Last week, I wrote about the importance of communication as a leader. I gave some examples where I did a less-than-stellar job and left things unsaid. This week, I’ll give three examples where things went well. “This is going to suck” When I arrived at Meetup as CPO, the product management team had about a dozen people. The team had …
So often, my unforced errors as a leader came down to a simple thing: communication. Okay, maybe it’s not a simple thing. Doing this well takes constant reflection on what needs to be said, what has been left unsaid, how things should be said, the right level of transparency, etc. Here’s a few areas where I messed up: Do they …
A year and a half ago, I gave a talk to the New York Product Conference about the Associate Product Manager (APM) program I started to put in place at Meetup when we were 200+ employees. This week, I caught up on Clubhouse with Tommi Forsstrom, who runs product at Teachable, about the APM program he has put in place …
I’ve learned more about being a good product leader from people outside of product than inside. There, I said it. Maybe this is because there were fewer to learn from back in the day. Nowadays we have amazing people like Gib Biddle, Melissa Perri, Teresa Torres, Tommi Forsstrom, just to name a few among so many I respect and follow. …
I recently heard a leader say, “We’re looking to promote people who are good at making decisions and who are right more often than not.” I’ve heard that sentiment shared before. It sounds awfully good until you start thinking through the implications of that last part within a larger organization. Remember that when it comes to promotion, your people will …
Every once in a while, I see a wave of tweets discussing the sheer number of jobs a product manager is asked to do. The inevitable question arises, “is this an impossible job / how can we expect this of a single person?” Note that I’m not trying to throw shade on John, who I love, but I have noticed …
Whenever a team is heading into a high-stakes project of any kind, I recommend they run a 1-hour pre-mortem. This brainstorming exercise stretches the team to identify possible failure points. Once you’ve spotted items, you can then decide which ones deserve mitigating strategies. It creates a safe space to talk about concerns without fear of appearing overly negative or critical …
A young product leader I’m mentoring asked me a common question: “How do you set metrics for a new initiative when you don’t have a baseline, nor any idea what good looks like?” First off, it’s ok to begin with guesses. You just want to make sure that everyone knows that it’s a guess. Product managers can fall prey to …
In product, we swim in complexity, which is why it’s essential to seek simplicity wherever we can. If we accept or even indulge in complexity, I’m convinced it will show up in your product in unintended ways (not unlike Conway’s Law). Here are some questions you can ask yourself to chase simplicity: Your strategy: have you boiled your company (and/or …
I was listening to a really interesting CultureLab podcast on culture with Patty McCord, the former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix. She spoke for over an hour with no puffery, zero buzzwords, and total common sense. It made me ask myself a question: what do I want out of a people-ops/HR organization? My answer is three things. The first two …