157: Looking Back, Leaping Forward: 2023 Retrospective

Looking Back, Leaping Forward: 2023 Retrospective

In the last episode of 2024, I go through a retrospective of the show for 2023, and share some of my plans for 2024.

A few stats, lessons learned, things that went well and went badly, and then a sneak peek into what I’m planning for 2024.

2023 recap

I released a total of 34 episodes, including seven reruns. Five of the episodes were interviews.

I introduced some interesting new topics like anti-fragility and the PRD as the product bible. Both of those need more coverage in 2024!

As well, of course, the show continued (and will continue) to hit on all the old favorites like storytelling, go to market, psychological safety and basic product management skills.

Stats & achievements

* My monthly downloads almost doubled since mid-2022.

* The best month hit 2,481 downloads.

* My most popular episode reached 320 downloads in the first 30 days.

Challenges

* Some of the usual suspects – consistency, content ideas, all that stuff. (It’s a creative endeavor, and so creative blocks are gonna happen, I don’t care who you are!)

* And then there were indeed a few technical challenges, including one interview I recorded where half the recording disappeared at one point. Luckily, I was recording it with another tool as well, so I think I’ll be able to save it.

* ChatGPT was not the helper I thought it would be (although it did contribute a lot to these show notes, based on the transcript of the episode).

Looking ahead to 2024

Expect a higher ratio of interviews in 2024. As I mentioned, I only did five interviews in 2023. I expect that to go way up. This is both to widen the content because (haha!) I don’t know everything. And also to widen the audience because a lot of folks have audiences that would be interested in what we do here on the podcast. And I want to get that out to them.

I plan to explore the Descript tool further and ramp up the marketing side of the podcast.

My goal for the year is 52 episodes, although not all new. I don’t know why this wouldn’t be possible.

Content goals

I will continue exploring go-to-market strategies, getting jobs, being mentally successful in product management. And some newer topics like AI (as I explore it for myself and report on what others are doing), the product bible concept, and anti-fragility, among other topics.

I’ll be working on “filling the well” in 2024, to help me have more ideas and insights to share. I’ve set a personal goal to read 24 books in 2024, 1/2 fiction, 1/2 business/non-fiction. Currently I’m reading User Stories Applied, by Mike Cohn. I rag on user stories a lot, so I thought it would be a good idea to read one of the original guides on how to write and use them.

Coaching episodes!

In 2024 I will be introducing coaching episodes where you, my listeners, can participate for guidance and learning.

Let me know if you’d like to get some coaching from me on some issue that you wouldn’t mind being shared to the world. It’ll be fun!

(I love the way Dallas Travers uses coaching in her podcast “Coaches On A Mission.” Adam Scheuble is another master of this on his podcast “Podcasting Business School.”)

Episodes I mentioned

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Dan Balcauski on pricing in episodes 134 and 135.

* Evading “product management gatekeepers” in episo...