Who Owns the Experience of Work? Managers as Product Managers | Alex Komoroske

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Mar 11, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Alex Komoroske, a product leader and systems thinker, explores the concept of work as an ecosystem. He emphasizes the importance of creativity over rigid frameworks and reveals how product management can enhance work design. Alex shares insights on how managers should act as curators to foster innovation and empower teams rather than control them. The conversation highlights the impact of narrative in experience creation and the significance of supportive leadership in shaping employee engagement and collaboration.

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Intro

00:00 • 6min

Evolving Product Management: Beyond Execution

05:36 • 20min

The Art of Narrative in Experience and Product Design

25:28 • 3min

Designing Work as a Product for Engagement

28:31 • 2min

Rethinking Work: The Productive Value in Business

30:11 • 2min

Empowering Decision-Making in Ecosystems

32:16 • 9min

The Dynamics of Work Experience

41:15 • 8min

Harnessing Team Dynamics for Success

49:23 • 8min

This is the third in a series of episodes with world-leading product management experts about how we might build product management best practices into team leadership.

Alex Komoroske spent years as either a Product Manager or Director of Product Management for platforms that most of us use every day: Chrome, Google Maps, Google Earth, and others. He then went on to lead corporate strategy at Stripe, another platform \most of us use every day. While at Google, Alex wrote an internal how-to called “Practical PM Stuff” that many Google PMs referred to as the Product Managers Bible. It covered everything from basics like how to answer an email to esoterica like the difference between complexity and ambiguity or how Schelling points form in organizations.

In this episode, Dart and Alex discuss:
- Work as an ecosystem, not a machine
- Indirect influence over direct control
- How frameworks can kill creativity
- The role of product management in work design
- How companies stifle innovation
- The power of riding momentum
- Managers as curators, not controllers
- Balancing autonomy and structure
- Why great ideas bypass leadership
- And other topics...

Alex Komoroske is a product leader and systems thinker who specializes in platforms and ecosystems. Alex is known for his "Gardening Platforms" approach, which encourages guiding ecosystems toward greatness instead of controlling them. Now Co-CEO of Common Tools, he continues to explore how technology and organizations evolve.

Resources Mentioned:
Finite and Infinite Games, by James Carse: https://www.amazon.com/Finite-Infinite-Games-James-Carse/dp/1476731713

The Stacy Barton conversation about Disney storytelling and work. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/immersive-experience-design-how-to-use-story-to-design/id1612743401?i=1000599527522

The Marty Cagan conversation about product management and work https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-design-products-people-love-principles-and/id1612743401?i=1000668997003

The David Obstfeld conversation about brokering social networks and work https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/social-networks-the-1-predictor-of-economic/id1612743401?i=1000677462011

Connect with Alex:
Website: https://www.komoroske.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-komoroske-6597336/
Twitter: https://x.com/komorama

Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.