Product Chats

Adam Kropf truly leads by example. He’s a Head of Product and Development at Texada Software. But he’s also so much more than that. He leads a local product management group – a community for likeminded product fans to chat and share ideas. In this episode, he talks all about that, as well as stakeholder management, user interviews, empowering the team, and more!

Time Stamped Show Notes

Getting into product [00:53]

Leading a product management group [01:34]

Stakeholder management [03:29]

Conducting user interviews [04:53]

Balancing feature requests [08:04]

Product 101 [11:17]

Empowering the team [13:45]

External stakeholder management [16:43]

Advice for aspiring product leaders [19:18]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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Mental health follows you throughout your life. In this episode of Product Chats, Gavin Wade, VP Product at Unmind, opens up about his mental health journey. He talks honestly and openly about dyslexia, his childhood, and how all that brought him to product management at a startup.

Time Stamped Show Notes

Getting into product [00:43]

Building products in small teams vs big teams [04:26]

Neurodiversity [05:21]

Supporting your teams’ superpowers [11:15]*

Developing career growth plans [14:50]

Mental health and product [19:05]

Advice for aspiring product leaders [23:32]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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People are good at two things – judgement and relationships. Everything else is largely automatable. When it comes to building software, product managers should really focus on giving people the opportunity to utilize those skills. That’s what Matt Peters really believes in and shares in this podcast with us. Through creative customer interviews, experimentation, team empowerment and good UX, Matt has transformed many organizations in 25 years, including FireEye and Expel.

Time Stamped Show Notes

Getting into product [01:00]

Operational metrics [05:00]

Making your team feel safe to experiment [08:04]

Hiring for product teams [12:43]

Identifying your team’s superpowers and super weaknesses [14:55]

Supporting your team’s career growth [16:54]

People enabled by products [22:45]

Understanding your customers’ workflows [25:39]

Investing in good UX [27:03]

Unboxing your own product [27:44]

Advice for aspiring product leaders [29:30]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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The core aspect of product management is the “why”. That’s what Leo Gong, VP of Product at Apartment List, truly believes in. In this episode of the Product Chats, we dive deep into his journey in product management and his tips on really understanding your customers and team members. We also discuss the importance of the product vision and, of course, the “why” behind all of it.

Time Stamped Show Notes

Getting into product management [01:41]

Connecting with your customers [03:35]

Being explicit about user problems and personas [06:49]

Truly understanding your users [08:37]

The importance of product visions [10:24]

Launching a new product from scratch [12:58]

What not to do when launching a new product [14:28]

Communicating your product vision [17:10]

Putting your people first [19:05]

Advice for aspiring product managers [25:00]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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Prioritization is critical to successful product management. In this episode of Product Chats, John Slocum, Senior Vice President of Product at 3Play Media, dives into his prioritization approach. We discuss how to leverage data and feature scoring models to make effective product decisions.  With over 15 years of product experience, John has a wealth of knowledge to share.

Time Stamped Show Notes

Transitioning from engineering to product [01:19]

Leveraging data to make product decisions [03:01]

Prioritizing what to build [05:01] 

Making fast decisions [07:41]

Partnering with other departments [09:38]

Focusing on the customer’s problem [11:59]

Strategy vs solutioning [13:24]

Ensuring you’re doing the right things for the customer [16:00]

The value of open-ended questions [20:35]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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How does momentum factor into product management? In this episode of Product Chats, Erik Dawson, Senior Director of Product Management at LeafLink, answers that question. We dive into how product teams can build internal momentum to support product growth, as well as external momentum, which helps customers move through the customer journey.

Time Stamped Show Notes

Getting into product [01:19]

Building products for enterprise vs startups [02:59]

How to structure product teams [06:58]

Building customer experience focused products [08:44]

Product momentum [11:24]

Getting quick wins and setting OKRs [13:41]

Product strategy and the three Cs [14:37]

Leading gracefully at a product led organization [16:41]

Measurement and attribution [18:52]

Advice for aspiring product leaders [23:14]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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Products in established industries often stick to the status quo. That leaves room for emerging competitors to innovate and take market share. How can you avoid that? In this episode of Product Chats, Harish Pandian, Vice President of Product at Alcumus, explains how product managers can overcome the status quo and innovate in even the most established industries.

Time Stamped Show Notes
Exploring product market fit [01:15]

Prioritizing what features to work on [02:05]

Identifying what challenges customers are facing [03:42]

Conducting generative research with users [04:52]

Advice for aspiring product managers [08:32]

Communicating effectively with your end user [11:13]

Prioritizing problems, not ideas [12:30]

Innovating in an established industry [13:39]

Leveraging data when building your product [16:05]

Creating a safe space to experiment [18:10]

Learning vs failing [19:53]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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Getting input from customers is critical to building features and solutions that solve their problems. In this episode of Product Chats, we explore how product leaders can foster customer centricity with Mike Marriage, Senior Director of Product Management at Bloomerang. With over a decade of product leadership experience, Mike is able to share his unique perspective and actionable advice on customer centricity. 

Time Stamped Show Notes

What to focus on first when joining a company [01:45]

Prioritizing what features to work on [03:12]

Saying no to requests constructively [05:07]

Getting alignment with other teams with product councils [06:04]

Customer Centricity [08:29]

Ways to connect with customers [11:30]

How to level set on popular requests [16:23]

Prioritization models [17:43] - [21:05]

Advice for aspiring product managers [21:05]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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Customer feedback informs the product development process. But, how do you ensure you’re connected to your customers and getting their feedback? In this episode of Product Chats, Harpreet Ahluwalia, Chief Product Officer at Altruist, explores this topic with us.
 

Time Stamped Show Notes

Getting into product [01:06]

Staying connected to your customers [03:04]

How feedback informs the product development process [05:20]

Tying product satisfaction to customer retention [06:07]

Balancing customer wants with strategic priorities [07:56]

Showing you value feedback even when you don’t act on it [09:29]

Measuring customer success [11:27]

Failing quickly and pivoting [13:48]

Using feature flags [14:24]

Organizing a product team [16:10]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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Getting started in product management can be challenging. Fortunately, in this episode of Product Chats, Erin Gray, Director of Product at Doximity, shares her advice on how new product managers can ensure they succeed. We cover everything from getting into product, managing a team, collaborating with other teams, and overcoming imposter syndrome.

Time Stamped Show Notes

Succeeding as a new product leader [02:21]

Getting product experience without the title [03:08]

Leveraging mentorship to develop your product career [04:54]

Managing a product team [06:07]

Being an effective manager [08:07]

Different roles you need to fill as a manager [12:34]

Working collaboratively with other teams [13:56]

Overcoming imposter syndrome [16:00]

Becoming a better product leader [18:46]

Product Chats is brought to you by Canny. Over 1,000 teams trust Canny to help them build better products. Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback in one place to inform your product decisions.

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