From Chaos to Cohesion: Implementing Lightweight Processes

When you’re just getting things started, an anything-goes, Wild West attitude can sometimes be a positive. There’s so much new information coming in daily and so many assumptions that have yet to be validated that people are just winging it to get stuff done. It feels like any action is better than inaction. But as exciting as it may be for product...

2d

5 Important Ways Product Managers Can Refocus on Goals in 2020

Unless your product management stack includes a crystal ball, all those goals and resolutions we made way back in January likely didn’t take global pandemics, fluctuating economies, and social unrest into account. Every year is unpredictable, but 2020 has been truly outdoing itself. That said, we’re at the halfway point, so it’s a good time to check...

6d

How can Product Leaders Build Trust with Remote Teams?

We build up trust in others based on our own experiences, or the recommendations of those who already have our confidence. We place more value on our friend’s recommendation of a TV show or a dishwasher brand than an anonymous reviewer on the Internet. And why the adage is “I’ll believe it when I see it” and not “I’ll see it because I believe it.”...

2w

Product Strategy Doesn’t Work in a Vacuum, featuring Hadrien Raffalli

In our webinar Product Managers: Treat your Strategy as a Product, Hadrien Raffalli discusses the importance of tracking market activity and tweaking plans accordingly. He has experience building products around the world, including stops in South America, Australia, Asia, and is now in Denver working for Pivotal Tracker, part of VMware. Watch the webinar,...

3w

6 Tips to Creating Roadmap Accountability with Your Team

As a Customer Success Manager at ProductPlan for the past two years, I’ve worked with hundreds of our customers on establishing their roadmapping processes. Throughout my time with ProductPlan, one of the most common roadblocks I see inhibiting a successful roadmap process is a lack of accountability on roadmap editors. 6 Ways to Create Roadmap Accountability...

3w

Product Manager to VC: How a Product Background Makes You a Better Investor

From product manager… to a venture capitalist? Let’s state the obvious first: Historically, that has not been the typical career path for a product manager (pm). When they’re recruiting new associates or partners to join their investment team, venture-capital firms don’t look for product professionals. In their own career trajectories, PMs often do...

4w

Why Distributed Product Teams are Here to Stay

There is no going back to “normal” for product teams. The idea of simply translating what we did in the office can’t be matched in our distributed world. At a minimum, I believe we need to start thinking remote-first. While we will eventually head back to our offices, we want to prepare ourselves to do it better next time. Even better is to embrace...

5w

4 Product Management Certifications that are Worth Your Time

Continuing education plays a crucial role in long-term career success in just about any profession. Product management is certainly no exception. Product managers and leaders need to find ways to keep learning and growing in an ever-evolving product environment. The good news is that you don’t have to look very far to uncover an enriching learning...

Jun 2020

Your Scaling Team Needs Product Ops, featuring Melissa Perri

“If you’re a growth stage company then you have to be able to make strategy decisions very rapidly. If you don’t have the data then you can’t make secure decisions and alter course.” A key insight shared by Melissa Perri, CEO of Produx Labs and author of Escaping the Build Trap during our “Getting Started with Product Ops” webinar series. It’s no...

May 2020

Resilient Leadership During Challenging Times

A crisis can bring out the best (and worst) in people. Throughout my career, I’ve seen a spectrum of responses from leaders that have shaped my views on which strategies work and which ones don’t. I had no idea that a crisis would unfold so quickly into the start of my tenure as CEO of ProductPlan. I transitioned to CEO of ProductPlan in early February,...

May 2020