lines of "I got my first PM job by taking a UX course and finessing the rest" - I thought it showed an incredible amount of moxie and I had to find out more. I was delighted to have her on as a guest.
My appreciation for her tweet lost me at least one follower, who seemed to long for the days of gatekeeping product management. Their loss! I'm a big fan of getting people from non-traditional backgrounds into product management and Crystal has a lot to say about it
Here's a hot & spicy @oneknightinprod episode with @saeedwkhan where we talk about the 5 Dysfunctions of Product Management teams. Saeed has some tough love for PMs & product leaders, but it is love!
Check it out on your podcast app or the link in the thread.
Takeaways 👇
1. It's important to be honest about the state of product management
It's not about being negative or blaming "bad product managers" for everything. But, there are repeated dysfunctions across a large number of companies and we can't fix them if we ignore them.
2. Product managers suffer from poor job definitions, which makes it hard to succeed
Bad job specs are a symptom of a deeper truth: Not many people outside product management really understand it, or what "cross-functional" working means at all. We should avoid being "glue".
Many product companies struggle with malfunctioning product management teams & dream of a world with no PMs where their rock star programmers can just build, build, build but these organisations don't need NO product managers, they need BETTER product managers.
Why? 👇
Some causes of malfunctioning product management:
🔥 People that aren't PMs doing things that aren't product management
🔥 Poorly trained/coached PMs trying their best
🔥 Good PMs not getting a chance to do their job
🔥 Poor product leadership
Some can suffer from multiple/all
Now, to be clear, you don't need product managers to do product management. In early startups, one of the founders is the de facto PM. In other companies, maybe it's a dev or a marketer or whoever. This is OK but, ultimately, as you scale you need people dedicated to the role
The new @oneknightinprod episode is out! I had a great chat with @AdrienneNakohl about what happens when your company's growth stalls, some common reasons behind it & how to get back on track. Check it out on your favourite podcast app or the link below!
Key takeaways 👇
1. Growth Stalls can happen to anyone and often happen after really strong growth
Companies can be growing, growing, growing and then all of a sudden just stall. There are factors that influence this, but if they're not addressed then growth stalls can last for years or decades
2. There are some red flags that indicate growth stalls and leaders need to listen
Too many leaders believe in themselves too much that they miss the signs of a growth stall & fail to address them. Status quo bias and ignoring dissenting opinions can impede efforts to fix it.