Prod Squad

Nick returns to the podcast after a brief hiatus and we thought some friendly competition was in order. Instead of just talking about prioritization frameworks the Squad members compete to see who can draft the best team of frameworks. Who had the best draft? Give it a listen and let us know!

This week on Prod Squad, Nick takes a product research sabbatical while Brendan sits down with Mary Colliton, lead PM for the Excelsius cranial robot, to talk about the difference between hardware and software product management and what we all might learn from each other.

The Squad starts the episode by discussing big product launches and office grand openings at their respective companies during the Retro. We then spend the majority of the episode talking about how to best work with the Design and Engineering teams, something you will do a lot as a PM. Also, Brendan keeps the same mic for a second consecutive episode, tying his longest streak.

This episode the Squad tries a slightly different format... and Brendan tries yet another microphone. Inspired by recent news we take a look at the "Streaming Wars" through a product lens. We touch on some key events, like the rapid shuttering of CNN+ and Netflix's stock woes, and then step back and give our thoughts on four endgame possibilities presented by Deloitte. 

(Link to Deloitte article: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/gx-future-of-tv-video.html)

Product Manager's are often told to fall in love with the problem, not the solution, but that's easier said than done. In this episode we'll talk about why falling in love with the problem is important and tips for how to help you and your organization stay problem focused.

Ready to become the MVP of MVP's? This week we talk about what a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is, why MVP's are important, different types of MVP's, and common MVP mistakes we've seen.

This episode we try to answer the often asked question: How technical does a PM need to be? As we talk through our answer we discuss why technical skills are important for a PM, what our experiences have been, and how you can learn technical skills.

This episode we're talking about a different kind of interview, the one you'll do over and over again after you ace the PM interview and get the job: Customer Interviews. We talk about how to find customers to interview, how to prepare for an interview, how to facilitate a successful customer interview, and how to record what you learn.

Following up our podcast MVP (aka Episode 1) we're back with Episode 2, which is all about the PM interview. We talk about what to expect when interviewing, our recent interviewing experience, and some tips and tricks to help you crush your interviews!

Resources mentioned in the episode:

The inaugural episode of the Prod Squad podcast! On this episode we give advice on how you can break into Product Management. We discuss both transitioning to a PM role from inside a tech company as well as breaking in from outside the industry.