One Knight in Product

By One Knight in Product

I’m your host, Jason Knight, and One Knight in Product is your chance to go deep into the wonderful world of product management, product marketing, startups, leadership, diversity & inclusion and ... more

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How many episodes does One Knight in Product have?

The podcast currently has 280 episodes available.

One Knight in Product episodes:

February 21, 2026Hugo Alves - Let's Get Real About Synthetic Users (with Hugo Alves, Co-founder @ Synthetic Users)
On this episode, I speak to Hugo Alves, co-founder of Synthetic Users, about one of the most controversial topics in modern product development: using generative AI to simulate users for research and decision-making. Hugo has a background in clinical psychology and product, and has spent the past three years building a platform that generates synthetic qualitative interviews to help teams reduce risk and make better decisions.
Episode highlights:
What Synthetic Users actually is - generating in-depth qualitative interviews with AI-powered "synthetic" participants to help teams reduce risk and accelerate discovery
Most companies don't do enough, or any, research in the first place, and they need as many tools in their locker to help with the ultimate goal: making great products.
The pragmatist's view of AI - why Hugo doesn't care whether LLMs are "conscious", only whether they produce useful outputs
The agentic "swarm" approach - using specialised sub-agents (planners, interviewers, critics) instead of one giant prompt to improve quality and reduce drift
B2B vs B2C - why synthetic research works well in B2B contexts, and the harder (future) problem of modelling organisational dynamics
Bias, sycophancy and realism - the technical concerns around LLMs and how to validate responses with pilots and human comparison studies
How to use synthetic research in practice - filtering ideas, informing human interviews, and treating it as an accelerant rather than a replacement
"It shouldn't exist" - the moral argument against synthetic users, reacting to UX thought leaders and their objections, and why some of those objections aren't really about evidence
... and much more.
Contact Hugo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugomanuelalves/
Website: https://www.syntheticusers.com/
Twitter/"X": https://twitter.com/Ugo_alves
...more
1h 5min
January 27, 2026CPO Stories: Jessica Hall - Just Eat Takeaway
In this episode, I speak with Jessica Hall. Jess is the Chief Product Officer at Just Eat Takeaway, a global leader in the on-demand delivery space. With a professional pedigree that includes leadership roles at UK retail giants like Tesco, Argos, and Sainsbury's, Jess brings a wealth of experience in navigating complex, high-stakes consumer environments. Our conversation delves into the "big idea" of managing a massive three-sided marketplace, balancing the needs of consumers, partners, and couriers while transitioning from a food-centric brand to an "everything delivered" platform.
We cover a lot, including:
Navigating the Three-Sided Marketplace - Jess describes the Just Eat Takeaway product as a complex ecosystem connecting 60 million active customers with nearly 400,000 partners and a vast network of couriers. The core insight here is that the "product" isn't just an app; it is the seamless orchestration of these three distinct groups, where a failure in one branch inevitably disrupts the value for the others.
Scaling Global Platforms with Local Nuance - Despite operating a global tech platform, Jess emphasises the importance of "optionality" to respect regional differences, from currency formatting to cultural preferences like cash usage. This approach allows the company to maintain a unified technical infrastructure while remaining flexible enough to adapt when a specific market, like the UK or Canada, leads the way in new category demands like grocery delivery.
The Power of Customer Closeness - Moving beyond data and reports, Jess advocates for getting "on the ground" to talk to couriers and visit partner restaurants. By understanding the physical realities, such as a busy kitchen staff finding a feature too cumbersome to use during peak hours, product leaders can solve real-world friction that data trends alone might overlook.
Cultivating Dual-Track Career Paths - Recognising that not every brilliant product mind wants to manage people, Jess champions the value of senior Individual Contributor roles. She highlights that technical and strategic mastery is just as vital as people management, and providing high-level growth opportunities for ICs ensures the organisation retains its most creative and experienced problem solvers.
Leading Through Influence and Commerciality - Jess argues that the best product leaders act as "first-rate business partners" rather than just a bridge between engineering and the business. By focusing on "win-win" outcomes and deeply understanding commercial metrics like order volumes and market trends, product teams earn the credibility needed to influence strategy at the highest levels.
Check out Just Eat Takeaway
Check out Just Eat Takeaway's website: https://justeattakeaway.com, or their careers page: https://careers.justeattakeaway.com.
Connect with Jess
You can connect with Jess on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalrhall.
...more
49min
December 30, 2025Michele Hansen - Standing up for User Research in the Age of AI (with Michele Hansen, Founder @ Geocodio & Author “Deploy Empathy“)
In this episode, I'm joined by the returning Michele Hansen, co-founder and CEO of Geocodio and author of Deploy Empathy, now out with a second edition. Michele brings deep experience as a former product manager turned founder, and has spent over a decade helping teams understand customers through rigorous, human-centred research.
We explore what customer research looks like in an AI-accelerated world: where AI genuinely helps, where it falls short, and why talking to real people remains irreplaceable. Along the way, we dig into interviewing craft, curiosity, synthetic users, and some enduring myths that still undermine product discovery.
Episode highlights:
We cover a lot, including:
Why customer interviews still matter in the age of AI - why large language models can accelerate research workflows but cannot replace the insight, judgement, and transformation that comes from engaging directly with customers.
AI as a research intern, not a strategist - AI performs well in certain tasks - transcription, tagging, and basic analysis - but prioritisation, interpretation, and strategy must remain human responsibilities.
The neuroscience of listening and curiosity - both interviewees and interviewers experience genuine pleasure when curiosity is satisfied, reframing interviews as a mutually rewarding process rather than a chore.
What AI misses in real customer conversations - considering the "spiky", unexpected insights that emerge in interviews - and why these often get lost when teams rely too heavily on automated summaries.
Synthetic users, digital twins, and their limits - breaking down different types of simulated users, where they can be useful, and why they depend on high-quality human research to be credible at all.
The problem with the "faster horses" myth - dismantling the misattributed Henry Ford quote and exploring how it's often used to avoid engaging with customers rather than to encourage innovation.
Research as a way to change teams, not just products - how involving teams directly in research builds shared understanding, alignment, and better decision-making across organisations.
Why AI accelerates confusion without product clarity - AI only compounds impact when a clear product vision and customer understanding already exist - otherwise, teams simply move faster in the wrong direction.
Connect with Michele
Learn more about Michele's company, Geocodio: https://www.geocod.io/
Check out the new edition of "Deploy Empathy": https://deployempathy.com/.
Connect with Michele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjwhansen/
Meet Michele at the pub in London! We'll be there on Jan 15th 2026: https://luma.com/xyqi9e2z
...more
57min
December 05, 2025Tim Herbig - Stop Making Alibi Progress & Start Making REAL Progress (with Tim Herbig, Product Management Coach & Author of “Real Progress“)
On this episode, I speak to Tim Herbig, long-time product management coach, speaker, and author of the new book "Real Progress". Tim has worked with companies like StepStone, Chrono24, Deutsche Telekom and Specsavers, and has spent years helping product managers stop hiding behind frameworks and start making a meaningful impact. His work focuses on helping teams connect product strategy, OKRs and discovery without falling into the trap of rigid process correctness.
Episode highlights:
Alibi Progress vs Real Progress - how teams hide behind "the right way" of doing things, obsessing over methods and templates instead of asking whether any of it actually works
The Progress Wheel - Tim's diagnostic loop that ties strategy, OKRs and discovery together so teams can see where they're actually stuck and what to do next
The three attributes of good product strategy: Decisiveness, Layering and Executability
How to handle OKRs when leadership gives you metrics you can’t influence using zones of control and contribution
How to sell discovery to sceptical stakeholders - by framing it as "protecting the company's investment", not a fluffy UX ritual
Reverse-mapping discovery when you're handed a solution - even if you have to build it, work backwards to define the outcome
Why frameworks should be starting points, not destinations - and why Tim would be disappointed if anyone adopted his wheel dogmatically
... And much more.
Buy the book
You can grab a copy of Real Progress here:
Tim's site: https://herbig.co/real-progress-book/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/398275190X
Contact Tim
Website: https://herbig.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herbigt/
...more
56min
November 10, 2025CPO Stories: Sean O'Neill - Syncron
On this episode, I speak to Sean O'Neill. Sean is the Chief Product & Technology Officer at Syncron, and an executive product leader with a storied career spanning companies like Amazon, Tesco, and GfK. We bond over our shared history at GfK, speak about how Amazon has influenced his product thinking, how it's developed since he moved on, and his approach to portfolio management and right-sizing investments across the product portfolio.
We cover a lot, including:
There's no greater crime than building something the universe doesn't need: Sean's ten key product principles that he lists on LinkedIn - first developed at Tesco - all matter, but building pointless stuff tops his list of product sins.
Use the right tool for the job: Amazon shaped Sean's product DNA, but he's clear that context is king - you can't simply transplant Big Tech practices into legacy environments and expect them to work wholesale.
Most companies under-invest in their strategy: When progress stalls, it's usually because teams are spread too thin across BAU work and one-off feature requests. The best product firms align time and capacity to strategic bets (or admit that they're a professional services company).
Adopt a portfolio mindset: Sean's capital allocation framework helps leaders size and re-balance investments, ensuring resources go where they'll have the biggest impact - and revisiting regularly (but not too regularly) to stay honest.
Learn the language of money: Too many product leaders avoid finance. Sean argues that financial literacy isn't optional if you want credibility with the board and real influence on business outcomes. Learn the numbers!
Connect with Sean
You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanon/. There you'll find a number of articles, including the one we discuss in this interview: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-dont-need-more-engineers-better-strategic-bets-sean-o-neill-s0vze/
Connect with Sean's "mystery caller"
You can connect with special guest interviewer Sterling O'Neill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterlingoneill/.
...more
51min
October 22, 2025CPO Stories: Georgie Smallwood - Moonpig
On this episode, I speak to Georgie Smallwood. Georgie is Chief Product, Technology & Data Officer at Moonpig - the UK's best-known online gifting and greeting card platform. Georgie has built a global career leading product and technology teams at companies like N26, Xero, and Tier Mobility, before joining Moonpig to help transform a 25-year-old household brand into a modern, tech-driven organisation. In this interview, she talks about what it means to create "moments that matter", how Moonpig balances emotional connection with innovation, and how to lead when you're responsible for product, tech and data all at once.
We cover a lot, including:
Making technology more human: Georgie believes technology should make the world smaller, not bigger - by connecting people, not distancing them. At Moonpig, the goal isn't just to sell cards or gifts, but to help people express love and connection through meaningful gestures.
Product with purpose: Moonpig's mission is to be “the world's greatest gifting companion.” Every card printed represents a moment of love, humour, or memory between people. Georgie sees product management at Moonpig as building moments that matter, not just features.
Balancing connection and innovation: Moonpig has embraced AI and personalisation, but Georgie cautions against rushing ahead for technology's sake. Instead, the team focuses on introducing innovation in a way that feels natural and accessible to mass-market users.
Leading product, technology, and data together: As CPTDO, Georgie bridges three major domains. She admits she's not a data scientist or engineer, but focuses on seeking to understand - asking open questions, learning continuously, and leading through consistency rather than control.
On empowerment and leadership: While she values empowered teams, Georgie is pragmatic about balancing autonomy with business realities. She also believes true innovation needs governance, not chaos.
Check out Moonpig
Check out Moonpig's website: http://moonpig.com/, or their careers page: https://www.moonpig.group/careers/.
Connect with Georgie
You can connect with Georgie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginasmallwood/.
...more
54min
September 23, 2025Nesrine Changuel - We Should All Prioritise Product Delight! (with Nesrine Changuel, Product Coach & Author of “Product Delight“)
On this episode, I speak to my friend Nesrine Changuel, product coach and author of the new book "Product Delight". Nesrine started her career at Bell Labs as a research engineer before moving into product management at Microsoft, Spotify, and Google, where she even held the title "PM for Delight" on Google Meet. Her work focuses on how products can go beyond functionality to create genuine emotional connections with users.
Episode highlights:
Why Product Delight is more than just a “nice to have”, and isn't just confetti on your boring app
The three pillars of Product Delight: reducing friction, anticipating needs, and exceeding expectations
The difference between surface delight (like balloons on your Apple Watch) and deep delight (features that serve emotional and functional needs together)
Why delight matters just as much in B2B products as in consumer apps, and why everything is B2H
How to get buy-in from leaders and stakeholders by linking emotional connection to revenue, retention, and referrals
The Delight Grid and Nesrine's four-step model for embedding delight into your product process
The risks of chasing the wrong kind of delight (like Deliveroo's failed Mother's Day campaign or Apple's awkward gesture fireworks)
... And much more.
Buy the book
You can grab a copy of Product Delight here:
Nesrine's site: https://nesrine-changuel.com/product-delight-book/
Amazon UK: https://a.co/d/1J7JLZZ
Contact Nesrine
Website: https://www.nesrine-changuel.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nesrinechanguel
Newsletter: https://nesrinechanguel.substack.com
...more
1h 7min
September 08, 2025CPO Stories: Katya Denike - Holland & Barrett
In this episode, I speak with Katya Denike, Chief Product Officer at Holland & Barrett, the 150-year-old health and wellness retailer that has become a household name on the UK high street. Having previously worked at McKinsey, Yandex, Ozon, and Beyond 100, she now leads Holland & Barrett's ambitious digital transformation - helping the company evolve from a traditional retailer into a global wellness ecosystem.
We cover a lot, including:
Transforming a heritage retailer: Holland & Barrett is delivering double-digit growth through a sweeping digital and cultural transformation, investing in everything from supply chain systems to customer-facing apps.
Global vs local: The company builds strong global digital capabilities (like search and e-commerce infrastructure) while tailoring ~20% of the experience for each market to meet regulatory and customer needs.
High street resilience: Despite doom-and-gloom headlines, Holland & Barrett is thriving by focusing on product-market fit, preventative healthcare, and efficient tech-enabled operations.
The app transformation: Taking the mobile app in-house turned it from a struggling third-party product (<5% of digital revenue, 3-star rating) into a core strategic channel (>30% revenue share, 4.5+ rating).
Internal product management is sexy too: Katya insists that logistics, pricing systems, and data management are some of the most rewarding areas for product managers, enabling everything else to work.
Team structure: Around 100 people in product, design, and research, split between "firm foundations" (core systems) and "omnichannel customer experience", plus a small but mighty product ops team.
Leadership leap: Moving into her first CPO role was daunting, but support from her manager pushed her to take the leap and build a truly independent product function inside the company.
Skills for success: Katya highlights high agency, emotional intelligence, and the ability to navigate crucial conversations as must-haves for product leaders.
Check out Holland & Barrett
Check out Holland & Barrett's website: https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/, or their careers page: https://apply.hollandandbarrettjobs.com/jobs/vacancy/find/results/.
Connect with Katya
You can connect with Katya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denikekatya/.
You can also check out Katya's podcast, Rocking Cribs & Careers. here! https://open.spotify.com/show/3rheb2Q1YuUvdmeYS8ngqA.
...more
49min
August 17, 2025CPO Stories: Jamie Mercer - TrustedHousesitters
In this episode, I speak with Jamie Mercer, Chief Product Officer at Trusted Housesitters, the global pet care and travel marketplace disrupting two industries at once. Jamie has previously held senior product roles at VoucherCodes, Skyscanner, Student Beans and IVC Evidensia, and now leads product at a scale-up known for putting trust at the heart of its community-driven business.
We cover a lot, including:
TrustedHousesitters' unique proposition - a two-sided marketplace mixing travel and pet sitting, where both pet owners and sitters pay a subscription to help create mutual trust and respect.
Scaling through word of mouth - 70-75% of members join via a friend, and how the team are working to amplify that growth while keeping trust at the centre.
Balancing marketplace dynamics - keeping supply and demand in sync, supporting new sitters with no ratings, and using AI and personalisation to build confidence.
Using AI responsibly - from accelerating customer insight analysis to improving customer support, AI speeds up decision-making but always in service of company strategy.
Building empowered product teams - why Jamie invested early in product ops and product marketing instead of hierarchy, and how she's now preparing to scale with Product Directors.
Commercial product management - the importance of PMs with business acumen who can link solving customer problems with driving commercial outcomes.
Executive alignment as the hardest (and most valuable) job - why alignment across the C-suite is the best air cover a leader can provide for their teams.
Lessons from leadership - why some of the hardest decisions are killing months of work, the surprise of soft skills dominating the CPO role, and why leadership still matters in the AI era.
Check out Trusted Housesitters
Check out Trusted Housesitters' website: https://trustedhousesitters.com/, or their careers page: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/careers/.
Connect with Jamie
You can connect with Jamie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiemercer/.
...more
49min
August 11, 2025CPO Stories: Shiri Mosenzon Erez - commercetools
In this episode, I speak with Shiri Mosenzon Erez, Chief Product Officer at commercetools, a global leader in enterprise composable commerce that supports thousands of retailers in hundreds of countries, enabling tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually. Shiri's career journey has taken her from consulting into her first product role at Tesco, through product leadership at Ocado, and now leading at a scale-up with a global enterprise footprint.
We cover a lot, including:
What commercetools does: An API-first, composable commerce engine powering online trade for major global enterprises and manufacturers, enabling flexibility, resilience, and constant uptime for B2C and B2B commerce.
Composable commerce explained: Allowing customers to mix and match best-of-breed components across the commerce value stream or opting for "pre-composed" solutions built on the same composable foundation.
Strategic focus in a flexible platform: How the team decides where to build, buy, or partner, using value stream mapping to prioritise and avoid being pulled in too many directions.
AI and agents in commerce: From data tagging to conversational assistants and dynamic pricing, Shiri shares early enterprise adoption patterns and the role of commercetools' MCP layer in letting customers plug in the agents they trust.
Product team structure: A 55-person product org spanning UX, product management, and close engineering partnerships, with domain-focused teams and a strong CPO–CTO pairing model.
Balancing explore vs exploit: Encouraging teams to pivot to higher-value domains when propositions mature, and celebrating decisions to stop work that’s no longer impactful.
Customer-led vs strategy-led delivery: Using proactive roadmap communication to align big customer requests with company strategy and KPIs, turning reactive asks into collaborative problem-solving.
Technical and business balance in PMs: Moving from a largely technical PM base toward a mix of skills, with growing focus on business value and direct engagement with business stakeholders.
Leadership approach: Shiri's focus on connecting product strategy to company strategy, advocating at the executive level, and ensuring her teams feel purpose, autonomy, and mastery in their work.
Check out commercetools
Check out commercetools's website: https://commercetools.com/, or their careers page: https://commercetools.com/careers/jobs.
Connect with Shiri
You can connect with Shiri on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shiri-mosenzon/.
...more
47min

FAQs about One Knight in Product:

How many episodes does One Knight in Product have?

The podcast currently has 280 episodes available.

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