Product Voices

Change is an inevitable part of product management. We don’t deal in absolutes. Product management is a system of interconnected activities, people, data, incentives, objectives, predictions, and decisions. With all that nuance and all those conditions, there is no way we can exist in a rigid, static environment. Change is a part of our world in product, but not every organization handles change in the best way possible. And not every person embraces change. So the way we handle change in product is an important topic. On this episode, Lori Edwards, Associate Director of Product at Niche, discusses how change management principles and frameworks can help us in product management.

Is product management different for B2B products than for B2C products? Obviously there are a lot of similarities but there are some nuances that are important to understand. On this episode Jason Knight, product leader and host of the wildly popular podcast One Knight in Product, is here to discuss how B2B product managers can be successful . 

Product management seems to simultaneously be constantly changing and also staying the same over time. Things come, things go. Many things remain from the core principles of long ago. But one thing that is certain is that folks working in product management must stay on top of trends in our product management world and what’s going on all around our customers. Grant Hunter and Steve Johnson join JJ Rorie on this episode to talk about what is happening in product management today and what trends we see coming in the next few years. 

Customers need to understand the product and the value a product brings them. Internal teammates need to understand the product so they can support, market, or sell it.  In some cases, part of a product manager’s unwritten responsibility is to also champion the product management function across the organization. Conveying information and knowledge is a valuable skills for folks in product management.  In this episode, Andrea Saez, senior product marketing manager at Product School discusses how to effectively educate others on your products. 

Episode 007: We answer the following questions:1) Advice for people in non-product roles to best get involved and support and engage with product managers?2)  What are some of the best ways for a product manager to gather customer data?3) With all the discussions and implementations of KPIs and OKRs, how can a Product Manager "keep things simple" and effective to ensure a successful product? 

Episode 006: Amber Hall, Product Leader at Kohler: "My point of view is we as humans exist in a physical 3D body that exists in a 3D world. And for the most part, the things that we interact with every single day have some physical element to them. Even most of the software that is created by way of tech companies often exist on some sort of physical embodiment to deliver that software. And so I think the short answer is we as humans live in the physical world. And so there is literally all sorts of manufacturing industries where physical product is created every single day that needs product managers."

In this episode, Prerna Kaul, Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon, where she has built AI/ML products in the payments, healthcare, and Alexa domains, shares her expertise on building successful artificial intelligence platforms. We discuss the basics of AI platforms, differences in AI and other types of software, skills needed to be a successful product manager in AI, and more.

In this episode, Adam Thomas, a technologist in Harlem, New York, shares insights on decision science and how it can help product managers make better decisions. We discuss his Survival Metrics framework - a method that helps product teams determine if an initiative is worth investing in, pivoting, or stopping completely. Adam shares insights, wisdom, and helpful resources on decision-making, judgment, and prioritization.

In this episode, Diana Soler shares key learnings from her efforts in creating the product ops function at AppDirect, where she is Senior Product Operations Manager. "Simply put, Product Operations enables the Product Manager to do their best work.  This is accomplished by ensuring they have access to the right tools, access to the right data and that the processes they follow make sense and are optimized to help drive customer happiness."