Building and Managing a World Class Product Management Discipline

Today’s episode is specific to software companies, and is all about the Product Management operation. As most software executives can attest to, a non-functioning (or worse, a non-existent) product management operation can get companies into all kinds of trouble, and those problems often manifest across Engineering, Sales, Customer Support, and other areas. Some software companies, particularly more mature ones, often start out without a formalized product management discipline, but companies who pursue any degree of scale often quickly realize just how critically important this discipline is. 

My guest today is Rich Mironov, who is one of North America's preeminent Product Management thought leaders. He has spent 40 years in the software industry in numerous capacities, and currently acts as a Coach, Consultant, and Interim Executive for CEOs and Heads of Product across Canada and the United States, advising them on a diverse range of issues spanning product, marketing, engineering, and sales. Rich has led Product Management at six start-ups, and has now consulted for more than 170 technology companies of all sizes. He is the author of "Product Bytes", a hugely popular and long-running blog on software, start-ups, product strategies, Silicon Valley, and the inner life of product managers. Rich is also the author of the book, “The Art of Product Management”. 

Our conversation covers a lot of ground including hiring a Product leader and Product team, how to think about prioritizing products/features/functions, how Product should interface with Sales and other internal departments, how involved CEOs should be in Product, and what fatal mistakes he’s seen Product Managers make. Please enjoy!