The Power of Not Understanding
One of the places where product leaders add the most value is by connecting the dots. Seeing a broad picture and making sure everything fits together is one of our superpowers. But what happens when the dots don’t connect? It’s your responsibility to call it out, even if you don’t fully understand why.
It’s Never Black or White
As product leaders, we need to make so many decisions. Moreover, these decisions are hardly ever straightforward or simple. Here are a few techniques to help you decide nonetheless.
When Your CEO Needs a Strategy Now
If you are the new product leader of your company, your company might be in product leadership debt. In such situations, you would typically be asked to come up with a strategy and roadmap ASAP, but you are still just learning the domain. Here is how to give the CEO what they need while staying true to your professional standards.
Insight From Marty Cagan’s Coach the Coaches Workshop (Part 2)
In part two of this summary, I am moving to talk about strategy and leadership insights. As these are topics close to my heart, I had a lot to say – so here are my thoughts backed by SVPG’s insights on these topics.
It’s Ok to Make It About You
As servant leaders, and especially in product management which is the master of leadership without authority, we are used to always working for the greater good. But sometimes, our success depends on things that we need just because we need or even want them. Here are a few examples where it’s perfectly fine to make things personal.
How to Help Your Organization Decide
Complex decisions tend to be stuck in endless discussions. People see things differently, and hard decisions are harder to make on your own. As a product leader, you play a key role in helping align everyone and leading towards a decision. Here are the steps you will need to take in order to get there.
How to Find Your Strategic Anchors
Strategic thinking is hard by definition. It deals with many unknowns, as well as multiple dimensions and variables at any given time. The only way to move forward is to identify the real anchors and build around them. Here’s how to do that.
3 Steps to Upgrading Your Hiring Skills
Hiring the right people is so important, but how can you be sure that you are making the right choice? It all starts with understanding what you really need, in levels much deeper than the job description. Here is a simple method to help you choose the best people.
3 Ways to Simplify Complex Decisions
Complex decisions are a natural part of a product leader’s life. Sometimes it is our own decisions that we need to make simpler, and sometimes we need to help management or our teams make better decisions. When a decision is facing a deadlock, here are three simple ways to resolve it and move forward.
How Doing What I Feel Like Made Me a Better Product Leader
In a data-driven world and with a leading role in it, it is often hard to trust our instincts. But can we afford not to? Here is a quick explanation of why trusting your intuition is actually good for your business, as well as the necessary steps to make it trustworthy.
They Are Not Product People
As product leaders we work with so many stakeholders, and we strive to include them in the product definition processes. While generally this is the right thing to do, there is one line that you don’t want to cross: letting them do the product work instead of you, or expecting them to contribute more than they can. Here is a quick guide to finding the right balance.
How Paying More Taxes Made Me a Better Decision-Maker
We all want to be data-driven, but both data and our ability to work with it has its limitations. Being aware of them and managing yourself accordingly are both key to your ability to make smart decisions.
