Product Mastery Now for Product Managers, Leaders, and Innovators

Starting from the customer experience to build products customers love Today we are talking about the “working backwards” approach to product that was created at Amazon. To give us the details on this approach, Colin Bryar is with us. He joined Amazon in 1998—four years after its founding—and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon’s senior leadership team. For two of his years at Am...

How product managers can create a portfolio and manage innovation Today we are talking about portfolio management—creating a portfolio, adjusting it, selecting projects for it, and managing innovation. Our guest is Gareth Bradley, Director of Product Management at Planview. Planview is a leading provider of product portfolio management solutions. Previous to Planview, Gareth held Product VP roles...

Lessons from the discoverer of Stage-Gate for product managers Today we are talking with a legend in product management. Our guest is Dr. Robert Cooper, who discovered the now famous Stage-Gate process and was named the “World’s Top Innovation Management Scholar” by the prestigious Journal of Product Innovation Management. Besides his best-selling books Winning at New Products and Portfolio Manage...

How product management teams can better make decisions Today we are talking about disruptions that impact our product work. Whether it’s supply chain disruptions, the great resignation, AI impacts, market competition or something else, continued disruption is expected. How can we navigate such an environment?  To help us make decisions in this environment, Alexis Gonzales-Black joins us. She...

How established organizations can overcome barriers to digital transformation – for product managers Today we are exploring digital transformation in large organizations as well as other challenges leaders are facing in a digitally transforming business environment. With us is David Rogers, an expert on digital transformation, a member of the faculty at Columbia Business School, and the auth...

Why product managers need to understand customers’ needs We have had a lot of valuable guests on this podcast, and one of my favorites is Ken Gray. When we talked a few years ago for episode 046, he was the Global Director of Innovation for Caterpillar. Since leaving CAT, he has worked on 3D printing, advanced manufacturing, robotics, and more. He has also been a long-time supporter of the U...

How product managers can build trust and alignment on virtual teams Today we are talking about making virtual product teams more effective. Our guest is Anna Marie Clifton, Head of Product at Vowel. She is leading the effort to make virtual meetings more effective by turning them into searchable, sharable knowledge. Before Vowel, she held senior product management roles at Asana, Coinbase, and Yam...

Tools for planning and executing product projects Today we are talking about the skills product managers need to grow their careers. To help us, Neha Bansal  is with us. She is the Head of Merchant Growth and Monetization for Google’s B2B ecommerce business, where she is leading efforts to build the next $1B+ B2B business for the company. Before joining Google, Neha worked as a Management Co...

Understanding the roles of product managers, project managers, and product owners Today we are talking about a frequently asked question, which is how are product and project management related. We’ll discuss the differences and similarities between the two. Joining us is Peter Monkhouse. He is a product owner and entrepreneur, with NewGenP being his latest company. Peter is an experienced s...

What product managers need to know about augmented reality Today we are talking about augmented reality and what product managers and leaders need to know about this rapidly changing field that is becoming part of many digital transformation programs. Our guest has created several products using augmented reality, including a phone-based vision test at Warby Parker, the Neiman Marcus digital mirro...

How product mangers can improve collaboration in cross-functional teams Today we are talking with Maziar Adl, the co-founder and CTO of Gocious, an organization that creates product roadmap management software. When I met Maziar and he told me about his company, I asked why does the world need another roadmapping company given the abundance of current options to product managers. His answer intrig...

What a community can do for your product – for product managers Today we are talking about building a community for a brand or product. Which reminds me that this episode is sponsored by the Product Mastery Now Community—that’s right, we have a community for listeners of this podcast. Do you want to meet the podcast guests and ask them questions? We make that happen because community m...

Learn from the 2022 winner of PDMA’s Outstanding Corporate Innovator award – for product managers For each of the last 36 years, the Outstanding Corporate Innovator award has been provided by PDMA to an organization that excels in innovation. At the time of this recording, the last winner was Hershey, and I was at their award ceremony. There were boxes of Hershey chocolate treats for e...

Using product ops to standardize product management processes Today we are talking about product ops—what it is, if you need it, and how to get started. Joining us is Steve Johnson, a returning guest. He is an author, speaker, and product coach. His market and technical savvy allowed his career to develop from Product Manager to Chief Marketing Officer.  Steve is the author of  Turn Ideas Into Pro...

The ABCD framework for dealing with tensions in product management and innovation As product innovators, we encounter many tensions. To name just a few of these, perhaps meeting this quarter’s objective or creating the breakthrough of the future, perhaps the team building we want to do or having more personal flexibility, or what about process improvement or just getting the job done that is...

How organizations can empower product managers Today we are talking about what a product-led organization is, barriers that can prevent an organization from being product-led, and actions to create the product-led organization. Our guest is  Paul Ortchanian , a problem-solver by nature and founder of Bain Public. He has a great deal of experience that has helped him be well-rounded in product mana...

The steps in ranking and valuing Jobs-to-be-Done—for product managers We have talked a few times about Jobs-to-be-Done in past episodes. It is a customer discovery tool for uncovering the unmet needs of customers—the tasks they want to complete or objectives they want to achieve. When using this approach, we may find the customer has multiple Jobs-to-be-Done and each job has a variety of attribute...

How product and marketing teams can work together Today we are talking about the interdependence of product and marketing and how marketing trends have changed. To help us, Ali Plonchak is with us. Ali is the COO of Crossmedia. Since 2006 at Crossmedia, she has helped clients navigate the changing marketing landscape. As the company’s first female partner, she proudly leads the agency to del...

Lessons for product managers from PDMA’s Outstanding Corporate Innovators Award Every year the Product Management and Development Association (PDMA) recognizes an organization with the Outstanding Corporate Innovators Award (OCI). Hershey, the chocolate maker, was the last winner, in 2022. The winners of the award can teach us valuable lessons about innovation. To help us learn some of those...

How product managers can give their products momentum to get across the finish line Identifying the strategies that accelerate innovation starts with the question: “What do the world’s best innovation teams do differently?” To find the answer, we are talking with Matt Phillips, who interviewed over 100 new product innovation leaders, identifying six key strategies they use to cut throu...

How product managers can prepare for a product leadership role Today we are talking about how you can prepare for and find a senior product leadership role, and we’ll be addressing this both for current senior leaders as well as for product managers. To help us, we are joined by the co-founder of an executive search firm that specializes in placing Product VPs and CPOs. Our guest is Chris Ma...

How product managers can get involved in inspiring the next generation’s workforce Today we are talking about preparing the next generation of innovators. If you are a parent, have a nephew or niece, or want to help influence future innovators, this will be a very helpful discussion for you, especially if the kids you can influence are in grades 6-12 or will be in the future. Joining us is J...

How product managers can get market-driven data to make product decisions quickly This episode is sponsored by PDMA, the Product Development and Management Association. PDMA is a global community of professional members whose skills, expertise and experience power the most recognized and respected innovative companies in the world. PDMA is also the longest-running professional association for prod...

How to achieve product-market fit – for product managers This episode is sponsored by PDMA, the Product Development and Management Association. PDMA is a global community of professional members whose skills, expertise and experience power the most recognized and respected innovative companies in the world. PDMA is also the longest-running professional association for product managers, leade...

Injecting the theme park industry’s experience model into product development This episode is sponsored by PDMA, the Product Development and Management Association. PDMA is a global community of professional members whose skills, expertise, and experience power the most recognized and respected innovative companies in the world. PDMA is also the longest-running professional association for product...