Sheetal Rajpal, an amazing product leader with experience at Amazon, LendingTree, and PepsiCo joins the podcast to discuss the future of B2C subscription products (and all digital products, for that matter) and how ML, AI, data analysis, and more will be shaping that future.

Learn more at ProductVoices.com.

In this episode of Product Voices, our guest Kalia Aragon, Director of Product at Flatiron Health, discusses infrastructure and future-proofing products. She emphasizes the importance of diverse teams and a problem-solving approach. Kalia highlights the key attributes of future-proofing and advises product managers to engage early, build tech competency, and foster communication. She raises concerns about data privacy in AI advancements and encourages empathy and thoughtfulness in the field.

It's a great episode filled with insights and advice.

On this episode, we discuss how to stand out in the product management job market. Our guest is Chris Mason, co-founder of Intelligent People, a product management recruitment agency.

Chris shares his expertise on the evolving job market and the increasing visibility of product management as a discipline. He highlights the growing number of graduates and better training options in this field. Chris also mentions the rise of Chief Product Officers and product-led organizations. However, he cautions that the job market has become more competitive due to recent layoffs and an influx of talent. Big tech companies have been making cuts, leading to a flood of candidates. Despite the challenges, Chris believes there is still optimism for those pursuing a career in product management.

This is an episode you won't want to miss, whether you're currently in job market or not, this discussion has something for everyone.

In this episode, we explore the crucial relationship between the Chief Product Officer (CPO) and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). We discuss the need for partnership, open communication, and trust between these roles. Our guest, Jodi McDermott, shares valuable insights on building a strong CPO-CTO foundation. We emphasize the importance of compromise, alignment, and transparency in leadership, as well as fostering a unified team culture.

Listen for insights on...

• Building a Strong Foundation between CPO and CTO
• Handling Tension between CPO and CTO
• The Importance of Showing Work and Friction Points
• The Power of Repeating and Sharing the Vision
• Building a Unified Team: Breaking Down Silos
• Effective Communication and Leadership in Scaling Organizations
• Creating a Human and Mentoring Environment

In this episode, we discuss the book "Product Momentum Gap" with authors Andrea Saez and Dave Martin. We explore indicators of a momentum gap in product management and the importance of aligning on customer value. Implementing the product value creation plan (VCP) helps filter out requests that don't align with defined value. Regularly articulating the VCP ensures alignment with the product strategy. We discuss the need for clear business and product strategies. Listen to the episode then get the book today!

Natalia Burina, a product leader with deep expertise in AI, joins this episode to discuss Generative AI and its potential impact for product managers. The conversation with Natalia, a former leader at Meta, Salesforce, Samsung, eBay, and Microsoft, weaves through many important focus areas, including:

• The potential and limitations of generative AI.
• Generative AI and its potential impact on business.
• AI technology and its applications in product development.
• AI technology risks and challenges in product management.
• Cultivating psychological safety for AI teams.
• Generative AI, product management, and leadership.

Find out more at ProductVoices.com.

In this episode of Product Voices, Gayatri Diwan, a seasoned product leader, joins to discuss product strategy and its importance in product management.

She emphasizes that product strategy should answer three important questions:

1. Why the product is needed
2. Who it is being built for, and
3. What it aims to achieve.

Gayatri also shares her seven-step plan for creating a product strategy:

1. Who is your customer?
2. What is the problem statement?
3. What is the impact and benefit to the customer with supporting data?
4. What is the ideal state? What does good look like?
5. What is our criteria for success and how will we measure our success metrics?
6. What are the core product tenets or principles?
7. What are the key pillars and themes we want to invest in?

Throughout the conversation, Gayatri stresses the significance of involving the right stakeholders, having a shared understanding of the problem, and aligning with them for success.

Learn more at ProductVoices.com/gayatridiwan.

Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles, authors of Product Operations: How Successful Companies Build Better Products at Scale, discuss the concept of product operations and why it is crucial for product teams and organizations. Product operations is the enablement function of product management, providing data and insights for strategic decision-making and ensuring alignment within the product development lifecycle. As organizations scale, product operations become increasingly important in managing complexity, prioritizing strategies, fostering transparency, and facilitating collaboration across departments.

Melissa and Denise decided to write the book on product operations after realizing the need for a resource for product managers and stakeholders. Their goal was to share their framework, which revolves around three pillars: business and data insights, customer and market insights, and process and governance. They wanted to get ahead of the growing trend of product operations and provide a structure for enabling product teams.

We dive deeper into each of these topics, starting with business and data insights. This pillar focuses on extracting information from current systems and analyzing it through a product lens. Many companies focus on financial metrics in board meetings but fail to analyze the data in a way that benefits product development. By implementing cohort analysis and utilizing internal information from financial, sales, product development, and HR systems, leaders can make data-driven product decisions and effectively monitor product strategies and performance. To bridge the gap between business skills and technology skills in product management, financial acumen classes for product managers have been introduced.

Next, we discuss customer and market insights, which provide qualitative and anecdotal perspectives from users. Product operations help set up the infrastructure for research and enable teams to conduct repeatable research by building tools and finding ways to engage users. Product managers should maintain a strong understanding of market insights to stay connected with customers.

We then share a real-life case study on streamlining user research processes and discuss the importance of process and practice in the context of product operations. Establishing clear guidelines and consistency in working approaches helps product managers focus on strategic work rather than getting caught up in unnecessary tasks. Product operations, when done right, brings efficiency and consistency without adding bureaucratic processes.

We emphasize the need for transparency and tracking in companies and explain that product operations can be implemented gradually, starting with one pillar and then expanding to others as priorities shift. It is crucial to showcase successful case studies and demonstrate the potential benefits of product operations to gain buy-in from the organization. The decision to start a product operations team depends on factors such as the number of product managers, scaling plans, and the need for structure and efficiency in managing data and processes.

We conclude by advising listeners to start somewhere and focus on the pillar that provides the most value. The book mentioned earlier serves as a valuable resource, offering advice, insights, frameworks, and case studies for anyone interested in product operations.

Overall, this conversation provides a comprehensive overview of product operations and its importance in organizations, offering practical insights and guidance for implementation.