

Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators
Chad McAllister, PhD
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 16, 2023 • 37min
459: CX Design for products customers love – with Debbie Levitt
How product managers can promote human-centered design I wonder if you can relate to this frustration—the pressure to...

Oct 9, 2023 • 38min
458: Selecting, planning, and prototyping product features – with Matt Genovese
Matt Genovese, Founder and CEO at Planorama Design, discusses tips for selecting, planning, and prototyping product features. He highlights the challenges in hardware and software development and emphasizes starting small and using prototypes for validation. They also explore the pitfalls of an engineering-driven organization, the importance of user experience design, and the role of product managers in advocating for the right product and user experience. The chapter also touches on AI tools for product feature planning.

Oct 2, 2023 • 40min
457: The right way to apply Kickbox to unleash innovation in your organization – with Ralph Hartmeier
How product managers can use Adobe’s Kickbox innovation system Today we are talking about using the open source...

Sep 25, 2023 • 33min
456: The product journey of a disruptive innovation – with Eli Packouz
In this episode, Eli Packouz, serial inventor and two-time founder, discusses the journey of bringing his revolutionary flossing product, Instafloss, to market. He shares insights on the challenges of flossing, the reasons people don't floss, and existing flossing solutions. Eli also talks about the iterative product development process, including prototyping and testing with flossing pigs. The episode explores the stages of developing a disruptive innovation and offers lessons on product development and overcoming challenges.

Sep 18, 2023 • 29min
455: Stop making these mistakes when trying to get your next product job – with Erika Klics
Former Head of Talent for tech companies turned Job Search Strategist, Erika Klics, shares common mistakes product leaders make when trying to get a job. She emphasizes the importance of relevant experience and building trust in the interview process. Erika also discusses the significance of receiving feedback after job interviews and suggests treating interviews as conversations. The chapter on researching before a product job interview highlights the importance of gathering information about the company's focus, job descriptions, and team by connecting with people on LinkedIn.

Sep 11, 2023 • 36min
454: How product leaders can best increase team performance – with Tami Reiss
Tami Reiss, an experienced product executive, discusses how product leaders can increase team performance. She emphasizes the importance of fostering connection and empathy within the team and with other stakeholders. Building relationships with internal functions and team members is crucial. Profitability and connecting product metrics to business metrics are highlighted as key factors for overall business growth.

Sep 4, 2023 • 35min
453: Creating an effective and motivating product strategy – with Bob Caporale
Bob Caporale, strategic practitioner with 20 years experience leading product, marketing, and business functions, discusses creating a product strategy. Product managers need to break down company objectives to impact the product. Bob emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the product roadmap and involving senior leadership in strategy development. Refreshing the strategy regularly and avoiding blindly copying competitors are key challenges for product people.

Aug 28, 2023 • 37min
452: Using exploration, alignment, and decision-making to innovate into the unknown – with Atif Rafiq
Atif Rafiq, who invented a problem-solving system, shares a three-part framework for faster problem-solving: Exploration, Alignment, and Decision-Making. He discusses the need for purposeful innovation in organizations, the importance of getting buy-in and stakeholder alignment, and the value of exploration and shared understanding in decision-making.

11 snips
Aug 21, 2023 • 36min
450: The process that makes Thrive Market thrive – with Jonas Klink
Jonas Klink, Vice President of Product Management & UX Design at Thrive Market, discusses the mission-driven product process. Thrive Market aims to make healthy and sustainable living easy and affordable. They curate a selection of high-quality, non-GMO, and organic products. Klink shares the importance of aligning the organizational mission with product vision and using OKRs to measure progress. He also emphasizes continuous learning and agile thinking in product management.

Aug 14, 2023 • 38min
449: The secret advice tech companies use to excel in product – with Ben Foster
Ben Foster, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Prodify, shares advice on solving common dysfunctions in product management. He discusses challenges in direction, people, and process, emphasizing the need for alignment between product strategy and organizational strategy. He also highlights the importance of effective communication, clear vision, and hiring and organizing teams based on growth stage. The concept of Conway's Law and its implications in product design are also explored.