Product Momentum Podcast

Brian Piper, an expert in digital content strategy and host of the AI4U podcast, delves into how AI transforms content creation and management. He emphasizes that a great strategy is intentional and data-driven, urging teams to align content with business goals. Brian highlights the human aspect of AI adoption, pointing out the importance of change management in integrating new tools. He also explores AI's role in ensuring brand consistency and bolstering audience engagement, offering insights that can reshape organizational approaches to content.

If you could hire an employee who never gets tired, never loses focus, and instantly adapts to your workflow, would you do it? In the latest episode of Product Momentum, Lena Sesardic leans on her experience as a tech product manager and business-savvy entrepreneur to explore this tempting proposition through the lens of custom GPTs – specialized generative AI bots now reshaping how product teams operate. The episode isn’t a technical tutorial on how to build custom GPTs – though Lena does walk us through her 6-step framework. It’s more a conversation – peppered with easy-to-understand examples – that help us think in new ways about the nature of our work. Here’s what we talked about: Supporting creative and strategic bandwidth Lena describes custom GPTs as “little AI employees” that can take loads of work off your plate. By delegating tasks like writing user stories or analyzing estimates, product managers can free themselves to focus on higher-order work: roadmapping, stakeholder management, and creative problem-solving. We can train custom GPTs to be our “collaborative thought partners,” Lena adds, “sort of a second brain that can then free up our bandwidth for more creativity, more user connection, and more talking with your actual users or stakeholders.” Demystifying misconceptions Lena dispels concerns about the level of technical sophistication required to build custom GPTs. “A lot of PMs I know think [custom GPTs] are very technical,” she adds. “I used to think I had to be able to code to create a custom GPT. But the more I worked with them, I realized, ‘oh my gosh, I can totally build these and take a bunch work off my plate.'” Lena’s 6-step framework for building a custom GPT Start a conversation with ChatGPT (Lena recommends a Plus subscription) to help you build your custom GPT. Cast the role. Decide the expertise you need from your custom GPT. Develop the system instructions. Add context; define the input-transformation-output formula to generate the results you want. Map out the workflow. Be clear about your desired outputs. And remember, as with any AI tool, iteration is key. Add intelligence. Upload additional frameworks and other documents to guide your GPT. Install the brain. Copy-paste the system instructions from your ChatGPT conversation into your custom GPT. Put your GPT to work. Feed it real world data. Test it. Return to the conversation and describe what you’re seeing. Find out how to tweak it until you’re satisfied. Lena’s is a message that resonates: by embracing custom GPTs, product managers can amplify not just their operational efficiency, but their capacity for meaningful innovation. The Product Momentum team will be heading to Cleveland for INDUSTRY on Sept. 9-10, recording live, in-person episodes with several conference keynote speakers. Be sure to stop by Product Momentum’s Podcast Zone to say hi! The post 170 / Lena Sesardic: Building and Using Custom GPTs for Product Management appeared first on ITX Corp..

If you were the CEO of the company where you work, would you fund the work your team is doing? In the early pages of Matt LeMay’s latest book, Impact-first Product Teams, readers confront this existential question. And it hits pretty close to home: am I worthy of my company’s investment? As he explains to Dan Sharp and guest co-host Nathan Shapiro, the book is organized not around frameworks, but around the questions and challenges posed by product teams who want to be able to answer ‘Yes.’ In this episode of Product Momentum, recorded live before delivering the closing keynote at ITX’s Product + Design Conference, Matt urges product teams and individual contributors to tie their daily efforts to the company’s desired business outcomes. He also encourages product leaders to be clear about their expectations: “It’s okay to demand concise, clear answers about how they’re cutting through irrelevant distractions to focus on what truly matters,” Matt says. Here’s what we talked about: Supporting the business model. Product teams and ICs need to be able to draw a direct line between their work and how the business makes money. “The business is model is intrinsically customer centric,” Matt says. “It’s how we exchange value. To understand the business model, we need to understand our customers. If we don’t understand them, we can’t succeed at implementing our business model.” Avoiding OKR overload. OKRs, like everything else, are best when used in moderation. “The ‘by the books’ optimal number of objectives is five,” Matt explains, “with three to five key results. If you have many more than that. you’re not actually measuring anything. I’m sorry. If you have 25 things that matter, then nothing matters.” Cultural hurdles to impact. Team members who claim their company isn’t doing product “the right way” create unnecessary obstacles to a strong organizational culture. As do product leaders who leave to their teams the task of making sense of every new strategy that’s dropped at their doorstep. “It pains me to hear people say that because I believe each and every one of us has the opportunity to do meaningful work that makes our organizations better,” Matt explains, adding, “and I think we should ban executive off-sites …. If [leaders] can’t figure out what’s needed within the context of the people doing their day-to-day work…and if your instinct is to close yourself off from the people who will apply your strategy, then you probably don’t really know how strategy works. I will never budge on that.” Be sure to catch our entire episode with Matt LeMay, where he discusses: How to ‘manage up’ with clear value. Using data to estimate impact and validate hypotheses. Measuring impact of platform teams. Nathan Shapiro, special guest co-host for this episode, is the Head of Product Management for the combined Paychex and Paycor where he leads a diverse team responsible for shaping industry-leading Human Capital Management platforms. Earlier this year, Nathan was named an HR Executive 2025, Top 100 HR Tech Influencer, and 2025 Forbes Technology Council member. The post 169 / Matt LeMay’s Keys to Delivering Impact That Propels Your Business Forward appeared first on ITX Corp..

Ioana Teleanu is an AI product design expert and consultant who shaped the experience of Miro AI as their Lead Product Designer. She is currently the creator and instructor of AI for Designers, one of the most successful courses launched on Interaction Design Foundation.  Moments before sitting down for this episode of Product Momentum – recorded live at ITX’s 2025 Product + Design Conference – Ioana delivered a keynote in which she invited attendees to reflect on the evolving relationship between AI and UX design. Our discussion explores the realities and myths surrounding AI’s impact on jobs, the challenges teams face in adopting AI tools, ethical considerations in deploying AI, and practical advice for integrating AI into design workflows. Here’s what you’ll learn: AI and the Future of Design Roles Ioana puts to rest concerns about AI replacing product managers and designers, rejecting as “clickbait” the many recent headlines that provoke anxiety and stress in the industry. “AI is transforming our roles, but they’re not going away,” she says. Referring to a study by the World Economic Forum, Ioana believes that “AI will end up creating more jobs than it replaces. There’s going to be more jobs thanks to AI, and one of the professions that was marked as growing is UX design.” Addressing Challenges in AI Literacy and Adoption Design teams face loads of challenges these days that postpone adoption and integration of AI into their workflows – many of which are rooted in decisionmaking at the organizational level. As leaders, Ioana advises, we need to give our teams permission to play around with these tools. “Our teams are in a very odd place right now; there’s a great deal of expectation, but not a lot of support.” Company leadership needs to provide the resources – e.g., time, context, and financial support – to create the structured environments their teams need for AI learning and experimentation. “The cost of breaking things by experimenting with AI is far lower than the cost of not experimenting at all,” she concludes. Ethics and AI’s Missing Moral Compass Ioana reflects on society’s gradual relaxation of privacy boundaries, noting that people frequently share intimate information with AI systems that they keep even from their loved ones. “AI doesn’t understand consequences,” she says. “It doesn’t have a moral compass. As designers, that means the responsibility is even higher on our side to protect our users and to keep their data safe.” Final Thoughts Contribute to the public disambiguity. AI technology is infant technology. We’re all trying to find the answers. If you do something interesting, talk about it. Context (in prompt writing) Is Key. Train AI tools on specific design systems or product aesthetics to improve consistency and reliability. Synthetic users. They may never replace real users, but they might help UX researchers get a quick sense of something before we test with real users. The (Blurring) Line between Product + Design. Catch Ioana’s real-life example of a product manager (trained in Design) who initiated company-wide Figma training for product managers. The post 168 / Ioana Teleanu, Designing With AI: Overcoming Barriers and Embracing Change appeared first on ITX Corp..

Usha Iyer is Hivebrite’s Chief Customer and Growth Officer, leading the community engagement platform’s go-to-market customer success and revenue strategy. On June 26, her opening presentation kicked off Keynote Day at ITX’s Product + Design Conference. Right after she exited the stage, Usha joined Sean Murray and Dan Sharp for this episode of Product Momentum, recorded in front of a live conference audience. Our conversation with Usha follows the customer journey, meeting at the intersection of product management, business growth, and customer success. And it covers key themes like connecting product work to business outcomes, the Bow Tie Model for customer journey alignment, and AI’s role in optimizing business processes. At the close of the conversation, Usha offers practical advice for product teams on engagement and roadmap management. Here’s what we learned: Product’s Connection with Business Impact SaaS product teams need to focus on the outcomes of product work that drive real business impact. Even small, seemingly minor changes to your product can significantly affect engagement and business metrics. “Oftentimes, you’ll find as a product person that the smallest, most inconsequential feature that you develop actually has the biggest impact,” Usha says. “The least amount of effort sometimes gives you the biggest satisfaction…. So it’s important to connect the dots and go from what you’re doing day to day, the output to the outcomes.” Aligning with Go-To-Market Stakeholders To deepen (even expand) business acumen, Usha recommends that product teams collaborate with their counterparts in the go-to-market organization. “Learn to align with your marketing team, your sales teams, your customer success teams,” she advises. “Ask to join discovery calls with prospects, or do a ride-along with a sales rep to gain direct market insights.” Engagement fosters empathy, strengthens business alignment, and deepens understanding of customer needs and industry dynamics. The Bow Tie Model Usha introduces the Bow Tie Model as a framework that coordinates product, marketing, sales, and customer success around shared business goals. In addition, she emphasizes leadership alignment on key metrics like GRR, NRR, and ARR to create feedback loops that enhance the customer journey and drive sustainable growth. “It boils down to leadership at the go-to-market level and the product level,” she adds. “We’re all working toward company success, so if we can internalize that and build it into the culture of the organization – including your product and engineering activities – it becomes a flywheel.” Growth Drivers in SaaS Companies As Usha points out, SaaS companies’ main growth drivers are retention, expansion, and new business; but then she introduces a fourth: efficiency. “Investors are getting a lot more stringent about where they put their money,” she continues. “Whereas top line metrics drive revenue metrics, which drive your presence in the market, efficiency drives your residence in the market.” AI-Assisted Organizational Buy-in To gain organizational buy-in for adopting frameworks like the Bow Tie, Usha suggests leveraging AI to connect diverse data sources – such as sales conversations, marketing signals, and product usage – to generate actionable insights. AI tools accelerate the process by automating tasks like generating QBRs and providing sales teams with tailored pitches. “The answer lies in being able to take your product metrics and align it to the company metrics,” Usha says. “That’s really where it starts. That’s how we drive change management. And AI can play a big part: you can take any metric and connect the dots with another metric pretty easily with AI.” Unable to attend ITX’s 2025 Product + Design Conference? Explore the highlights. The post 167 / How SaaS Teams Drive Impact Through Alignment and Innovation, with Usha Iyer appeared first on ITX Corp..

Sophia Prater is CEO of Rewired UX and the creator of the Object-Oriented UX (OOUX) Certification. In this episode of Product Momentum, Sophia joins Sean Murray and guest co-host Jon Daiello to discuss OOUX and the many ways it can help product teams deliver better design, more efficiently than ever. As Sophia explains, “OOUX is like the backbone of the design process that allows all these other disciplines to hang on to.” And the ORCA process – that is, Objects, Relationships, CTAs, and Attributes – is the ‘how’ of the OOUX philosophy. Jon, a Senior UX Manager at Paychex, shares Sophia’s enthusiasm for integrating OOUX principles into his team’s design practice. Together, they explored how OOUX is reshaping the design landscape and empowering product teams to deliver exceptional user experiences. Here’s what you’ll learn:Breaking Down Functional Silos with OOUXOOUX provides a structured approach to design that breaks down functional silos by focusing on the objects and relationships that users interact with. OOUX encourages cross-functional collaboration by creating a shared language among the trio of product, engineering, and UX. “Object-oriented UX is gonna help designers communicate with our developers and PMs. And it’s actually going to help us internally as a team. If we don’t understand internally what the objects are, if we don’t have a shared language on what the things are, then how are we gonna make it clear to our users?” ORCA: Boosting Process Efficiency Through UnderstandingOne of the standout benefits of OOUX is its ability to boost process efficiency. Not only does OOUX promote that reusability of shared artifacts, but it helps product teams save time and resources by building only those things that users need and want – and by not buildingthe things users do not need or want. “The ORCA process is a tool for understanding,” Sophia explains. “Understanding the scope and making sure it’s really clear. Understanding the mental model, the data structure, and all the constraints – technical and otherwise. ORCA allows us to truly become systems thinkers,” she adds. “That’s what the world needs. We want to be creating real solutions that solve real problems. Our system lies within a system of systems. So we need people thinking in systems. And that is what the ORCA process gives you.” Slowing Down to Go Fast – with Less WasteWhen product teams dedicate time early in the process to define objects, relationships, and processes, Sophia says, they not only reduce the risk of costly errors later in the cycle. They also quickly discover “all the stuff they don’t need to do. “OOUX helps you get everything on the table, with everyone looking at all the puzzle pieces collaboratively,” Sophia says. “When we do that, we realize we don’t even need half of this stuff — the stuff that’s just gonna drag us down. When we got rid of that, we realize we can go so much faster.” Jon Daiello is a Senior UX Manager at Paychex, leading design teams across Platform, Design Systems, and UX Strategy. He’s passionate about building strong designers, sharing insights on his website and other platforms. ITX’s Product + Design Conference is just around the corner, on June 25-26. Get your tickets here, on our P+D Conference landing page! The post 166 / Sophia Prater, on Object-Oriented UX: The Backbone of the Design Process appeared first on ITX Corp..

If you’ve spent any time navigating the intricate world of product management, you’re likely familiar with the constant balancing act the role requires. Heather Inocencio is the founder and CEO of The Product Consult, a team of product managers helping companies innovate and scale. In this episode of Product Momentum, Heather joins Sean and special guest co-host Sheila Herbert to share her recipe for how fractional product management works – and where it works best. When fractional PMs join a new organization, approach the opportunity with curiosity, Heather advises. Use that curiosity as a conduit for building trust with your new stakeholders. That way – echoing the words of Bruce McCarthy in episode 156 of Product Momentum and in a recent blog post with Sean Flaherty – you can fairly represent each stakeholder’s needs and motivations. Here’s what else you’ll learn: A Balanced Approach: Customer Obsession + Business Value Find the right balance between being customer obsessed (as described by Christian Marek in episode 162) and delivering value to the business. Meeting user needs is paramount, Heather says, but product managers are also responsible for delivering on the broader business strategy. “Product people are constantly being pushed that they must be ‘customer obsessed.’ And I couldn’t agree more,” Heather explains. “But we have to tie that obsession back to the work we’re doing: the features we’re delivering and the platforms we’re expanding. Then we have to explain how those user behaviors are tying back to adding real business value.” Understanding Fractional Product Management By providing organizations with product management expertise – without the commitment of a full-time/long-time hire – the fractional approach helps both startups and small- to mid-sized businesses that need senior-level product leadership but may lack the resources or consistent demand to justify a permanent position. “At The Product Consult, we embed with clients either full-time or fractionally,” Heathers adds. “And we do hands-on product management work, whether it’s me or someone on my team. To the client, it feels like we’re part of their team. It’s a great way for a company to add skills to the team that they don’t have.” Trust: The Key Ingredient in a Recipe for Product Success A thread woven throughout the conversation was Heather’s take on building trust across stakeholder groups. Trust is no longer a “nice-to-have” in product management; it’s fundamental to the success of any relationship. She shared her recipe for success – the key ingredient of which is trust – which starts with product managers building connections that transcend superficial collaboration. “The one difference in product management versus other roles at a company is that we touch every aspect of the business,” Heather points out. “Trust enables teams to navigate tough conversations, align on priorities, and execute with clarity.” Sheila Herbert is VP, Product at Butler / Till, headquartered in Rochester, NY. Sheila’s expertise and passion for people-first product leadership add a dynamic layer to our discussion. ITX’s Product + Design Conference is returning to Rochester, NY on June 25-26. Get your tickets here, on our P+D Conference landing page! The post 165 / A Recipe for Success: Heather Inocencio, on Fractional Product Management appeared first on ITX Corp..

Luke Stiles is a product advisor and consultant who helps build products and grow companies, focusing on widespread adoption of Generative AI. On June 25, he will facilitate a workshop at ITX’s 2-day Product + Design Conference (June 25-26). In this episode of Product Momentum, Luke joins Sean and Dan to talk about topics ranging from GenAI’s impact on product management and the need for domain expertise to the value of prototyping and NBA superstar Steph Curry. He concludes the conversation with a hopeful declaration regarding the enduring essence of human creativity in collaboration: AI will enhance, rather than replace, the value of humanity. And if you’re looking for some solid book recommendations to fill out your summer reading list, Luke offers some terrific options! Here’s what else you’ll learn: Accelerating time to valueGet up to speed on the current narrative surrounding generative AI and its implications for product management. What Luke sees most often is AI’s ability to take somebody with deep domain expertise and allows them to really optimize. “The product manager is responsible for gluing a lot of things together,” he adds. “And when you get into that T-shape mode, there’s an opportunity to require fewer inputs from people along the way. AI offers a huge opportunity to reduce the number of handoffs so that we can just accelerate what you’re doing as product managers with these tools.” Prototyping with AIAI tools are already helping product teams to bring better and more fully-baked ideas to the design process, no doubt helping us move faster to critical decision points. But at the same time, Luke explains, we run the risk making the same mistakes we’ve always made with prototypes, saying, “well, that looks like we’re done.” And the answer is, ‘probably not.’ Prototypes are not finished products; they still need to be sold, he adds. Stakeholders still need to understand their value. ‘The Value of Humanity Will Go Up’Our chat with Luke concludes with a discussion on the AI’s role in helping us cross functional boundaries, to understand different rules sets, and – perhaps most urgently – to grasp AI’s impact on the future of human creativity and collaboration within the product development process. “Human desire is infinite,” Luke assures us. “And humans desire being with other humans.” AI will not change that. “The value of humanity will go up. And I believe that deeply.” Want to hear more from Luke Stiles? Register now for ITX’s Product + Design Conference, which returns to Rochester, June 25-26. See the complete list of workshop facilitators and keynote speakers on our P+D Conference landing page! The post 164 / Luke Stiles, on GenAI: ‘The Value of Humanity Will Go Up’ appeared first on ITX Corp..

Vitaly Friedman is an author, the UX Lead with the European Parliament, and editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine. On June 25, he will facilitate a workshop at ITX’s 2-day Product + Design Conference. In this episode of Product Momentum, Vitaly joins Sean and Dan to share his insights about tackling the unique challenges of UX design in enterprise-level environments. Tune in to hear the following: It’s OK to be a disruptor of legacy systems in enterprise organizations “Legacy is like that ‘magical box’ that we’re afraid to touch,” Vitaly says. “No one really knows how it works, and the people who set it up decades ago are now gone and left with no proper documentation.” But it’s OK to be a disruptor of legacy systems and the political hierarchies that created them as long as you show the value you can bring and approach your task with a risk management mindset. “Start with smaller projects; ask users and stakeholders to review your unfinished work; and always remember that your ‘disruption’ affects a lot of people who need that tool quite literally to do their work.” Start small, build trust, and focus your vocabulary on the language of your stakeholders. As part of your research, ask stakeholders to show you their product and to walk you through it. Listen carefully to the words they use to describe it – and how frequently those same words are used. Says Vitaly: “You can get a better understanding of what’s important just by listening to how they talk about it and how much the features or workflows or ways of working mean to them as well.” For humans, with humans, by humans. Designing software is a people business, so Vitaly encourages UX professionals to “observe the relationships between stakeholders” so that you can learn about the people inside the organization who believe in and want to support UX initiatives. “There’s a good chance some UX projects benefited them and helped them be successful,” Vitaly adds. When you find the people who deeply believe in UX, tell them the story about the project you’re working on. “Once you make them aware, they will move mountains for you and support your efforts,” he says. Product + Design Workshop: How can UX designers welcome AI into their environment? In his workshop at the ITX Product + Design Conference, Vitaly will introduce to attendees some of his recent experimental work. “We designers expect a lot from AI, and we believe there’s a lot of things AI can do to help us build great products,” Vitaly says. “But the reality is that AI is really weird. We’re accustomed to software being rather predictable and reliable: if you click on a button, you get the result you’re expecting. But sometimes – like 10-15% of the time – AI can be unreliable.” In the workshop, Vitaly will discuss “those little things” that are important to us designers – and make them better with assistance from AI. ITX’s Product + Design Conference returns to Rochester, June 25-26. Check out the complete list of workshop facilitators and keynote speakers on our P+D Conference landing page! The post 163 / Vitaly Friedman, on UX Design + AI in Enterprise Environments appeared first on ITX Corp..

Christian Marek is Vice President of Product Management at Productboard. He has applied his years of experience in technology and finance while leading product management efforts at Facebook, Google, and Docusign. In this episode, Christian joins co-hosts Sean Murray and Dan Sharp to explore how AI tools are revolutionizing product management by enhancing customer obsession and meeting user needs effectively. Here’s what we cover: What does it mean to be “customer obsessed”? And how do I know if I am? Customer obsession is more important than ever before, Christian says. He shares three critical questions to help you determine whether your organization can call itself, “customer obsessed.” How AI supports Product Managers Many PMs see AI as a tool that drives efficiency, helps teams go faster, and reduces waste. And it does. But when properly integrated into your workflows, AI tools also enhance decision-making by streamlining your team’s collection of customer insights. Product managers can leverage AI to quickly analyze customer interactions and feedback, allowing them to identify key problems and prioritize features based on data-driven insights. Next-level Product Management The role of product managers is evolving with AI, enabling them to focus more on strategy and vision rather than just feature specifications. “PMs who embrace AI,” Christian says, :will be able to scale themselves significantly and to think more about their organization’s vision, business strategy, and high-level execution.” Product managers are quickly adapting to this growing level of influence and enhancing their contribution to team and organizational success. Obstacles to AI Adoption Companies often face hurdles in adopting AI – sometimes due to internal resistance and the need for cultural shifts regarding data sharing and privacy. Ask yourself: is my company, and my company’s data, prepared to take advantage of AI’s capabilities? ITX’s Product + Design Conference returns to Rochester, June 25-26. Be sure to check out the complete list of workshop facilitators and keynote speakers on our P+D Conference landing page! The post 162 / What Does It Mean To Be ‘Customer Obsessed’?, with Christian Marek appeared first on ITX Corp..