STRONG Product People Book Club: What Is It and Why Should You Join?
Since publishing my book, STRONG Product People, I’ve been on a mission to get it into the hands of as many product leaders as possible. But beyond just getting product leaders to read my book, I want to help them actually apply the concepts they’ve been introduced to in the book.
This is why I’m excited about one of my newer offerings, the corporate book club for STRONG Product People. Everyone on your team receives a copy of the book and then we hold two 90-minute sessions to discuss any questions your team has about the concepts from the book and how to apply them.
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A Product Leader’s Guide to Writing Compelling Job Ads
One of your core responsibilities as a product leader is growing your team. And this is not a passive activity where you let the recruiter do all the work and you just watch the candidates roll in. As a thoughtful and engaged product leader, you should be an active participant in this process. After all, this is the future direction of your team we’re talking about.
For this blog post, we’ll be focusing on one aspect of hiring: writing job ads (also known as job posts or job listings) for your open roles.
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What I’m Dedicating 2022 to: A Look at the Year Ahead
The end of the year is almost here, which means it’s a good time to take a moment to reflect and look to the future. If you’re curious about what 2022 holds in store for me and my business, here are a few of the key themes I’ve identified for the year.
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A Brief List of Product Management Assessment Tools
Occasionally, people ask me if there are any alternatives to the PMwheel. While I have a strong bias toward the PMwheel (I created it, after all!), I’ve begun to compile a list of other product manager assessment resources that are out there.
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STRONG Conversations - Check Out My Latest Video and Podcast Appearances: October/November 2021
It’s been a little while since I shared a roundup of my latest podcast appearances and speaking engagements, so I’m excited to share the latest installment of STRONG conversations with you. I hope you’ll check them out and share them with any of your coworkers or fellow product people who you think would enjoy them.
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MTP Engage Leadership Forum—My 5 Takeaways
What usually happens in June happened at the end of September this year. Due to the COVID situation, our MTP Engage Leadership Forum made its first autumn premiere. Arne Kittler and I are the organizers of MTP Engage Hamburg and we had the pleasure of hosting the first Mind the Product in-person event since the pandemic hit.
Here are my key learnings from this half-day event.
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Storytelling for Product People: The Essentials
Storytelling is an essential skill for product managers and the key to evangelizing our products. But it's not one that comes naturally. In my Mind the Product London talk, I offer some tips for becoming a better storyteller.
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How the “Learning Menu” Concept Can Help Develop Your Product Team
When it comes to offering development opportunities, some companies struggle with doing this in a strategic way. They essentially throw money at the problem, opting to pay a premium for coaching and training. So what’s wrong with this approach? As a coach, shouldn’t I be happy to take money from any potential client who would like to pay me?
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The Ultimate coaching question: What are you going to do differently?
If you have been following my work for a while, you already know that I think the right question at the right time can do magic. Powerful questions can come up at any time: in a team meeting, during a quick chat at the water cooler, or in a proper 1:1 employee feedback situation.
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The Future Self Canvas in Action: A Conversation with Tim Lukas Leinert, Product Lead at North Kingdom Design & Communication
What are your product managers hoping to achieve in the future? Sometimes it helps to look at what they’ve done and where they’ve come from before helping them chart a course toward the future. Learn how Tim Lukas Leinert approaches this with his team and how the Future Self canvas guides those conversations.
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How to make the most of your coaching sessions
Committing to working with a coach is a big step. It means you’re investing money (maybe your own, maybe your company’s) and time (definitely your own) in your professional development. This is great, but it’s critically important to be thoughtful about how you approach the experience. Like many things in life, coaching depends so much on the effort you put into it.
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How to Decide What Type of Product Coach is Right for You
So you’ve decided that you’re interested in product coaching? That’s great! But it’s a very broad ecosystem and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything that’s out there. So my goal is to help you navigate the different offerings and figure out what’s right for you.
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Why There’s No Such Thing as Perfect (Agile) Transformation
Are you looking for a case study of a company that successfully managed the transformation to become more agile, customer centric, or product led? If that’s the case, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you won’t find the one that tells you exactly what to do to successfully transform your organization.
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Defining “Good”: A Guide to Competency Levels
What does it mean to be “good” at something? This can be a tough question to answer. But if you’re trying to coach your product managers on their professional development, it’s essential to help them conduct an accurate self-assessment.
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The PMwheel in Action: A Conversation with Arne Kittler, VP Product at XING
One of the things that’s so exciting about developing a coaching tool is seeing how people adapt it to their own needs. I’m thrilled to introduce you to Arne Kittler, VP of Product at XING and co-organizer of MTP Engage Hamburg. In this post, you’ll learn how Arne has customized the PMwheel for his team.
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Curious about Product Leader Group Coaching? Hear from Past Participants
As a product leader, you face a number of challenges. You might lack confidence in your coaching abilities, struggle to get stakeholders on board, or simply feel overwhelmed by meetings that creep across your calendar and prevent you from getting any real, strategic work done. So how do you take charge of your own professional development as a product leader?
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The PMwheel Goes Global!
Hola and olá to all my Spanish and Portuguese-speaking product colleagues. I have some great news to share: The PMwheel is now available in both Spanish and Portuguese!
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Tips for Developing as a Product Manager
Did you know that only about 25% of product managers say that their company supports and values self progression? This means that 75% of product managers aren’t receiving the optimal level of support when it comes to personal and professional development.
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A Few Simple Ways to Make the “Working Backwards” Press Release Work for You
One of the not-so-hidden secrets for developing new products or features is called “working backwards.” This practice involves writing a press release before you even start to develop a new product or feature. The idea is that the process of writing a press release will help you to put your customers first and focus on the most essential aspects of your product.
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The Future Self Canvas in Action: Conversation with Annu Augustine, Founder of NedRock
How can you help your product managers meet their goals? It helps to translate big, lofty ideas into specific plans of action. And one tool that can help you achieve that is the Future Self template.
Annu Augustine is the founder of product management training and consulting company NedRock in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. Annu has also found this framework useful in her training and consulting work.
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