In this episode of the Product Weekend podcast, host João Moita speaks with Chris Compston, an experienced consultant specializing in product enablement and operations. They delve into the vital aspects of building high-performing product teams and the operational improvements necessary for achieving success in product organizations. Chris shares his journey and insights, focusing on practical strategies for fostering inclusive work cultures, enhancing operational efficiency, and empowering teams to scale effectively. Listeners can expect valuable takeaways on how to enhance decision-making and drive better outcomes in product management.

Key Takeaways:

1. Chris discusses the importance of creating a psychologically safe environment within teams, which is essential for high performance and innovation. He emphasizes that safety allows team members to voice their ideas without fear, leading to stronger customer value and business impact.

2. The episode highlights the significance of continuous improvement practices, such as using frameworks like the Lean Capability Canvas. This tool helps teams identify their operational challenges and facilitates conversations with leadership about necessary resources for overcoming these challenges.

3. There is a focus on the dynamic relationship between founders and teams. Chris explains how founders must balance being hands-on with empowering team members, ensuring that teams maintain autonomy while feeling supported in their decision-making.

4. The conversation addresses common pitfalls in product operations, such as overlooking the need for inclusivity and diversity in hiring practices. Chris argues that these elements are crucial for fostering an environment where diverse perspectives lead to better product outcomes.

5. Finally, the episode encourages product leaders to prioritize cultivating a culture of open communication and collaborative decision-making. Chris stresses that this culture is not static but must evolve continuously as organizations grow, ensuring that all team members feel valued and heard.

Timestamps:

00:00 Coming Up

03:38 Chris’s Career Journey

07:25 Shift to Product Operations

09:33 Building Culture in Product Teams

10:56 Psychological Safety and Teams

13:24 Signs of Unsafe Teams

19:53 Measuring Psychological Safety

22:39 Consultants vs. Internal Training

28:18 The Lean Capability Canvas

34:03 Founder Mode & Safety

39:20 Autonomy and Empowerment

43:30 Leadership in Scaling Culture

46:37 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

In this enlightening episode of the Product Weekend Podcast, host João Moita welcomes Simonetta Batteiger, a respected product leadership and executive coach. Together, they delve into the intricacies of psychological safety within product teams, emphasizing the vital role of inclusion and the impact of gender dynamics in fostering a supportive work environment. Through Simonetta's wealth of experience and keen insights, listeners will uncover how conscious leadership can help build trust, recognize biases, and implement practical strategies for creating an inclusive and psychologically safe workplace.

Key Takeaways

Timestamps:

00:00 Coming Up

01:50 Introduction

03:20 Simonetta’s Career Journey

04:30 What's Psychological Safety?

11:08 Recognizing Discrimination in Teams

15:29 Managing Toxic Leadership

23:18 Promoting Inclusivity and Equality

25:38 Building Trust Through Vulnerability

35:00 Long-Term Strategies for Psychological Safety

47:45 The Challenges Women Face in Leadership

50:43 Closing Thoughts

Welcome to the Product Weekend Podcast! In this insightful episode, our host Moita dives deep into the world of psychological safety in product teams with guest Florian Bonnet. With a remarkable journey from theoretical physics to leading high-performing product teams, Florian shares his personal experiences, including the challenges he faced with burnout. Together, they discuss the vital role of transparency, empathy, and clear expectations in fostering an environment where teams can innovate without fear of failure.

Whether you're a leader or an individual contributor, this conversation is brimming with valuable insights that will elevate your understanding of team dynamics and psychological safety.

Key Takeaways:

1. Psychological Safety: Florian emphasizes the importance of creating an environment where team members feel safe to express their ideas and take risks without fear of being shut down. This is crucial for innovation and creativity.

2. Transparency and Empathy: Both Florian and Moita agree that being transparent about challenges, decisions, and expectations fosters trust and openness among team members.

3. Clear Expectations: Setting clear expectations regarding roles, responsibilities, and performance metrics helps mitigate uncertainty and allows team members to focus on delivering results.

4. The Importance of Experimentation: Encouraging a culture of experimentation allows teams to learn and grow. Florian shares how creating a "safe to fail" environment can lead to long-term success.

5. Leadership and Vulnerability: Effective leaders model vulnerability by sharing their own challenges and experiences, which encourages team members to do the same, fostering a supportive team culture.

Tune in to explore how psychological safety can significantly enhance team dynamics and product outcomes.

Timestamps:

00:00 Coming Up

01:47 Introduction

03:45 Florian's background

06:33 Influence of Academic background

10:44 Consulting Challenges

13:38 Discovering Psychological Safety

18:37 Leadership & Strategy Approaches

22:51 Balancing Freedom & Structure

30:44 Experimentation & Team Dynamics

39:15 Team Fit & Human Leadership

57:41 Positive Leadership

59:13 Closing Remarks

Welcome to the Product Weekend Podcast, hosted by João Moita. In this exciting Season 3, we are delving into the crucial topic of psychological safety in product teams. Today’s guest, Diana Stepner, brings a wealth of knowledge with over two decades of experience in product management across various sectors, including startups, enterprises, and non-profits. Diana’s career has been marked by her dedication to fostering safe and innovative work environments, making her a perfect fit for this season’s theme.

In this episode, Diana shares her journey, insights, and practical strategies for creating psychologically safe spaces within product teams. From her extensive international experience to her current role as a leadership coach, Diana provides invaluable advice on how to encourage team members to speak up, embrace learning, and drive innovation. Her approach to psychological safety, emphasizing cross-functional contributions and continuous improvement, offers listeners actionable takeaways to implement in their own teams.

Key Learnings:

Learn more about Product Weekend

https://theproductweekend.com/

Subscribe to Diana's newsletter:

https://dianastepner.substack.com/

Reach out to [email protected] if you want to learn more about the topic or want support for your team.

Join hosts Moita and Brito on the Product Weekend Podcast as they sit down with Aakash Gupta, popularly known as 'The Product Growth Guy,' to unravel the ultimate guide to mastering product reviews. In this engaging episode, Aakash shares in-depth insights on essential PM qualities, practical strategies for effective product reviews, and building key relationships within your team. Whether you're an aspiring product manager or a seasoned leader, this conversation is packed with valuable advice to elevate your product management skills.

Dive deeper into Product Reviews: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/the-product-review-bible-how-to-crush

Learn more from Aakash with his newsletter: https://www.news.aakashg.com/

Find out more about Product Weekend: https://theproductweekend.com/

Other newsletters highlighted by Aakash:

Other podcasts:

Timestamps:

(0:00) Highlights

(2:25) Introduction

(3:52) Aakash’s background

(9:30) Innate skills necessary for a PM

(14:49) Launching the biggest concert in history

(22:43) Definition of Product Review

(24:52) Main mistakes with Product Reviews

(38:31) Practices and tips for preparing a Product Review

(42:43) Strategy and Vision reviews for Leaders

(46:18) Building and maintaining relationships

(51:29) Future trends in Product

(53:18) Other resources to learn Product

(55:33) Sprint Questions

(1:01:18) Release Notes

Get to learn about continuous discovery habits, how to deal with assumptions and much more! In this episode our hosts Tojal and Brito welcome  Teresa Torres, author of the best seller " Continuous Discovery Habits" to discuss the importance of continuous discovery in product management.

Teresa is one of the most well-known names around Product Management, with more than 13 years of work as a product discovery coach that really emphasizes the significance of integrating discovery into daily routines to prevent wasted efforts on ineffective products. Generative AI, outcome vs output approach and other gold nuggets make this a must watch episode!

Learn more about Teresa and Product Talk here: https://www.producttalk.org/ and http://learn.producttalk.org/

Learn more about Product Weekend: https://theproductweekend.com/

Timestamps:

(00:00) Highlights

(02:11) Intro & Background

(06:35) The Importance of Continuous Discovery

(15:19) Implementing Discovery in Organizations

(20:57) Balancing Discovery and Delivery

(24:24) Dealing with Assumptions in Product Development

(31:28) Generative AI in Discovery Process

(38:57) Outcome vs. Output Focused Approaches

(42:10) Skills for Outcome-Driven Teams

(45:05) Product Talk

(54:40) Sprint Questions

(56:10) Release notes

Join hosts Tojal and Brito on the Product Weekend Podcast as they explore the crucial role of entrepreneurial thinking in product management with Tanja Lau, a trailblazer in educational innovation and the founder of Product Academy.

In this insightful episode, Tanja shares her unique journey from studying literature to leading product management education, highlighting how creativity and strategic thinking intersect in the tech industry. Learn how understanding business viability and fostering a culture of continuous learning and leadership can propel product professionals to new heights. From Tanja's transition to pioneering educational models to the evolution of learning in product management, this episode is filled with valuable lessons on cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset necessary to thrive in today's dynamic market.

Tune in to be inspired by Tanja's impactful approaches to education and leadership in product management. Don't miss this engaging exploration into developing the skills that define successful product leaders.

Learn more about the Product Academy:

https://www.productacademy.ch/

Learn more about the Product Weekend and join our events:

https://www.theproductweekend.com/

Timestamps:

(0:00) Though times call for Viability

(1:00) Welcome to Episode 14

(2:25) Favourite weekend

(2:55) Tanja’s introduction

(5:07) What is the Product Academy

(13:20) Curation vs À la carte

(15:07) The curriculum of the Product Academy

(19:34) What changed along the way

(23:41) The importance of Continuous Learning

(29:03) How the Academy has changed lives

(31:57) Talking about failures publicly

(33:10) How to integrate Continuous Learning into a busy schedule

(38:12) What traits should a Product Leader have

(42:36) The importance of Mentors

(47:36) The most relevant skills for Product Managers in the next 5 years (besides AI)

(50:28) Advice for new PMs

(51:33) Sprint questions

(53:29) Release notes

In this insightful episode of the Product Weekend Podcast, hosts Tojal and Brito engage with special guest Itamar Gilad, renowned author of 'Evidence Guided.' Itamar shares his transformative journey from an engineering background to a pioneering product management coach, advocating for an evidence-guided approach to product development.

Delving into the GIST framework, Itamar breaks down the essence of Goals, Ideas, Steps, and Tasks in crafting impactful products. The trio explore the significance of customer empathy, the challenges of adopting evidence-based practices in different organizational settings, and the thrilling potential of emerging product management trends.

Whether you're a junior PM or a senior Product Leader, this episode offers valuable insights into achieving product excellence through disciplined, evidence-guided methodologies.

Find more about Itamar and his latest book:

https://itamargilad.com/

https://evidenceguided.com/

Learn more about the Product Weekend:

⁠https://theproductweekend.com/⁠

Timestamps:

(0:00) Episode 13 - Itamar Gilad

(01:34) Itamar's introduction

(03:10) Low tolerance for BS

(05:12) Basis of the GIST Framework

(06:42) North Star Metric and Top Business Metric

(10:23) The Confidence-meter

(16:14) Testing ideas and MVPs

(21:15) Tasks and Product Backlog

(31:34) Moving from trusting opinions to evidence-guided

(35:11) Implementation of the GIST framework

(41:58) Implementing GIST in a startup vs corporate

(46:46) Itamar's future ventures

(47:48) Sprint questions

(51:18) Release Notes

Join hosts Tojal and Moita on the Product Weekend Podcast as they explore the innovative world of Product-Led Growth (PLG) with Ben Williams, also known as the Product-Led Geek. In this enlightening episode, Ben, a seasoned product and growth expert, unravels the intricacies of PLG strategies and shares his journey and insights from over two decades in the field.

Discover how to harness the power of PLG to solve meaningful problems with elegant solutions that users love and advocate for. From discussing the evolution of PLG in B2B SaaS companies to revealing practical challenges and solutions in implementing PLG frameworks, this episode is packed with actionable insights. Whether you're a budding product manager or a seasoned professional, tune in to gain a deeper understanding of building and scaling user-centric products that drive sustainable growth. Don't miss this deep dive into the tactics that shape successful product strategies in today's competitive landscape.

Learn more about Ben and follow his newsletter:

https://plgeek.com/

Learn more about the Product Weekend and join our events:

https://www.theproductweekend.com/

Timestamps:

(0:00) PMF first, then PLG

(0:56) Welcome to Episode 12

(2:29) Favourite weekend

(3:12) Ben’s introduction

(3:36) What is Product-Led Growth

(5:05) How did you became a proponent of PLG

(9:28) What’s wrong with Saled-led Growth

(12:01) How PLG evolved over time

(14:01) Overcoming a big PLG challenge

(16:36) Cultivating the right PLG culture

(19:28) Setting the stage for success

(24:44) Identifying Growth Loops

(30:09) Specific examples of Growth Loops

(34:34) Balancing quality and quantity of Growth Loops

(37:10) Going from Sales-Led to Product-Led

(39:17) Avoiding friction when adding PLG on top of PLS

(42:47) The keys to User Onboarding in PLG

(44:11) User Centricity is the present and the future of PM

(46:26) Advices for Startups

(48:05) Sprint questions

(49:50) Release notes

Join us for another Product Weekend Podcast hit! We had the privilege of hosting Büşra in a really special episode! Büşra shared her comprehensive insights on the journey of product management from classic to its current state in the tech world, her view over the different bubbles that need to coexist in our professional world and also dived on mastering product discovery and understanding the importance for the business as well of a well made discovery!

To know more about Büşra: https://www.busra.co/

Find out more about Product Weekend: https://theproductweekend.com/

Timestamps:

(0:00) Highlights & Intro

(3:23) Exploring the evolution of Product Management

(5:36) The clash between Classical and Tech Product Management

(12:40) The Agile, Product and Lean Startup bubbles

(20:38) The future of Tech Product Management

(23:42) Unpacking Product Discovery

(25:25) The role of UX Researchers in Product Discovery

(34:39) Navigate team dynamics and outsourcing

(40:49) Release Notes