Lessons In Product Management

On today's episode, we have the pleasure of learning from Tony Poon, Chief Product Officer at R-Zero. We tackle the difficult topic of ego, where it comes from, what the symptoms are, and what the effects of ego come to be.  To connect with Tony, request to connect on LinkedIn If you're an aspiring PM, check out Path2Product to help you on your journey by building product management experienc...

Great PMs are like sponges, they soak in info from anywhere We can’t assume we’re always right, we don’t have all information, and the info we have is not always perfect or correct We need allies - we can’t ship successful products on our own However: We should have an opinion - we just don’t always have to express it in an argumentative fashion This doesn’t mean we say yes to everything - we can’...

You need experience to land a product job, but how do you get it? In this episode, I unpack two feasible ways of gaining and documenting tangible experience to help create your own path to product.  Check out our blog series on Path2Product : 

There is no easy path into product management, but there are 4 simple steps to get you there. We cover step 1 in today's lesson in product management, and it's all about learning first. Before you can do the job, you need to learn what the job entails and how to execute different skills within it. In today's episode, I share some free and inexpensive places to acquire the knowledge you'll need as...

In this episode, I share 3 tactics for making better decisions in a group setting. Help your team and your organization take your decision-making capabilities to the next level. Your company and your customers will thank you.  Subscribe to the Path2Product YouTube channel for free product management courses and exclusive video content

There's no shortage of debate as to whether individual or group ideation yields better results. We're not going to take sides. What we're going to do is explore how to make better decisions by generating better ideas, regardless of the setting you're in. In Part 1, we examine a few ways you can increase your decision success rate by generating better ideas. For more and exclusive video content, su...

Most features never get adopted, and I'm betting these three tips will help shift your success ratio upward.  Be sure to rate and review the podcast! Subscribe to the Path2Product YouTube Channel for exclusive video content. 

I get asked a lot about whether aspiring PMs need an MBA to land a Product Management job. The simple answer is no. But we dive into the nuance of why MBAs are valuable.  Here's the YouTube Video where we dive into how to go about hacking the MBA and some cost-effective MBA options

Today’s Lesson in Product Management comes from Jonathon Hensley, Co-Founder and CEO of Emerge Interactive and Author of Alignment: Overcoming Internal Sabotage and Product Failure. When I first heard about Jonathon’s book, I ordered it immediately. Alignment is one of the hardest parts of my job as a product manager, and I’ve enjoyed putting his advice and frameworks into practice. In this conver...

It’s funny how first releases have become synonymous with MVPs, but how many first releases have you seen that are able to stand on their own and sustain a business? In the early days it’s about testing and learning. You want Minimum TESTABLE Products If you wait until you have something you think is a fully coded up MVP with what you believe to be the features that make the product minimally viab...

On today’s episode you’ll hear from Pranav Desai, Chief Product Officer at Reputation. We covered a ton of ground in the thirty minutes or so we talked, so don’t feel bad if you have to listen twice to take it all in. You’ll hear us talk about: Why one customer’s feedback isn’t the end all be all for decision making Why Product should own voice of the customer How to balance quantitative data with...

There's an age-old debate about what's more important, a good product or great marketing? Brian Yam, Head of Marketing at Paragon, and I look to settle that debate. The answer might surprise you. Subscribe to the Path 2 Product YouTube Channel for exclusive video content and downloadable resources. 

You hear product people talk about feasibility, usability, and viability all the time as the three core variables product managers should care about. The typical definition of viability looks a lot like ROI, but today we challenge that narrow view of viability and expand the definition. Follow us on the Path2Product YouTube Channel for more content and access to the slides!

OKRs are great, but they are NOT a replacement for strategy. To find the slides and subscribe, go to the Path2Product YouTube Channel

On today's episode, we discuss the difference between doing strategic analysis and developing strategy. Too many people conflate and confuse the two things as one, but they are not.  If you want a deep dive into what product strategy development actually looks like, check out the free course on our YouTube Channel

Welcome back to Lessons in Product Management. I’m your host, John Fontenot, and today we have a bit of a different episode, but it’s soooo relevant. With the pandemic, working from home, and Zoom fatigue, our jobs are hard enough but how do you know when it’s time to call it quits? John Garret, Product Manager at Therapixel, and I talk through all of this and more. For free product management cou...

As we wrap up season 4 of Lessons in Product Management, we’re going to hear from Henry Latham, Founder and CEO of ProdMBA. Before starting ProdMBA, Henry served in UX and Product leadership roles for a variety of companies and has taken his experience and used it to produce a great book, “Product Leadership Starts With You,” as well as launch ProdMBA to fast track your career from PM to head of p...

Welcome back to Lessons in Product Management. it is November 22nd, 2021, and today we are chatting with Taylor Heyman, Product Manager at Lendio. Yes, we are co-workers, but I learned a lot about Taylor and his career in product that I didn’t know before this discussion. You see, Taylor’s PM career started in startups but how he get his start might surprise you. Taylor’s shares his unique experie...

On today’s episode, I sat down with Elena Leonova, VP of Product at BigCommerce. With a decade of product management experience, I really wanted to get Elena’s take on Product Discovery and how it’s perceived from a product leadership point of view We discussed how Elena got into Product by accidentally taking a Business Analyst role. And after reading Marty Cagan and getting inspired, Elena decid...

On today’s episode we get to hear from Duy Pham, Product Manager at HREasily. We’ll hear about Duy’s really interesting path into product, how to create organizational alignment through discovery, and the 4 quadrants of discovery that need to be considered to get a holistic picture of your customer and the market at large. Join our Path2Product community for free courses, exclusive content, and gr...

On today's episode, we get to learn from Austin Yang, Sr. PM at Landbot. Austin shared his journey from SDR to Sr. PM, his perspective on discovery, and the differences he's seen in Discovery between being a Core PM vs a Growth PM.  Join our Product Management community at Path2Product where you get access to free resources, courses, and exclusive content and AMAs. If you're an Aspiring PM, t...

For free Product Management training, join us at Path2Product On today's episode, we get to hear from Jaudat Ali. Jaudat started as a startup founder before turning to PM, and now he works at Toggl Track as a Product Manager One of my favorite quotes from this conversation is: “You can’t understand customer problems unless you talk to them.” And we talk a little bit about how to get product manage...

Jon shared a ton of great insights about discovery. Here are just a few of the points covered in this episode: The core skill to develop for discovery Using discovery to identify and enter new markets Balancing customer discovery w/ market discovery Build for markets, not for customers You’re not following the scientific method if you start with a hypothesis. You have to start with an observation....

On today's episode, Courtney shares how she got into Product and how her love for discovery started in her career before she got into Product. We talked a lot about diverse inputs, and we talked about what good discovery is NOT. Enjoy!

I would argue that Discovery is the MOST important part of product management, so I'm devoting a whole season to it. Let's go!