Make Things That Matter cover image

Make Things That Matter

Latest episodes

undefined
Sep 27, 2023 • 44min

Eisha Armstrong: Pragmatic Strategies for Managing Change

Zooming in on three common change management issues: forecasting, role transitions, and departmental power dynamics.—Topics discussed(00:03:01) Companies transforming into product organizations(00:05:01) Revenue shift: smaller now, longer-term impact(00:08:30) Practical topics: forecasting, transition, change management(00:10:04) Identifying leading measures and assumptions in forecasts(00:14:25) Seeking tech-enabled scale, revenue visibility, innovation(00:20:29) Power shifts in organizations impact staffing and funding(00:22:12) Evolving organizational model for product-centric strategy(00:27:23) Key considerations for acquiring a company: purpose, integration, impact(00:31:18) Leaders modeling simple mental health practices shift organizations. Organizational change requires supporting structures and models(00:35:38) Quieting the mind to connect and trust(00:37:33) Organizations need specific change management for success(00:40:40) "Name fears, tame them; face personal insecurities."—Links & resources mentionedFull transcript at: https://podcast.makethingsthatmatter.com/eisha-armstrong-pragmatic-change-management-strategies/#transcript* Send episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via email* Guest: Eisha Tierney Armstrong - LinkedIn* Book: Fearless: How to Transform a Services Culture and Successfully Productize—Related episodes:* #2 Barry O’Reilly: Unlearning and creating culture change* #9 Amy Edmondson: Building teams where people feel safe* #59 Kenny Borg: Identity transformation and embodying fulfillment—Books:* Fearless: How to Transform a Services Culture and Successfully Productize (Eisha’s book)* "Leading Change" by John Kotter* “Managing Transitions: Making the Most of the Change” by William Bridges This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Aug 10, 2023 • 1h 15min

MJ Jastrebski: How to build resilience and stay buoyant as a CPO

MJ Jastrebski is the CPO of Stylitics, a rapidly scaling retail technology company that helps retail websites automate styling and bundling for their consumers.Click here to fill out the MTTM listener survey form by August 16, 2023: https://makethingsthatmatter.com/survey—In this episode, we cover:(00:07:20) Understanding product roles/levels, influence, and career growth.(00:13:10) Product and process management at different levels.(00:19:22) Leadership training emphasizes accountability among executive teams, prioritizing cross-functional exec peer relationships & alignment.(00:28:27) The importance of buoyancy.(00:36:17) How mindfulness and empathy are important for effective leadership.(00:43:41) What Stylitics is doing and how it's scaling up(00:47:12) Expanding internationally and into new verticals. Emphasis on shipping and team muscle building.(00:55:38) Creating product families to address pain points, setting expectations, iterating with alpha, beta, and GA stages, building retailer relationships, understanding different market needs.(01:02:08) Changing roles, building skills, and evolving identity.(01:11:30) Creating psychological safety is crucial for innovation. It allows people to take risks without fear of judgment or failure. This enables organizations to gather more information and make better decisions.—Links & resources mentioned• You can end episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via email• Guest: MJ Jastrebski & Stylitics—Related episodes:• Mike Saloio: Leadership, meditation, ego, and ubuntu• Amy Edmondson: Building teams where people feel safe• Kenny Borg: Identity transformation—People & orgs:• Stylitics• Carlota Perez—Books:• Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership• Multipliers—Other resources:• Give away your legos• How to craft your product team at every stage, from pre-PMF to hypergrowth• The 3 lenses of innovation This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Jul 19, 2023 • 2min

Thank you, and a brief update

It's been quiet around here because I'm in deep in the creative process of reimagining this show, and I need your help. Podcast analytics are terrible, and I want to know more about YOU.Please fill out this short, 5-ish minute survey. Your help on this goes a LONG way, and I appreciate you taking the time!Click here to complete our listener surveyhttps://makethingsthatmatter.com/survey This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
May 30, 2023 • 1h

Donna Lichaw: The leader's journey

Donna Lichaw is an executive coach for unconventional leaders, and the author of the newly-released book The Leader’s Journey. Donna brings a background in design and product to her executive coaching and helps unconventional leaders take control of the story to drive impact for themselves and within their teams. We go deep on:* how to handle managing our own stories in healthy conflict* creating psychological safety* what it looks like to “give yourself an A” so you feel freed up to invent new possibilitiesListen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, or Youtube.Links & resources* Send episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via email* Donna Lichaw: website, LinkedIn, Twitter* Donna’s new book: The Leader’s Journey—Related episodes:* Mike Saloio: Leadership, meditation, ego, and ubuntu—People & orgs:* Neuroleadership Institute—Books:* The Art of Possibility* Rethinking Positive Thinking* The Upside Of Your Dark Side* Nonviolent Communication* Radical Candor—Other resources:* Donna’s toolkit* The SCARF model (psych safety)* 3F model This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
11 snips
May 17, 2023 • 54min

Adam Thomas: Operationalizing your product strategy

Adam Thomas is a coach that helps product teams operationalize strategy so they spend more time focused on building the right products and less time fighting fires.—Sign up here to get upcoming essays + episodes emailed to you.Follow the MTTM journey on Twitter or LinkedIn!If you haven't already would you do me a favor and take ~40 seconds to rate/review the show on Apple Podcasts ? It really helps. (Scroll to bottom of page for rate/review links.)—Links & resources mentioned:* Send episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via email* Adam Thomas: website, LinkedIn, Twitter* Adam’s Maven workshop: Survival Metrics—Related episodes:* Melissa Perri: Product strategy and the missing middle—Books and media:* Good Strategy, Bad Strategy* The Crux—Other resources:* Warhammer 40K—Timestamps:[00:01:48] War gaming shaped product strategy[00:03:22] Warhammer 40K[00:07:11] Michael Jordan's Winning Shot[00:11:22] The whole person equation[00:14:15] Emotions in the workplace[00:17:54] Survival metrics[00:23:08] Implementing survival metrics[00:27:26] Trust issues in product development[00:30:05] Internal value exchange[00:34:33] Being "Product Led" is Misleading[00:36:26] Using survival metrics consistently[00:39:23] Focusing on important outcomes[00:45:12] Complying with regulations in finance[00:50:13] Questions to ask yourself This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Apr 11, 2023 • 50min

Mike Saloio: Leadership, meditation, ego, and ubuntu

Mike Saloio is the CEO and cofounder of Huddle, a startup that brings together fractional swat teams of expert builders to help startups generate real momentum on their most important projects within a week.This is a candid conversation about leadership and how our egos, sense of identity, and personal practices shape our company cultures. In particular, I think you’ll find practical benefit from our discussion about decoupling the concepts of morality and integrity to have healthier team dynamics.—* Mike Saloio - Twitter, LinkedIn* Huddle—Related episodes:* Barry Brown: Work as a pathway of transformation—People & orgs:* Steph Golik (cofounder)* TechStars* EXPA* Rick Rubin* Alfred Adler* Ray Dalio* Russell Simmons (+ meditation book)—Books and media:* The Courage To Be Disliked* Article - Polarities* Polarity Management (book)* Success Through Stillness* Rick Rubin book* Huddle launch article* The Playbook—Other resources:* Ikigai* “You must become somebody before you become nobody”* Ubuntu* Transcendental Meditation* Four minute mile effect - Bannister effect This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Mar 27, 2023 • 56min

Rob Walling: The SaaS playbook and gut intuition

The SaaS Playbook will shave years off your learning curve if you want to build a SaaS. Rob Walling is a serial entrepreneur and the internet godfather of indie SaaS businesses who has built six companies and has been a long-standing voice in creative, independent paths into product building and entrepreneurship since 2010.Links & resources mentioned* Book: The SaaS Playbook* Back the Kickstarter* Startups for the Rest of Us podcast & MicroConf YouTube* TinySeed* MicroConf—Related episodes:* Rob Walling (ep28): Build a great business and let that be enough* DJ DiDonna: Navigating sabbaticals and career breaks—People & orgs:* TinySeed* MicroConf* Dr Shelly Walling* Justin Jackson - choosing a market—Books:* The SaaS Playbook* The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together* Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup* The Zen Founder Guide to Founder Retreats—Other resources:* MicroConf* IndieHackers* The 5PM idea validation framework* Survivorship bias* Stair step method of bootstrapping This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Mar 7, 2023 • 11min

Double click on the love

What do you do when one of your top three KPIs is stagnant, and the product isn't growing? A micro case study in debugging retention and unlocking growth.—You can read the original article here: https://tinyurl.com/2hdmy2zpLINK: STARTING CONDITION CHART: https://tinyurl.com/2fnemaszLINK: DEEPER DIVE PIE CHART: https://tinyurl.com/2lyjalyp This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Feb 28, 2023 • 51min

Petra Wille: Building a community of practice

Petra Wille is a product leadership coach and the author of Strong Product People, my go-to book for the people development side of being a product leader. In this conversation, we dive deep into why and how a community of practice can level up your team and save training budget.You can also read this episode here.—Sign up here to get upcoming essays + episodes emailed to you.Follow the MTTM journey on Twitter or LinkedIn!—Links & resources mentioned:Petra Wille:• Website• Twitter @loomista• LinkedIn• Book: Strong Product People • Conference: Product at Heart—Related episodes:• Amy Edmondson: Building teams where people feel safe—People & orgs:• Robert Kegan• Tolingo (translation company)—Books:• Strong Product People• An Everyone Culture• The Culture Map• Selling the Dream—Other resources:• Product Communities of Practice: Everything You Need to Know• Dan Pink - Autonomy, mastery, purpose• The (product) cultural iceberg This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com
undefined
Feb 7, 2023 • 1h 2min

Bob Moesta: Prototyping to learn & applying JTBD theory

Bob Moesta is one of the pioneers of Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) theory, which has fundamentally changed the way we think about building products and discovering what progress people actually need and want from the products they hire.—Sign up here to get upcoming essays + episodes emailed to you.Follow the MTTM journey on Twitter or LinkedIn!If you haven't already would you do me a favor and take ~40 seconds to rate/review the show on Apple Podcasts ? It really helps. (Scroll to bottom of page for rate/review links.)—LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONEDSend episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via emailBob Moesta: The Rewired Group, LinkedIn, TwitterBob’s books and podcast Learning to Build Demand-Side Sales 101 Jobs to be Done Handbook The Circuit Breaker podcast—RELATED EPISODES:April Dunford: Find your power in the market through positioning—PEOPLE & ORGS:W. Edwards DemingClayton ChristensenGenichi TaguchiWillie Hobbs MooreTim DavisClaire SullentropeApril DunfordRyan SingerBasecampIntercom—BOOKS:Learning to BuildCompeting Against LuckGritIntroduction to Quality EngineeringOrthogonal Arrays and Linear GraphsShape UpHow Will You Measure Your Life?Never Split the Difference—OTHER RESOURCES:Orthogonal arraysMagic squaresL9 prototype This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode