
Product Chats Podcast
Pragmatic Live’s Product Chat is a podcast focused on tackling the biggest challenges facing today‘s product management, product marketing, and other market and data-driven professionals with some of the best minds in the industry.
Latest episodes

Apr 19, 2024 • 47min
Maximizing Impact: The Power of Strategic Early User Programs with Neil Baron and Rod Griffith
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Learn more about us: https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/
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“It's all about setting up the right expectations with the company or the early user. So, it's not just giving it to them. It’s about being clear about what you expect in return early in the process.”
- Neil Baron, B2B Product Management Consultant, Founder of Baron Strategic Partners
Join us for a critical discussion with Neil Baron and Rod Griffith, following their recent article in the Harvard Business Review (read it here) on extracting the full value of early user programs.
This episode unpacks the nuances of designing early user programs that go beyond mere functionality checks to validate problem-solving, target accuracy, and accelerate market readiness. The conversation delves into the importance of having a dedicated program owner (not a dictator) and the necessity of involving cross-functional teams to capture diverse perspectives.
Neil and Rod outline a five-step process for a successful program, from hypothesis definition and participant selection to setting clear expectations and leveraging feedback for product and go-to-market enhancements. Highlighting the tangible outcomes of well-executed early user programs, Neil and Rod share how these strategies have led to fast revenue times, increased sales confidence, and enhanced media coverage.
Key Takeaways:
1. Importance of Early User Programs: The discussion highlights the significance of early user programs in understanding market problems that a product can solve. It emphasizes that these programs should not be viewed in isolation but as part of a holistic approach to product development and market understanding.
2. Cross-Functional Collaboration: For an effective early user program, there needs to be cross-functional input and it should be considered as a critical step in the process. This requires buy-in from senior management and proper incentivization across the organization.
3. Value Proposition and Feedback: Early user programs are not only about the product, but also about understanding the customer experience, the messaging, and the value proposition. It's vital to set up a give-and-get relationship with early users, ensuring they understand the benefits they will get, and the company gets valuable feedback and data.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Neil Baron is the founder of Baron Strategic Partners, a consulting firm that helps B2B companies accelerate growth. He is also involved in running two forums for product executives, the Product Leadership Council in conjunction with Pragmatic, and the Boston Product Executive Forum, which is run in conjunction with the Boston Product Management Association.
With a wealth of experience in product leadership and management, Neil is passionate about helping companies create effective strategies for success.
Rod Griffith is the Chief Client Officer and Co-Founder of MarketReach, inc., a B2B marketing services company that designs and manages marketing programs, campaigns, and sales tools for a variety of technology companies. With a background in computer industry segment management and product management, Rod uses his experience to help companies translate their strategies into practical and successful market-facing activities. He is deeply involved in sharing his insights and learnings through various forums, including the Product Leadership Council and collaborations with Pragmatic.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and proprietary Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.
Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/.
Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.
#ProductManagement #ProductManager #ProductManagementCertification #ProductManagementStrategy #PragmaticInstitute

Mar 22, 2024 • 45min
Transforming Your Products with Community Insight with Jake McKee, Community-Driven Product Expert
“Community-driven product development is not just about getting feedback, but about integrating community members and customers into the product development cycle itself.”
Jake McKee, Community Driven Product Management Leader
In this episode of Product Chats, we welcome Jake McKee, pioneer in community-driven product innovation. Jake delves into the transformative approach of weaving community insights into the product development fabric, aiming for products that resonate deeply with users.He outlines a strategy for seamlessly integrating community members into the development journey. At the heart of this integration is transparency around objectives, coupled with the strategic selection of community contributors based on their expertise and engagement levels. Timing, Jake emphasizes, is crucial in bringing these voices into the fold.
Jake's guidance for companies includes a careful examination of their product development cycles to identify opportunities for community inclusion. He champions the shift towards relationship-building activities, advocating for a move away from transactional interactions to foster deeper connections with the community. This, he argues, necessitates a reevaluation of risk-averse mindsets, encouraging organizations to balance the potential risks with the significant rewards of community involvement.
Jake advocates for a deliberate approach to community engagement in product development, pinpointing ideation and testing as key phases for involvement. Highlighting the importance of seeing these engagements as opportunities to build relationships, he suggests that companies stand to gain immensely by integrating community perspectives, thereby enriching the product development process.
KEY INSIGHTS
1. Community Integration in Product Development: Jake shares his blueprint for weaving community and customer insights into the product development cycle. Whether on-site visits or individual interviews, the goal is to embrace the community's viewpoint and ensure their feedback significantly influences the project. Jake underscores the necessity of structured engagement throughout the project's lifespan.
2. Clear Outcomes and Communication: Jake advises on the importance of clear communication with community members regarding the impact of their involvement. Viewing interactions as relational rather than transactional enriches the development process, fostering a collaborative atmosphere akin to internal brainstorming sessions.
3. Feedback Management and Engagement Activities: Jake points out the crucial role of efficient feedback management and engagement strategies. Activities should balance functional and emotional aspects to maintain community engagement and a positive rapport. From formal presentations to casual team-building events, the aim is to manage feedback without overwhelming the product team, providing structured feedback channels.
4. Initiating Integration and Overcoming Risk-averse Thinking: Jake motivates listeners to evaluate their product development processes for community integration opportunities. Starting with a small, familiar group or community leaders can pave the way for meaningful engagement.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Jake McKee's background in web development and product design influenced his approach to community-driven product development. It gave him a thorough understanding of the product development process and the factors that can sway the course of a project, including team bias, personal interest, and internal requirements.It also opened his eyes to the power of communities and the potential they hold for product development.
With an impressive career in the community space, he has built communities for renowned brands such as Apple, Lego, and South by Southwest. McKee has spent a significant portion of his career building out community-driven product development and currently runs a consulting practice that works with these methodologies.
His deep understanding of community engagement and product development has led to the creation of his unique approach to integrating community members into the product development process.For more information on Jake McKee and his work, listeners can visit https://jakemckee.com.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.
Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.

Mar 15, 2024 • 29min
Harnessing the Power of AI for Product Marketing with Anubhav Rao, Product Marketing Pro
“If product managers are supposed to put a product on the shelf, product marketing is supposed to take it off the shelf.”
Anubhav Rao, Product Marketing at AWS
In this episode of Product Chats, we are joined by Anubhav Rao, Product Marketer at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for a discussion on the implications of AI in product marketing. Anubhav highlights how AI can lower the technical barrier for building products, leading to a cluttered market with numerous solutions. Differentiation and reaching the right audience become crucial for success.
Anubhav believes product marketing will play a key role in helping companies differentiate themselves in a crowded market. Product marketers can use AI to automate operational tasks related to customer insights, feedback collection, go-to-market strategies, and personalization at scale in closed communities.
The conversation explores transparency and authenticity when using AI tools, stressing the importance of maintaining a human touch despite leveraging automation. Rao explores using competitor analysis using AI to understand successful strategies and audience needs for product development. Utilizing advanced analytics powered by AI streamlines reporting and data analysis, allowing product marketers to focus on creativity and differentiation.
Tune in to uncover innovative strategies that blend AI's efficiency with the human insight essential for standout product marketing.
Key Takeaways:
1. Leveraging Product Marketing to Stand Out: Rao discusses the potential of AI to simplify product creation and scaling, emphasizing the need for product marketing to differentiate products in an increasingly crowded market. Product marketers can succeed by focusing on niche verticals, unique value propositions, and building strong emotional connections with customers.
2. Chatbots Gone Wrong: Rao explores how AI can enhance personalization in marketing, highlighting the potential of AI in expanding distribution channels and delivering targeted content. He illustrates the power of AI in revolutionizing customer interactions, but how it can also go wrong (see Air Canada’s chatbot fiasco).
3. The Trust Matrix: The conversation steers towards the ethical considerations of using AI, stressing the importance of maintaining authenticity and trust in a world of automated interactions. Despite technological advancements, the basics of understanding your product and audience remain crucial in effective product marketing.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Anubhav Rao is a product marketing expert at Amazon, with a background in computer science and a passion for storytelling. Rao's unique career trajectory took him from filmmaking to marketing in India's burgeoning content media space, before moving to Los Angeles for his MBA.
His diverse experiences have shaped his approach to product marketing, with a strong focus on differentiation, distribution, and leveraging technology for growth.
Anubhav’s blend of technical knowledge, creative thinking, and business acumen allows him to understand and communicate the value proposition of complex products effectively.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.

Mar 8, 2024 • 42min
Leveraging Digital Twins to Enhance Your Product Processes with Sean Gigremosa
"Just start! People are going to hate your product at the start, but you will learn, and you will get better. Failure is a way of learning."
- Sean Gigremosa, Product Leader and CEO of Claritiv
In this episode of Product Chats, we are joined by Sean Gigremosa, a product leader, agile expert, innovation enthusiast, self-described product management ninja and CEO and founder of Claritiv. The conversation delves into the challenges and opportunities in product management, the importance of understanding customer needs, and the role of AI in extracting valuable insights from conversations.
Key Takeaways:
Talking Points: The conversation emphasizes the crucial role that dialogue plays in acquiring knowledge and generating insights. Sean underscores that 70% of knowledge is learned through conversation. However, notes from a conversation are like a game of telephone where each summary incorporates layers of potential bias. This is an issue because the actual problem could get lost.
That’s why he started Claritiv – an AI powered tool that listens and analyzes conversations across clients, prospects, and departments, allowing you to both pull analysis on specific topics, and find out what emerging topics are important.
Bias in Disguise: Sean shares the importance of removing personal bias in interpreting customer conversations, arguing that AI can provide a more objective analysis of these interactions. AI is only as good as the data being used to train, so believability and accuracy need to be regularly and continually reviewed. Just like children, AI can take on our biases.
Digital Twins, Not Identical: Digital twins are extremely valuable for product managers due to their capacity for detailed simulation and scenario testing. A digital twin is a virtual model that replicates a physical product or system. It can be used to run simulations to predict how a product or system might behave under different conditions. Digital twins can also be used to model and understand user behavior, helping product managers to better design products that meet user needs.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Sean Gigremosa is a product leader with expertise in agile methodologies and a passion for innovation. His journey from product manager to CEO provides him with unique insights into the challenges and opportunities in the field. Known for his ninja-like approach to product management, Sean is the CEO and founder of Claritiv, a company that strives to extract valuable insights from conversations using AI.
Discover more about Sean's work and Claritiv at Claritiv.ai for a free trial and experience how AI-powered tools can prioritize product insights from customer conversations.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.
Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.

Feb 23, 2024 • 42min
Gathering and Leveraging Competitor Intelligence Effectively with Steve Gielda
“Are we better than the competition, equal to the competition, or not as good as the competition? Do we know? Sales teams can help us answer these questions.”
Steve Gielda, President and co-founder of Ignite Selling
In this episode of Product Chats, we are joined by Steve Gielda, President and co-founder of Ignite Selling, a global sales training, simulation and consulting organization dedicated to helping customers build world class sales teams.
Steve opens the discussion by addressing the inherent tension between product marketing and sales groups, emphasizing their critical interdependence despite contrasting personalities. He highlights a staggering insight: the vast majority of new products fail to meet their first-year revenue targets, often due to misguided assumptions (detailed in the Whitepaper “5 Assumptions that Cause New Products to Fail”).
Steve identifies three common assumptions that lead to these failures: sales teams knowing which accounts to target, identifying the correct contacts within these organizations, and understanding the unique value of the product to these buyers. He argues that it's the responsibility of product teams to equip sales with the knowledge and tools to overcome these challenges, thereby not just shortening time to market but ensuring a quicker path to significant market share.
For targeting the right accounts, Steve suggests providing sales teams with both quantitative and qualitative criteria to identify the most promising leads. He stresses understanding the value of unique product capabilities and how that varies depending on the audience. To address this, he recommends interactive learning map sessions that involve both sales and marketing teams. These sessions explore the implications of not having the product, the consequences thereof, and how the product's unique capabilities offer solutions.
Key Takeaways:
1. Understand Your Sales Team's Needs: Both product managers and marketers need to comprehend that their sales team requires more than just product information. They need to know how to target the right accounts, engage the right individuals within those accounts, and articulate the unique value the product offers to each stakeholder.
2. Value Communication Is Crucial: Value is positional based on the individual to whom it's being communicated. Product teams need to train sales teams on how to translate product features into unique, stakeholder-specific value propositions. This will ignite their selling abilities.
3. Perform a Product Launch Review: It's important to review the first 90 days post-product launch. This review should assess whether sales representatives have been able to engage targeted accounts, and if they can articulate the unique selling propositions of the product. This will help the product team to understand if they're arming the sales team effectively.
4. Organize Collateral Intelligently: Product marketers often provide sales teams with a lot of collateral. However, they need to guide sales teams on when and how to use each piece of collateral at different stages of the sales process. This guidance can increase the effectiveness of the sales team and ensure that the collateral is utilized optimally.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Steve Gielda is the president and co-founder of Ignite Selling, a global sales training, simulation, and consulting organization dedicated to helping customers build world-class sales teams.
With his extensive background in value-based selling, Steve brings a wealth of expertise to the field of sales and customer support, with a focus on accelerating revenue growth. He is passionate about helping organizations find new ways to boost sales.
Steve, along with his business partner Kevin Jones, recently released his latest book, "Ignite Your Sales Strategy," a comprehensive guide aimed at helping sales teams think and act more strategically, quantify, and unlock the true value of the solutions they deliver. His insights and innovative approaches make him a valuable contributor to sales strategy conversations.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.
Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.
#ProductManagement #ProductManager #ProductManagementCertification #ProductManagementStrategy #PragmaticInstitute

14 snips
Feb 9, 2024 • 54min
How to Innovate on Purpose with Diane Pierson
Author Diane Pierson discusses the importance of innovation in organizations and outlines four phases of innovation: reactive, responsive, inventive, and disruptive. She highlights the need to align innovation with market needs and leadership vision. Key takeaways include defining innovation within your organization and navigating the innovation process efficiently.

Jan 19, 2024 • 50min
Transforming Business Goals with Customer Experience Insights: An Interview with Erin Knobler
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJI2Tv2yxOLBI02nyJoprA
Learn more about us: https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/
Start your Product Manager certification here
"The best CX is often when you can meet your customers exactly where they are. For example, if your customer persona is busy and unable to engage with email easily, offering phone support likely brings happier customers and retention."
– Erin Knobler, Customer Experience (CX) Guru
In this episode of Product Chats, Erin Knobler, CX researcher and designer, joins us to discuss the importance of customer experience (CX), the methods for gathering data and insights about CX, and the role CX plays in achieving business goals.
Key Takeaways:
Takeaway 1: Understanding the customer journey, which involves mapping out each touchpoint a customer has with a business, is crucial to identifying areas where customers may be experiencing difficulties.
Takeaway 2: Research and data, from customer-facing employees, reviews, customer support interactions, and other sources, provide valuable insights into customer behavior and potential issues.
Takeaway 3: Conducting customer interviews provides direct insights into the customer's experience and can reveal problems that may not be apparent from data alone.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Erin Knobler is a seasoned CX researcher and designer. She has extensive experience in leveraging data to transform product strategies and optimize workflows. Her expertise lies in turning qualitative data into quantifiable insights that drive customer-led growth. Erin's passion for customer experience and her ability to bring together business goals and customer needs makes her a valuable voice in the industry.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.
Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.
#ProductManagement #ProductManager #ProductManagementCertification #ProductManagementStrategy #PragmaticInstitute

Jan 12, 2024 • 37min
Decoding the Language of Innovation in Product with Will Scott
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJI2Tv2yxOLBI02nyJoprA
Learn more about us: https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/
Start your Product Manager certification here
"Disruptive innovation is when a company gets into a new category for them and attempts to engage customers on a different level or via a different set of products."
– Will Scott, Product Expert
In this episode of Product Chats, Rebecca Kalogeris and Will Scott discuss how businesses can approach and structure their thinking around innovation. They focus on the importance of understanding what problems a business is trying to solve, the outcomes they wish to achieve, and how they plan to grow.
Key Takeaways:
Takeaway 1: Innovation isn't just about creating something new; it's about understanding the problems your business is trying to solve and the outcomes you want to achieve.
Takeaway 2: You can view innovation through different lenses - such as customer needs, market maturity, and your business's growth strategies - to determine the right innovation vector for your business.
Takeaway 3: When thinking about innovation, consider the whole ecosystem, not just the product itself. How you package and present your product, as well as how easily customers can interact with your business, can all be avenues for innovation.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Will is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of international experience leading product marketing and management teams across hardware, software, services, and SaaS B2B companies. Originally an engineer by training, Will held senior positions with Cisco, Navisite and Capgemini, along with a range of full-time and fractional CMO positions through his own B2B product management and marketing consulting business.
In addition, Will was also previously a partner at the premier product marketing agency, Aventi Group, and an instructor at the Kellogg School of Management in their executive digital marketing and product strategy programs. Learn more about Will and other Pragmatic instructors here.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.
#ProductManagement #ProductManager #ProductManagementCertification #ProductManagementStrategy #PragmaticInstitute

Jan 5, 2024 • 39min
From Outputs to Outcomes: David Lifson’s Playbook on Bridging Outcomes and Strategy in Product Management
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJI2Tv2yxOLBI02nyJoprA
Learn more about us: https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/
Start your Product Manager certification here
“We can try to take a hypothesis-based mindset to the product that we're trying to build or the ideas that we have or the strategy that we have, and use things like user research or design prototyping to put it into play.”
– David Lifson
In this episode of Product Chats, product management veteran David Lifson joins us to discuss the nuances of product strategy, the challenges of merging with a competitor, and the importance of a hypothesis-based mindset in product development.
Key Takeaways:
Takeaway 1: David highlights the importance of focusing on outcomes over outputs in product management, emphasizing the need to align strategy and execution.
Takeaway 2: David shares insights from his experiences at companies of varying sizes and stages, from startups to large firms, including the unique challenges faced by a company that loses product-market fit.
Takeaway 3: David discusses the process of merging with a competitor from a product perspective, providing a peek into the complex decisions involved in integrating products, teams, and tech stacks.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
David Lifson is a seasoned product management expert with experience at Amazon, Etsy, and many others. He's worked at stealth startups, large companies, and companies at all stages and sizes. He's currently consulting for startups and focused on building great teams that deliver meaningful outcomes. Learn more about David's work here.
ABOUT PRAGMATIC INSTITUTE:
Since 1993, we’ve provided training and professional development for product, design, and data professionals to accelerate innovation, increase customer satisfaction, and bolster revenue. Through our comprehensive methods and propriety Pragmatic Framework, we train professionals with the skills needed to accelerate their product management and product marketing careers, increase team efficiency, and boost revenue.
Our online, in-person, and on-demand courses are taught by industry experts with decades of experience at top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hallmark, Quaker Oats, and Dun & Bradstreet. We offer individual course training in product, design and data, and certification tracks for Product Management Certifications, Product Marketing Certifications, and the Pragmatic Product Master Certification. All attendees gain access to the Pragmatic Alumni Community, a network of over 30,000 alumni worldwide.
If you’re looking for product management or product marketing training or are pursuing a product marketing certification or product management certification, browse our certification paths at https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/product/. Courses are available online, in-person, or on-demand to fit your schedule.
Want to learn more about becoming a Pragmatic Certified Product Manager? Learn more here.
#ProductManagement #ProductManager #ProductManagementCertification #ProductManagementStrategy #PragmaticInstitute

Dec 29, 2023 • 48min
ChatGPT and the Future of Product Management: An Expert Panel Discussion
“My hope is that for product leaders and product managers is that in five years time you look back and you say, ‘tools like this have allowed me to free up my time so that I can do more high value work.’” - Paul Young
How will ChatGPT impact product professionals?
Since the growing popularity of powerful AI tools is dominating the tech news, we’re sitting down for a round table with Pragmatic instructors to discuss this question.
Paul Young, Cindy Cruzado, Amy Graham, Terry Sadowski, and Will Scott explain the basics of ChatGPT and what this tool (and tools like it) could mean for product teams.
During this episode, they discuss
The limitations of ChatGPT in its current version
How ChatGPT can help product managers in their role
Whether or not they are hopeful for new AI tools like ChatGPT
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