Product Voices

Do we need a separate product strategy or do we need to a plan to align our activities with an overarching business strategy? Ryan Frederick, author and Principal/Founder of AWH makes the case for the latter in this episode."Strategy is supposed to be something that is singular. A company has a strategy not strategies." Learn more:Ryan's books are: The Founder’s Manual: A Guidebook for Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur and Sell Naked: And Other Advice for Growing and Managing Services Firms.

Mental health is a topic that is, thankfully, being spoken of more openly these days. Especially in roles like product management and technology where there is a lot of complexity, visibility, and pressure, it is really important to openly discuss issues around mental health.In this important episode, special guests Graham Reed and Jacquelyn Guderley, founders of the Product Mind Community join to talk about why it was important for them to create a safe space for product professionals to come together, share, listen, and support each other.

How can we make better, more inclusive, more equitable, more conscious products?In this episode, Lisa Zane, CEO and Founder of Conscious Product Development shares how product managers and product teams can build more conscious products and solve the right problems for the right reasons.Learn more from Lisa at www.consciousproductdevelopment.com and find resources mentioned on the episode below:The Product Manager’s Career Guide  Conscious Product ToolkitDefine Your PM Career North Star Worksheet Finding Meaningful Problems to Solve 

On this episode, Zachary Hanson joins to discuss his very unique version of remote work - living and working in Atlanta, Idaho, USA, a town with a population of 35 people. Yes, 35! The closest grocery store is four hours away. He has learned to live without instant connectivity and share some lessons that has come from that...Learning to find value in no meetings and lots of focus timeCommunicating succinctly and effectivelyForced heads-down time can make all the difference Zachary also just published a book about his unique lifestyle: Turning Feral. Be sure to check it out!

In this episode, with guest Prerna Kaul, Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon, we dive deep into product management for Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning products, including:Overview of AI / ML productsBuilding a strategy for AI / ML productsDesigning AI / ML productsIterating and improving AI / ML productsRoot cause analysis for AI / ML productsGetting into AI / ML product management as a careerResources to keep learningLearn more at ProductVoices.com.

While product managers should first and foremost be experts on the market and the customer problem, it’s no secret that some level of understanding of the solution is important. But what is that level? On this episode, we explore that question.Jan Lukas Haslbeck, founder of NATE, joins to discuss:The difference between skills and literacyWhy a product manager needs tech skills and/or literacy.What level of skills a product manager needsHow to break down technical literacy for product managers

We "fail" a lot in product management… a feature doesn’t resonate. A project goes off the rails. Our revenue or usage or retention numbers aren’t what we forecasted. But we need to redefine failure. We need to realize that through this "failure", we learn. We grow. We become better. Emotional resilience is paramount for us in product management.Susana Lopes, Director of Product at Onfido, shares her story on how she became resilient - through some really hard times.We talk about:Susana's experience with product "failure" and how she learned to turn a negative into a positiveHow we can look at missteps as learning experiencesTips on being resilient in product management 

Product managers often spend time on things that don't add the most value to their products. They're pulled in to put out fires or do other things that, while important at the time, may not necessarily be the things that will "move the needle" for their products. This episode features guest David Pereira, Head of Product at Virtual Identity. David shares insights on:Reasons PMs sometimes don't prioritize time spent on the most important thingsWhat are the right things to prioritize and what should be deprioritizedHow orgs can set up an environment to foster prioritizing the right thingsWhat PMs can do even if their environment isn't too conducive for this Learn more from David on his website and his Medium page.Subscribe to Product Voices on your favorite platform or learn more at ProductVoices.com.

Product management is hot. Many people want to get into a career in product. And while there are lots of product manager job openings, companies and hiring managers most often expect product management experience and rarely take a chance on hiring someone without previous product experience. In this episode, Jen Yang-Wong, Director of Product at Contrary Capital, joins to discuss:why hiring managers are reluctant to hire someone without previous product management experience, what they can do to get comfortable with taking a chance on someone,and what candidates can do to set themselves up for an opportunity.

We hear a lot about imposter syndrome in product  and tech. Even the most confident of us can sometimes feel like we don't belong or deserve the place we're in.On this episode, we look at imposter syndrome from a different perspective... how we can harness it for strength.Sophie Lalonde, Group Product Manager at Productboard, talks about how you can leverage imposter syndrome to:Bring a fresh perspective to product discoveryLet curiosity guide interactions with your communityHelp the product team form the right processesEnlist the help of your peers, andTrust yourselfLearn more at ProductVoices.com or read more about Sophie's insight on this topic in her article on BuiltIn.