5 Reasons Why I’m Bursting with Excitement for Product at Heart
5 Reasons Why I’m Bursting with Excitement for Product at Heart

The countdown is on: Product at Heart is right around the corner! And while I generally try to restrain myself when talking about this event, I hope you’ll allow me a few moments of pure excitement. Here’s what makes the 2023 event especially thrilling.

#1 We’re going indie: Have we run this conference before? Yes. Arne Kittler and I have co-organized this conference in its previous incarnation as Mind the Product Engage Hamburg since 2017. But 2023 is the first time we’re running it on our own. It’s a MAJOR change for us, starting with creating a brand-new company, Cultivate Curiosity GmbH.

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PersonalPetra WilleProduct at Heart
The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Learning
The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Learning

As a coach for product leads, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon: Some of my coachees make much more progress than others. And as a naturally curious person (and someone who’s invested in my coachees’ success), I started trying to get to the bottom of this. Why do some people make progress in leaps and strides while others only improve gradually? I’ve come to the conclusion that while there are several key personality traits that can help someone become a great product manager—emotional intelligence, adaptability, and intellectual horsepower—there's another skill that's often overlooked: cross-disciplinary learning.

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Product LeadershipPetra WilleProduct Leadership, Personal Growth, Learning, Cross-Disciplinary Learning
My (Highly Opinionated) Guide to Product Maturity Assessment
My (Highly Opinionated) Guide to Product Maturity Assessment

Should you run a product maturity assessment for your product org? This is a topic on the minds of many product leaders, but it’s not as simple as a yes or no answer. There are reasons why you might want to conduct a product maturity assessment as well as risks for doing so.

In this post, I'll provide a comprehensive (and admittedly opinionated) overview of various assessment tools and approaches available in the market. My goal is to help you decide whether an assessment is really the right step for your product org, and if so, to give you a few ideas of how to move forward.

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Product LeadershipPetra WilleSelf-Assessment, Assessment, Product Maturity
Radical Optimism or Why Every Leader is a Futurist
Radical Optimism or Why Every Leader is a Futurist

As a leader, you are by definition a futurist. (This is something I’ve learned from Alicia Shao just recently). Let’s explore this for a second. Your role is to look ahead and anticipate the challenges and opportunities that your team will face in the future. You study and analyze trends, forecasts, and scenarios to understand how the future might unfold. You provide insights and recommendations on how to prepare for and shape the future. In times like these, when the world is changing rapidly and unpredictably, this role is more important than ever.

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Product LeadershipPetra WilleRadical Optimism, Futurist
How I Use the Decision Stack in Product Leadership Coaching Sessions
How I Use the Decision Stack in Product Leadership Coaching Sessions

If you find yourself struggling to make effective decisions in your role as a product leader, or if you're having difficulty coming up with a cohesive product strategy, you're not alone. Perhaps your direct reports are constantly turning to you for guidance and direction, unsure of which path to take. Sound familiar? If so, you may benefit from learning more about the "Decision Stack" framework developed by Martin Eriksson.

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Product LeadershipPetra WilleDecision Stack, Martin Eriksson, Coaching, Directional Clarity
STRONG Conversations: Spring 2023 Edition
STRONG Conversations: Spring 2023 Edition

Hello lovely product people! It’s been a while since my last STRONG Conversations roundup post. I’ve been a little busy with my product Communities of Practice research, preparation for the Product at Heart conference, and of course, my usual client work. But I’m happy to say that I’m still out there sharing my thoughts on product leadership in various podcasts, meetups, and webinars.

Here’s where you can catch all my latest appearances.

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On stage and on airPetra WilleStrong Conversations
Product Communities of Practice: Everything You Need to Know
Product Communities of Practice: Everything You Need to Know

When you work in product, there’s never a dull moment. You’re always learning and growing, whether you’re developing your core product skills, enhancing your understanding of your customers, or helping your team evolve and grow.  So it’s no wonder that product people are often asking questions like: What should I learn to get better at my job? How do we scale people development? How do we evolve our product culture?

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Communities of PracticePetra WilleCoP, Communities of Product Practice
Rituals for Product Communities of Practice: A Round-up of Ideas & Inspiration
Rituals for Product Communities of Practice: A Round-up of Ideas & Inspiration

In the early stages of product Communities of Practice (CoPs), you simply need to provide the time and space for people to gather and share knowledge. But eventually, as your CoP matures and grows larger, you’ll probably want to establish some regular rituals, whether it’s meetings, workshops, casual get-togethers, or places to share information.  Good rituals are like glue: They hold things together and provide a certain rhythm to community activities.

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Communities of PracticePetra WilleCommunities of Product Practice
Free Templates: Community Guidelines for Your Community of Practice
Free Templates: Community Guidelines for Your Community of Practice

When maturing a Community of Practice (CoP), you might want to create community guidelines that encourage freedom of speech but prevent the spread of disinformation and ensure your community is a safe place to share and learn together. But how do you know what to include? For this post, I have three examples of CoP guidelines you can steal (use exactly as they are written) or simply use as inspiration.

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Communities of PracticePetra WilleCommunity Guidelines
Detailed Results from My Survey: Cross-Organizational Product Community of Practice Participants
Detailed Results from My Survey: Cross-Organizational Product Community of Practice Participants

In this post, you’ll have the chance to comb through the results from the survey respondents who participate in cross-organizational CoPs. These are CoPs that are offered by a person, company, or entity outside of your employer. For these types of CoPs, members generally choose to participate and may even need to pay a fee for their membership. 

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Communities of PracticePetra WilleCommunities of Product Practice, Survey
Detailed Results from My Survey: Company Internal Product Communities of Practice
Detailed Results from My Survey: Company Internal Product Communities of Practice

In this post, you’ll have the chance to comb through the results from the survey respondents who participate in company internal CoPs. As it is likely super boring for you to go through all the answers in detail, I’ve aggregated similar answers and each bullet point summarizes them. The examples in parentheses are quotes so that you get an idea of exactly how people were phrasing things.

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Communities of PracticePetra WilleCommunities of Product Practice, Survey
What I Learned from Surveying Over 100 People About Product Communities of Practice
What I Learned from Surveying Over 100 People About Product Communities of Practice

I dedicated a large portion of 2022 to learning all about product Communities of Practice (CoP). My research involved two main activities: conducting in-depth interviews with CoP leaders/organizers and running a survey of CoP participants. The survey results were such a treasure trove of information that I couldn’t fit it all into a single blog post….

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Communities of PracticePetra WilleCommunities of Product Practice, Survey
Learning from Other Product People: Sarah Reeves on the Product Community of Practice at StepStone
Learning from Other Product People: Sarah Reeves on the Product Community of Practice at StepStone

2022 is almost over, but I have one final Community of Practice (CoP) interview to share with you! This one is a little different since I’ve been working with Sarah Reeves and StepStone to help build out and mature the product CoP. Be sure to check this interview out if you’re especially interested in the early stages of getting a CoP up and running.

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All blog posts, Communities of PracticePetra WilleInterview, Product Ops, CoP
What I’m Dedicating 2023 to: A Look at the Year Ahead
What I’m Dedicating 2023 to: A Look at the Year Ahead

Keeping focus is definitely a challenge as a one-woman show. And that is why I put together this annual blog post: Because it helps me with exactly that. Gaining focus. I come back to this post multiple times throughout the year and I sometimes use it when I have to politely explain to people why I can’t do what they want me to do (speak at a meetup, share my opinion on software they are developing, give them some advice, speak at their conference, write a chapter of their book, the list goes on and on!).

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Personal, All blog postsPetra WillePersonal Retro, 2022, 2023, Outlook, Planning
Learning from Other Product People: Priya Biswas on the Product Community of Practice at ATB Financial
Learning from Other Product People: Priya Biswas on the Product Community of Practice at ATB Financial

Throughout 2022, I’ve been conducting interviews with people who lead and participate in product Communities of Practice (CoP). I’m excited to share the next installment in my series, featuring Priya Biswas, Director of Product Management, Business Analysis and Organizational Change Management Practice at ATB Financial.

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Communities of Practice, All blog postsPetra WilleCommunities of Product Practice, Finance, Canada, CoP