Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

Accelerate, expand, and simplify your product management workflow Watch on YouTube TLDR Product managers struggle with using AI effectively despite the hype around its potential. Valerio Zanini, author of AI for Product Managers, shares practical frameworks for leveraging AI tools in customer discovery, hypothesis validation, and feature selection. Key insights include using AI as a discovery assistant to analyze customer interview transcripts, synthesizing market research across multiple sources, and creating rapid prototypes with AI coding tools. Our conversation addresses real barriers product managers face—from corporate restrictions to lack of expertise—and provides actionable approaches to accelerate time-to-insight from months to weeks or days. Introduction Product managers know that discovery and validation can make or break a new product or a new version of a product. But, how can AI help us have more success in these areas while also accelerating our work from months to weeks or even days? Many product teams are drowning in customer data while simultaneously starving for actionable insights—it is a challenge I encounter often when I train product managers in companies. AI brings emerging tools to gain value from this data and improve our work. You’re probably already using AI in your work, but I also bet you want to know how to get more from it—how to unlock it’s real potential. Today, you’ll learn specific approaches for using AI to conduct customer discovery, validate hypotheses faster, and select features.   Our guest, Valerio Zanini, brings 20 years of product experience, from founding startups to leading digital transformation at Capital One. He’s trained thousands of product managers worldwide and literally wrote the book on AI for Product Managers. His frameworks aren’t theoretical—they’re tested across industries and proven to accelerate time-to-insight.  Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers Valerio’s Book, AI for Product ManagersValerio wrote AI for Product Managers after discovering a gap between AI hype and reality. While social media showcases impressive AI use cases, his research revealed most product managers don’t use AI due to corporate restrictions, lack knowledge about implementation, or struggle with basic application. The book addresses the practical barriers preventing product teams from capturing AI’s benefits, moving beyond theoretical possibilities to tested frameworks that work across industries. When used correctly, AI tools expand, simplify, and accelerate product managers’ work. The Gap in AI Adoption by Product ManagersMany product managers face significant obstacles to AI adoption that don’t appear in success stories. Corporate environments often restrict AI tool access due to privacy concerns, leaving teams with sandboxed systems inferior to consumer tools like ChatGPT. Product managers frequently lack permission to use AI, don’t understand how to apply it effectively, or face organizational inertia. This creates a disconnect between the potential demonstrated in workshops and conferences versus day-to-day practice where teams remain starved for actionable insights despite drowning in customer data. AI as a Discovery AssistantAI excels at analyzing customer interview transcripts to find patterns and insights that humans might miss. After conducting customer interviews, product managers can feed transcripts into AI tools to identify recurring themes, pain points, and unmet needs across conversations. The AI can also act as a synthetized user, helping to expand thinking into areas not initially considered and providing different perspectives on customer feedback. This approach transforms hours of manual analysis into minutes while uncovering insights that might otherwise remain hidden in the data. Synthetic Users vs Real Customer InterviewsValerio shared an example of practicing customer interviews in different settings—sitting in a coffee shop talking to real people versus interviewing synthetic AI customers from your office. Synthetic users are digital personas that can simulate customer interviews, providing insights about behaviors, problems, and needs. This offers two key benefits: speed (conducting research in a day from your desk) and practice (refining interview techniques before engaging real customers). Valerio noticed that AI users can help uncover problems that real people may be uncomfortable sharing. On the other hand, real people helped him find edge cases that AI missed. Synthesizing Market ResearchProduct managers typically gather market research from multiple sources—analyst reports, competitor analysis, industry trends—but may struggle to synthesize this information effectively. AI can process and combine insights from diverse sources, identifying connections and patterns across materials. Rather than spending days reading and consolidating reports manually, product managers can use AI to generate comprehensive summaries that highlight key trends, competitive dynamics, and market opportunities. This acceleration from weeks to hours enables faster strategic decision-making. Problem Framing with AIBefore diving into solutions, product managers need clarity on the problem they’re solving. AI can help frame problems by analyzing customer feedback, market data, and business constraints to articulate the core challenge. This includes defining the problem space, identifying affected customer segments, and understanding the business context. AI tools can generate multiple problem framings from the same data, helping teams avoid premature solution-jumping and ensuring alignment on what problem deserves resources. Rapid Prototyping and ValidationAI coding tools have eliminated traditional prototyping barriers by enabling anyone to create working prototypes without coding expertise. Product managers can describe a feature idea verbally and generate a functional prototype in hours or even a single day. These prototypes aren’t production-ready but allow teams to test problem-solution fit with customers before writing detailed specifications. The ability to iterate rapidly—testing, gathering feedback, and refining—transforms the validation process from a bottleneck requiring design and engineering resources into an empowering capability for product managers. Feature Ideation and PrioritizationAI can generate feature ideas based on customer insights, market research, and business goals, then help evaluate and rank these options. Product managers can use AI to apply prioritization frameworks like RICE or opportunity scoring models to assess potential features. However, confidence scores should remain low for AI-generated ideas until validated through customer testing. The combination of AI ideation followed by rapid prototyping enables teams to explore a broader solution space while maintaining validation discipline. Risks of AI Tools in Product ManagementValerio points out that a risk of using AI tools is that they can also accelerate problematic product management practices like feature creep. AI tools shouldn’t make strategic decisions for product managers. Teams can build features quickly and efficiently while still creating the wrong product if they lack clarity on customer problems and value creation. AI tools can’t replace the fundamental discipline of understanding what customers need. Useful Links Check out Valerio’s book, AI for Product Managers Connect with Valerio on LinkedIn Get discovery prompts for interviews, synthetic users, conducting the interview, and synthesis Innovation Quote “There can be no agility without product thinking.” – Valerio Zanini Application Questions How might using AI to analyze customer interview transcripts change your discovery process? What safeguards would you implement to ensure AI-surfaced insights are validated rather than accepted uncritically? If your organization restricts AI tool access due to privacy concerns, what steps could you take to build a business case for secure AI capabilities? What alternatives exist when full AI access isn’t available? If you could create working prototypes in hours instead of waiting weeks for design resources, how would this change your validation approach? What new opportunities would this enable in your product development process? When AI generates feature ideas or prioritization recommendations, how do you determine appropriate confidence levels before customer validation? What criteria distinguish AI suggestions worth prototyping from those requiring additional research first? How do you ensure your team maintains strong product thinking discipline while adopting AI tools that can accelerate execution? What practices prevent the risk of building the wrong things faster? Bio Valerio Zanini is a Certified Product Innovation Trainer (CPIT) and a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). As a trainer and consultant, Valerio works with companies around the world to help them learn, adopt, and improve their AI and Product Management practices. He has taught thousands of people ranging from small startups to large corporations. 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

How top industry leaders are breaking down barriers in product management and innovation Watch on YouTube TLDR Three innovation consultants—Matt Phillips, Mike Hyzy, and Will Evans—share insights from facilitating the executive innovation track at PDMA’s Ignite Innovation Conference. The session brought together 25 senior directors and VPs from Fortune 100 companies to discuss their most pressing innovation challenges. They discussed key challenges to innovation, including managing capacity to carve out space for innovation work, driving AI adoption across the workforce, and building innovation cultures that spread beyond dedicated innovation teams. Solutions discussed include celebrating effort over success, creating visible recognition systems for innovators, and developing innovation models that train innovation champions across different parts of organizations. Introduction What happens when innovation executives from across industries gather in one room to surface their most urgent challenges? In this discussion, we’re going behind the scenes of the Executive Innovation Track at PDMA’s Ignite Innovation conference—a rare opportunity where leaders dropped their guard and revealed the real innovation challenges keeping them up at night. We’ll discuss the actual challenges executives are facing right now, discover which constraints matter most, and learn how leaders are breaking through their biggest innovation barriers.  Our guests facilitated this executive session. Matt Phillips founded Phillips & Co., advising companies like Paramount Pictures and Pepsi on accelerating innovation. Mike Hyzy leads CGI’s Product Studio, helping organizations turn AI and emerging tech into market-winning products. Will Evans from Fugue Strategy brings strategic foresight and Theory of Constraints expertise to help companies build adaptive organizations.  Find out more about the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and next year’s innovation conference. Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers Challenges in Innovation Managing Capacity for InnovationWill Evans highlighted that executives struggle to carve out capacity—both internal and external resources—to do innovation work while managing existing operations. Organizations face the tension between day-to-day operational demands and the need to invest in future innovation. AI Adoption and ROIMike Hyzy identified low adoption rates as a major challenge. Even after selecting AI platforms (Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, GitHub Copilot, etc.), only 15% of employees typically use these tools. Without widespread adoption, organizations can’t achieve the promised ROI from AI investments. The challenge extends across different personas and roles, from knowledge workers to engineers. Culture and Spreading Innovation Beyond the FewMatt Phillips found that culture is a barrier to innovation. Executives are facing challenges trying to spread innovation beyond dedicated NPD or innovation groups. Leadership attitudes and organizational culture often prevent employees from suggesting ideas or taking innovation risks. Solutions and Approaches Celebrating Effort, Not Just SuccessOrganizations should recognize teams and individuals who attempt innovation, even when efforts don’t result in products. One manufacturing company created an “innovation wall” that celebrates anyone who suggests an idea or launches a product, reinforcing that innovation is valued regardless of outcome. Moving Beyond Monetary RewardsEffective recognition goes beyond financial incentives. Visibility matters—putting people on pedestals, sharing their stories, and creating narrative examples that shape culture. Recognition should be authentic and tied to what makes individuals feel valued in their specific organizational context. Change Management EvolutionThe discussion highlighted that template-driven change management is becoming less effective. Organizations need to relearn how to manage through change, starting with individual transformation rather than top-down mandates. Breaking Down Silos Through Transparency and CommunicationOrganizational silos create significant waste and duplication. Executives shared examples of teams discovering they’d been working on identical projects for months, spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars unnecessarily. One IT leader from a large insurance company stressed the importance of making roadmaps and IT system implementations visible across the organization to prevent duplicate software license purchases and redundant project work. Effective communication unlocks innovation. Large companies excel at building silos, making continuous visibility into ongoing work critical for innovation efficiency. Middle Management ResistanceMiddle management often creates bottlenecks in the innovation process. While entry-level employees feel free to generate ideas and senior management supports experimentation, middle management can be threatened by new ideas or uncertain how to handle them, causing proposals to stall out. One executive’s advice for addressing this challenge was for lower-level employees to consider going around middle management directly to senior leadership to get approval for experiments. Accountability and Follow-ThroughAccountability is necessary for turning conference insights into action. After Matt’s team created a comfortable environment where executives openly shared their challenges, Mike and Will structured the second half of the workshop around identifying specific bottlenecks and Monday-morning actions. The session concluded with a deliberate accountability mechanism: Participants were paired with partners and instructed to reach out in 30 days and ask: “Did you do the things you said you were going to do in this workshop?” Often conference attendees absorb tremendous information over three days but struggle to implement changes when they return to work. By creating peer accountability partnerships and planning follow-up emails to reinforce commitments, the facilitators aimed to ensure executives actually execute on their stated intentions rather than letting insights fade without action. Innovation Barriers in Academia and the Organizational-Market MismatchWill Evans described insights from the 25% of attendees with academic backgrounds. While universities are often viewed as hotbeds of innovation, they face the same organizational impediments as corporations. Academic participants reported struggling with the same challenges as their peers in industry: getting cross-functional groups together for basic tasks like IP licensing deals, navigating bottlenecks and policies that prevent commercializing novel university-generated innovations, and dealing with cultural inertia that blocks progress. Even converting university IP into commercial products faces numerous structural barriers. Across both academic and corporate organizations, there can be a mismatch between organizational structures and their markets. Despite these challenges, participants found solidarity at the conference, where leaders recognized they’re all facing similar struggles. Useful Links Connect with Will, Mike, and Matt on LinkedIn Learn more about Phillips & Co. Innovation Quote “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat.” – Steve Jobs Application Questions Capacity Allocation: How does your organization balance the tension between operational demands and carving out dedicated capacity for innovation work? What specific mechanisms or rituals help protect innovation time from being consumed by day-to-day priorities? AI Adoption Strategy: If your organization has invested in AI tools but adoption remains low, what behavioral barriers prevent wider use? How might you apply principles from behavioral economics, gamification, or habit psychology to increase meaningful adoption among product teams and stakeholders? Culture Beyond the Innovation Team: In what ways does your organizational culture either enable or inhibit innovation contributions from people outside the formal product or innovation functions? What would celebrating effort over success look like in your specific context, and how could you implement recognition that feels authentic rather than performative? Federated vs. Centralized Innovation: What are the trade-offs between a centralized innovation team model and a federated approach that trains champions across different business units? Which model better fits your organization’s structure, culture, and innovation maturity level? Change Management Approaches: How is your organization approaching the current wave of AI-driven transformation? Are you relying on template-driven change management, or are you creating space for individuals to lead their own change process? What would need to shift to move toward more emergent, individual-driven transformation? Bio Mike Hyzy leads AI product innovation and strategic foresight at CGI, where he launched the product management practice and designed the AI Adoption Framework (A3F). As part of CGI’s national AI strategy team, he develops new solutions with internal teams and advises client executives on how to turn emerging AI capabilities into business advantage. Mike applies strategic foresight to separate signal from noise, giving leaders a clear view of emerging trajectories and the choices that matter for long-term strategy.  Matt Phillips is a leading expert on strategy and innovation. For over 20 years, Matt has been an in-demand advisor to the Fortune 500, large nonprofits and rapidly growing mid-sized companies. As the founder of Phillips & Co., a Chicago-based innovation think tank, Matt leads a team of researchers, strategists and inventors who help organizations invent new products, services and businesses. Their clients include Paramount Pictures, Dell, Verizon, Purina, Pella, the National Science Foundation, the TSA, and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Matt holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and is a graduate of the Conservatory Program in Improv at The Second City. Will Evans brings a wealth of experience with several of the best-known and most successful companies in experience design, healthcare, and the consumer web. He focuses on integrating design thinking and service design to delight customers and increase profitability. Essential to that effort is the development of future-casting organizational transformation teams that can work seamlessly across organizational functions—an area where Will brings deep expertise. Equal parts business strategist and creative visionary, he has served as a principal and executive creative director for design organizations and functions where he built teams, a client base, and products and services from the ground up. He holds patents for several products he designed in online search and navigation systems. Will has led transformational initiatives for Fortune 50 companies across a range of industries, as well as for start-ups and nonprofits. He has designed and built out enterprise digital/product transformation offices to sustain cultures of continuous discovery and delivery. He advises clients on driving innovation and the behavioral and culture change required to support it while creating products, services, capabilities, and ecosystems that improve the bottom line. Will is inspired by the next generation of design thinkers and lean practitioners. He has been a lecturer in the graduate design, technology, and business strategy programs as Design-Thinker-in-Residence at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Will has taught and facilitated design thinking sessions with Simon Sinek with TED Global Prize winners. He holds a Jonah, certified in Theory of Constraints from the Goldratt Institute, and more recently, he is the author of “Designing Resilience: The Strategy, Structure, and Spirit of Enterprise Agility.” 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

How Pella revolutionized the window industry by solving installers’ overlooked pain points Watch on YouTube TLDR This episode explores how Pella Corporation transformed window installation by shifting their innovation focus from buyers to installers—the often-overlooked specialists whose work makes or breaks the customer experience. Director of Innovation, Design, and Brand Experience Jenn Tuetken shares the journey behind developing Pella’s award-winning Steady Set Interior Installation System, which slashes install time by 72% and enables a single person to complete what once required two. Learn about deeply immersive market research, uncovering hidden pain points, and the strategic moves that made industry-wide change possible—all without lowering prices. Introduction What if your biggest innovation opportunity isn’t with the people who buy your product, but with the people who install it? We’re exploring how Pella Corporation revolutionized the window industry by obsessing over installers—the critical users who don’t purchase windows but determine whether every installation succeeds or fails. You’ll discover a framework for researching non-buyer stakeholders, specific techniques for uncovering hidden pain points people have accepted as normal, and strategies for driving market adoption without lowering prices—all through the story of an innovation that cuts installation time by 72% and can transform a two-person job into a one-person task. Joining us is Jenn Tuetken, Director of Innovation, Design, and Brand Experience at Pella Corporation, where she’s led the development of award-winning innovations including the Steady Set Interior Installation System and Hidden Screen. With experience from Michael Graves Design Group to founding her own design consultancy, she brings over 15 years of expertise in translating user insights into breakthrough products. Find out more about the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and next year’s innovation conference. Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers New Product Ideas from Customer Visits:Jenn recommends visiting customers as a method to better understand their needs and generate ideas for new products. At Pella, a window company, product managers can easily visit customers or potential customers, since nearly everyone owns windows, but the large amount of information available can make distilling meaningful insights a challenge. The Strategic Shift:After 90 years of focusing innovation on homeowners, Pella recognized they had a critical blind spot. Their products were designed for building systems and codes, not for the installer experience. Pella’s innovation team discovered that poor installations were driving customer callbacks, damaging brand reputation, and creating market inefficiency. This realization led them to target installers as an innovation opportunity, even though installers don’t purchase the product. Ethnographic Research Methodology:Pella conducted ethnographic field research with installers across different skill levels and markets, shadowing them for 8-10 hour days to observe their workflows and pain points. Two innovation team members—an engineer and a designer—observed installers and distilled insights full-time for three months. The team focused on watching what people do rather than just listening to what they say. This approach proved essential for uncovering normalized inefficiencies that users had accepted as standard practice and no longer thought to mention or complain about. Customer Insights:The research revealed that installers weren’t complaining because they assumed “this is just how it is.” The windows were designed to be installed from the outside of the house, but for safety most installers installed windows from the inside, requiring two people. Installers had been adapting their work to poorly designed products rather than products being designed for their needs. Market research showed that installers would actually pay more for products that saved them time and reduced labor requirements. The Innovation: InstaLaunch System:Pella redesigned their windows to be installable from the inside of the house. The InstaLaunch system improves safety and transforms two-person installation jobs into one-person tasks. This provides faster speed to market for builders and creates product differentiation without competing on price. The innovation addressed the core pain point while delivering measurable value across the entire value chain. Launch Strategy:Pella started by validating their hypothesis through installer conversations, then built early prototypes for field testing and iteration. They tested their prototypes with installers on the job site, including testing how easy it was to learn how to use the system. The company took a calculated risk by accepting public pre-launch visibility to gain market momentum, which enabled partners to forecast demand through joint business planning sessions. Impact of Customer Stories:The product innovation team brought back real quotes, stories, and videos from customers using their new product. These real stories motivated the development team and influenced other stakeholders by showing them the transformational impact their product was having. Business Impact:The InstaLaunch system helped Pella gain market share without lowering prices. Customer service callbacks related to installation decreased. The innovation strengthened brand positioning around quality and innovation while creating scale across product lines and customer segments. Useful Links Learn more about Pella and innovation at Pella Connect with Jenn on LinkedIn Check out Pella on LinkedIn, X, or Instagram Innovation Quote “I don’t exactly know where I’m going, but I know how I’m going to get there.” – Boyd Varty, lion tracker Application Questions How can your product team identify and prioritize non-buyer stakeholders who truly determine product success? What immersive research techniques could you deploy to uncover customers’ real-world pain points, beyond surveys and interviews? Where in your current value chain might industry-accepted problems actually signal opportunities for disruptive innovation? What processes can you introduce to ensure crucial user insights carry through from discovery to marketing and commercialization? How would you build a business case to get buy-in for investing in innovation that targets overlooked user groups rather than direct buyers? Bio Leading Pella Corporation’s innovation trajectory, Jenn Tuetken harness strategic leadership and design acumen to propel product and brand experiences into the future. Her role as Director of Innovation, Design, and Brand Experience is a testament to a refined skill set in project portfolio management and stakeholder engagement, ensuring resource allocation aligns with our visionary goals. The innovation pipeline at Pella has continuously and successfully launched award-winning products like the Steady Set Interior Installation System, Easy Slide Operator and Hidden Screen. Jenn’s team’s collaborative spirit and customer-centric approach have culminated in industry recognition, setting new benchmarks for excellence in the window and door sector. 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

Tools, data, and process for product ops – lessons for product managers from Pendo Watch on YouTube TLDR This episode dives into the increasingly impactful world of product operations, with insights from Robert Marten, Senior Manager of Product Operations at Pendo. We discuss what product operations is, how it streamlines efficiency for product teams, its key pillars (tools, data, process), cultural shifts toward focusing on customer problems over requirements, and practical examples of tool use and benefits at Pendo. You’ll learn how product operations makes product management less chaotic, accelerates onboarding, and fosters a collaborative, efficient culture. Introduction Today’s topic is product operations. A lot of product teams are drowning in documentation, don’t have a clear focus, and might not really know what their North Star is. Groups that have adopted product operations have found success, but a lot of organizations don’t know about product operations yet. We’re going to dive into details about what product operations is. I am joined by Robert Marten. He is the Senior Manager of Product Operations at Pendo. You may recognize Pendo as the software tool that helps people writing software products themselves augment them with instrumentation to get better insights. Robert is revolutionizing how Pendo does operations themselves. He has a unique background spanning military operations as an Air Force commander to leading Agile transformations at Johnson & Johnson. Robert brings a systems thinking approach to produce development and product management. Find out more about the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and next year’s innovation conference. Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers What is Product Operations?Robert shares that product operations is about maximizing efficiency in executing a product’s mission. At Pendo, it focuses on tools, data, and process, aiming to empower product managers to do deep work rather than get bogged down in administrative chaos. Reducing Process & Enhancing EfficiencyProcess isn’t about bureaucracy—it’s about streamlining activities and ruthlessly removing unnecessary steps. Robert emphasizes that the goal is efficiency, not standardization for its own sake. Product ops should remove process whenever the cost of the process in time or money outweighs its benefits. Solving Communication ChallengesDisjointed communication and documentation practices slow teams down. Standardized reporting and tool use help with transparency, giving everyone access to current information and helping align teams on customer-centric objectives. Focus on Solving Customer ProblemsRobert has observed product teams focusing on the product’s scope or requirement document instead of solving the customer problem. This leads to inefficiencies like not killing a feature soon enough or killing it too soon. Simply changing your language in conversations to reference the customer problem rather than the scope of the product can help the team maintain the right focus. Tooling at PendoRobert describes how Pendo itself, Airtable, and the Atlassian Suite (JIRA, Confluence) are used to drive product ops. Tools are chosen for flexibility, enabling tailored views and efficient status reporting. From Chaos to ClarityOne of the most tangible benefits of product ops is the reduction in “fires”—less confusion, fewer last-minute emergencies, and more time for meaningful work. Product ops ensures that everyone is on the same page, facilitating faster time to market and better alignment to customer needs. Impact on Career GrowthProduct ops helps product managers ramp up faster, develop their skills more quickly, and spend more time on impactful work that helps them build their brand within the organization. Useful Links Connect with Robert on LinkedIn Learn more about Pendo Listen to episode 363: Get better performance by being a product-led organization – with Todd Olson Innovation Quote “Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.” – Edwards Deming “Every system is perfectly designed to get the result it gets.” – Edwards Deming Application Questions How does your team currently manage product documentation and communication, and where do inefficiencies show up? In your organization, do product managers “dual hat” with ops roles? Would separating these roles improve your team’s efficiency? How do you ensure your product work stays focused on solving customer problems rather than just completing the documented scope? What tools and processes do you use for status reporting, and are they flexible and accessible to everyone who needs them? How could product operations help you reduce chaos and fires in your daily work, and what barriers do you see to implementing it in your organization? Bio Robert Marten is currently the Senior Manager of Product Operations at Pendo, a high-growth SaaS company, where he helps the product organization scale effectively and deliver with impact. With more than 15 years of experience spanning agile, project management, product operations, and leadership, Robert has built a career focused on developing high-performing R&D teams and driving efficiency in product delivery.  Like many in the technology industry, Robert is in his second career. Before moving into the civilian sector, he served for eight years as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, where he developed the leadership and adaptability he now brings to building successful product teams.  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

Dr. David Robertson, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and co-founder of ProtoBoost.ai, dives into how AI is reshaping product innovation. He discusses AI's role throughout the innovation lifecycle, from enhancing research to driving financial insights. The conversation covers the challenges product managers face, the promise of synthetic customers, and how today's AI can outperform real interviews. Robertson also emphasizes the importance of constraints in fostering creativity, drawing on his experience with LEGO’s successful turnaround.

John Mitchell, President of Applied Marketing Science and a veteran in customer insight, discusses how AI is reshaping Voice of the Customer (VOC) research. He emphasizes the need for better question design and storytelling to truly understand customer needs. Mitchell highlights common pitfalls in VOC practices, such as only consulting top customers. He also explores AI's capabilities to uncover emotional insights and suggests hybrid approaches combining human and machine analysis. Real-world examples illustrate the balance of technology and insight.

How product managers use AI to boost productivity and innovation success Watch on YouTube TLDR In this episode of Product Mastery Now, Katie Trauth Taylor, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Narratize AI, joins me to discuss how AI is transforming product innovation processes. She shares insights from working with Fortune 500 companies like NASA, Boeing, and Comcast, and dives into research showing that product and R&D teams spend up to 70% of their time on documentation and communication rather than true innovation. Katie outlines four best practices for leveraging AI, including the use of knowledge hubs, AI agents, and robust documentation processes, to unlock productivity, capture tribal knowledge, and speed up time to market by as much as 46%. The conversation also highlights the importance of storytelling in gaining buy-in for new ideas and the potential for AI to revolutionize knowledge management and portfolio intelligence. Introduction  Product teams waste a lot of their time doing things that don’t help get to the heart of product innovation. We need to flip the script on that so that we can be more productive with our innovation efforts. In this discussion, you’re going to learn how companies like Boeing, Comcast, and others are accomplishing this. We’re going to talk about four specific approaches for unleashing AI for product innovation. To help us with that is our guest, Dr. Katie Trauth Taylor. She is the CEO and co-founder of Narratize AI, and she helps R&D transform their scattered knowledge into a competitive advantage. She has worked with NASA, Boeing, and other Fortune 500 companies to cut documentation time and speed products to market. Katie discovered that innovators are spending too much of their time just trying to communicate their ideas, and she built an AI platform to improve this. She holds a PhD from Purdue University and has published peer-reviewed research on innovation storytelling that’s reshaping how teams work. Find out more about the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and next year’s innovation conference. Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers The Problem with Documentation:Product teams spend roughly 70% of their time on documentation, reporting, and knowledge lookup instead of direct innovation. This significantly slows time to market. AI as a Knowledge Capture Tool:Katie turned to large language models to transform how product teams do documentation. AI can systematically prompt and capture insights, store tribal knowledge, and automate documentation customized to roles and project phases. The Power of Storytelling:Successful innovation relies on crafting compelling narratives, not just data. Five drivers for effective storytelling are empathy, engagement, alignment, evidence, and impact. Best Practices for Leveraging AI in Product Teams: Think Outside the Chatbot: AI tools are a knowledge-capture capability, not just a question-and-answer capability. Use AI to prompt and store deep organizational insights, not just answer questions. Narratize AI provides workflows for product innovation processes like Agile and Jobs-To-Be-Done. Embrace AI Agents: Agents can provide proactive, role-specific updates (like regulatory changes or market intelligence) and work in the background. Documentation or It Didn’t Happen: Accurate, human-reviewed documentation is crucial for knowledge management and competitive advantage. Toward Product Portfolio Intelligence: With AI-enabled product knowledge hubs, organizations can now have real-time insights across portfolios, breaking silos and aiding strategic decisions. Knowledge Management Revolution:Capturing lessons learned and even past failures allows organizations to prevent repeating mistakes and leverage prior discoveries, especially as a significant portion of the workforce retires. Actionable Insights for Product Managers: Building cross-functional relationships is vital. Don’t innovate in a silo. Portfolio intelligence can transform decision-making beyond traditional management by surfacing insights on demand. AI enables better onboarding, reduces redundant efforts, and future-proofs organizations as knowledge is no longer lost with employee turnover. Useful Links Learn more about Narratize Check out the Narratize YouTube channel Connect with Katie on LinkedIn Innovation Quote “If it’s a truly disruptive innovation from a company, you can almost guarantee it wasn’t a straight A-to-B path that delivered the results. So as you recognize the success, recognize also the journey that got you there.” – Joel Schall Application Questions How much time does your team currently spend on documentation and communication versus actual product innovation? In what ways could AI help you capture and surface tribal knowledge within your organization? Which of the five storytelling drivers—empathy, engagement, alignment, evidence, impact—do you find hardest to implement in your presentations or pitches? What concerns do you have about accuracy and review in using AI-generated documentation, and how might you address these? How could implementing product knowledge hubs or AI agents change the way your team collaborates and makes decisions across your portfolio? Bio Katie Trauth Taylor is CEO and Cofounder of Narratize AI, a product intelligence and innovation platform empowering teams to bring products and discoveries to market faster, smarter, and with greater impact by eliminating inefficiencies, aligning teams, and preserving institutional knowledge. Katie is a growth-focused entrepreneur executive with 10+ years experience inspiring teams to design and deliver magnetic products, memorable experiences, and groundbreaking impacts. She has led strategic innovation narratives and served as a senior content strategist within fast-growth tech startups and the Fortune 500, including Boeing, NASA, Hershey, Sunoco, AAA, IFF, Dupont, Edgewell, Cincinnati Children’s, Argonne National Lab, Crossover Health, Parsley Health, Omada, Physera, US Dept of Veterans Affairs, Millennium Challenge Corporation, World Food Forum, and the United Nations. She believes that everyone can be an innovator–when empowered to share their bold ideas. 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

What product managers should know about patents, trade secrets, and copyright Watch on YouTube TLDR In this episode, I’m joined by David Carstens, a seasoned IP attorney and founding partner at Carstens, Allen & Gourley, who brings over 30 years of legal and technical experience in intellectual property (IP) strategy. Our conversation dives into the importance of IP management for product managers, how to build an IP strategy, when to consider patents versus trade secrets, the complexities of software and AI-generated content, and the rapid pace of change in the IP landscape. The episode is a must-listen for any product manager navigating decisions around invention protection, copyright, and the evolving influence of artificial intelligence. Introduction If you’ve ever wondered whether to patent that new feature, worried about AI training data copyright issues, or struggled to justify IP investment to leadership, you’re not alone. We’re exploring intellectual property strategy for product managers—and what it means to get it right and how expensive it can be when you get it wrong. Most product managers don’t receive training on IP strategy, yet the decisions you make daily have massive IP implications. Our guest is David Carstens, who has a unique combination of technical depth and legal expertise. He’s a founding partner at Carstens, Allen & Gourley. He has dual engineering degrees, an MBA, and over 30 years experience protecting IP for companies building software, medical devices, and telecommunications products. He’s also an entrepreneur who founded multiple companies including a nationally chartered bank and an innovation platform, plus he’s been teaching IP law at SMU for three decades. David is currently investing in and speaking about the Fifth Industrial Revolution, making him well positioned to help us also understand how AI is reshaping IP strategy.  Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers IP Strategy Framework:David mentions that there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” framework for IP strategy; it starts with assessing a company’s current position, identifying valuable innovations, evaluating what can realistically be protected, and aligning actions with budget constraints. Key steps include identifying strong value propositions, checking for existing patents or IP conflicts, and sometimes considering licensing or redesign if a competitor already owns relevant patents. Timing and Collaboration:Product managers should start thinking about IP early—preferably well before product launch or tooling investment. Collaborating with an IP attorney and creating a culture that values teamwork and knowledge sharing can help spot and protect innovations more effectively. Patents, Trade Secrets, and Value:Patents offer competitive advantages by providing pricing freedom, can act as bargaining assets, and are vital for companies seeking investment. Trade secrets, by contrast, are about keeping valuable information confidential (e.g., formulas or processes not disclosed publicly), but are only effective if the information can’t be easily reverse-engineered from the product. Software & AI Challenges:The fast pace of software development often complicates patent decisions. Patentability is more likely when software enables a genuinely novel technical process rather than automating routine tasks. For AI-generated content, copyright ownership is still unsettled; it usually depends on the degree of human contribution to the creative process. Legal systems are racing to catch up as AI shakes up traditional definitions of authorship and originality. The Fifth Industrial Revolution and Legal Evolution:David argues we’re entering a new industrial age defined by AI, blockchain, quantum computing, and advanced materials. The IP legal framework, largely unchanged for centuries, is struggling to keep pace with these rapid innovations, making adaptability and ongoing awareness essential for product managers. Useful Link Learn more about Carstens, Allen & Gourley Intellectual Property Law Firm Innovation Quote “Pressure is a privilege.” – Billie Jean King Application Questions At what point in your product development process do you typically involve IP considerations, and how might earlier engagement affect outcomes? How do you differentiate between an innovation worth patenting versus keeping as a trade secret in your product or technology stack? What internal processes or culture shifts could help your team better identify and protect intellectual property? How does the uncertainty around AI-generated content and copyright influence your use of AI tools in product development? What steps can you take to ensure your IP strategy remains effective as emerging tech (AI, blockchain, etc.) rapidly changes the innovation landscape? Bio David Carstens distinguishes himself not only through his comprehensive knowledge of legal protection of Intellectual Property (IP) but also through his innovative approaches to IP strategy and valuation. With an educational foundation that is as diverse as it is solid—holding bachelor’s degrees in both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M University, respectively, a J.D. and an MBA from Southern Methodist University, along with completing the General Management Program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania —David offers a distinctively strategic perspective in this specialized legal domain.  His multifaceted expertise demonstrates his capacity to transcend traditional legal strategies, offering his clients not just defense, but a competitive advantage in various industries including technology, medical devices, cosmetics, and telecommunications.  David is a founding partner of Carstens, Allen & Gourley and has been a pivotal figure on multiple boards. His ability to navigate the complexities of IP law, combined with his technical and business acumen, places him at the forefront of the field. 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

In conversation with Uma Subramanian, a seasoned tech leader and executive coach, listeners delve into the essential identity shift required for effective leadership. Uma introduces her SOAR framework, focusing on strategic impact and outstanding communication. She emphasizes the importance of storytelling for conveying your value and building a personal brand that resonates. Key strategies include cultivating genuine relationships and developing niche expertise to enhance authority. With insights drawn from her time at Microsoft, Uma provides a roadmap for future leaders in tech.

Practical strategies for building influence and confidence from a Product VP coach Watch on YouTube TLDR In this episode, I talk with Rebecca Arora, founder of Access Alignment, executive coach, and author of Somatic Intelligence, about making the transition from successful product manager or director to VP of Product and beyond. Rebecca shares practical strategies for this professional transition, including the need to shift from domain expertise to people leadership, the importance of relationship mapping, communication skills, and strategic thinking. She offers advice on handling stress, leveraging self-awareness, and using coaching techniques to empower teams. We also explore how to set yourself up for success in the first 90 days of a new leadership role. Introduction Let’s say you’re a product manager, you have done outstanding work, and you’re getting promoted to Product VP. Congratulations! The excitement lasts about 24 hours before reality hits. Suddenly you’re responsible for product strategy, team leadership, board presentations, and influencing executives. The skills that made you successful as an individual contributor won’t be enough to make you successful as a Product VP. How do you make this transition? Many of the Product VPs I have talked with use a professional coach to help them move from doing product management work to leading the people who do the work. Our guest today is one of those coaches who has helped several Product VPs. From this episode, you’ll learn practical steps to take for making a similar transition from individual contributor to leader, setting yourself up for long-term success.  Our guest is Rebecca Arora, founder of Access Alignment and author of Somatic Intelligence. Rebecca has a unique background – she was a Co-Founder and the first Product Leader at Mode Media, which scaled to become the #1 lifestyle digital media company. She also contributed to product strategy at Oracle. For the past 16 years, she’s been coaching C-suite leaders and top execs in all functions (including Product). Rebecca’s clients work at exceptional companies such as Google, Salesforce, IDEO, Pinterest, Blue Shield of California, Accenture, and many more. Her book, Somatic Intelligence, helps leaders align head, heart, and body to lead with awareness, confidence, and clarity.  Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Leader:Rebecca describes the challenges facing newly promoted Product VPs, noting the skills that made you a great product manager may not be sufficient as a senior leader. The key leap is shifting your mindset from being an expert to becoming more of a coach and empowering others. The Company as Your Product:As you move up, your sphere of influence expands. Rebecca encourages leaders to think of the company and entire industry as their “product,” applying product management skills to relationships, organizations, and strategy, not just the features you build. Overcoming the Expert Trap:Product leaders can struggle with letting go of being the domain expert and instead fostering empowerment and growth in others. Rebecca advises asking open-ended coaching questions and making space for your team to experiment—even if they do things differently from how you would. Relationship Mapping and Communication:Building new relationships is a priority. Rebecca suggests creating a relationship map to identify stakeholders and potential influencers, addressing conflicts, and strengthening weak connections. Top product leaders may leverage communication coaching to refine their tone and message delivery. Self-Awareness and Blind Spots:While developing your own self-awareness, simultaneously encourage self-awareness from your team. Rebecca advocates for collecting feedback, self-assessment, and being aware of personality differences within a team. She highlights the value of recognizing your blind spots and understanding that not everyone is motivated or learns the same way you do. You cannot always guide people the way you want to be guided. 360-degree Feedback:Product leaders can get 360-degree feedback by interviewing their boss, direct reports, peers, and other stakeholders and ask them, “What are my strengths?” and “What could I improve upon?” First 90 Days in a Product Leadership Role:Rebecca’s advice is to go on a listening tour—ask lots of questions and be curious. Apply user research principles to understanding the organization. Prioritize relationship-building at all levels. Hone your strategic, long-range industry viewpoint. Managing Stress and Personal Growth:The transition to senior leadership is stressful and can feel isolating. Rebecca shares practical tips: slow down (“Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”), lean back to get perspective on challenges, smile more, and use humor to reset your mindset. Rebecca recommends that during a stressful time, product leaders can draw on somatic intelligence by engaging their body and not just their mind. Useful Links Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn Check out Rebecca’s YouTube channel, Access Alignment Learn more about Access Alignment Check out Rebecca’s book, Somatic Intelligence Innovation Quote “What got you here won’t get you there.” – Marshall Goldsmith Application Questions How would you apply the idea of viewing your organization as a “product” to your current product management approach? What have been your biggest challenges (or observed challenges) in moving into a leadership role, and how did you address them? Which stakeholders or relationships in your organization could benefit from deliberate mapping and attention, and how would you prioritize them? How do you currently gather feedback on your blind spots? Whom could you interview for 360-degree feedback? What techniques or habits help you manage stress and uncertainty? Bio Rebecca is a former tech co-founder (and Product Manager) who coaches CEOs and executive leaders. She’s a confidential sounding board, seer of blind spots, and leadership expert who enables senior leaders to scale effectively, build strong teams, and lead strategically. Rebecca’s clients work at exceptional companies such as Google, Salesforce, IDEO, Pinterest, Blue Shield of California, and Accenture.  Her book, Somatic Intelligence, helps leaders align head, heart, and body to lead with awareness, confidence, and clarity.  Rebecca experienced a career detour due to burnout and a quarter-life crisis. During that time, she discovered various healing resources foundational to her work as a coach.  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