Doing product management isn't easy. Even though, with gazillions of books that people have read, they can sometimes not execute the knowledge. In this episode, Christian and Alex took a deeper look at why that's the case.  Table of content: 00:30 - Why is product management so hard? 02:40 - Chicken & egg problem 03:30 - Collaboration & soft skills are essential 06:50 - Regular reminders  08:15 - Making a change as an individual 10:55 - Making compromises ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Asking great questions is a real-life superpower! Sometimes though, it's important to take a step back and ask (powerful) stupid questions, especially when you are new in a role as a product person.  In this episode, the Product Bakers talked to Paul about coaching CEOs to develop a product mindset. Despite that, they've talked about what product people can do to establish more product thinking. Table of content: 00:30 - Episode Intro 01:50 - Intro Paul 04:45 - The ego of founders 10:50 - What founders need to hear 16:10 - Influential product management 22:35 - Asking dumb questions 32:35 - What founders & PMs can do to make a change Follow Paul: Linkedin: @paulortchanian Bainpublic: https://www.bainpublic.com/ Reads: Why the Product Manager Should Also Play Dumb https://blog.bainpublic.com/post/why-the-product-manager-should-also-play-dumb Why Empathy Is the Key to Success for Your Next Product Objective https://blog.bainpublic.com/post/why-empathy-is-the-key-to-success-for-your-next-product-objective You accomplish everything through others https://blog.bainpublic.com/post/you-accomplish-everything-through-others Product Management: Saying No Without Shutting Them Down https://blog.bainpublic.com/post/product-management-saying-no-without-shutting-them-down ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Public roadmaps became a hot topic in the past. Christian & Alex decided to speak about the benefits of sharing your roadmap with your customers and how to define it in a way that they will understand your future plans. Table of content: 00:30 - Intro & chit chat 02:35 - Transparency is key 03:20 - The idea of "open startup" 05:50 - Customers love knowing your plans 07:15 - Using good terminology 11:25 - Getting feedback from your customers 13:30 - What you should not share publicly 16:00 - Don't be afraid to share your plans ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

The Product Bakery podcast was started on the 10th of September 2020. After one year of podcasting and many interviews, Christian and Alex sat down to take a couple of looks back... ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

The whole insurance space is very slow. At least it used to be! Konrad Heipmel's mission @Getsafe is to disrupt the insurance market. As VP of Data & Product, he shared with the Product Bakers how they focus on data to build a product that fits the market needs and solves the customer pain points. Table of content: 00:30 - Episode Intro 02:20 - Intro of Konrad & the insurance space 07:00 - The biggest challenges of the industry 10:40 - Working with product principles 13:45 - How to scale up domains & teams 16:15 - The relevance of data 18:15 - Establishing a data mindset & culture 21:10 - Data-driven product strategy 25:15 - Data as a foundation to form teams & squads 29:25 - Entrepreneurial decision vs. data-based decisions Links & connect with Konrad:  Linkedin: @konradheimpel PMF Survey: https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit Getsafe Jobs: https://www.hellogetsafe.com/career Getsafe tech blog: https://medium.com/hellogetsafe ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Many companies and teams want to become faster and speed up projects. That's a topic Christian & Alex are regularly faced with. This time they spoke about the concept of project-specific teams (task forces) and how to form them as well as their pros & cons. Table of content: 00:30 - Example: Redesigning an app 02:45 - The concept of a task force 05:10 - How to form a task force 08:00 - Good project management is key 12:40 - Outsourcing projects to agencies 16:35 - Estimating scope and delivery ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Alex and Christian did manage for a long time to meet and record in person again. Therefore, they picked up the topic of working remove vs. being onsite. How can and should teams decide what's best in terms of tooling and location? Tune in to learn more! Table of content: 00:30 - Meeting in person 05:05 - What's best to be creative? 08:40 - 1:1s vs team meetings 12:25 - Industry and professions are relevant 17:25 - Cross-functional teams onsite vs. remote   ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Communication can be the hardest work sometimes. Due to the fact that a lot of companies moved to remote work, it's not getting easier. This time Christian and Alex picked up the whole topic of stakeholder management and what product people can do to bond and keep up alignment.  Table of content: 00:30 - Is communicating getting harder? 02:45 - Different people with different agendas 06:35 - Stakeholder awareness 09:40 - The first step to good stakeholder management 11:45 - Being proactive instead of passive 13:45 - Planning and preparing communication ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Alex is close to going on vacation. Therefore, he and Christian caught up on the whole topic of work-life balance and discussed what it needs to maintain a healthy balance.   Table of content: 00:30 - Alex going on vacation 02:50 - The importance of work-life balance 05:25 - Working on vacation 07:00 - Taking care of your employees   ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/

Sometimes, the products we use seem to become more complex than easier. The product bakers discussed why that happens and the reasons.   Table of content: 00:30 - iOS 15 and the safari URL bar 07:20 - Strategy & big picture vs. UX 09:30 - Designing against the customer 13:00 - The danger of copying trends   ✩ Follow The Product Bakery Podcast ✩    👨‍💻 Linkedin: Product Bakery    📸 Instagram: @productbakery    🐦 Twitter: @productbakery20    🌍 Website: https://www.product-bakery.com/