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I’m co-teaching a design course at Northwestern with my friend Jeff Merrell. We are teaching business leaders and change agents how to prototype their way to viable solutions. In this context, solutions aren’t product solutions, but rather internal programs and processes that effect change within the organization. Our students work on challenges like improving employee engagement, encouraging knowledge sharing between teams, making meetings more effective, and so on. MORE
Last week, I was in Cleveland for the Industry Product Conference. I spoke about the three mindsets that help a team find success as a continuous discovery team. My slides and script are below. Enjoy! Becoming a successful discovery team. Product management is changing. We are evolving from managing our teams by outputs to managing them by outcomes. Product managers are evolving from focusing on outputs to outcomes. MORE
Welcome to the latest installment of Product in Practice! MORE
One of my goals for 2021 is to create short explainer videos for key concepts related to continuous discovery. This is my first one. I’d love to hear what you think. Is this helpful? Are there other core concepts you’d like to see me explore? You can share your comments on Twitter or YouTube. MORE
Last month, I spoke at the Business of Software (BoS) conference in Boston. BoS has been on my short list for a very long time and it did not disappoint. Mark Littlewood , the organizer of the event, does a fantastic job and it shows up in every little detail of the event. The audience is made up of entrepreneurs. Most seemed early in their entrepreneurial journey, but there were plenty of experienced folks as well. What stood out to me was how friendly and eager to learn all the attendees were. MORE
For many of us, the beginning of the year is a fresh start. It’s an opportunity to recommit to the things that matter most to us. Last year, I wrote “ What I’m Saying No to This Year—And Why ” to clearly outline what I wanted to focus on in 2019. MORE
Happy New Year! I am excited to kick off 2021. For the past couple of years, I’ve used my January blog post to give an update on my plans for the year ahead and this year will be no different. You can find previous years’ posts here: 2019 and 2020. MORE
I teach two courses at Northwestern University. I want to share a little bit more about the work that I am doing there as I think it’s relevant for people working at companies who are starting to adopt continuous discovery practices (in other words, many of you). The first course focuses on teaching practitioners how to use design methods to solve business challenges related to learning and organizational change. Students learn the same design process I teach to the product teams that I coach. MORE
I’ve got a pet peeve to share with you. If you’ve been following along with the growth of the Lean Startup and other experimental methods, you’ve probably come across this hypothesis format: We believe [this capability]. Will result in [this outcome]. We will have confidence to proceed when [we see these measurable signals]. If you aren’t familiar with this format, you can learn more about it here. MORE
Back in March, I spoke at ProductCamp Cascadia (an online conference hosted by ProductCamp Portland , ProductCamp Seattle , and ProductCamp Vancouver ) exploring the topic of design justice. I refined the talk and gave it again yesterday at IndustryConf. MORE
Two and a half years ago, I introduced the opportunity solution tree. It’s been a blast seeing product people put it into practice. Today, I’m excited to share Hope Gurion’s thoughts on using opportunity solution trees. Like a true Agilist, she hasn’t just adopted the tool, but has iterated on it to better suit her needs. I first met Hope in 2014 when she asked me to coach her product teams at CareerBuilder. When she moved on to BeachBody , she brought me in to work with her teams there as well. MORE
Product teams should be co-located. This is an often-repeated “truth” in our industry. Today, in response to COVID-19 , many companies are instituting mandatory work-from-home policies. This is making co-location impossible for many teams. MORE
One of the best signs of an effective product team is a regular cadence of customer interviews and product experiments. But it’s not enough to simply check the box on these activities; we need to make sure that we do them effectively. Without a strong background in research methods, it’s hard to know how you are doing. I’ve developed a simple framework to help teams evaluate the effectiveness of their methods. It’s called the Ladder of Evidence and I explain it in the video below. MORE
We are starting to pull together our 2019 conference list. This list is by no means exhaustive. If you know of a product conference that is not on the list and you think it should be, please feel free to recommend it in the comments or send an email to conferences@producttalk.org. I haven’t decided what events I’ll be attending in 2019 yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll update this post. We’ll also keep updating this list as we hear about more events. MORE
Are you inviting your engineers to participate in discovery with you? If yes, do you get pushback from them? Does your organization prefer that your engineers only write code? Marty Cagan , in Inspired , argues, “If you’re just using your engineers to code, you’re only getting about half their value.” I couldn’t agree more. But too often we equate the value of an engineer with the code that she writes. This is a huge mistake. And, sadly, many engineers make this mistake themselves. MORE
The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Continuous Discovery Habits. It’s the opening to my chapter on Opportunity Mapping. Read to the end for an exciting new announcement. “To MORE
I first met Petra Wille, a fellow product coach, at Mind the Product and was immediately impressed with her work. While I tend to focus on helping teams, Petra’s work centers around helping product leaders—the people who manage product managers. MORE
Meet Sally and Pam. Sally is a product manager, Pam a user experience designer, and they are working on a new mobile app. They’ve conducted customer interviews , defined their MVP , and are now working through the initial designs. Even though their MVP will only include a fraction of their near-term vision, Pam wants two weeks to work through the design of the near-term vision, as she’s worried if they build piece by piece, they’ll end up with a Frankenstein user experience. MORE
A few months ago, fellow Product Talk coach Hope Gurion and I sat down to discuss why there’s no single right way to do discovery. Want to read the previous parts of the series? Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. MORE
How do you know that you are doing discovery well? If you want to improve your discovery process, what outcomes help you track your progress? I get asked these questions often. I like that teams are trying to take an outcome-focused mindset to their discovery practice. MORE
Hi there, Product Talk readers! We can’t wait to share our latest Product in Practice with you. For this story, we spoke with a product team leading the Digital Hotels vertical at Seera Group , a travel and tourism company based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). MORE
For this month’s Product Talk post, I recorded a video where I consider the difference between product managers and product owners. You can watch the video or read an edited version of the transcript below. I want to talk about product managers and product owners. MORE
Hi there, Product Talk readers! It’s me, Melissa. I’m Teresa’s blog editor. I mostly work behind the scenes here, polishing and proofreading posts prior to publication. But every once in a while, I’ll contribute a post like this one. MORE
Hello Product Talk readers, we’re excited to share the latest Product in Practice with you! For this story, we caught up with Sonja Martin , Product Manager at tails.com. Sonja shares how her cross-functional team has changed their approach to defining their desired outcome over time. MORE
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We are starting to pull together our 2020 conference list. This list is by no means exhaustive. If you know of a product conference that is not on the list and you think it should be, please feel free to recommend it in the comments or send an email to conferences@producttalk.org. We’ll also keep updating this list as we hear about more events. For 2020, I haven’t decided which conferences I’ll be attending or presenting at, but I’ll update this post once that changes. MORE
We are starting to pull together our 2021 conference list. A lot has changed in the world since we last published our 2020 conference list. Due to COVID-19, many of the events on our list had to shift to virtual events. We expect the same will happen in 2021. Nevertheless, we are finding that conference organizers are getting better at offering compelling online events. Even though we may not be able to meet in person, we suspect many of these events will be worth checking out. MORE
One of my goals at Product Talk is to showcase what good product management looks like. Today, I’m excited to introduce a new series, Product in Practice, where I’ll profile product managers doing great work. To kick off the series, we interviewed Rachel Allen , Director of Product at Omnitracs. I met Rachel when she was a product manager at Arity (an Allstate company). At Arity, Rachel built out a shared mobility business line from scratch. MORE
A few months ago, fellow Product Talk coach Hope Gurion and I sat down to discuss why there’s no single right way to do discovery. MORE
When I write or speak about continuous discovery , I worry that people are enamored with this way of working, but aren’t doing the work to put it into practice. It’s easy to read about a continuous discovery habit and think, “That could never work for my team. Our industry is too old. Our company is too set in its ways.”. It’s easy to read about a continuous discovery habit and think, ‘That could never work for my team. Our industry is too old. Our company is too set in its ways.’ MORE
Hello, Product Talk readers! It’s time for another installment of Product in Practice. In this series, we highlight the impressive work that forward-thinking product teams are doing. Want to check out the other people and companies we’ve featured? Find our other Product in Practice posts here. MORE
I’m excited to add Hope Gurion as an official author on Product Talk. She has guest posted here before and has worked with me for years. She coaches teams using my Continuous Discovery Habits curriculum and is helping me bring the Continuous Discovery Habits workshop to more companies. MORE
A few months ago, fellow Product Talk coach Hope Gurion and I sat down to discuss why there’s no single right way to do discovery. Want to read Part 1 of the series? Find it here. MORE
Product Talk
MAY 5, 2021
One of my goals for 2021 is to create short explainer videos for key concepts related to continuous discovery. This is my first one. I’d love to hear what you think. Is this helpful? Are there other core concepts you’d like to see me explore? You can share your comments on Twitter or YouTube.
Product Talk
APRIL 21, 2021
Back in March, I spoke at ProductCamp Cascadia (an online conference hosted by ProductCamp Portland , ProductCamp Seattle , and ProductCamp Vancouver ) exploring the topic of design justice. I refined the talk and gave it again yesterday at IndustryConf.
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Product Talk
OCTOBER 14, 2020
For this month’s Product Talk post, I recorded a video where I consider the difference between product managers and product owners. You can watch the video or read an edited version of the transcript below. I want to talk about product managers and product owners.
Product Talk
JULY 8, 2020
The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Continuous Discovery Habits. It’s the opening to my chapter on Opportunity Mapping. Read to the end for an exciting new announcement. “To
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Product Talk
APRIL 7, 2021
A few months ago, fellow Product Talk coach Hope Gurion and I sat down to discuss why there’s no single right way to do discovery. Want to read the previous parts of the series? Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Product Talk
FEBRUARY 10, 2021
A few months ago, fellow Product Talk coach Hope Gurion and I sat down to discuss why there’s no single right way to do discovery.
Product Talk
MARCH 17, 2020
Product teams should be co-located. This is an often-repeated “truth” in our industry. Today, in response to COVID-19 , many companies are instituting mandatory work-from-home policies. This is making co-location impossible for many teams.
Product Talk
JUNE 10, 2020
How do you know that you are doing discovery well? If you want to improve your discovery process, what outcomes help you track your progress? I get asked these questions often. I like that teams are trying to take an outcome-focused mindset to their discovery practice.
Product Talk
MARCH 3, 2021
A few months ago, fellow Product Talk coach Hope Gurion and I sat down to discuss why there’s no single right way to do discovery. Want to read Part 1 of the series? Find it here.
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Product Talk
APRIL 8, 2020
Welcome to the latest installment of Product in Practice!
Product Talk
SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
I first met Petra Wille, a fellow product coach, at Mind the Product and was immediately impressed with her work. While I tend to focus on helping teams, Petra’s work centers around helping product leaders—the people who manage product managers.
Product Talk
NOVEMBER 11, 2020
We are starting to pull together our 2021 conference list. A lot has changed in the world since we last published our 2020 conference list. Due to COVID-19, many of the events on our list had to shift to virtual events. We expect the same will happen in 2021. Nevertheless, we are finding that conference organizers are getting better at offering compelling online events. Even though we may not be able to meet in person, we suspect many of these events will be worth checking out.
Product Talk
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Hello, Product Talk readers! It’s time for another installment of Product in Practice. In this series, we highlight the impressive work that forward-thinking product teams are doing. Want to check out the other people and companies we’ve featured? Find our other Product in Practice posts here.
Advertisement
Adding embedded analytics to your software doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. This guide is the perfect companion for SaaS product managers. It will walk you through the process of choosing the right analytics provider step by step.
Product Talk
DECEMBER 9, 2020
Hi there, Product Talk readers! We can’t wait to share our latest Product in Practice with you. For this story, we spoke with a product team leading the Digital Hotels vertical at Seera Group , a travel and tourism company based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Product Talk
JANUARY 13, 2021
Happy New Year! I am excited to kick off 2021. For the past couple of years, I’ve used my January blog post to give an update on my plans for the year ahead and this year will be no different. You can find previous years’ posts here: 2019 and 2020.
Product Talk
OCTOBER 9, 2019
Last month, I spoke at the Business of Software (BoS) conference in Boston. BoS has been on my short list for a very long time and it did not disappoint. Mark Littlewood , the organizer of the event, does a fantastic job and it shows up in every little detail of the event. The audience is made up of entrepreneurs. Most seemed early in their entrepreneurial journey, but there were plenty of experienced folks as well. What stood out to me was how friendly and eager to learn all the attendees were.
Product Talk
AUGUST 12, 2020
Hello Product Talk readers, we’re excited to share the latest Product in Practice with you! For this story, we caught up with Sonja Martin , Product Manager at tails.com. Sonja shares how her cross-functional team has changed their approach to defining their desired outcome over time.
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As more organizations move from project to product thinking, Product Managers are occupying increasingly crucial roles. Download this guide to learn tips and strategies that will help you grow into a strong Product Manager and thrive in the position.
Product Talk
MARCH 8, 2017
One of the best signs of an effective product team is a regular cadence of customer interviews and product experiments. But it’s not enough to simply check the box on these activities; we need to make sure that we do them effectively. Without a strong background in research methods, it’s hard to know how you are doing. I’ve developed a simple framework to help teams evaluate the effectiveness of their methods. It’s called the Ladder of Evidence and I explain it in the video below.
Product Talk
JUNE 12, 2019
Two and a half years ago, I introduced the opportunity solution tree. It’s been a blast seeing product people put it into practice. Today, I’m excited to share Hope Gurion’s thoughts on using opportunity solution trees. Like a true Agilist, she hasn’t just adopted the tool, but has iterated on it to better suit her needs. I first met Hope in 2014 when she asked me to coach her product teams at CareerBuilder. When she moved on to BeachBody , she brought me in to work with her teams there as well.
Product Talk
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
One of my goals at Product Talk is to showcase what good product management looks like. Today, I’m excited to introduce a new series, Product in Practice, where I’ll profile product managers doing great work. To kick off the series, we interviewed Rachel Allen , Director of Product at Omnitracs. I met Rachel when she was a product manager at Arity (an Allstate company). At Arity, Rachel built out a shared mobility business line from scratch.
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Product Talk
DECEMBER 12, 2018
Are you inviting your engineers to participate in discovery with you? If yes, do you get pushback from them? Does your organization prefer that your engineers only write code? Marty Cagan , in Inspired , argues, “If you’re just using your engineers to code, you’re only getting about half their value.” I couldn’t agree more. But too often we equate the value of an engineer with the code that she writes. This is a huge mistake. And, sadly, many engineers make this mistake themselves.
Product Talk
NOVEMBER 13, 2019
We are starting to pull together our 2020 conference list. This list is by no means exhaustive. If you know of a product conference that is not on the list and you think it should be, please feel free to recommend it in the comments or send an email to conferences@producttalk.org. We’ll also keep updating this list as we hear about more events. For 2020, I haven’t decided which conferences I’ll be attending or presenting at, but I’ll update this post once that changes.
Product Talk
DECEMBER 11, 2019
Hi there, Product Talk readers! It’s me, Melissa. I’m Teresa’s blog editor. I mostly work behind the scenes here, polishing and proofreading posts prior to publication. But every once in a while, I’ll contribute a post like this one.
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Product Talk
OCTOBER 10, 2018
Last week, I was in Cleveland for the Industry Product Conference. I spoke about the three mindsets that help a team find success as a continuous discovery team. My slides and script are below. Enjoy! Becoming a successful discovery team. Product management is changing. We are evolving from managing our teams by outputs to managing them by outcomes. Product managers are evolving from focusing on outputs to outcomes.
Product Talk
AUGUST 8, 2018
I’m co-teaching a design course at Northwestern with my friend Jeff Merrell. We are teaching business leaders and change agents how to prototype their way to viable solutions. In this context, solutions aren’t product solutions, but rather internal programs and processes that effect change within the organization. Our students work on challenges like improving employee engagement, encouraging knowledge sharing between teams, making meetings more effective, and so on.
Product Talk
MARCH 13, 2019
I teach two courses at Northwestern University. I want to share a little bit more about the work that I am doing there as I think it’s relevant for people working at companies who are starting to adopt continuous discovery practices (in other words, many of you). The first course focuses on teaching practitioners how to use design methods to solve business challenges related to learning and organizational change. Students learn the same design process I teach to the product teams that I coach.
Product Talk
JANUARY 8, 2020
For many of us, the beginning of the year is a fresh start. It’s an opportunity to recommit to the things that matter most to us. Last year, I wrote “ What I’m Saying No to This Year—And Why ” to clearly outline what I wanted to focus on in 2019.
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Product Talk
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
Meet Sally and Pam. Sally is a product manager, Pam a user experience designer, and they are working on a new mobile app. They’ve conducted customer interviews , defined their MVP , and are now working through the initial designs. Even though their MVP will only include a fraction of their near-term vision, Pam wants two weeks to work through the design of the near-term vision, as she’s worried if they build piece by piece, they’ll end up with a Frankenstein user experience.
Product Talk
MAY 8, 2019
When I write or speak about continuous discovery , I worry that people are enamored with this way of working, but aren’t doing the work to put it into practice. It’s easy to read about a continuous discovery habit and think, “That could never work for my team. Our industry is too old. Our company is too set in its ways.”. It’s easy to read about a continuous discovery habit and think, ‘That could never work for my team. Our industry is too old. Our company is too set in its ways.’
Product Talk
AUGUST 9, 2017
I’ve got a pet peeve to share with you. If you’ve been following along with the growth of the Lean Startup and other experimental methods, you’ve probably come across this hypothesis format: We believe [this capability]. Will result in [this outcome]. We will have confidence to proceed when [we see these measurable signals]. If you aren’t familiar with this format, you can learn more about it here.
Product Talk
NOVEMBER 14, 2018
We are starting to pull together our 2019 conference list. This list is by no means exhaustive. If you know of a product conference that is not on the list and you think it should be, please feel free to recommend it in the comments or send an email to conferences@producttalk.org. I haven’t decided what events I’ll be attending in 2019 yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll update this post. We’ll also keep updating this list as we hear about more events.
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