If you’re familiar with the game of baseball, you know the saying “batting a thousand”. It means getting a hit every single time you go up to bat. And no one bats a thousand - at least over the course of any real number of at-bats.

Here’s the truth about product management - no one bats a thousand here either. Many products fail - or at least fail to fully meet their goals. And while we may not be able to “bat a thousand”, many companies - and product managers - are embracing techniques and practices that will help them “get a hit” more often than not. In this episode, Justin Bauer, Head of Product at Amplitude, shares insights and advice for product managers and product teams on how to optimize for product success.

Understanding customers is a bedrock of successful product management. But it is a lot easier to say than do. Truly understanding customers entails a deep knowledge of their motivations and behaviors. And, frankly, many product managers are not properly equipped to keenly grasp the nuances of customer behavior.

On this episode Kristen Berman, CEO and co-founder of Irrational Labs, discusses ways that product managers can use use behavioral design to develop and design solutions that change behavior.

We, in product management, live in complex worlds. We are often solving complicated problems. We are often using sophisticated, complex technologies or engineering solutions to solve those problems. We have various audiences to which we must communicate. 

Effectively communicating to these various audiences and especially making complex situations understandable and relevant to each is one of the most important skills a product manager has in their professional toolbox.

Deepti Tadala, Senior Product Manager for Paypal, joins us on this episode to share her experiences in how to best communicate complex issues with various stakeholders.

Deepti Tadala is Senior Product Manager for Paypal.

Anyone who has been in product management knows that a timeline is part of everyday life. Frankly, it’s hard for a lot of people to imagine not living in this timeline-driven world.

But why are timelines so important? More often than not, they are arbitrary and not tied to any real customer or market need. It’s not to say we should just take our sweet time and be lackadaisical, we still need to meet customer needs in a timely manner and beat the competition in providing value. But are timelines in their traditional sense the proper means to that end? 

In this episode, Janna Bastow, co-founder of Mind the Product and CEO of ProdPad, shares her wisdom on how organizations can move away from timeline driven focus and create more value along the way.

In this episode, JJ Rorie, VP of Sequent Learning Networks and Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, CEO and Founder of Product School, discuss how product managers can move from *bad* - to good - to great!, and how the product community can help us all on this lifelong learning journey.

Regardless of industry, type of product, educational background, or development methodology, there are five commonalities among great product managers. In this episode, we discuss these common traits and how you can build your skillset around these 5 "truths".

The bedrock of successful product development is a deep understanding of what customers really need. In this episode, I speak with internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and coach Teresa Torres about Continuous Discovery Habits.

The Chief Product Officer (CPO) role is still a fairly new role. I get asked quite often where product management should sit within an organization. Historically, it has typically reported up through either marketing or technology, but more and more, organizations are realizing the value of having a product leader at the executive level, having a seat at the c-suite table when all important decisions are being made. The CPO is often that executive. 

In this episode, Navya Rehani Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Peek.com, shares her experiences in and insights about the important CPO role.

There is a lot of discussion about whether co-location / in-person work is best for product management and innovation or if remote work can be just as effective. Maybe there is no one right answer there, and certainly there are pros and cons to both. This episode is a conversation about being successful in product management with remote teams.

There are few things that can make a bigger impact on the ultimate success of a product than a true, deep understanding of customer needs. Without this understanding of customers, their problems, situations, environments, needs, it is really just a matter of luck if we end up with a successful product. This episode features Keerthi Hoback, Senior Director of Product Management at Major League Baseball, discussing the importance of user interviews and customer research in order to set that foundation of customer awareness.