Product Chats Podcast

“Product teams should stay out of the how and focus on the what, who and why. If we can bring all that context to the table and then we can give our development teams the space to think creatively. To start with a blank canvas. It is a best practice to have a separation of duties between the how and the what.” - Amy Graham   Product managers need to be good partners and create good teams to create great products. We all want to be a part of a high-performing team, we want to build them, and it’s not something that happens accidentally.   So, in this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic instructor Amy Graham about some best practices for building high-performance teams.   They discuss: The importance of having clarity around roles and responsibilities and understanding what type of team you have (e.g., high market knowledge vs dependent) How to build trust and collaboration between product and development Some of the key areas where teamwork starts to break down in companies. Foundations on Demand In this course, students learn how to become market-driven by exploring concepts such as how to uncover strategic opportunities, define product team roles and responsibilities, prioritize actual vs. desired business goals, and how to talk to and observe the market in action. Learn More and Enroll

This episode is from our latest Product Chat webinar >> watch the webinar Join us as we welcome Anand Arivukkarasu, Product Leader (formerly of FB) for a conversation on how you can use measurement to ensure success throughout every stage of the product lifecycle. In this conversation, Anand will share: Key KPIs and metrics you should be paying attention to through the development, GTM, growth and product end-of-life phases Ways to apply measurement to employ strategies and align stakeholders How to utilize metrics to gain buy-in for current and future initiatives How to decipher insights between the metrics to ensure you are staying ahead of the curve

“It's useful to look at metrics, but metrics are a lot more useful and meaningful if we frame them around why we're measuring that thing to begin with. You want to measure a thing because it's meaningful. And OKRs are how teams put meaning behind the measurement.” - Paul Young   What is your product team measuring to determine progress? What should they be measuring? And what makes a good OKR? In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic instructor Paul Young about OKRs because you can’t manage what you can’t measure.   They discuss: The qualities of a good objective Why you might have multiple key results for each objective Why you should set a confidence score (on a scale of 1-10) and why every objective should be difficult but not impossible The difference between OKR and KPI How many OKRs should you have on your team Additional Resources Foundations | The first step to become truly market-driven This course emphasizes how to develop an understanding of your market and effectively share that information throughout the organization. Learn More

What’s the hallmark of a strong product team? Anna Turner, VP of Products at Paycor said there are two: being market-driven and stewardship of time and resources.   In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing and product strategy for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Anna about empowering and supporting effective product teams   They discuss: What to look for when hiring a product manager How product teams can leverage data to improve collaboration and decision-making in the organization Strategies for nurturing emerging leaders Training For Your Team | Enroll in Foundations This course will teach your team how to identify and listen to the entire market and uncover strategic opportunity. They’ll also learn how to implement the Pragmatic Framework. After completing the course, students are invited to join the robust and active Pragmatic Alumni Community where they will have access free learning opportunities and a library of Pragmatic tools and resources. Learn More

“Win/Loss is a garbage-in, garbage-out exercise. There needs to be careful curation and vetting of the information in the program. Otherwise, information is going to be unreliable at best and misleading it worst.”   Not every win-loss program is the same. So how do you build the right one for your company? In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews two win/loss experts from Anova Consulting: Zach Golden, director of client management, and Will Young, senior research analyst. Anova Consulting is a market-leading win/loss analysis firm. They build win/loss programs by combining technology with high-tough professional services and consulting.   They discuss: The importance of getting strategic alignment before starting a win/loss program When is it appropriate to use open-ended or leading questions How to leverage data and then go beyond the data by bringing together cross-functional teams Determining how many win/loss interviews are sufficient for gathering insights Here are Anova's latest articles: Win/Loss: A Tool Used to Identify Your Company’s Distinctive Competencies Going Beyond Win/Loss Data   Additional Resources   There is a new course update to Market. This course helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so, you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn More

This episode is from our latest Product Chat webinar >> watch the webinar   Going to market is an exciting yet often anxiety-provoking moment in product development. And there is an onslaught of questions like, will users adopt? Are we articulating our messaging appropriately, and how can we best measure the success of our endeavors?   So how can you utilize phased marketing initiatives to motivate your market to buy a newly launched product or service without breaking the bank or depleting resources?   Arnaud Berube, Senior PMM at Zillow discusses how to approach go-to-market in a way that aligns objectives across your organization and reduces risk.   In this conversation, Arnaud shares: A framework for connecting business objectives to marketing executions Ways to use research to size, position and name your products/features A four-phased GTM approach to prove marketing value and reduce risk Ways to apply the same methodologies to create a product marketing function to utilize moving forward Keep Refining Your Go-To-Market Strategies You can learn more about go-to-market approaches at Pragmatic Institute by enrolling in the Market course.   Market helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn how to align across go-to-market teams by effectively sharing and leveraging your buyer knowledge to prioritize the right product marketing strategies. Learn More

“In the past, it's been a little bit of a nebulous process and people trying to grab from Lean Startup and all these different things that are not cohesive as a journey.” - Daniel Elizalde   Innovation work can feel ambiguous and daunting, but Daniel Elizalde is working to bring clarity with a well-defined innovation journey. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Daniel Elizalde, product executive, advisor and author of the B2B Innovators Map.   During this conversation, Rebecca and Daniel explore in-depth the six stages of the B2B innovator map, which are: Strategic alignment Market discovery User discovery Solution planning prototyping Early adopter They also emphasize a market-first approach where conversations about feasibility happen toward the end of the innovation process, not at the beginning.   “If you can build it, and if you can make money, it doesn't matter if nobody wants it.” —Daniel   You can learn more about Daniel’s work and purchase his book on his website https://danielelizalde.com/   Additional Resources   Market. This course helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so, you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn More   Want to learn more about effective launches? Launch is a course that helps you create a more strategic approach to exceed your business objectives. Learn to execute successful launches that align your entire organization around the same strategies and goals. Enroll Today

This episode is an excellent conversation originally recorded in 2015.    “Sales is a big part of distribution strategy, but we talk about distribution strategy differently at Pragmatic. Distribution strategy is how customers prefer to receive, use and buy your product” - Paul Young This episode features Pragmatic instructor Paul Young, who shares examples of distribution strategy and the different models around them. He discusses: Why distribution strategy can be innovative Indirect or direct distribution strategy examples Integration as a distribution strategy Am outside-in approach to distribution strategy

"Distribution strategy is where you make it easy. You can build the greatest product in the world, but if people can’t find it and don’t know how to buy it, then it doesn’t matter what you built.” - Rich Nutinsky   Distribution strategy is often under-appreciated in product management, but it plays a critical role in the product's success and overall customer experience. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic instructor Rich Nutinsky about distribution strategy. They discuss: Examples when distribution strategy was an innovative disrupter in the market Distribution strategy for software companies The relationship between customer experience and distribution strategy Learn more about distribution strategy in the Focus course at Pragmatic institute.Focus also shows you how to find opportunities in your market’s problems, score them objectively and identify where your company’s strengths intersect with market values. Enroll today

“Distinctive Competencies are rarely a product feature because a distinctive competency isn't easily copied and product features. If you come out with a new product feature today, your competitor could copy that within a few months.” In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, and Pragmatic instructor Mark Stiving will lead the audience through an exercise to identify and apply distinctive competencies using some of the biggest brands in the world. Not only will you learn about the power of distinctive competencies, but also how to start thinking about and leveraging them within your own organization. They also discuss: What are distinctive competencies and why do they matter Examples of distinctive competencies at big brands (Disney, Amazon, LinkedIn, Zappos and Walmart) How to get more differentiation for your products Enroll in Foundations on Demand Today to learn more about finding your company’s distinctive competencies >> https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/foundations-on-demand/