Lessons In Product Management

In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , John sits down with product marketing leader and author Doug Kimball to discuss why messaging is one of the most overlooked drivers of product success. Drawing from Doug’s new book, So What? Why? Who Cares? , the conversation explores how product managers and product marketers can work together to create clearer, more compelling messaging that act...

Episode Summary In this season premiere of Lessons in Product Management , John Fontenot introduces a new direction for the podcast - one focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence, product management, go-to-market strategy, product-market fit, and organizational alignment. While AI is transforming how products are built and launched, many organizations are discovering that faster exec...

I’m joined by Megan, Executive Director of Product Management at MetaLab, who brings nearly a decade of experience working across dozens of products and teams. In this conversation, we cut through the noise and get to the fundamentals: alignment, communication, prioritization, problem-solving, and understanding users at a deep level. If you’ve ever wondered what truly defines great product manager...

🎙️ Episode Title: How Klaviyo is Redefining B2C CRM, Services, and AI with Grant Deken 🧑‍💼 Guest: Grant Deken – Head of Product, Klaviyo Services 📅 Episode Overview: In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , host John Fontenot sits down with Grant Deken , Head of Product at Klaviyo Services, to explore how Klaviyo is reimagining customer relationships in the B2C space. From the converg...

🎙 Episode Summary Host: John Fontenot Topic: How to stop sales teams from selling vaporware (promising unbuilt features) 💡 Core Problem Sales teams often promise features that don't yet exist (a.k.a. vaporware) to close deals. This creates chaos for product and engineering, derails the roadmap, and sets poor expectations with customers. 🧩 Why It Happens Lack of vision and strategy at the lea...

In this episode, Shobhit Chugh, former Google PM and founder of Intentional Product Manager , shares practical strategies for moving beyond execution and becoming a standout product leader—even when you don’t have formal authority or a supportive manager. 🔑 Key Takeaways 1. Don’t Mistake Productivity for Progress Just being busy doesn’t mean you’re growing. Like Amazon’s press release approach, d...

🔑 Summary: In this insightful conversation, Daria Love unpacks the often-blurred boundaries between product marketing and product management. She shares practical frameworks for collaboration, the importance of go-to-market (GTM) roadmaps, and how product managers and marketers can set each other (and the product) up for success. The episode is packed with strategic and tactical takeaways for PMs...

🎙️ Guest : Irene Yu Founder & CEO of SkipLevel – a company helping PMs become more technical without needing to code. Skiplevel article on how AI is changing the PM role 🔑 Key Topics & Timestamps [00:00 - 02:25] Irene's Background Irene shares her transition from software engineer to starting SkipLevel. [02:26 - 04:45] Identifying the Technical Gaps Her early software development expe...

Summary: In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , John discusses the importance of developing into a T-shaped product manager — someone who has deep expertise in one area but broad knowledge across many disciplines. He explains how the expectations of PMs are evolving, particularly with the rise of generative AI, and gives tactical advice on building a career growth roadmap. Timestamps:...

Lessons in Product Management - Working & Communicating with Engineers Guest: Paul Lunow Host: John Doe Episode Duration: ~28 min [00:00 - 01:37] Introduction John welcomes Paul Lunow to the podcast. Paul previously hosted John on Product and Cake . Background on Paul’s 20-year career in tech. [01:37 - 04:05] Paul’s Background in Product & Engineering Started in Berlin as a web developer,...

Podcast Summary: Megan Shulby on Post-Launch Product ManagementIntroduction & Megan’s Background 01:24 - 02:01 – Megan Shulby is introduced; she and John connected via LinkedIn due to her content on underrated product management topics. 02:01 - 04:39 – Megan shares her journey from Hollywood entertainment (e.g., The Biggest Loser ) to digital marketing, leading to product management. She pursu...

Episode Summary: In this episode, John Fontenot explores a thought-provoking topic: the potential consolidation of Product Management (PM) and User Experience (UX) roles due to advancements in Generative AI. He examines the overlap between these two disciplines, the evolving responsibilities of PMs and UX designers, and how organizations may react to increased efficiency through AI. Key Takeaways:...

In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , host John Fontenot tackles a listener's question: How can a product manager succeed in a waterfall environment? He acknowledges that while Agile is often the preferred framework, many industries and organizations still operate in waterfall models, making adaptability key. Fontenot offers two approaches: The Ideal Scenario – Where leadership is...

Do you feel constantly pressured to ship new features? Do you get the space you need for proper discovery? Most Product Managers feel this pressure, and I was recently asked on LinkedIn why this is the case. What about our company cultures or human nature drives this desire for more new stuff? In this episode, I attempt to break down the top 3 reasons why I believe Product culture drives outputs o...

On today's Lesson in Product Management, this one is for the perfectionists out there. If you consider yourself a "creative" or an artist, you might be tempted to hide your work until you deem it "perfect" - but that could be hurting you more than you know. On this episode we break down why perfectionism hurts you and those around you and ultimately will set you back in you...

It's easy to get overly focused on "doing your job" as a product manager. Unfortunately, we risk taking too narrow of a view of what our job actually is. When it comes to working with PMMs (product marketing managers), it's no different. And it's about time we start treating them like partners rather than someone we throw releases over the wall to and expect them to make our products sell. If you'...

Some of the greatest leaders and leadership authors have given the advice to "Lean into your strengths." This idea makes sense in some instances. In other cases, it can handicap your career and growth trajectory. If you want to get into product management and challenge yourself to gain much needed PM experience, join a growing community of 1,000+ aspiring product managers on Path2Product where we...

On today’s episode, I got to chat with Bob Ainsbury, Chief Product Officer at Granicus.  Bob is a long-time Product leader who has had a winding journey from engineering to sales and marketing leadership to leading strategy and now in the C-suite as a Product executive. For most of Bob’s career, he’s been in highly regulated spaces like Healthcare and government.  On today’s episode, we dive into...

What is your relationship like with your stakeholders? If you're not treating them like partners, I can promise you it's not great. In this episode, we share how to build great relationships with your "stakeholders" and create win/win relationships that stop making stakeholders feel like blockers to your desired progress. If you're looking to get into product management, join us at ⁠Path2Product⁠...

On today's lesson in product management, John Fontenot shares a recent story about his experience working in a Scrum shop and how the rigid interpretation of Scrum almost killed his ability to ship a critical integration on time. If you're interested in entering product management and want to gain the hands-on experience you need to make that leap, join us at Path2Product and start earning much-ne...

The difference between regular managers and product managers... Regular manager: "Don't bring me problems. Bring me solutions!" Product Manager: "Don't bring me solutions. Bring me problems" It's our job to care more about the problem driving the request for a solution than the solution itself. But it can be hard navigating those conversations with large customers or senior stakeholders. On this l...

Key Takeaways Side projects offer valuable experience for aspiring PMs and an outlet for creativity/ownership for employed PMs Benefits include mental health, skill development, and potential innovation Time management and prioritizing core job responsibilities are crucial when pursuing side projects Companies like Google (20% time) demonstrate the value of fostering entrepreneurial creativity in...

Hello and welcome in to another episode of Lessons in Product Management, I’m your host, John Fontenot, and on today’s episode I have Paul Turaew on to talk about his journey into product management and we riff on a number of topics in research. Paul’s a long-time PM, having held a variety of Sr. IC and Director of Product Management roles in Healthcare. Some of the topics we cover on today’s epis...

On today’s episode, I got to speak with Stephanie Jerome, Product Manager at Akoya. Stephanie has a ton of experience managing internal products, and that was the focus of our conversation today. Stephanie also shared how she got her start in product management and lessons she’s learned along the way.  If you’re managing or considering managing internal products or looking to get your first shot a...

On today’s episode, we have Emilia Kortrynska, Head of Marketing at UserPilot. In the discussion with Emilia, we talk about some incredibly interesting research that came out of UserPilot recently about how Sales Led Growth appears to beat Product Led Growth in many categories. Which to PLG evangelists like myself, really caught me off guard. But we discuss why quant data is only one piece of the...