Prod Squad

Nick flys solo in this mini-episode about RAT's (riskiest assumptions testable). This episode teaches how to identify and test your riskiest assumptions, ensuring you're always working on the most important thing, especially in the early stages of a product.

You've heard podcasters talk about AI, but have you heard podcasters talk about talking about AI?! Nick and Brendan are back to do just that. In this episode the duo chats about how to have AI related conversations with different stakeholders, including customers, engineers, and leadership.

Christmas came early and we got you the final Prod Squad episode of the year! In this episode Brendan and Nick look back at 2023 and dole out a variety of awards covering both professional and personal topics. Happy holidays and see you all in 2024!

Awards:

The Squad is back to talk about thinking BIG. Brendan and Nick dive into why it's important to think big, why it can be hard to do it, and strategies to make it easier all in an effort to make you 10x better at thinking 10x!

This episode is all about Twitter (sorry I mean X). Nick and Brendan review the Twitter saga and bring a product perspective to the big changes that occurred over the last year. From the rebrand to the For You tab to Twitter Blue the Squad talks about all the decisions in this X Episode!

On this episode of Prod Squad, Nick and Brendan finally dive into the topic of AI, discussing their initial reactions, use cases for language models like ChatGPT, and how AI may impact jobs. From chatbots to search engines, they explore the ways AI is already making an impact on our lives and the potential benefits and challenges it may bring. Tune in for a fun and informative conversation on this exciting topic. Don't forget to like and subscribe to Prod Squad for more product management insights and banter.

Description generated by ChatGPT. Audio editing by Matt LeFevre.

The Squad returns from hiatus to talk about....baby products? With both Nick and Brendan now being fathers their homes have been taken over by baby products, so they decided to deviate from their typical software PM related topics and instead use baby products as examples of how product principles are transferrable across industry.

As much as every PM would like to think they only release winning features the reality is we don't. There's a reason we're encouraged to "fail fast" and iterate on features. In this episode the Squad recounts some of their own feature failures, what indicates the success or failure of a feature, and how to analyze why a feature failed so you can take action accordingly.

The Squad finally did it... an episode where both hosts have good microphones! The Squad uses those mics to go back to the basics and talk about user stories. What is a user story? Why are they important? How do you write a good one? Listen to find out!

It's been a little over 6 months since the Squad parted ways and started new jobs so they take a moment (58 minutes specifically) to discuss new product experiences and perspective they've gained since splitting up. In this relatively freeform episode discussion includes product team structure, working with SME's, being a vertical versus horizontal player, and more!

Note: Nick had some microphone issues. He feels bad and has already purchased a new mic (how the tables have turned)