3 Ways to Help Your Product Managers Stick To the Right Priorities

Have you ever had the feeling that your product managers are fully aligned with your priorities, but then life happened? Even when all the priorities are well understood, following them strictly is not easy. Here are a few ways to help your product managers succeed in this tricky area, for everyone’s sake.

A New Level of Freedom in Roadmap Discussions

Roadmap discussions often become about features and timelines. While this is an important step in the process, it shouldn’t be the first. As a product leader, you need to make sure you facilitate the right discussions – both with your product managers and with your management team. Here is the interim level that many product leaders miss.

The Customer Experience That Matters Most

Customer experience isn’t just for products. As an employee, you provide customer experience to your manager, your colleagues, and your own employees. Is it a great one? Here are a few points to consider.

Can You Handle the Truth?

The reality we act in isn’t always nice. In many cases, we allow ourselves to see it in brighter colors than it actually is. As product leaders, this can be the beginning of a slippery slope. What can you do to make sure you are well-rooted in reality, even if it isn’t pretty?

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.

How to Remove Hidden Barriers From the Customer Journey

In product-led growth, the customer journey is everything, and optimizing it is the only way to grow. Even without product-led growth, it has a significant impact on your ability to meet your goals. But are you aware of all the ways in which the customer journey for your product isn’t optimal? Here are a few methods to find these hidden barriers and remove them.

How to Give Your Product Managers Negative Feedback (Part 3)

Letting people go is never easy. As their managers, we always need to coach our product managers toward their next level. We usually try to help them succeed and both us and them give it our best. But how do you know if it’s time to give up? Here are a few ways to know the answer.

How to Give Your Product Managers Negative Feedback (Part 2)

Some managers expect that once they give negative feedback, their people would fully embrace it and the problem would be solved. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The initial negative feedback is just the beginning, and it is your job as a manager to help your people grow and succeed. Here is what it takes.

How to Give Your Product Managers Negative Feedback (Part 1)

Product management requires you to master so many different skills, that there always seems to be a gap between what you do well and what you need to do well to succeed. As a manager of product people, it is your job to help them with this continuous growth, but it’s not always easy. Here is the complete guide on how to do it effectively.

If You Love Your Decisions Let Them Go

There are times when you just know that your decisions are right. The data says so, the experts say so, but your colleagues or stakeholders disagree. Sometimes, the best way to get them to accept your decision is to give it up altogether. Here’s how it works.

Black Box vs. White Box Product Leadership

There is an inherent conflict between the product leader and the CEO, which can often be summarized into one question: who has the final say. To start resolving it, remember that it is not a zero-sum game. Here are two leadership styles that define the spectrum, and a guide that will help you find your sweet spot between them.

3 Things Missing From Your Product Requirements

Product requirements are there to help the team understand what you want to build. Whether you write them in detailed documents or share them briefly and verbally with the team, it’s easy to go directly to the bottom line and give clear instructions. However, there are many more important things to include if you want the team to succeed. Here are three things that if you include in your product requirements would make your life easier and help your developers deliver on what you really intended, not on what you told them to build.