The Product Porch

The Product Porch

By Ryan Cantwell, Todd Blaquiere, Joe GhaliBusinessMarketingCareersManagement
Download on the App Store

The Product Porch episodes

  • Is an AI Reckoning Coming?

    Is the AI spending spree about to come back and bite product managers? Companies are encouraging teams to experiment with AI, but who's keeping track of the costs, and is all that investment paying off? In this episode, Joe Ghali, Todd Blaquiere, and Ryan Cantwell dig into the hidden costs of AI, why promised productivity gains don't always translate into business value, and what happens when the CFO starts asking tough questions about AI ROI. We also discuss how product managers can balance experimentation with financial responsibility without putting the brakes on innovation.

    Before the AI bill comes due, pull up a chair on the porch and find out how to make sure your AI investments are worth it.

    Time Stamped Notes

    The AI Reckoning: What's Coming?
    [02:16] Why growing AI adoption could lead to some uncomfortable financial surprises.
    [03:16] Early warning signs that companies may be losing control of AI spending.
    [04:11] Five hidden AI costs that could catch organizations off guard.
    [07:27] Have product managers forgotten how to account for the costs of technology?

    AI Costs and Financial Accountability
    [09:31] Why treating AI as overhead can hide its impact on product profitability.
    [10:18] How AI usage costs should influence the pricing of customer-facing products.
    [11:26] What previous technology revolutions can teach us about the AI boom.
    [12:33] Why managing AI expenses may require lessons from cloud cost management.

    The Pressure to Experiment
    [13:08] How pressure to experiment can encourage AI investments without clear outcomes.
    [14:25] Why product leaders are watching consumption costs and potential price increases.
    [16:19] Which AI expenses product managers should be responsible for managing.
    [18:42] The tension between encouraging AI experimentation and controlling its costs.

    Are AI Efficiency Gains Worth the Investment?
    [21:13] How rapidly improving AI tools complicate investment decisions and experimentation.
    [22:19] Why financial scrutiny could make us better product managers.
    [23:20] How to justify human involvement and connect AI efficiency to business value.
    [24:51] Why saving a few minutes doesn't always create meaningful productivity gains.

    Preparing for the AI Reckoning
    [26:15] Why AI adoption isn't an outcome and what product managers should measure instead.
    [26:52] How product management fundamentals help justify AI investments and spending.
    [27:38] Why experimenting with AI doesn't eliminate financial responsibility.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    30 min
  • AI Slop: When Faster Doesn't Mean Better

    Are you producing better work with AI, or just producing more polished garbage? In this episode of the Product Porch, we tackle AI slop, what it looks like, why it's so easy to miss, and how it can quietly undermine your credibility as a product manager. We explore how AI can shift work onto others, weaken critical thinking, and create a false sense of confidence in bad decisions.

    If you're using AI to work faster but want to make sure you're still doing your best work, pull up a chair on the porch. It's time to clean up the slop.

    Time Stamped Notes

    What Is AI Slop, and Why Should You Care?
    [02:13] Why polished AI-generated work can look impressive but lack real substance
    [03:38] AI didn't invent bad work; it just made producing it faster
    [05:08] Why AI makes poor-quality work harder to recognize

    The Hidden Costs of AI Slop
    [07:04] Are you really saving time or just passing work to someone else?
    [08:09] The "meat proxy" problem: When humans become messengers between AI tools
    [08:58] How relying on AI too much can weaken your product management skills
    [11:16] Where AI can genuinely save time without replacing human judgment

    Where AI Slop Shows Up in Product Management
    [15:00] The danger of trusting AI output you don't know how to evaluate
    [16:09] Why AI-generated product strategies can sound convincing but lack substance
    [16:34] How hidden assumptions can lead to wildly inaccurate market research
    [20:56] Why more documentation doesn't necessarily mean better product decisions

    How to Recognize AI Slop Before It Hurts Your Credibility
    [23:56] Excessive length is often the first warning sign of AI slop
    [25:30] Watch for content that misses its audience or mixes conflicting messages
    [27:26] Why your credibility suffers when you can't defend your own work
    [29:06] If AI writes it, you're still responsible for reading every word
    [30:11] Why AI-generated marketing copy often focuses on features instead of benefits

    How to Fight Back Against AI Slop
    [33:02] Better AI-generated product requirements start with better customer understanding
    [37:24] Break big decisions into smaller steps that stakeholders can validate
    [38:37] Establish clear rules for when human judgment needs to take over
    [40:21] If you can't explain it simply, do you really understand it?
    [41:34] Keep writing yourself to preserve your ability to recognize good work

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    44 min
  • PM Power Skills - Building Comfort with Ambiguity

    Join us on the porch for our series on Product Manager Power Skills. These are the skills that help good product managers become great ones. They stay valuable across tools, processes, and product types, and building them can help you grow your impact and your career.

    How do you make progress when you don’t have all the answers? In this episode, Ryan Cantwell, Todd Blaquiere, and Joe Ghali explore comfort with ambiguity and why it’s a power skill product managers can develop. They talk through why uncertainty feels uncomfortable, how jumping to solutions creates a false sense of certainty, and what it takes to move forward when the problem and the path are still unclear.

    The conversation gets practical with stories about unclear expectations, pressure to have every answer, and leadership moments that build or break trust. Ryan, Todd, and Joe explain how to turn “I don’t know” into a plan, identify the most important unknowns, and use tiny acts of discovery to decide what to do next. They also discuss how leaders can help their teams admit uncertainty without feeling unprepared.

    If you want to feel more confident working through uncertainty, pull up a chair on the porch and identify one thing you could learn before choosing your next move.

    Time Stamped Notes:

    Building Comfort with Ambiguity
    [02:29] Prefer structure? Comfort with ambiguity is a skill you can learn
    [05:07] Handling uncertainty doesn’t mean accepting chaos
    [05:46] A clear goal helps when the path is unclear
    [07:02] Unclear expectations may be what’s making you uncomfortable

    Making Progress Without Every Answer
    [08:40] Label assumptions before they become accepted facts
    [09:11] Plan your next move without predicting the whole game
    [13:27] Why feeling you should know everything holds you back
    [16:03] Build confidence by finding the next question to answer

    Avoiding False Certainty
    [17:48] Show you’re prepared, even when you don’t know the answer
    [19:44] A feature and a deadline won’t make the uncertainty disappear
    [22:02] Don’t let discovery become an excuse to delay decisions
    [22:22] Use customer and market context to find your bearings

    Helping Teams Handle Uncertainty
    [25:05] Say “I don’t know” without losing the room’s confidence
    [25:33] Turn unexpected questions into opportunities to learn
    [29:17] Is your response to uncertainty adding pressure or building trust?
    [31:11] Help teams admit knowledge gaps by admitting your own

    Turning Unknowns into Action
    [32:28] Make unknowns visible so you can decide what needs attention
    [32:54] Focus learning on the assumptions with the biggest consequences
    [33:14] Share small discovery tasks instead of finding every answer yourself
    [35:41] Build a discovery backlog to give learning direction and priorities

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    39 min
  • Revisited - Does Industry Experience Matter?

    Does industry experience really matter when you’re trying to land your next product role?

    In this episode, Joe, Todd, and Ryan revisit one of their earliest debates and find themselves in a slightly different place. Industry experience can help you ramp faster, understand the unwritten rules, and bring useful relationships to the table. But it can also get overrated, especially when companies use domain expertise as a shortcut for strong product skills or real customer discovery.
    The guys dig into product sense vs. industry experience, why some hiring teams over-index on domain knowledge, and how product managers can position transferable skills when switching industries. They also talk about what AI changes, what it doesn’t, and why “industry experience preferred” may not be as final as it sounds.

    If you’re eyeing a product management career change and keep seeing “Industry experience preferred”, pull up a chair on the porch.

    Time Stamped Notes:

    Revisiting Industry Experience
    [00:29] Revisiting the debate - The guys return to whether industry experience really matters.
    [02:42] Ryan changes his mind - Ryan softens his original hard-line stance.
    [04:41] Faster ramp-up - Industry knowledge can help PMs get productive faster.
    What Industry Experience Gives You
    [05:52] Defining industry experience - Networks, customers, competitors, and market context all matter.
    [06:12] Lived experience matters - Experiencing industry change creates context research cannot fully replace.
    [10:21] Knowing the boundaries - Regulatory knowledge helps PMs understand what is possible.

    Product Skills vs. Industry Knowledge
    [17:45] Hiring maturity matters - Mature product organizations prioritize product skills over familiarity.
    [19:15] The $25 million mistake - Industry knowledge without customer discovery leads to expensive assumptions.
    [21:53] Product sense - Strong product discipline can outweigh deep domain expertise.
    [26:26] When expertise matters - Complex, regulated products can require deeper industry knowledge.

    Switching Industries
    [27:07] Ask why - Find the problem behind an industry-experience requirement.
    [29:32] Research the problem - Connect the new market’s needs to problems you’ve solved.
    [30:48] Find transferable patterns - Use past experience to show how you learn and adapt.
    [35:23] Use the outsider advantage - A fresh perspective can be a strength.

    Final Takeaways
    [37:34] Product sense is situational - Good judgment is not limited to one industry.
    [37:45] Ryan’s revised view - Industry experience matters, just not as much as product craft.
    [38:22] Treat yourself like a product - Research the problem and position yourself to solve it.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    40 min
  • PM Power Skills - Strategy

    Join us on the porch for our series on Product Manager Power Skills. These are the skills that help good product managers become great ones. They stay valuable across tools, processes, and product types, and building them can help you grow your impact and your career.

    Have you ever been told to “be more strategic” and wondered what that’s supposed to mean? In this episode, Todd Blaquiere, Joe Ghali, and Ryan Cantwell break down what strategy really is, what it isn’t, and why product managers so often confuse strategy with goals, OKRs, prioritization, or a well-organized backlog.
    They talk through how product strategy connects customer value to business goals, why focus matters more than trying to do everything, and how asking better questions can help you uncover strategy even when leadership hasn’t clearly defined one. They also share practical examples for deciding what to say yes to, what to say no to, and how to start behaving more strategically in your day-to-day work.

    If you’re tired of vague advice about “thinking bigger,” Pull up a chair on the porch and get a clearer way to think about strategy.

    Time Stamped Notes:

    Introduction and the Problem with Strategy

    [00:20] Power skills series - Strategy as one of the most overused and misunderstood terms in business.
    [01:34] “Be more strategic” - Why vague feedback creates confusion about strategic thinking.
    [03:29] Strategy confusion - Goals, plans, tactics, and vision are often mislabeled as strategy.

    Defining a Good Strategy

    [05:30] Strategy framework - Challenge, diagnosis, policy, and coordinated action as core elements.
    [06:06] Focus matters - Strategy defines what to do and what not to do.
    [07:51] Strategy vs OKRs - OKRs can support strategy, but do not replace it.
    [08:34] Product strategy - Connecting customer value to business objectives.

    Finding Strategy in the Organization

    [10:32] Better questions - Asking why, how, what success means, and who is impacted helps surface strategy.
    [12:45] Backlogs aren’t strategy - Prioritizing stakeholder requests does not create strategic direction.
    [14:21] Reactive organizations - Delivery-driven cultures can make strategic thinking harder.
    [17:56] Bring the data - Customer and market evidence can redirect feature requests toward outcomes.

    Building Strategy Through Focus

    [19:10] Prioritization problem - Prioritization breaks down when no clear strategy exists.
    [21:37] Basketball strategy - Observation, constraints, and deliberate choices create focus.
    [23:59] Sink the boat - Concentrated effort beats spreading resources across disconnected features.
    [24:30] Find the theme - Focus product work around the biggest customer or market need.
    [25:43] Strategy is deliberate - Strategic thinking requires stepping outside day-to-day execution.

    Strategy in the Real World

    [27:24] Wrong customer - Product direction drifts when internal stakeholders replace real customer needs.
    [27:51] Go to the source - Direct customer input helps separate meaningful requirements from noise.
    [29:08] Saying no - Clear customer focus makes it easier to cut work that does not support the strategy.
    [30:54] Know the customer - Strong strategy requires deeper customer understanding than personas alone.
    [32:23] Play to strengths - Strategy should account for existing organizational capabilities and advantages.

    Key Takeaways

    [33:55] Define strategic - Explain the why, the why now, and what gets deprioritized.
    [34:12] Know what to say no to - Clear strategy creates a basis for rejecting work that does not fit.
    [34:23] Align to business goals - Connect day-to-day work to the outcomes that matter most.
    [35:19] Strategy simplifies decisions - Clear strategy makes product choices easier.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    37 min
  • PM Power Skills - Communication

    Ever leave a meeting thinking you were crystal clear, only to find out everyone walked away with a different interpretation? In this episode, Joe Ghali and Ryan Cantwell dig into why communication is one of the most important power skills in product management, and why being clear is about more than saying the right words.

    They talk through how to tailor your message for executives, peers, and teams, why storytelling often lands better than a wall of facts, and how preparation, listening, and simple communication frameworks can help create real stakeholder alignment. You’ll also hear the break dancer versus ballet dancer story that shows just how much the right analogy can change the way a message lands.

    If you want to spend less time wondering whether people understood you and more time creating clarity, trust, and action, pull up a chair on the porch and sharpen the way you communicate.

    Time Stamped Notes: 

    Introduction

    [00:00] Episode setup - Joe and Ryan introduce communication and presentation skills as the next Product Porch power skill.

    Personal Stories and Communication Revelations

    [00:50] Coaching miscommunication - Joe shares how “be aggressive” led his softball team to hear something very different.

    [03:17] Understanding matters - Communication is not what you say, it is what the other person understands.

    Why Communication is Critical for Product Managers

    [04:03] Beyond presentations - Communication skills matter in formal meetings and quick everyday conversations.

    [05:18] Cross-functional reality - Product managers rely on communication to align teams across nearly every part of the business.

    Why Communication is Hard

    [09:27] Invisible progress - Communication can feel less satisfying because the results are harder to see than tangible deliverables.

    [11:13] Play it back - Ryan suggests asking people to repeat what they heard to test whether the message actually landed.

    Communication Tips and Strategies

    [12:20] Stories beat facts - Joe explains why storytelling helps ideas stick better than isolated information.

    [16:33] Tailor the message - Keep the vision consistent while changing how you communicate it for each audience.

    The Break Dancer vs Ballet Analogy Story

    [16:51] Wrong presentation - Ryan recalls using an ROI-heavy pitch that failed to win support.

    [18:42] One image lands - A break dancer and ballet dancer metaphor turns a complicated problem into something the room immediately understands.

    [18:59] Audience translation - The lesson is not charisma, it is knowing what your audience cares about and speaking their language.

    Audience-Specific Communication

    [19:52] Match the audience - Joe explains why different stakeholders need different levels of detail.

    [20:49] Executive brevity - Simple infographics and short presentations help leaders grasp the point quickly.

    Lightning Round: What Great Communicators Do

    [23:28] Storytelling over statistics - Great communicators give information emotional weight and connect it to a real problem.

    [23:44] Simplicity wins - Plain language makes communication easier to understand.

    [24:03] Create clarity - Start with the takeaway instead of overwhelming people with information.

    [24:32] Preparation builds confidence - Knowing the audience and doing the homework makes clear communication easier.

    [25:47] Listen first - Great communicators listen before they speak.

    Communication Frameworks

    [26:27] One, two, three - Ryan introduces a simple framework built around one thing, two types, and three steps.

    [27:54] Framework in action - Joe practices the approach live using cars as the topic.

    How to Practice Presentations

    [29:08] Practice everywhere - Everyday conversations can become low-stakes opportunities to build communication skills.

    [30:30] Record yourself - Ryan recommends recording presentations and reviewing how you actually come across.

    [31:01] AI practice partner - Voice tools can simulate an audience and give you another way to rehearse.

    [31:56] Be relatable - Joe shares advice about making presentations feel natural and authentic.

    Handling the Unexpected: Improv Skills

    [33:43] Prepare to improvise - Strong communicators practice how to respond when presentations get interrupted or redirected.

    [35:00] Listen and build - Improv techniques help communicators respond to ideas instead of shutting them down.

    Key Takeaways and Conclusion

    [36:26] Communication compounds - Better communication can improve influence, alignment, and career growth over time.

    [37:05] Alignment over information - Sharing information is not the same thing as creating shared understanding.

    [37:58] Closing thoughts - Joe and Ryan wrap the conversation and close out the episode.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    39 min
  • AI Tools Don’t Make You a Better Product Manager

    Does knowing how to use AI make you better at product management, or just better at using another tool?

    In this episode, Joe Ghali, Ryan Cantwell, and Todd Blaquiere dig into what AI competency should really look like for product managers. They talk about why completing training or knowing your way around ChatGPT, Claude, Figma, GitHub, or SQL is not the same as having sound product judgment. The real test is whether those tools help you make better decisions, create clearer outcomes, and focus on problems worth solving.

    The group also gets practical about how deep PMs should go with technical tools, why AI has made ideas cheap, and why leaders should measure impact instead of usage. More prompts and more tokens do not automatically mean more value. Good judgment still matters. So does knowing when to use the tool, when not to, and how to tell whether the output is any good.

    If your team is racing to prove it is “AI ready,” pull up a chair on the porch, rethink the scorecard, and listen for what still separates strong product work from shiny tool use.

    Introduction and Episode Setup

    [00:00] AI math - Todd argues that AI hasn’t changed how teams define and measure value.

    [00:31] Depth question - Joe introduces how deeply product managers should understand AI and technical tools.

    [01:15] Tooling debate - A conversation with a colleague sparks the episode’s central question.

    Tools Don’t Make the Product Manager

    [01:52] Jira test - Writing user stories in Jira doesn’t make someone a product owner.

    [02:13] Roadmap test - Knowing Aha! doesn’t automatically make someone a strong product manager.

    [02:40] AI extension - Joe asks whether using Claude to create product artifacts changes the answer.

    [04:01] Tools as enablers - Ryan explains why knowing the job matters more than owning the tool.

    [05:52] Stethoscope analogy - Todd shows why access to professional tools doesn’t create professional judgment.

    Measuring Real AI Competency

    [06:16] Competency challenge - Organizations want AI-literate PMs but struggle to define or measure proficiency.

    [06:54] Checkbox training - Course completion can create the appearance of competency without proving practical skill.

    [08:17] Experience matters - Todd argues that real capability comes from using tools on real work.

    [09:07] Learning the edges - Video editing teaches Todd how practice reveals a tool’s limits.

    [10:14] Two kinds of knowing - Watching training and building through experience produce very different capability.

    Outcomes, Discernment, and ROI

    [11:14] Evaluator problem - Leaders with limited AI knowledge may still be responsible for judging its use.

    [12:24] Vanity metrics - Counting tokens or tool activity says little about whether better work happened.

    [12:48] Pivot-table magic - Ryan recalls how basic Excel knowledge once looked like wizardry to executives.

    [13:28] Confident outputs - Polished AI answers can mislead leaders who don’t know how to challenge them.

    [14:31] Discernment skill - Product people must learn to evaluate AI output, not simply generate it.

    [15:07] Same equation - Teams should define the objective, apply AI, and measure whether results improve.

    [17:42] Tool business case - AI software should face the same cost and ROI questions as any other tool.

    AI, Strategy, and Product Focus

    [19:44] Product replacement debate - Ryan rejects the idea that AI can simply turn engineers into product managers.

    [20:13] Build everything - Todd imagines removing product oversight and letting every function create its own tools.

    [21:38] Strategy means focus - Ryan explains why unrestricted building is the opposite of a strategy.

    [22:17] Output isn’t growth - More products and features don’t guarantee revenue, adoption, or customer value.

    [23:18] Do less to grow - The group argues that focus often creates more growth than added activity.

    [24:13] Ideas are cheap - AI makes concepts and prototypes plentiful, but worthwhile problems remain scarce.

    [25:27] Making the diamond - Product judgment applies focus and pressure to problems worth solving.

    [26:29] Building isn’t enough - Successful bets still need marketing, sales, and operational support.

    [27:40] Roles versus titles - Todd defines the accountabilities a product organization needs regardless of job titles.

    Depth Check: How Deep Should PMs Go?

    [29:14] Depth Check begins - Joe asks how deeply PMs should understand specific technical tools and concepts.

    [30:04] GitHub knowledge - The hosts debate whether PMs need branching and merge-conflict experience.

    [31:19] Conceptual fluency - PMs should understand GitHub workflows without necessarily managing repositories themselves.

    [35:25] Figma prototypes - PMs can go deeper in prototyping because visuals help stakeholders react to ideas.

    [36:41] Design boundaries - Designers still protect design systems and consistency while PMs create early concepts.

    [37:19] SQL depth - AI can write queries, but PMs still need enough knowledge to assess requests and results.

    [37:45] Prompt differences - The group examines prompts, system prompts, and how each shapes AI behavior.

    [39:16] Platform work - Product people may increasingly build internal workflows by creating strong system prompts.

    [39:50] Go deep here - System prompting can standardize discovery analysis, synthesis, and AI evaluation.

    Key Takeaways and Closing

    [40:32] Same old fight - Joe says new tools haven’t changed what qualifies someone to do product work.

    [40:46] Judgment is the credential - Jira, roadmapping software, and AI cannot replace sound product judgment.

    [41:05] Tools as sidekicks - Ryan argues that tools support decisions but should never become the hero.

    [42:02] Learn to use AI - Todd challenges every professional to apply AI meaningfully in their work.

    [42:28] Design around outcomes - Leaders should build roles around accountabilities, not the latest tool checklist.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    45 min
  • PM Power Skills - Emotional Intelligence

    Join us on the porch for our series on Product Manager Power Skills. These are the skills that help good product managers become great ones. They stay valuable across tools, processes, and product types, and building them can help you grow your impact and your career.

    What happens to product managers when AI gets better at more of the work? In this episode, Joe Ghali and Ryan Cantwell dig into emotional intelligence and why it may be one of the most important power skills for product people right now. They talk through what EQ is, why it matters more as AI takes on more execution, and how product managers can get better at reading the room, managing their own reactions, and understanding what other people are really responding to.

    The conversation gets practical fast. Joe and Ryan share stories about stakeholder resistance, low-EQ behavior, and the trap of confusing empathy with people-pleasing. They also break down how to build emotional intelligence through curiosity, feedback, vulnerability, and simple reflection after tough moments.

    If you want to sharpen the human side of your product craft, handle pressure better, and bring stronger judgment to the moments that matter, pull up a chair on the porch, think about the last hard conversation you had, try one of these EQ practices in your next meeting, and see what changes.

    Introduction and Setting the Stage

    [00:00] Episode intro - Ryan opens with the EQ theme and frames it as a PM power skill.
    [00:51] Morning porch - Joe and Ryan joke about the unusual morning recording and Todd missing the session.
    [01:39] Power skills series - They connect this conversation to the broader PM Power Skills series.

    Why Emotional Intelligence Matters Now

    [02:02] Why EQ now - Joe asks why emotional intelligence matters more in product management today.
    [02:12] AI can’t do this - Ryan explains that AI can assist with work, but not relationships or empathy.
    [03:02] Suspension system analogy - EQ is framed as the system that helps you handle pressure without breaking.
    [04:20] Defining EQ - Ryan defines emotional intelligence as noticing and responding well to emotional dynamics.

    Can Emotional Intelligence Be Built?

    [06:22] Trainable skill - Ryan argues EQ can be developed through practice, like reps in the gym.
    [07:25] Running start - Joe notes some people seem to develop EQ more naturally than others.
    [09:57] Common misconception - Ryan shares why making everyone happy is not the same as EQ.
    [10:25] The jar label - They unpack why feedback matters when judging your own emotional intelligence.

    Reading the Room and Building EQ

    [08:30] Painful presentation - Joe tells a story about watching someone fail to read the room.
    [09:48] Notice then respond - Ryan describes EQ as the bridge between noticing and responding.
    [11:30] Vulnerability first - Joe says growth starts with being open to feedback and willing to improve.
    [12:18] Attitude over aptitude - They argue curiosity and coachability matter more than polish alone.
    [13:02] Empathy in practice - Ryan reframes empathy as understanding someone, not simply agreeing with them.

    Stakeholder Empathy in the Real World

    [14:06] Curiosity muscle - Ryan explains that asking simple “why” questions helps build EQ anywhere.
    [15:20] FinTech rollout - Joe shares how EQ helped him navigate resistance during a major product launch.
    [16:23] Mirroring concerns - He explains how listening and reflecting concerns changed stakeholder reactions.
    [17:34] Turning skeptics - The conversation shows how emotional understanding can shift resistance into support.

    Managing Low-EQ Stakeholders

    [18:33] Hardest part - Joe admits low-EQ people are often the most frustrating to work with.
    [19:50] Control yourself - He reflects on learning not to take stakeholder reactions so personally.
    [21:22] Don’t fix them - Ryan says the goal is not changing people, but staying clear and grounded.
    [21:59] Find alignment - He recommends centering discussions on shared problems and desired outcomes.
    [22:55] Don’t escalate - The key is noticing their state without mirroring it back emotionally.

    Empathy, Boundaries, and the Dark Side of EQ

    [23:04] Empathy vs EQ - They clarify that empathy is part of emotional intelligence, not the whole thing.
    [23:35] Business still matters - Joe explains that PMs still need to prioritize, say no, and make tradeoffs.
    [25:18] Not people-pleasing - Ryan draws a line between understanding people and trying to make everyone happy.
    [26:07] EQ for evil - They explore how emotional intelligence can also be used in self-serving ways.
    [29:01] Multiplier skill - Ryan argues EQ strengthens good judgment and product sense rather than replacing them.

    Using AI to Build EQ

    [30:24] AI as coach - Ryan suggests using AI to reflect on meetings and practice better responses.
    [31:11] Simulate reactions - He recommends asking AI to role-play stakeholders before tough conversations.
    [31:31] Poke holes first - Joe shares how he uses AI to pressure-test decks and emails for stakeholder reactions.
    [32:33] External mirror - AI can help reveal where you may be overestimating or underestimating your EQ.

    Final Takeaways

    [33:13] Pause and ask - Joe’s advice is to slow down, name what you’re sensing, and invite reaction.
    [33:59] Three reflection questions - Ryan closes with a simple framework for learning from emotional moments.
    [34:56] Morning porch close - Joe and Ryan wrap the episode and Todd closes out with the show outro.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    36 min
  • Why Product Management Still Matters in the Age of AI

    Why do so many teams still misunderstand what product management is actually for? In this episode, Joe, Ryan, and Todd take on a question that keeps showing up in the age of AI: if engineering can build faster than ever, do we still need product managers? The answer is yes, but probably not for the reasons a lot of people think.

    They dig into why product so often gets treated like project management, ticket writing, or an expensive wrapper around engineering, and why that misses the point. This conversation is really about the value of product management. Not speed. Not ceremonies. Not pushing features through the system. Real product work is figuring out what is worth solving, asking better questions, and connecting customer value to business outcomes.

    If you’ve ever had to explain your role, push back on feature factory thinking, or help your company see product more clearly, pull up a chair on the porch, challenge a bad assumption, sharpen how you talk about your work, and listen in.

     

    **Welcome to the Porch**

    [00:00] Build vs outcomes - Todd jokes that building 100 products is easier than hitting a revenue target
    [00:29] Core question - Joe frames the episode around why companies still need product managers

    **Why This Question Is Back**

    [01:28] AI speeds delivery - The team explains why faster engineering makes leaders question product’s role
    [02:13] Building is not the hard part - Todd argues the real challenge is choosing the right problems
    [02:42] Misunderstood function - Product is often framed as project management or message carrying

    **What Product Gets Mistaken For**

    [03:28] “The fixer” story - Ryan shares a customer meeting that exposed a bad read on product’s purpose
    [04:36] Giant waste of money - Todd says if product only relays requests, the function should not exist
    [06:04] Wrong metrics - Measuring product by speed and output sets up the wrong expectations

    **AI, Claude Code, and the Feature Factory Trap**

    [07:08] Prototype to production gap shrinks - Joe explains how AI makes execution feel much closer
    [08:21] Decoupling headcount from growth - Ryan shares how leaders are pushing for more output with fewer people
    [09:48] Building gets easier - Todd says coding is now the easiest part of the job
    [10:19] Build trap warning - More product can be built than ever, but that does not create value by itself

    **Game Segment: What Product Is Not**

    [12:16] On-time delivery confusion - Getting projects done on time should not define the PM role
    [13:12] Managing engineers - Product works with engineers, but engineering managers lead engineers
    [13:36] Business case inputs - PMs help shape the case, but the case itself should be built with the team
    [14:56] Sales requests are not strategy - Product is not there to blindly build what sales asks for
    [16:38] Ask why - Real product work starts when PMs move past order taking and investigate the problem
    [18:23] Budget tradeoffs - PMs need to understand budgets without owning project control
    [18:38] Quality role - Product has a role in acceptance and validation, but not sole ownership of QA
    [19:16] Escalation trap - Ryan pushes back on product being treated like the default complaint handler
    [20:12] Execution wrapper - Joe sums up the anti-pattern as an expensive wrapper around engineering

    **The Hammer Analogy**

    [21:40] Wrong tool, wrong job - Todd compares product to a hammer being misused to cut branches
    [22:37] Ticket writers at risk - Joe connects the analogy to AI and the feature factory model
    [23:08] What survives - PMs who decide what is worth solving stay valuable

    **What Product Is Actually For**

    [23:15] Customer value to business outcomes - Todd defines the real job of product in one line
    [23:57] Blast radius of every bet - Every product decision affects sales, marketing, support, and success
    [24:45] Find the right yes - Great PMs work through the no’s to place better bets and align the company

    **How to Change Perception**

    [26:04] Take the harder path - Todd says PMs have to choose real product work over easy order taking
    [26:50] Hold yourself to outcomes - Measure value even when leadership only asks for features and velocity
    [27:46] Know your audience - Ryan says product has to show stakeholders it cares about what they care about
    [28:35] Start where the company is - Todd explains why product change has to happen in increments
    [29:47] Solve a shared business problem - Ryan argues this is how product earns credibility across functions

    **Change Management and the Product Blueprint**

    [32:41] Show, do not declare - Joe frames this as change management, not just a process announcement
    [33:15] Execution friction vs thinking friction - AI speeds shipping, but not judgment or strategy
    [33:52] Product blueprint - Todd describes mapping the full product job so leaders see how small development really is
    [34:29] Business skills matter - Ryan argues it is easier to teach PMs AI than to teach engineers deep business context

    **Homework and Closing Takeaways**

    [35:13] Keep it simple - Ryan says product is still misunderstood, so PMs need to explain their value clearly
    [35:51] Leadership homework - Joe tells listeners to ask leadership what they think product owns
    [36:18] Product reconciliation - Todd says PMs need to understand themselves before others will understand them
    [38:41] Optimistic ending - The best parts of product work are the parts most likely to last

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    39 min
  • How to Show AI Value

    How do you get leaders to keep backing AI exploration when they’ve already invested, but the biggest upside still isn’t fully clear yet? In this episode, Joe Ghali, Ryan Cantwell, and Todd Blaquiere dig into a listener question about one of the hardest parts of AI adoption in product teams: justifying the paths, gains, and possibilities that do not show up as a flashy feature or an obvious ROI line right away.

    They talk through the real challenge product managers are facing now. Leaders have already said yes to AI. They have approved the tools, the licenses, and the experimentation. But now they are looking back and asking what that investment has delivered. The conversation unpacks how to make the case for time and space to explore AI potential while still tying the work to things leadership cares about, like cost, revenue, capacity, and smarter decisions. They also break down how to communicate early wins, how to show progress before the full upside is known, and why invisible AI value still matters when it helps the business move faster and work better.

    If you are trying to earn more room to explore AI, defend the investment already on the table, or tell a better story about what the work is producing, pull up a chair on the porch, listen for the signals leaders care about most, pick one meaningful gain your team can show today, and use it to make the next conversation stronger.

    Time Stamped Notes:

    The Question That Started It All

    [00:00] Intro + newsletter plug – Safe “Pixar movie” analogy for how leaders interpret messaging.
    [00:38] Listener question – How do you prove AI is worth it when ROI isn’t obvious yet?
    [01:56] Core tension – AI value is real but invisible because it’s embedded in workflows, not shipped as features.

    Why AI Value Is Hard to Show

    [03:42] Two problems – Measuring AI value vs communicating it to leadership.
    [04:32] Communication gap – Leaders expect visible outputs, not invisible workflow improvements.
    [05:07] Executive lens – Everything ultimately gets reduced to revenue and cost.
    [06:05] Growing skepticism – More AI projects are being questioned or abandoned due to unclear value.
    [06:51] Cost risk – AI tools and subscriptions quietly add up without clear ROI.
    [08:27] “So what?” moment – Efficiency gains exist, but leadership wants business impact.

    Moving from Efficiency to Real Value

    [09:48] Maturity shift – From experimentation → operational measurement → financial impact.
    [10:57] Turning time into value – Efficiency becomes either more output or fewer resources needed.
    [11:50] Headcount example – AI can remove future hiring needs and create real cost savings.
    [12:26] Baselining – You need a starting point to prove anything has changed.
    [13:14] Start small – Focus on one meaningful problem instead of measuring everything.
    [13:59] Estimates are okay – Directional impact is enough to start building credibility.
    [14:12] Finance partnership – Helps validate and strengthen assumptions.

    The Real Problem: Invisible AI

    [14:44] Invisible AI – Leadership doesn’t see “engine improvements,” only visible outputs.
    [15:30] Expectation gap – Leaders expect obvious, reportable AI wins.
    [16:10] Bottom-line vs top-line AI – Cost savings vs new revenue opportunities.
    [17:08] Investor lens – Unit economics matter more than features or tools.
    [18:12] Scalability – AI becomes valuable when it improves cost structure or leverage.
    [19:44] What to lead with – Pick the metric that gets executive attention.

    How to Communicate AI Value So It Lands

    [21:23] Leading vs lagging indicators – Cycle time and rework must connect to financial outcomes.
    [25:56] Rework reduction – Builds trust and improves downstream execution.
    [27:32] Storytelling discipline – You have to repeatedly connect AI work to business value.
    [30:20] Internal optimization – Identify high-cost, low-value work and target it with AI.
    [31:16] Hiring impact – Efficiency gains translate into real hiring and capacity decisions.
    [32:50] Decision tools – Simple cost-benefit thinking helps prioritize AI investments.
    [34:38] Core rule – Always lead and end with financial impact, not tooling.
    [37:55] Final takeaway – PMs are translators between AI capability and business value.

    Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorch

    Join our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com

    40 min

About The Product Porch

From the publisher's feed

If you work in product management and sometimes feel like the job is way messier than people admit, pull up a chair on the porch.