In this article, learn about the differences and benefits of being on an empowered product vs feature team as a product manager.

UPDATE 2: Another name for this article could be “Product Teams vs Delivery Teams”.  That’s because since this article was published, I wrote articles describing the difference between product teams...

There has never been more interest in becoming a product manager.  There has also never been so many strong and helpful voices that can help these aspiring product managers (at the end of this...

After many years of being a very vocal advocate for the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) technique, in the majority of companies I meet, I have stopped recommending the practice. That’s because, in...

One of the most common requests I’ve received over the years is to share a good job description for a product manager of an empowered product team.   And for about as long as I can remember, I’ve...

What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture

I should have written this article two years ago, just after I published Product vs. Feature Teams. I suspected then that I should follow up that article highlighting the difference between product...

To continue with the series on common sources of confusion regarding product discovery, in this article I want to talk about the critical role of judgement in product discovery. This may in fact be...

I’m happy to announce the results of my big project over the past year, which was to produce and release the second edition of INSPIRED: How To Create Tech Products Customers Love. The book could...

For many years I’ve subscribed to the idea that in a product organization, there are essentially two types of contributors: makers and managers. Makers definitely include your designers and your...

NOTE: There is so much widespread confusion out there on OKR’s, it’s a very difficult topic to discuss because everyone brings their own very different experiences and perspective to the conversati...

I’d be surprised if you haven’t at least heard about the coaching technique known as the “one on one” (aka “1:1”). And you’ve probably experienced some version yourself. But judging from my discuss...

Fair warning that this and the next article will be a tough read.  It was a tough one to write, and I expect for many of you, it will be a tough one to read.  But in my view, we as an industry are...

Every so often one of my articles seems to strike a chord, and this latest one on the difference between Product Teams and Feature Teams certainly seemed to do that.  I am grateful for the very...

In my last article I highlighted one of the major pathologies leading to weak product managers and weak products.  While the CSPO pathology is large and growing, it is relatively new compared to the...

To our shareowners: Something strange and remarkable has happened over the last 20 years.

As Product School says in their survey article trying to define what Product Ops is: “Product Ops operates differently at every company.”  Which might be true, but isn’t very helpful.   From my own...

This has been a difficult article to write.  That’s because there’s a very real risk of undermining what I would consider the most important message I try to advocate, which is the power and potent...

Ultimately, empowered product teams are all about giving teams hard problems to solve, and then giving them the space to solve them.  But, how do we decide which problems they should solve?  Answer...

Note:  This article is an announcement for one of two Coach the Coaches workshops that SVPG conducted in 2022.  There are no new sessions planned at this time. This is a special note.  It is intended...

The concept of the product manager as CEO of the Product has been one of the more controversial and polarizing topics in product, and most people are either strongly against this metaphor or strongly...

During these work-from-home times, I’ve been doing a lot of video-based AMA’s (Ask Me Anything).  It gives me a break from my writing, and I enjoy the questions.  Every so often I get a question that...

In my last article, I shared with you some of the key learnings from The Lost Interview with Steve Jobs.  But there is so much gold in that 70 minute interview, that I wanted to highlight a different...

The problem that I want to write about today has always been a problem, but in truth, the pandemic has made this problem substantially worse.   In particular, I am worried about teams reverting back...

Recently I published an article Revenge of the PMO that argues against a particular framework for agile at scale known as SAFe.  This was a bit unusual for me in that I normally don’t like to write...

Note: This is the narrative article version of a talk I’ve started giving recently at conferences, product meetups and corporate leadership teams.  It is a long read, but I believe it’s a critically...

In the last article I discussed the importance of integrity, and how it is the basis for decision-making in an empowered product team.  In this article, I’d like to focus on how I coach product...

Hint: The change starts in engineering

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The...

To continue with the series on common misunderstandings about product discovery, in this article I’d like to discuss a very fundamental confusion that exists with a remarkably large segment of the...

Marty Cagan gave "Product Strategy: The Missing Link" talk at Lean Product Meetup on February 13, 2020. If you're confused about product strategy, you're no...

In this article, learn about the differences and benefits of being on an empowered product vs feature team as a product manager.

This article is a bit different because I want to provide some insight into how SVPG works, and why we have chosen to set up the way we have.  I also have some pretty significant news which I’ll...

I’ve long said that to get the critically important work of a product manager done, you need on the order of four solid hours a day. To be clear, I’m not talking about e-mail or slack or meetings.  I...

It’s hard to find anyone that actually defends a Waterfall process anymore.  Agile methods might have their flaws, but at least they are usually much lesser flaws than Waterfall. Yet I actually meet...

INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love (Silicon Valley Product Group)

I thought I was done with the series of articles on the importance of empowered engineers, but then an article came out a few days ago criticizing the Spotify model of Agile at scale, and I could not...

In my last article I spoke about the concept of an empowered engineer, which I consider the single most important concept for companies that want to move from feature teams to product teams. Overall...

I promise this will not be one of those navel-gazing exercises.  This is going to be a very pragmatic article about a critical and fundamental topic. One of the consequences of the popularity of the...

So far in this series on coaching, I’ve described a tool for assessing a current or prospective product manager, and then provided detailed examples of how to craft a plan to help the product manager...

After a 12-year run at Atlassian, Jay Simons digs into how the company's story runs contrary to conventional startup wisdom, unpacking their product-led growth flywheel, reliance on channel partners,...

Todd Jackson is skilled at identifying excellent product managers. Now Dropbox's VP of Product and Design, he shares his process here.

In the previous article discussing product vision versus mission, I received quite a few follow-up questions.  Most of these have been addressed in earlier articles and in INSPIRED, but I thought it...

I introduced the term product discovery about 15 years ago, and I’ve loved watching the industry gradually broaden its mind from the concept of someone – either an old-school business analyst or a...

Continuing with the product strategy series, in this article I’d like to discuss my favorite, yet the most difficult, aspect of product strategy, which is to generate, identify and leverage the...

8-min read On my podcast last week, public health expert Dr. Abdul El-Sayed highlighted that while viruses are naturally occurring, epidemics are a function of human action or inaction. This week, as...

We live in an age of polarization. Many of us may be asking ourselves how, when people disagree with or discount us, we can persuade them to rethink their positions. The author, an organizational...

An interview with Ken Norton, OKR-expert and Senior Operating Partner at Google Ventures. What makes a good set of OKRs? Should OKRs be top down or bottom up? How granular should OKRs be?

In my earlier article on the six different models of Product Ops I have found in practice, I mentioned that there were two overarching issues behind the most damaging models, and I promised to...

Note: This article is the written narrative that I prepared prior to a keynote address I gave to the Future Week conference in Norway.  Normally I write about the practices I witness up close with...

I’ve long said that to get the critically important work of a product manager done, you need on the order of four solid hours a day. To be clear, I’m not talking about e-mail or slack or meetings.  I...

Recently I was at a dinner with several product leaders, and I was asked what the most common areas of confusion I encounter in product teams today? I thought it was a good question, and I described...

Tesla’s chief advises company leaders to concentrate more on finding ways to make their products better and spend less time in meetings and poring over spreadsheets.

Even though I have been writing consistently about product now for more than two decades, including a few books, I have thus far managed to avoid using the term “product sense.”  That was not an...

Punit Soni cut his teeth as a product leader at large companies such Google, Motorola and Flipkart before venturing out on his own to found Suki, a healthcare startup. Here, he shares his observati...

I’ve long said that to get the critically important work of a product manager done, you need on the order of four solid hours a day. To be clear, I’m not talking about e-mail or slack or meetings.  I...

One of the most enduring myths in the product world is that great products result from listening to your customers (or prospective customers).  But just as Jeff Bezos said in his latest Shareholder...

Returning to our series on coaching, this article and the next are tackling two of the toughest yet most crucial aspects of successful product management. In this article I will address integrity,...

In earlier articles I have written about several of the challenges that work from home has created for product teams, especially as it relates to product discovery.  I have also written about some of...

Sophie Zhang, a former data scientist at Facebook, revealed that it enables global political manipulation and has done little to stop it.