Joining me today is Rob Bayley. Rob is currently a Senior Product Manager at Auvik Networks Inc. Previously, he was a Director of Product at Roadmunk and a Senior Product Manager at NetSuite. He's got a decade of Product Management experience under his belt. On this episode, Rob shares his thoughts on Product Management from the lens of an individual contributor, manager and leader, the dangers of cascading goals, the key to making OKR work, and how to utilize evidence based decision making when you're at a pre-product stage.

Prar Johnson’s a changemaker who has over 19 years of experience—spent some time shaping products at Nokia, T-Mobile, Skype Microsoft, Soundcloud, Shopify, and now Atlassian. On this episode, you’ll hear her explanation for why product strategy is hard, the time she made a tough call using a consensus-driven approach, what data the Atlassian design team uses to shape their OKRs, how she got involved with the birth of what is now known as Microsoft Teams and more.

Our guest for Episode 2 is Andrew Wallace. He’s the Managing Director and CPO of SmileBack. Previously, he was the Director of Product Management at Chefs Plate. Chefs Plate was acquired by the German meal kit company, HelloFresh, in 2018. In this episode, you’ll hear Andrew’s thoughts on the importance of knowing and having a shared vision, how Chef’s Plate planned to exit with a certain buyer in mind who ended up not being the buyer in the end, how sometimes a business needs to build unique technology in-house, why simple dreams are good, what Andrew’s learned from his experience at Chefs Plate and transferred to SmileBack and more.

Taking Important Leadership NotesDid you know that many historical impactful figures had some form of notetaking habit actively reflecting on their experiences? Research shows you forget 60% of the information that comes into you daily. It also shows that notetakers retain 95% of that information.In this episode of Dreams with Deadlines, Jenny speaks with Ryan McMinn, the head of product for Microsoft OneNote and Sticky Notes. Ryan who has been with Microsoft for 13 years insists on being a good leader for his team and offering customers product value. He shares how OneNote has developed and grown as a product putting into consideration the target customer over the years.Listen in to learn why you need to become a notetaker as it helps with reflecting on experiences which is what creates knowledge and wisdom. You will also hear the importance of learning by going through things first hand and gaining experience while finding ways to get over them fast enough.  “It’s very hard to do large things and if you don’t know exactly know where you want to end up, you can end up chasing small things instead of going after big things.”- Ryan [24:05]What You Will Learn in this Episode:(0:12) Intro(1:37) Learning to be a good leader that sets an example for your successor.(3:16) Ryan describes OneNote’s target customers as organized individuals and the set of organized people that exist. (9:42) The importance of taking accountability and serving others as a leader without imposing your will.(14:53) The principles of trust and product depth that contributes to OneNote’s value.(16:47) The strategy and paths to taking OneNote to the people as things continue to change.(21:45) Ryan explains how they measure Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) by building on small things to make big things that fulfill customers’ wants.(26:33) How and why they created the seven big things to look at as a team that helped them breakdown and actualize the OKRs. (32:00) Understanding people’s motivation and tapping into it through trial and error. (36:14) Learning to be what the team needs- becoming what is expected of the rule and not what you as a leader is comfortable with. (39:26) The best thing that ever happened to Microsoft- being humbled and finding a balance.(41:30) How Ryan has learned not to beat himself up when things don’t work out and not comparing himself and the products he creates. Relevant Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmcminn/