Shows
Product ThinkingEpisode 231: Laying the Groundwork for Startup Success with Julia AustinIn this episode, Melissa Perri is joined by Julia Austin, Author, Lecturer at Harvard Business School, and Founder of Good For Her, to discuss the essentials of building a strong startup foundation. They delve into the importance of understanding your customer and the problem you’re solving, the dynamics of co-founder relationships, and transitioning to outcome-based roadmaps. Julia shares insights on how AI can play a role in product development and gives advice for first-time product managers in startups.Julia emphasizes the need for founders to focus on financial and legal aspects, often overlooked in the excitement of...2025-07-0948 minProduct ThinkingEpisode 212: Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Corporate Innovation with Ben HafeleIn this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri is joined by Ben Hafele, CEO of Lean Startup Company, to explore the complexities of corporate innovation. Ben shares insights on how large companies can effectively integrate lean startup methodologies into their existing frameworks. They discuss the importance of aligning innovation efforts with business strategies and how to avoid falling into the trap of unnecessary complexity. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in fostering meaningful innovation within large organizations while maintaining strategic alignment.Are you looking to navigate the challenges of corporate innovation...2025-02-2649 minProduct ThinkingEpisode 208: Scaling Research Ops to Drive Organizational Change with Kate TowseyIn this episode, Melissa Perri sits down with Kate Towsey, an authority on research operations and author of "Research That Scales." They dive into the significance of research ops in aligning product strategy and operations within a company, emphasizing how research can provide strategic insights essential for product development and organizational growth.
Kate discusses the evolution and necessity of research ops, sharing her journey from content strategy to pioneering the field. She highlights how effective research ops facilitate knowledge management, ensuring that valuable insights are not just gathered but are used to inform business decisions across an...2025-01-2952 min
Product ThinkingEpisode 185: Moving to a Product Model and Embracing Digital Transformation with Melissa DourosMelissa Douros is the guest on this episode of the Product Thinking podcast and she sat down with our host, Melissa Perri, to discuss her career journey and role as the Chief Product Officer at Green Dot, a modern fintech company. The pair explore the challenges and excitement of working in the banking-as-a-service model, the importance of adopting a product model in organizations undergoing digital transformation, and the role of effective communication and collaboration in driving successful customer experiences.2024-08-2144 min
Product ThinkingEpisode 123: Navigating Conflicting Methodologies in Product Management with Melissa PerriIn this episode, Melissa answers questions on navigating conflicting methodologies, the importance of hiring a skilled product manager, and achieving strategic alignment and execution in large enterprise companies with multiple product lines and strategies. She further delves into the importance of standardizing processes, such as product strategy cadence, roadmaps, and discovery toolkits, to facilitate coordination and collaboration.
To find out how Dear Melissa is helping build the perfect product management company, head to Dear Melissa.2023-06-1431 min
Product ThinkingAnswering Questions About Slow Product Development, the Difference Between SMEs and PMs, and Working With a Customer Success TeamIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa Perri answers subscribers’ questions about how to respond when people say product development doesn't go fast enough, getting the business to understand that subject matter experts are not the same as PMS, and how to work with a customer success team.
Q: I have often heard … stakeholders saying, ‘Product development doesn't go fast enough. Your product team spends too much time thinking; can we do less thinking and more doing?’ This usually comes from tech leaders who are more used to IT as a service, and salespeople who always feel we are one feature away fro...2023-03-2220 min
Product ThinkingAnswering Questions About Product Strategy Audits, Offering Professional Services, and Staying or Leaving a Product JobIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa Perri answers subscribers’ questions about how to do a product strategy audit, offering professional services to one-off clients, and how to choose whether to stay on at the company in a new capacity.
Q: What steps, processes and resources would you recommend for conducting a product strategy audit? I'm considering a new role in product strategy, and I think the best place to start is a comprehensive review of the current strategy to the extent that it exists and how our product plans align with it.
A: That is the best place to do a p...2023-03-0818 min
Product ThinkingNavigating Healthcare and Fintech with Colin AnawatyWhat challenges do product managers face in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance? In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, Melissa Perri speaks with Colin Anawaty about his journey to co-founding First Dollar and the challenges of navigating a highly regulated industry. Colin shares his insights on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), the benefits of utilizing them, and why he thinks they should be more widely available to all Americans. He also discusses the importance of personal and career growth within startups, and the value of providing clear career paths to employees. He describes how First Dollar evolved into...2023-03-0133 min
Product ThinkingAnswering Questions About Working with Product Owners, the Future of Product Management, and Educating Your CEOIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa Perri answers subscribers’ questions about how product managers and product owners should work together, product management trend predictions and what the future of product might look like, and what to do when your CEO is misdirecting blame toward product management.
Q: You've been involved in product management for a while, and I would love to see where you feel the evolution of product management is headed.
A: I think it's really hard to talk about where PM is going because it's still not fully functioning in many companies yet…I'll tell you some of the t...2023-02-2221 min
Product ThinkingSpotlighting UX Strategy with Jared SpoolMelissa Perri welcomes Jared Spool to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Jared and Melissa talk about how user experience as a discipline has grown over the years, the challenges that come with it, and how to improve UX for both product leaders and customers.
Jared is the co-founder, co-CEO, and Maker of Awesomeness at Center Centre - UIE, where he and his team “uncover what it takes to drive organizations to deliver the best-designed products and services.” Throughout his career, Jared has worked in the White House and has been instrumental in establishing digital organizations and shaping the futu...2023-02-1546 min
Product ThinkingAnswering Questions About Navigating Your Product CareerIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about how to pivot from product management to a career as an independent product consultant, how to handle coaching roadblocks when working with new product owners, and the ins and outs of book publishing.
Q: My question is around how to pivot my career into an independent product manager, for example, a freelancer consultant or coach or a combination of any of those…Since you became an independent product consultant, what would be your guidance based on your experience and considering the current market conditions?
A: I didn't set out to be an...2023-02-0825 min
Product ThinkingAnswering Questions About Tech Vs Business, Level of Detail for Engineers, and When to Join a StartupIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about whether or not adding a business owner into a product team is the right call, how much detail product managers should provide to their engineering teams, and if there’s a right time to join a startup as a product manager.
Q: I've been asked to include a business owner from outside technology in the teams. I'm worried that this will slow decision making and reduce our time to market. How should I tackle this?
A: Unfortunately, this happens a lot, especially in large traditional companies and ones that are going...2023-01-2523 min
Product ThinkingZooming in On OKRs with Christina WodtkeIn this week’s episode, Melissa Perri and Christina Wodtke, author of Radical Focus, get into all things OKRs. Christina shares how she discovered the power of OKRs, why she sees OKRs as a “vitamin, not a medicine,” why OKRs aren’t synonymous with product strategy, what it looks like to apply key results in the wrong way, how to use OKRs to create “super employees,” and so much more.
Here are some key points Christina and Melissa talk about:
Christina talks about her professional background and what led her to write the first and second editions of her book, Radical Focus...2023-01-1843 min
Product ThinkingPositioning Your Product with April DunfordIn this week’s episode, Melissa Perri invites April Dunford, author of the best-selling book Obviously Awesome, How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It on the podcast. April has 25 years of experience leading marketing, product, and sales teams and now runs her consulting firm, helping companies of all shapes and sizes, including Google, IBM, Postman, and Epic Games, nail their positioning.
Here are some key points April and Melissa talk about:
April talks about her academic and professional background and what led her to write her book on product positioning, Obviously Awesome.
According to Apr...2023-01-1147 min
Product ThinkingAnswering Your Most Asked Questions of 2022We’ve made it to our 100th episode of the podcast! Melissa celebrates by tying up the year with a full review of your most frequently asked questions. Common themes included transitioning into a new role, communicating with leadership, how to divide product work amongst different teams, and many more. Listen in as Melissa summarizes her advice on each of these big topics, and then shares her product predictions for 2023 (including a conversation about why winning in a recession is largely connected to good product management). Happy New Year to all of our listeners!
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
Mel...2023-01-0419 min
Product ThinkingExamining Product-Led Growth with Ezinne UdezueMelissa Perri welcomes Ezinne Udezue to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Ezinne is the CPO of WP Engine, a platform that provides solutions to create marketable sites and apps on WordPress, as well as the author of Product Management for Product-Led Growth, coming 2023. Melissa asks Ezinne what she thinks the key is to being a successful product leader, Ezinne shares her definition of product-led growth, and they discuss how product-led growth applies to B2B and Enterprise products, core PLG tactics, what PMs need to understand about marketing and how product collaborates with marketing and sales in a...2022-12-2136 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa: Answering Questions About Product Teams, Scaling Pitfalls, and Product-Led CompaniesIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about overlap between roles, pitfalls companies fall into while scaling, and to what extent a company should be product-led.
Q: What overlap do you see between the role of Product Manager and UX Designer?
Q: What pitfalls have you seen companies fall into while they were scaling? What are the main principles to get right in this exciting yet challenging stage of company's growth?
Q: To what extent should a company be product-led? Assuming that a company relies both on services and products, are there variances to what product-led means for suc...2022-12-1423 min
Product ThinkingMapping Out Now, Next, and Later with Janna BastowMelissa Perri welcomes Janna Bastow to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Janna is the founder of Mind the Product and the CEO and founder of ProdPad, which is software that helps manage your roadmap and product backlog. Janna and Melissa discuss the story of how ProdPad came to be and why Janna was inspired to build a more robust road mapping tool, how to become the most informed PM in your industry, the process behind creating the Now, Next, Later roadmap format and why it’s caught on, how to communicate with other teams both before and after yo...2022-12-0742 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa: Answering Questions About Advocating for Resources, Bottom-Up Transformation, and Setting ExpectationsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about advocating for resources in a non-leadership role, whether or not a bottoms-up transformation can really work if leadership isn’t immediately on board, and how to effectively communicate with teams outside of product in order to set realistic expectations and get them on your side.
Q: As a product manager that is not in a leadership role, how do you recommend advocating for additional resources on your development?
Q: Have you ever seen a product transformation work from bottoms-up, work at the team level first, and then improve at the execu...2022-11-3023 min
Product ThinkingLeading with Vision and Purpose with Ken NortonKen Norton is Melissa Perri’s guest on this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Ken is an executive coach who is passionate about “whole person” coaching– he works with product leaders not just on their careers but on their growth and development in all facets of their lives.
Ken joins Melissa to discuss the evolution of product management, the stark difference between empowered and unempowered product teams, his biggest piece of advice to early career PMs, what great leadership looks like, his 14 years of experience working at Google and on products like Google Maps and Google Calendar, and why ultimatel...2022-11-2350 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa: Answering Questions About Platform Changes, Personalized Prototypes, and PrioritizingIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa addresses a recent Twitter topic worth further discussing: how important it is for PMs to carve out the time for creative thinking and processing outside of scheduled meetings and tasks. Then she dives into subscribers’ questions about measuring the value of a platform change, how to create prototypes when the product requires personalization and balancing outcome-focused and functional-focused work.
Q: How do you measurably prove the value of a platform change?
Q: How do you rapidly prototype features that rely on personalization as a value driver without creating the actual product? Do we just bui...2022-11-1625 min
Product ThinkingSharpening Your Financial Skill Set with Giff ConstableMelissa Perri welcomes Giff Constable to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Giff is a product leader and former CPO of both Meet Up and Neo. Giff is passionate about helping product people sharpen their financial skills, which is a big topic of conversation in this episode. He talks to Melissa about why it’s key that product executives understand the nuances of financials, the most important relationships for a product executive to cultivate and how, why Giff never regrets investing time in the exercise of creating FP&A models, the ins and outs of understanding valuation, and so mu...2022-11-0954 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa: Answering Questions About Defining Product Terms, Founders Relinquishing Control, and Transitioning into LeadershipIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about whether or not having clearly defined terms and a common language within an organization matters, how to convince founders to hand over the product reins and hire an interim CPO, and how to convince your team and leadership that you belong in your new role as Director of Product.
Q: Do you have any advice on how to establish a common language?
Q: As a product consultant, what's the secret to convincing founders to give up control of a product that was a labor of love? How do you best con...2022-11-0223 min
Product ThinkingInvesting in Internal Tools with John AthaydeMelissa Perri welcomes John Athayde to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. John is a design team leader, strategist, and individual contributor, as well as VP of Design at PowerFleet. John and Melissa discuss how he shifted focus to the importance of internal tools at Living Social, how he got buy-in from leadership to prioritize internal tools, the process of creating a design system for a scaling organization, the benefits of design systems, design systems vs. style guides, and the tools and org structure he recommends to get set up for success.
Here are some key points you’ll hea...2022-10-2644 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa: Answering Questions About Program Managers, Switching Jobs, and Experimenting with HardwareIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about relationships between program and product managers, the right questions to ask during the interview process so you end up in a company with strong product values, and how to experiment when iterating on complex hardware.
Q: What does a great partnership between a product manager and a technical program manager look like? If my long-term career goal is to pivot back into product, how might I build up my product chops in this role in the short term without stepping on the toes of my product partner in crime?
Q: Do...2022-10-1917 min
Product ThinkingBecoming the Hero of Your Own Story with Donna LichawMelissa Perri welcomes Donna Lichaw to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Donna is a product leader turned leadership coach and the author of The User's Journey. She joins Melissa to talk about how she helps leaders and executives answer questions like, “how do I get my team excited to show up to work every day?” by becoming the heroes of their own stories. They discuss the importance of being clear on what untrue stories you might tell yourself and the importance of self-awareness, common challenges Donna faces when working with leaders, the helpful side of imposter syndrome, and how...2022-10-1243 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa: Answering Questions About PMs as Scapegoats, Breaking Hard News to Developers, and Sunsetting ProductsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about how to handle the unfortunate reality that oftentimes product managers are blamed for things out of their control, how to communicate to engineers when it’s time to pivot off of a project they’ve devoted a lot of time and effort towards, and how to build a shiny new product without completely disregarding all of the learnings from the original one.
Q: What should your course of action be if you perceive yourself a scapegoat position in product management?
Q: Have you ever had to pause a tool or produc...2022-10-0519 min
Product ThinkingDefining Outcomes Over Output with Josh SeidenJosh Seiden is Melissa Perri’s guest on this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Josh is a consultant and bestselling author of Lean UX, Sense and Respond, and his latest book, Outcomes Over Output: Why Customer Behavior Is the Key Metric for Business Success. In this week’s show, he and Melissa explore why saying “outcomes over outputs” is a lot easier than actually committing to it in practice, measurable outcomes, correlation versus causation, the problem with getting fixated on process, and how to keep your team focused on outcomes as a leader.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Meli...2022-09-2843 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Competitive Analysis, Stage Gates, and Aligning Around Lofty GoalsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about ways to research and stay on top of the market in order to conduct a thorough competitive analysis, when adopting a Stage Gate process makes sense and how to design it, and how to organize teams around the product strategy framework.
Q: What tips do you have for competitor analysis?
Q: What is your experience with Stage Gate? Am I just being stubborn and intractable by thinking that adopting Stage Gate is the opposite of creating a product-led organization? Or, for example, a risk-led organization?
Q: In your experience, would it...2022-09-2121 min
Product ThinkingFinding Agility Through Psychological Safety with Tara ScottMelissa Perri interviews Tara Scott at the Agile 2022 Conference on this week’s episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Tara is an experienced product coach and organizational behavior design coach who specializes in psychological safety, which is the ability to speak up in the workplace without fear of negative consequences. Tara tells Melissa how experiences in her own family led her to this important line of work, how she realized psychological safety could actually help increase organizational agility, what happens when a company isn’t psychologically safe, why having a “work” version of you is actually harmful, the inevitable uncomfortable moments th...2022-09-1443 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Picking Up Bad Habits, Prioritizing Inbound Requests, and How Product fits in with IT and Project ManagementIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about the importance of hiring a more experienced product leader to help more junior product managers steer clear of bad product habits, how to organize and manage an influx of ideas from different stakeholders, why product shouldn’t be part of the IT organization, and where project managers fit in a product led team.
Q: What are the chances of a junior PM unintentionally developing unhealthy habits without the ongoing regular guidance of an experienced PM? What are key signals that might indicate it's time for me to ask my leadership team...2022-09-0722 min
Product ThinkingDriving Portfolio Management with Becky FlintMelissa Perri welcomes Becky Flint to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Becky is the Founder and CEO of Dragonboat, the responsive portfolio platform for product and technology leaders, and is an expert in outcome-focused product practice and operations. Becky joins Melissa to discuss how she recognized the need for a portfolio management tool like Dragonboat, why portfolio management should be adopted by any size team, common pitfalls in early portfolio management, why it’s the next iteration of agile, and how to implement a portfolio management practice into an organization.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melis...2022-08-3140 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Transitioning into a Large Product Team, Collaborating with SMEs, and Internal ToolsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about what to expect when transitioning from a small to a large product team, how to work with subject matter experts that have strong opinions on product design, and making the case for creating an internal product team to support a growing organization.
Q: I've heard about the dangers of transitioning to a smaller team after being in a large organization, but I'm curious about movement in the other direction.
Q: How can I help the team to make the most of everyone's expertise and work better together?
Q: Do you hav...2022-08-2422 min
Product ThinkingEnabling Businesses with Climate Data with Gopal ErinjippurathMelissa Perri welcomes Gopal Erinjippurath to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Gopal is the co-founder, CTO and Head of Product at Sust Global, a company whose mission is to “develop data-driven products that enable every business decision to be climate-informed so that humanity can thrive in a changing planet.” Gopal joins Melissa to discuss climate sustainability and why climate data is proving to be valuable to all kinds of organizations, how he tested and iterated to build this complex data product, how he’s de-risking bets in a rapidly evolving market, the balance of being mission-driven and commercially minded...2022-08-1731 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Scaling Up Teams, Defining User Value, and Workplace BurnoutIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about scaling up a whole junior product team at once, how a listener can align her team’s KPIs to user value, and why product managers are more susceptible to experience burnout.
Q: What’s a successful approach to scaling up a team of junior PMs without leaving stragglers behind? [3:47]
Q: How can a team responsible for security set measurable goals that show whether we're delivering real value to users when we're so far removed from the user value? [9:08]
Q: What makes product people seemingly have a higher potential to experience workpla...2022-08-1020 min
Product ThinkingMoving Up to CPO with Amy Carmichael, John Martin & Simone DiveIn this special episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri invites three graduates from her CPO Accelerator program to share their stories, insights, and advice about moving into the C-suite. Amy Carmichael of Crowdcube, John Martin of Housecall Pro, and Simone Dive of Clir Renewables all recently took on the Chief Product Officer role in their companies. They tell Melissa what it was like to make the jump, how the job differs from other product leadership roles, how to start practicing for the job now as an IC, and the skills they recommend strengthening if you hope to land...2022-08-0328 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Company Growing PainsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about organizations that are at a crossroads. She talks about how to help reorganize a product hierarchy that’s lacking strategic product development, how to shake up an org that seems content to operate as a feature factory, and where to focus your company’s resources and energy during an economic downturn.
Q: What would be a good way to separate the long-term work of gathering ideas and looking at market trends versus the shorter-term discovery and delivery work? [2:07]
Q: Do you have any tips for how I can interact differently with a...2022-07-2720 min
Product ThinkingExploring Product Management in Nonprofits with Steve MacLaughlinMelissa Perri welcomes Steve Maclaughlin to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Steve is the Vice President of Product Management at Blackbaud, a cloud computing provider that serves clients within the social goods community. Steve shares his insights on what good product management looks like in nonprofit organizations, product managers as decision makers, the importance of benchmarking, and what it means to operate as a data-driven nonprofit.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Steve talk about:
Steve talks about his induction into the world of product management and why he started to help nonprofit organizations with...2022-07-2035 min
Product ThinkingThe Pivot Series, Part 4: Dear MelissaIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa wraps up our four-part series on pivots by answering some of our listener’s questions on the topic. She talks about pivots as “strategy theater,” how to know when to stay on track versus when to pivot, having back-up pivot strategies in case the first idea doesn’t pan out, and communicating strategies amongst other product teams.
Q: How often is a product strategy pivot one of the main players in a strategy theater performance? [4:22]
Q: What are the best indicators that perseverance will not solve your lack of product-market fit problem? [8:07]
Q: Do you line...2022-07-1318 min
Product ThinkingThe Pivot Series, Part 2: Reevaluating The Future with Alex HaefnerMelissa Perri welcomes Alex Haefner to the second episode of this four-part miniseries about companies that successfully made major pivots during the pandemic. Alex is the Head of Product at Envoy and strives to create products for a safe and healthy workplace. Alex tells Melissa how Envoy, originally a company that made products for physical workspaces, had to shift its entire product strategy during the pandemic by staying closely connected to their customers’ changing needs. They talk about why a multi-product company is the goal, how to avoid the “innovator’s dilemma,” how to talk about your roadmap with your customer...2022-06-2930 min
Product ThinkingThe Pivot Series, Part 1: Embracing The Unknown with Colleen JohnsonMelissa Perri welcomes Colleen Johnson to the first episode of this four-part miniseries about companies that successfully made major pivots during the pandemic. Colleen is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of ScatterSpoke, a company that leverages AI to make the most out of retrospective feedback. Colleen tells Melissa how their company needed to pivot quickly to win against competitors, how she had to shift from being a subject matter expert to embracing uncertainty and curiosity, her version of a valuable MVP, and which retro data she finds to be the most valuable.
Here are some key points you'll hear M...2022-06-2235 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Panicked Startup Founders, Aligning Executives, and Vetting Startup JobsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about wishing startup founders were able to see the value of being more product-oriented and how to influence them in that direction, organizing executives across multiple business units to align on product strategy, and how to gather evidence that a startup is the right place to work (and whether or not it’ll stay in business if you do decide to take the job).
Q: How do I help my leadership be more product-oriented? [2:06]
Q: How would you go about getting alignment or endorsement from your executive group with multiple business unit...2022-06-1523 min
Product ThinkingFollowing What Brings You Joy with Lenny RachitskyToday on the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri is joined by Lenny Rachitsky, author of the popular product advice column Lenny’s Newsletter. Melissa and Lenny compare notes on what it’s like to move from working directly in product to creating product content and courses, and Lenny explains how his newsletter was born and its growth trajectory since, what he’s learned about how to create valuable content, what success means to him, and how to keep your energy focused on the things that light you up. Here are some of the key points you’ll hear Lenny and Melissa...2022-06-0843 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Strategy, Discovery and DeliveryIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about separating product strategy from overall company strategy, rules of thumb for discovery and delivery phases, and what a small company starting to scale up really needs in order to carve out a thoughtful product strategy and vision.
Q: Do you have any advice on how to align between product strategy and business strategy, especially when a product doesn't have a strong executive presence? [1:13]
Q: How do you manage discovery and delivery simultaneously during a 12-week quarter? Should there be two different roles? [6:59]
Q: What should the next step be for a...2022-06-0116 min
Product ThinkingEmpowering An Organization Through Product Operations with Scott WhiteMelissa Perri welcomes Scott White to this week’s episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Scott leads the product vertical at AirTable, so he shares how his own organization puts into place the tools and processes AirTable supports. Melissa and Scott discuss the many benefits of product operations and how it evolves as a company grows, “global alignment with local autonomy,” Melissa’s dream product ops set up, automated roadmap review, and product management in platform companies.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Scott and Melissa talk about:
Scott talks about his introduction to the product management field, his professio...2022-05-2542 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Product Management Outside of SaaSIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about product management in software vs hardware, SaaS vs e-commerce, and within the governmental sector. She covers the differences in product strategy, things all of these product jobs will have in common, how to figure out which tools apply to your industry and product type, and how to measure impact over time for products where results could take years to come by.
Q: Do you see a difference in the strategic and tactical delivery of customer value between a digital product and a physical product created through discrete manufacturing processes? Are the...2022-05-1818 min
Product ThinkingLeading a Product Organization with Paul AdamsMelissa Perri welcomes Paul Adams, Chief Product Officer at Intercom, to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. At Intercom since the days when they only had only 13 employees, Paul has helped shape the Product department from the ground up. Paul joins Melissa to talk through his approach to product leadership, what his day to day is like as CPO and why he hasn’t been in a product review in years, how to build trust within your organization, and embracing the “messy middle” when it comes to product strategy.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Paul talk...2022-05-1141 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About User ResearchIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about when research is stale and needs to be revalidated, when and why to schedule frequent customer interviews, and understanding product success when conducting product trials.
Q: Do you have any tips for identifying when previous validation of knowledge could be stale and might need to be revalidated before continuing work? [2:22]
Q: What’s your advice for booking customer interviews? [9:17]
Q: Do you have any tips beyond the usual customer surveys and interviews for understanding product success? [16:32]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
MelissaPerri.com2022-05-0421 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Finding a Partnership In Engineering, Moving Backward In Your Career, and Playing It SAFeIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about working with engineering leadership as a director of product, the idea of moving from a leadership position back to an individual contributor to gain a wider skillset, and whether or not SAFe is the answer for a small product org.
Q: What should my one-on-one’s with my engineering team look like as director of product? How do I find a partner and not an order-taker? [2:30]
Q: Should we adopt SAFe? Any tips on what I should study up on and propose as a right solution to process and procedure? [6:56]
Q: Wh...2022-04-2015 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Dual Track Agile, Processing Negative Feedback, and Starting as a New CPOIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about what it looks like when teams are successfully running delivery and discovery in parallel, and the two reasons teams typically struggle with delivery, throwing yourself back in the ring after a disheartening work experience has left you feeling discouraged and frustrated (and asking yourself some hard questions), and where to focus your efforts when starting a new CPO role.
Q: How do we do discovery and delivery together for dual-track agile? [1:59]
Q: What do you do when a job experience as a product manager has left you so burned out tha...2022-04-0622 min
Product ThinkingGetting Your Users Hooked with Nir EyalMelissa Perri welcomes Nir Eyal to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. He is an author, lecturer, and investor best known for his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Nir joins Melissa to talk about the Hook model, product ethics, serving “chocolate-covered broccoli'' to your users, Wordle, internal vs. external triggers, and what inspired his newest book, Indistractable.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Nir talk about:
Nir talks about his introduction to the world of product management, and what led him to write his book. [2:12]
A product has to be used with frequency. If it...2022-03-3042 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Three Types of Product Management, Articulating Strategy, and Who Should Own P&LIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about differentiating between types of product management depending on the growth stage of a company, how to successfully craft strategy documents that communicate your vision, and how P&L responsibilities should be distributed across teams.
Q: Are there three types of product management? [2:11]
Q: Any tips for writing a strategy document? [9:13]
Q: How does product owning the P&L impact relationships with more traditional revenue-driving teams like sales and success? Has this worked out well for the companies you've worked with? [15:04]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
MelissaPerri.com2022-03-2322 min
Product ThinkingStriving For Mindful Leadership with Sam McAfeeMelissa Perri welcomes Sam McAfee to this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Sam is the founder of Startup Patterns, where he coaches teams and leadership how to attain the human skills necessary in successful product transformations. Melissa and Sam discuss how to strengthen emotional intelligence, how to hone your leadership skills as an IC, and what a truly courageous leader looks like.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Sam talk about:
Sam talks about his induction into the field of product management and his professional background. [2:00]
Mindful leadership is being able to grow and collaborate wit...2022-03-1643 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Approaching Discovery Mode, Aligning Team Strategies, and Missing Company VisionsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about how to successfully lead the discovery process at a new company with a strong product culture, how to align product strategies across large corporations, and what questions to ask when your organization doesn’t have a clear vision statement to work from.
Q: Do you have any strategies or steps that can help me with feeling more empowered? [0:45]
Q: What do you recommend large product organizations do so that strategies are aligned? [7:25]
Q: What should I do if my company is missing a vision statement? [12:42]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitte...2022-03-0920 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About AI and Platform Products, Being New to Product Ops, and People Management in ProductIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about data, AI, and platform products, transitioning from project management to product operations, and how to navigate a lead engineering role that is intertwined with both product and people management responsibilities.
Q: How do you do discovery and write requirements for data, AI, and platform products? [1:09]
Q: What are some tips and tricks you would recommend for a first-time product operations manager coming from a project management role? What do you think are the most important things to do during the first 30 days on the job? [8:17]
Q: Can people and product man...2022-02-2318 min
Product ThinkingFacilitating Culture Change with Douglas FergusonMelissa Perri welcomes Douglas Ferguson on this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast. Douglas is the President and Founder of Voltage Control, a change agency focused on helping teams implement new approaches to old systems. He joins Melissa to talk about the realities and challenges of influencing corporate culture, and shares his wisdom on how and where to start your own process of change at your organization.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Douglas talk about:
Before getting started with any change initiative, companies should sit down and assess where they are in their change journey. Dou...2022-02-1640 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Market Research Skills, Reactive Product Management, and Career Next StepsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about learning how to do market research to move up in your career as a product manager, creating products in highly commoditized B2B enterprise markets, and what you should look for in a company when moving from an early-stage startup to an established organization.
Q: Do you have any advice on how to improve market research skills? [2:05]
Q: How do you escape the trap of a reactive product mindset in a highly commoditized enterprise market? [5:17]
Q: What should I look for in a larger company to find a place where my...2022-02-0916 min
Product ThinkingPart 2: Digging Deeper into SAFe with Eric WillekeMelissa Perri welcomes back Eric Willeke for part two of this SAFe conversation on the Product Thinking Podcast. Eric and Melissa pick up where they left off and dive into the product management and portfolio management parts of SAFe, discussing how product management fits into the SAFe architecture and how it works at scale.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Eric talk about:
Product management needs to create an organization that is capable of making strategy real. [4:04]
"If you are impacting the market through your work, that's changing your strategy and you need that feedback loop," Eri...2022-02-0251 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Startup Roadmaps, Buy-In vs. Consensus, and Restructuring at ScaleIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about how roadmaps fit into an early stage company, the difference between gaining buy-in as a leader and reaching team consensus, delineating ownership as a leadership team, and how to restructure teams when your organization starts operating at scale.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for creating the product roadmap per quarter in a startup company? [1:10]
Q: As a product leader, how do you decide where to draw the line between activities you need to lead versus activities you would be more successful with if you had buy-in from your team? How...2022-01-2624 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Adding in Prod Ops, When to Move On, and What a CPO Should KnowIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about building product operations teams, staying in a position you love vs. diversifying your experiences, and how much a CPO actually needs to know about the inner workings of their product.
Q: How can an organization make the pivot from being reactionary in their product initiatives to being driven by market research and data? What kind of talent should a product leader be on the lookout for when building this type of team from the ground up? [2:04]
Q: How should I balance my love for my current company and role with the...2022-01-1219 min
Product ThinkingMarrying Product Management and Engineering with Maura KellyMaura Kelly is VP of Engineering at Mailchimp. With over 17 years of experience in the tech industry, Maura is an expert in software development and programming. She joins Melissa Perri on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast to provide engineering’s point of view, and to share helpful tips that will improve the way you as a product manager are collaborating with developers.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Maura talk about in this episode:
Maura’s traditional path to engineering, and her experience at Mailchimp, where the culture is about empowering the underdog. [1:45]
Mailchimp’s first produc...2022-01-0533 min
Product ThinkingReflecting on 2021 and Predictions for 2022On this episode of The Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri is looking back on 2021. She is reflecting on the learnings and conversations she had about product strategy and product management. Melissa shares her tips for product leaders, and what they need to be focusing on within their organizations as they enter the new year.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa talk about:
The conversation is shifting towards product thinking - not just in the sense of adopting and implementing processes, but asking what it really means to think like a product manager. Product leaders are now critically think...2021-12-2917 min
Product ThinkingOur Best Advice on Strategy and RoadmapsAs the year comes to a close, leaders are looking to the future and figuring out how to build out their roadmaps for 2022. On this week’s Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri shares clips of some of the best insights on roadmap creation and strategic planning at different levels of an organization so that leaders can start off the new year right.
Here are some of the key points that were talked about:
When building a roadmap, don't assume you can predict the future. Focus on the products that are being built now, so you can have near-term certainty with pla...2021-12-2232 min
Product ThinkingDissecting the Pluses and Pitfalls of SAFe with Eric WillekeEric Willeke, SAFe Principal Contributor, trainer, and Fellow, is a co-founder of Elevate Consulting where he teaches executives how to lead agile transformations. Eric joins Melissa Perri on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast to talk all about the pros and cons of SAFe, and to share their personal experiences with this often polarizing agile framework.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Eric talk about in this episode:
How Eric first started in the field of SAFe. [2:49]
There is a huge divide within companies who adopt SAFe between what the product managers do versus what product owner...2021-12-1543 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Public Roadmaps, Project Management, Product Practice, and MoreIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about topics across the board- she covers the responsibilities of a Director and VP of Product Management, how to get in your product reps outside of work, her thoughts on sharing your roadmaps with your customer, and product managers vs project managers.
Q: Do Directors of Product Management pull out of the day-to-day and just manage the departments? [1:34]
Q: How might a non-technical PM find or develop products outside of work? [4:39]
Q: Should we make our roadmap public? What are the complications that may arise if we do? [7:21]
Q: How do the...2021-12-0817 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Navigating Your Role as a Product ManagerIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about what responsibilities and roles a product manager should take on in various scenarios. She talks through working alongside a UX researcher, responsibilities around maintaining strategy when the bigger picture is unclear, and the do’s and don’ts of working under a new superior.
Q: When do you think a UX researcher should be involved to support discovery, and what activities should they take on within discovery? [3:21]
Q: How should product managers maintain strategic fit in large corporations, especially in the midst of CEO changes, COVID-19, and new technology trends? How do...2021-11-2419 min
Product ThinkingMaking the Case for Product Operations with Denise TillesDenise Tilles is an experienced product leader, consultant, and coach who has spent her career helping organizations transform opportunity into product vision. She specializes in product strategy, organizational design, and product operations. Denise joins Melissa Perri on this week’s episode to argue strongly in favor of the need for Product Operations as organizations start to scale.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Denise talk about in this episode:
How Denise got started in the field of product operations. [1:57]
Denise and Melissa explain why they strongly disagree with Marty Cagan’s recent post characterizing Product Ops as simp...2021-11-1728 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Thinking Outside The BoxIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about what domain experts can do to learn more about product, how high of a level product people can achieve in organizations outside of SaaS or software companies, and what the right process is for rebuilding a product. Her answers have a core theme in common: as a product person, thinking outside the box and looking for opportunities for disruption is always a good idea.
Q: Do you have any advice on how I can overcome some of the common pitfalls that arise as a result of being a domain expert an...2021-11-1020 min
Product ThinkingIdentifying Patterns in Product with John CutlerJohn Cutler is the Head of Product Education at Amplitude. He is a product evangelist & coach, who has spent his career wrangling complex problems and answering the ‘why’ with quantitative data. He joins Melissa Perri on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast to talk about the importance of product education and getting in your product “reps”, and the types of product patterns he’s discovered after working across industries.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and John talk about in this episode:
A product evangelist acts as the public face of a company and connects with the people who use...2021-11-0349 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Early PM Career StrategyIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers questions about approaching your product management career thoughtfully and strategically. She covers what PMs are particularly good at and how to reframe the idea of PMs being “generalists,” what she thinks about product management certification courses and FAANG companies, and what taking an alternate route via product operations would look like.
Q: What tips would you give to someone who is concerned about being a generalist? [2:06]
Q: Should a product manager aim for a start-up or one of the FAANG companies in the beginning of their career? [8:13]
Q: What is the career track for pr...2021-10-2726 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Compromise and CollaborationIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about learning how to compromise and collaborate with fellow product managers and new team members.
Q: How do I work with other PMs in a productive manner and avoid an unhealthy competitive atmosphere? [1:41]
Q: How can I improve a relationship with a new PM and our ability to collaborate? [6:31]
Q: How do you determine how much you need to reduce the scope of a feature when defining an MVP? Do you have any ideas for how my PM and I can come to an agreement? [13:36]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
Me...2021-10-1318 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About ExperimentationIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa dives into the world of experimentation, answering subscribers’ questions about metrics and signals for internal applications, measuring the success of company transformations, and the best way to track experiments.
Q: Do you have any recommendations for metrics signals for internal applications, particularly where we are trying to change behaviors over the long term? How can an organization measure the success of a product-led company transformation? [2:05]
Q: How do you track experiments and the results in a central way? [8:44]
Q: How do I set a timeframe for measuring success and performance of a product before I...2021-09-2916 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About IT Department TransformationIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about transforming IT departments and legacy businesses into agile frameworks, reframing leaderships’ “May I take your order” approach towards their product teams, and making your case for strong product management practices within an IT-minded organization.
Q: Our President and VP of IT want to switch the entire company from project management to product management. What advice do you have for a prospective lead product manager with no prior PM experience? [2:04]
Q: How can line workers and IC’s help our management see the value of iterative product development? [10:17]
Q: How do you approa...2021-09-1522 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Democratizing User Research, Product Team Visions, and Too Many FeaturesIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about which part of an organization really owns user research, the scope of a product team’s vision and strategy, and how to tell when your product has too many features.
Q: How do you delineate the goals of product manager and product marketing research? [2:03]
Q: Should every product manager have a 2 to 10-year vision and strategy, or should each respective PM rather craft division and strategy only covering the current strategic intent? [7:27]
Q: How do you know when you have too many features in your product? Any suggestions on how to ch...2021-09-0120 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa – Answering Questions about Complex Product ProblemsIn this episode of Product Thinking, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about compliance, dealing with physical and digital goods simultaneously, and what good UX looks like in really complicated problems.
Q: I started working in product compliance at a company that offers an alternative credit product. It's been challenging for me because product teams do not see the value in my role and do not want to engage in the build-out or with issues that come up as it takes away from them shipping new features. We're a heavily regulated space, but they don't seem to care. And it's making me wa...2021-08-1813 min
Product ThinkingNavigating Mergers and Acquisitions with Justin AnovickMelissa Perri’s guest on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is Justin Anovick. Justin is the Chief Product Officer at Optimizely, a company providing digital platform software services. He is a creative thinker and provides great leadership for his team. Justin joins Melissa to discuss how to navigate through mergers and acquisitions with your organization and how to get all members to play on the same team.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Justin talk about in this episode:
Why Justin became a product officer. [1:01]
Understanding the customer sales cycle allows the product team to know w...2021-08-1138 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions about Scaling OrganizationsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about product operations, how to structure teams in an organization cross-functionally, and knowing when it’s time to scale your product.
Q: What is the problem product operations solves? What does success look like for these teams? How should these teams be structured? Who should these teams report to? [1:08]
Q: How do you know in advance when your product is ready to scale and how do you prepare from a roadmap funding perspective? [11:41]
Q: Can you provide some sample product and design team organization structures that you’ve seen work well? Where...2021-08-0423 min
Product ThinkingTying Product to Go-To-Market Strategy With Ray McKenzieMelissa Perri’s guest on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is Ray McKenzie. Ray is the CEO and founder of StartingPoint Technologies, an organization that develops solutions for service-based companies. He has expertise across a variety of fields, most notably strategy development, workforce analytics, and behavioral analysis. Ray joins Melissa to discuss the ideal marketing strategy that product leaders should be adopting.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Ray talk about in this episode:
How Ray got into product management. [1:16]
Product leaders need to consult with customers and rely on other uses and experiences to outlin...2021-07-2839 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Evaluating Strong Product People and OrganizationsQ: I have been offered a senior leadership role, but part of me feels I still haven’t proven myself with any actual company outcomes as an individual contributor. Should I take the role, where I’d be fairly hands-off, or spend more time honing my craft? [0:46]
Q: Is there a way to evaluate an organization before applying? [7:04]
Q: Do you have any tips for finding a good VP of product for a growth-stage startup? [12:18]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
MelissaPerri.com2021-07-2122 min
Product ThinkingGetting Leadership Up to Speed with Marty CaganMelissa Perri’s guest on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is Marty Cagan. Marty is a product executive, the Founder and Product Partner of the Silicon Valley Product Group and the author of “Inspired: How to Create Products Customers Love”. He has over two decades experience in the field of product management. Marty joins Melissa to discuss product management and how to become the best product manager you can possibly be.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Marty talk about in this episode:
The essence of product is how well the team works together to solve prob...2021-07-1444 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About PM Soft SkillsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers a subscriber’s question about ‘soft skills’ and why they are equally as important as hard skills.
Q: What would you say to someone who's concerned about their assertiveness? [00:51]
Q: What resources or experiences would you recommend for people who recognize the need for hard skills as part of product, but who would intentionally like to cultivate these soft skills (empathy, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence) as well? [9:06]
Q: What would you recommend a team of product managers to do if they’re headed by a CTO who does not have time for the team, or...2021-06-3020 min
Product ThinkingBuilding Responsible Products with Kathy PhamMelissa Perri’s guest on this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is Kathy Pham. Kathy is a computer scientist, a product management executive, and co-leads the Ethics and Responsible Tech at Mozilla. She also co-founded the Mozilla Fix the Internet Incubator, as well as the Product and Society at Mozilla, which focuses on product management, ethics, and the public interest. Kathy joins Melissa to discuss product ethics.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Kathy talk about in this episode:
Interesting details about the product management class Kathy teaches at Harvard. [00:47]
Kathy’s experiences working at The White Ho...2021-06-2345 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Product EthicsIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers a subscriber’s question about choice architecture and competing priorities between the business and the customer.
Q: How do you balance the ethics of choice architecture as a product manager who is responsible for satisfying possible divergent priorities between the business and the customer? What is our duty when priorities may conflict?
Hear Melissa talk about:
Choice architecture and dark patterns
What to do with your priorities conflict with each other
How ethics in product is vital to how you view your products
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
MelissaPerri.com2021-06-1613 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About PM Time ManagementIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about how to use their time wisely, whether they’re trying to support their sales team with a complex product, getting the most out of a customer advisory board, or finding time for discovery work on a Scrum-focused team.
Q: I'm constantly helping our sales team run demo calls and our account managers onboard and set up new customers. What can I do to empower my team so I can focus on improving our product instead? Have you ever used a dedicated team member to fill this space as a product spec...2021-06-0226 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Growing as a Product ManagerIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about:
Q: As a CPO, what should I think about when managing disciplines I’m not an expert in? [1:08]
Q: Do you have any tips on how to set up good 30-60-90 day smart goals as a product manager for a mature startup? [7:00]
Q: What advice do you have in evaluating next steps in moving on to a career after product management? [14:51]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
MelissaPerri.com2021-05-1928 min
Product ThinkingGetting to the Bottom of Agile with Jeff PattonThe theme of this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is agile development, and Melissa Perri’s guest this week is Jeff Patton of Jeff Patton & Associates. Jeff is one of the first agile product managers, and his company helps other companies use product and customer- centric thinking to improve their market and the way they work. Jeff and Melissa to discuss agile development in this week’s show, including what’s currently going wrong with it.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Jeff talk about in this episode:
How both Jeff and Melissa got into agile developmen...2021-05-1244 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions about Product Best PracticesIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about applying product practices to nonprofit companies and customer engagement and debunks myths about MVPs.
Q: How applicable are product best practices and principles outside of for-profit SAAS companies? [1:08]
Q: Do you have any suggestions on how we can encourage our users to experiment with the new payment method our company introduced? [6:32]
Q: How do I advocate for a more iterative and incremental approach to new product releases and product updates, as opposed to big bang releases? [10:34]
Resources
Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Twitter
MelissaPerri.com2021-05-0518 min
Product ThinkingCulture and Strategy, the Netflix Way with Gibson BiddleThe theme of this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is culture, and Melissa Perri’s guest is Gibson Biddle, author of the “Ask Gib” product newsletter. Gibson is dedicated to teaching product strategy and culture both in and outside of the classroom. He joins Melissa to discuss the importance of having a good organizational culture, and how that affects strategy.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Gibson talk about in this episode:
The product leader’s job is to delight customers in hard-to-copy, margin-enhancing ways (DHM). [3:18]
How Netflix developed their high-level strategy for personalization. [8:47]
Gibson’s experience wit...2021-04-2846 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Strategic Team BuildingIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about the design and strategy in building the best product teams.
Q: Is dividing teams to generate results in different strategies a wise decision? If so, how should they communicate with each other? If not, what is the right way to organize teams? [00:47]
Q: Are there any best practices in organizing digital products, future teams, and squads? How do you coordinate a backlog of all the products that are connected in an ecosystem of digital products? [4:53]
Q: How do you rightsize your product teams and value streams when the typical software sy...2021-04-2118 min
Product ThinkingBuilding Trust To Build Great Products with Brian BhutaThe theme of this week’s Product Thinking Podcast is transformation, and Melissa Perri’s guest this week is Brian Bhuta, Chief Product Officer at Signify Health. Brian is an experienced product leader and is passionate about establishing and scaling product management organizations in an agile environment. He joins Melissa to discuss transformations and product management from an inside perspective.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Brian talk about in this episode:
How Brian and Melissa both got into product transformation. [1:50]
The raw material of transformation is people who are passionate about wanting to do better on a r...2021-04-1454 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Communicating UpIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about product teams with unequipped product leaders, ineffective usage of data, and killing products.
Q: Have you come across situations in your career as a product manager where you were under the authority of people with no background in product management? How would you recommend I bring my concern about this to my leadership without coming across as arrogant? [1:08]
Q: My organization struggles to use data effectively. What are some ways to convey the importance of data to leadership? And what are some achievable milestones that can be acquired to prove th...2021-04-0717 min
Product ThinkingWhat Makes a Great Vision with Ben FosterMelissa Perri welcomes Ben Foster - Chief Product Officer at Whoop and author of Building What Matters: Delivering Key Outcomes with Vision-Led Product Management - to this week’s Product Thinking Podcast. Ben is an experienced product leader who teaches the value of vision to help us craft the right strategy and achieve our desired outcomes. He joins Melissa to discuss the framework he details in his book and what makes a great vision.
Here are some key points you’ll hear Melissa and Ben talk about in this episode:
Ben and Melissa swap stories of how they “accidentally” got into pro...2021-03-3148 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions about Internal Products and PrioritizationIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about pragmatic versus ideal product management, internal product management, and determining how to build products for a two-sided marketplace.
Q: Do you think there should be a difference between ideal product management and pragmatic product management? [0:59]
Q: What kind of metrics are you looking at when customer-based internal users are forced to use the software? There's no LTV, CAC, revenue models, or any of the normal user metrics in B2C or B2B. [7:38]
Q: We're building a product for renters, our end users, and landlords, our customers. I'm struggling with pri...2021-03-2419 min
Product ThinkingCreating Product-Led Strategy with Oji UdezueOji Udezue is the Chief Product Officer at Parsible and was formerly the VP of Product at Calendly. Melissa Perri describes him as “one of the best product leaders I have ever met.” His extensive experience in both B2B and B2C companies, including Microsoft and Atlassian, has given him insight into how to set strategy, even in companies where there is none. He joins Melissa to talk about what it takes to implement a product-led strategy, and how to influence a culture shift in your organization.
Here are some key points from their discussion:
Oji defines being product-led as “...2021-03-1741 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Product TransformationIn this Dear Melissa episode, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about product transformation.
Q1: As the leader of a new product function initiative, what steps can I take to earn the CEO’s trust and create a company culture that embraces an outcome-driven and product-lead mindset? [2:07]
Q2: How can I ensure my company is approaching product transformation in the right way? [7:31]
Q3: How long does it take a strong product manager (junior to intermediate level) to make some positive impact in a company that lacks a good product culture? Should they stick around if there are no big positive changes after a ye...2021-03-1022 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About Starting a Career in Product ManagementIn this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about transitioning into product management.
Q: What can I do to prove to potential employers that I have what it takes to be successful as a product manager, even though I don’t have experience? How do I write my resume?
A: Right now, companies are looking for senior product managers to balance out their teams, since they have mostly trained juniors. You should look for a company on LinkedIn that will invest time and resources into training you. Investigate their product leader: if they are very experienced, they will likely know...2021-02-2426 min
Product ThinkingThinking Through Product Strategy with Barry O’ReillyCreating great products is about the systems, processes and culture in place that help companies deliver value to their customers. On the Product Thinking Podcast, host Melissa Perri interviews the thought leaders in product development and answers your pressing questions to help you think like a great product leader.
This episode is all about strategy: what it is vs what it isn’t, and how to create a good one. The expert Melissa turns to for strategy advice is Barry O’Reilly, entrepreneur and business strategist who has “pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design and cultur...2021-02-1751 min
Product ThinkingHow to Succeed as a Senior Product Leader with Georgie SmallwoodCreating great products is about the systems, processes and culture in place that help companies deliver value to their customers. On the Product Thinking Podcast, host Melissa Perri interviews the thought leaders in product development and answers your pressing questions to help you think like a great product leader.
Melissa continues the conversation about strategy, this time from the perspective of the senior product leader. What does it take to be a good CPO? What role does a product manager play in setting strategy for the company? What’s the difference between company strategy and product strategy? Melissa poses these qu...2021-02-1739 min
Product ThinkingDear Melissa - Answering Questions About StrategyCreating great products is about the systems, processes, and culture in place that help companies deliver value to their customers. On the Product Thinking Podcast, host Melissa Perri interviews the thought leaders in product development and answers your pressing questions to help you think like a great product leader.
In this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about strategy.
Q: How do you convince the CTO of the value of working towards understanding problems rather than defining pre-made solutions? [1:54]
A: Sometimes you just have to demonstrate to them what the customer discovery process is, how it works and why it...2021-02-1720 min
Product ThinkingIntroducing Product Thinking with Melissa PerriProduct management has been adopted all over the world in the last decade. But despite its popularity, great product management is still hard to come by. The Product Thinking podcast is setting out to change that. This show will cover:
How product leadership influences organizational systems so that product management can thrive.
What the role of a product manager looks like at every level.
How to invest in yourself as a product manager at every stage of your career.
Product Thinking will have two different kinds of episodes - Dear Melissa, a direct line to Melissa to pose your biggest...2021-01-2103 min