Knowledge shared by our community

Overcome a Poor Working Relationship

When working with a colleague from another department, a lack of results and blame-game ensued. To resolve the issue, a heart-to-heart conversation was held and both parties shared their views. This allowed them to come up with a plan to address the processes and become more collaborative. The lesson learned is to take the time to connect with colleagues, focus on the company mission and vision, and find a way to the ultimate goal.

Managing Team Collaboration After an Acquisition

After a company acquisition, a team was tasked with building a data pipeline with the other engineering team. The other team was confident in their abilities, but the results were 10x slower than expected. The team learned a valuable lesson and now take a two-pronged approach to ensure expectations are set and measurable metrics are used to monitor progress. This is to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that deadlines are met.

How an Empathetic Approach Can Solve Problems

When a manager has an employee who feels they have reached the top of their learning curve and refuses to be pushed further, it is important to talk it out, provide mentorship, create action plans, and start with a question. Through understanding the context of the situation, the manager was able to help the employee learn and grow from their domain knowledge and take ownership at all levels. This ultimately resulted in positive feedback from other team members and managers.

Creating a Cultural Shift for Effective Meetings: Building a Writing Culture

Poor documentation can be risky for businesses, but adopting a writing culture can help to increase inclusivity, reduce meeting time, and increase productivity. To build a successful writing culture, it is important to make it collaborative, document the process and make it accessible, and encourage people to read it. Remote work requires trust, focus time, and asynchronous ways to collaborate and discuss.

How Data-Driven Products Help Customers and Increase Sales

Yellow Pages, a company focused on helping small businesses get discovered online, faced a decline in customer and revenue growth due to competition from Google and Facebook. To combat this, they created a free digital presence health scan to evaluate small business websites and inform them of their online presence. This scan was used to upsell other digital products, such as listing management, social advertising, and website building, and resulted in a doubling of acquisition rates and 70,000 small businesses purchasing their listing management product. The data-driven approach was beneficial for both the company and their clients, as it allowed them to understand their needs and find the right solution.

How to Increase Engagement Using the Right Metrics

This article describes the process of implementing a system of measurements to improve the product of a multinational TV news channel. The team created active and engaged user metrics, a North Star metric of active users, and personalized content recommendations to increase user engagement. The article also highlights the importance of measurement in product improvement and how metrics can benefit creativity.

How to Build a Software Team from the Ground Up

The author was hired as the second full-time technical employee to join a software team with a lack of trust and responsibility. To change the leadership team's mindset, the author established software as a long-term asset rather than an expense center. The author implemented a 50/50 model with half the team in-house and half off-shore, and hired an external recruiter to bring in talent. The author also established agile processes and team-building activities to increase motivation and value. Lessons learned include the need for a recruiter to find quality talent, and that employees join and stay based on their work and leadership.

How to Stay Up-to-Date Managing a Large Remote Team

This article discusses the challenges of managing a large, remote team of 50+ engineers located around the world. To overcome these challenges, the author created a formalized process that included onboarding lessons, weekly meetings, and skip-level meetings. The author also learned that change is always difficult and should be suggested rather than forced, and that having processes in large teams is beneficial.

How to Transition Into an Executive Role

An engineer realized that technical skills alone would not help him grow his career, so he began to focus on learning the language of business, understanding what motivates people, and building high-performance teams. He gained an MBA to validate himself and gain clarity on what he wanted to pursue. After years of dedication to his company, he was able to become the Chief Technology Officer. He learned that time management is the number one challenge when moving into an executive role, and that growing your career is not about being the best at what you do, but being the best collaborator you can be.

Creating a Sustainable Work-Life Balance

Bungie executive, John Smith, has found it difficult to balance his work and personal life. He has implemented strategies such as high-intensity sports, taking routine breaks, and day-to-day strategies such as exercise to help him achieve a better work-life balance. He has also learned two pieces of advice related to work-life balance: setting explicit boundaries and embracing the inability to set clear boundaries.

How to Build a Successful Onboarding Process

This article discusses the importance of having a structured onboarding process for new team members. It provides advice on how to create onboarding documentation, such as provoking questions, starting from scratch or with previous experience, and using internal reviews. It also suggests that the onboarding document should include anything that may be important, and that feedback should be incorporated into the process.

The Power of Collaboration Between Junior and Senior Engineers

When growing teams, the author struggled to find the right balance between senior and junior software developers. To solve this problem, the author hired a 1:1 ratio of senior and junior developers, and paired them together for a month. The author also conducted multiple interviews to determine if the candidates would align with the company culture. Through this process, the author learned that some engineers prefer to work independently, and that some engineers need to be pushed to teach others.

Why We Need Diversity

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how it can lead to better products and a more successful company. It also highlights the need to remove bias from job descriptions, and to be transparent and authentic about diversity statistics. Finally, it suggests that employees take initiative and hold their companies accountable in order to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

How to Feel Heard During Video Meetings

This article discusses the challenges of imposter syndrome and speaking up during remote Zoom meetings, which is especially difficult for PMs. It outlines the steps taken to address the issue, such as talking to people within the organization, understanding proper Zoom etiquette, and advocating for oneself and others. It also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor, using online and offline resources, and not questioning oneself.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

How to Encourage Innovation in Your Team

The Director of Product was tasked with unlocking innovation at scale. To do this, they focused on problems instead of ideas, brought visibility and collaboration to meaningful problems, and made discovery a priority. Through this process, they learned that structured discovery enables innovation, spending a disproportionate amount of time on understanding the problem is crucial, and collaboration is key.

How Aligned Product and Marketing Teams Can Impact Growth & User Experience

In 2020, a joint strategy was developed between the CPO & CMO, pairing a Product & Engineering leader with a Marketing leader to co-own a company-level key result. This allowed for effective communication, shared accountability, and trust between the Marketing and Product & Engineering organization. Lessons learned include the importance of accountability & alignment, good communication, and shared accountability.

How to Scale Product Teams for Empowerment & Impact?

This article outlines the challenge of scaling an organization, specifically a product and engineering organization, from 6 to 12 PMs and eventually to 15. The author explored customer journey, product surfaces, and underlying technology to identify areas of ownership for each of the 11 teams. To bring various functions together, they set up a cross-functional council for each area to set goals and track progress. The author also proposed tandem leadership for each area to provide effective leadership. The article also provides lessons learned from the experience.

How Technical is Your Conversation?

A Product Manager used an analogy-based role play to explain two-factor authentication to a senior IT leader and his team. The leader was surprised to see a 6-digit token generated on a mobile phone could authenticate on a remote server without an internet connection. The team found the exercise very helpful and were able to understand the system better with the simple example than with all the cryptographic challenges that lie beneath.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.

Overcome a Poor Working Relationship

When working with a colleague from another department, a lack of results and blame-game ensued. To resolve the issue, a heart-to-heart conversation was held and both parties shared their views. This allowed them to come up with a plan to address the processes and become more collaborative. The lesson learned is to take the time to connect with colleagues, focus on the company mission and vision, and find a way to the ultimate goal.

Managing Team Collaboration After an Acquisition

After a company acquisition, a team was tasked with building a data pipeline with the other engineering team. The other team was confident in their abilities, but the results were 10x slower than expected. The team learned a valuable lesson and now take a two-pronged approach to ensure expectations are set and measurable metrics are used to monitor progress. This is to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that deadlines are met.

How an Empathetic Approach Can Solve Problems

When a manager has an employee who feels they have reached the top of their learning curve and refuses to be pushed further, it is important to talk it out, provide mentorship, create action plans, and start with a question. Through understanding the context of the situation, the manager was able to help the employee learn and grow from their domain knowledge and take ownership at all levels. This ultimately resulted in positive feedback from other team members and managers.

Creating a Cultural Shift for Effective Meetings: Building a Writing Culture

Poor documentation can be risky for businesses, but adopting a writing culture can help to increase inclusivity, reduce meeting time, and increase productivity. To build a successful writing culture, it is important to make it collaborative, document the process and make it accessible, and encourage people to read it. Remote work requires trust, focus time, and asynchronous ways to collaborate and discuss.

How Data-Driven Products Help Customers and Increase Sales

Yellow Pages, a company focused on helping small businesses get discovered online, faced a decline in customer and revenue growth due to competition from Google and Facebook. To combat this, they created a free digital presence health scan to evaluate small business websites and inform them of their online presence. This scan was used to upsell other digital products, such as listing management, social advertising, and website building, and resulted in a doubling of acquisition rates and 70,000 small businesses purchasing their listing management product. The data-driven approach was beneficial for both the company and their clients, as it allowed them to understand their needs and find the right solution.

How to Increase Engagement Using the Right Metrics

This article describes the process of implementing a system of measurements to improve the product of a multinational TV news channel. The team created active and engaged user metrics, a North Star metric of active users, and personalized content recommendations to increase user engagement. The article also highlights the importance of measurement in product improvement and how metrics can benefit creativity.

How to Build a Software Team from the Ground Up

The author was hired as the second full-time technical employee to join a software team with a lack of trust and responsibility. To change the leadership team's mindset, the author established software as a long-term asset rather than an expense center. The author implemented a 50/50 model with half the team in-house and half off-shore, and hired an external recruiter to bring in talent. The author also established agile processes and team-building activities to increase motivation and value. Lessons learned include the need for a recruiter to find quality talent, and that employees join and stay based on their work and leadership.

How to Stay Up-to-Date Managing a Large Remote Team

This article discusses the challenges of managing a large, remote team of 50+ engineers located around the world. To overcome these challenges, the author created a formalized process that included onboarding lessons, weekly meetings, and skip-level meetings. The author also learned that change is always difficult and should be suggested rather than forced, and that having processes in large teams is beneficial.

How to Transition Into an Executive Role

An engineer realized that technical skills alone would not help him grow his career, so he began to focus on learning the language of business, understanding what motivates people, and building high-performance teams. He gained an MBA to validate himself and gain clarity on what he wanted to pursue. After years of dedication to his company, he was able to become the Chief Technology Officer. He learned that time management is the number one challenge when moving into an executive role, and that growing your career is not about being the best at what you do, but being the best collaborator you can be.

Creating a Sustainable Work-Life Balance

Bungie executive, John Smith, has found it difficult to balance his work and personal life. He has implemented strategies such as high-intensity sports, taking routine breaks, and day-to-day strategies such as exercise to help him achieve a better work-life balance. He has also learned two pieces of advice related to work-life balance: setting explicit boundaries and embracing the inability to set clear boundaries.

How to Build a Successful Onboarding Process

This article discusses the importance of having a structured onboarding process for new team members. It provides advice on how to create onboarding documentation, such as provoking questions, starting from scratch or with previous experience, and using internal reviews. It also suggests that the onboarding document should include anything that may be important, and that feedback should be incorporated into the process.

The Power of Collaboration Between Junior and Senior Engineers

When growing teams, the author struggled to find the right balance between senior and junior software developers. To solve this problem, the author hired a 1:1 ratio of senior and junior developers, and paired them together for a month. The author also conducted multiple interviews to determine if the candidates would align with the company culture. Through this process, the author learned that some engineers prefer to work independently, and that some engineers need to be pushed to teach others.

Why We Need Diversity

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how it can lead to better products and a more successful company. It also highlights the need to remove bias from job descriptions, and to be transparent and authentic about diversity statistics. Finally, it suggests that employees take initiative and hold their companies accountable in order to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

How to Feel Heard During Video Meetings

This article discusses the challenges of imposter syndrome and speaking up during remote Zoom meetings, which is especially difficult for PMs. It outlines the steps taken to address the issue, such as talking to people within the organization, understanding proper Zoom etiquette, and advocating for oneself and others. It also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor, using online and offline resources, and not questioning oneself.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

How to Encourage Innovation in Your Team

The Director of Product was tasked with unlocking innovation at scale. To do this, they focused on problems instead of ideas, brought visibility and collaboration to meaningful problems, and made discovery a priority. Through this process, they learned that structured discovery enables innovation, spending a disproportionate amount of time on understanding the problem is crucial, and collaboration is key.

How Aligned Product and Marketing Teams Can Impact Growth & User Experience

In 2020, a joint strategy was developed between the CPO & CMO, pairing a Product & Engineering leader with a Marketing leader to co-own a company-level key result. This allowed for effective communication, shared accountability, and trust between the Marketing and Product & Engineering organization. Lessons learned include the importance of accountability & alignment, good communication, and shared accountability.

How to Scale Product Teams for Empowerment & Impact?

This article outlines the challenge of scaling an organization, specifically a product and engineering organization, from 6 to 12 PMs and eventually to 15. The author explored customer journey, product surfaces, and underlying technology to identify areas of ownership for each of the 11 teams. To bring various functions together, they set up a cross-functional council for each area to set goals and track progress. The author also proposed tandem leadership for each area to provide effective leadership. The article also provides lessons learned from the experience.

How Technical is Your Conversation?

A Product Manager used an analogy-based role play to explain two-factor authentication to a senior IT leader and his team. The leader was surprised to see a 6-digit token generated on a mobile phone could authenticate on a remote server without an internet connection. The team found the exercise very helpful and were able to understand the system better with the simple example than with all the cryptographic challenges that lie beneath.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.

Overcome a Poor Working Relationship

When working with a colleague from another department, a lack of results and blame-game ensued. To resolve the issue, a heart-to-heart conversation was held and both parties shared their views. This allowed them to come up with a plan to address the processes and become more collaborative. The lesson learned is to take the time to connect with colleagues, focus on the company mission and vision, and find a way to the ultimate goal.

Managing Team Collaboration After an Acquisition

After a company acquisition, a team was tasked with building a data pipeline with the other engineering team. The other team was confident in their abilities, but the results were 10x slower than expected. The team learned a valuable lesson and now take a two-pronged approach to ensure expectations are set and measurable metrics are used to monitor progress. This is to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that deadlines are met.

How an Empathetic Approach Can Solve Problems

When a manager has an employee who feels they have reached the top of their learning curve and refuses to be pushed further, it is important to talk it out, provide mentorship, create action plans, and start with a question. Through understanding the context of the situation, the manager was able to help the employee learn and grow from their domain knowledge and take ownership at all levels. This ultimately resulted in positive feedback from other team members and managers.

Creating a Cultural Shift for Effective Meetings: Building a Writing Culture

Poor documentation can be risky for businesses, but adopting a writing culture can help to increase inclusivity, reduce meeting time, and increase productivity. To build a successful writing culture, it is important to make it collaborative, document the process and make it accessible, and encourage people to read it. Remote work requires trust, focus time, and asynchronous ways to collaborate and discuss.

How Data-Driven Products Help Customers and Increase Sales

Yellow Pages, a company focused on helping small businesses get discovered online, faced a decline in customer and revenue growth due to competition from Google and Facebook. To combat this, they created a free digital presence health scan to evaluate small business websites and inform them of their online presence. This scan was used to upsell other digital products, such as listing management, social advertising, and website building, and resulted in a doubling of acquisition rates and 70,000 small businesses purchasing their listing management product. The data-driven approach was beneficial for both the company and their clients, as it allowed them to understand their needs and find the right solution.

How to Increase Engagement Using the Right Metrics

This article describes the process of implementing a system of measurements to improve the product of a multinational TV news channel. The team created active and engaged user metrics, a North Star metric of active users, and personalized content recommendations to increase user engagement. The article also highlights the importance of measurement in product improvement and how metrics can benefit creativity.

How to Build a Software Team from the Ground Up

The author was hired as the second full-time technical employee to join a software team with a lack of trust and responsibility. To change the leadership team's mindset, the author established software as a long-term asset rather than an expense center. The author implemented a 50/50 model with half the team in-house and half off-shore, and hired an external recruiter to bring in talent. The author also established agile processes and team-building activities to increase motivation and value. Lessons learned include the need for a recruiter to find quality talent, and that employees join and stay based on their work and leadership.

How to Stay Up-to-Date Managing a Large Remote Team

This article discusses the challenges of managing a large, remote team of 50+ engineers located around the world. To overcome these challenges, the author created a formalized process that included onboarding lessons, weekly meetings, and skip-level meetings. The author also learned that change is always difficult and should be suggested rather than forced, and that having processes in large teams is beneficial.

How to Transition Into an Executive Role

An engineer realized that technical skills alone would not help him grow his career, so he began to focus on learning the language of business, understanding what motivates people, and building high-performance teams. He gained an MBA to validate himself and gain clarity on what he wanted to pursue. After years of dedication to his company, he was able to become the Chief Technology Officer. He learned that time management is the number one challenge when moving into an executive role, and that growing your career is not about being the best at what you do, but being the best collaborator you can be.

Creating a Sustainable Work-Life Balance

Bungie executive, John Smith, has found it difficult to balance his work and personal life. He has implemented strategies such as high-intensity sports, taking routine breaks, and day-to-day strategies such as exercise to help him achieve a better work-life balance. He has also learned two pieces of advice related to work-life balance: setting explicit boundaries and embracing the inability to set clear boundaries.

How to Build a Successful Onboarding Process

This article discusses the importance of having a structured onboarding process for new team members. It provides advice on how to create onboarding documentation, such as provoking questions, starting from scratch or with previous experience, and using internal reviews. It also suggests that the onboarding document should include anything that may be important, and that feedback should be incorporated into the process.

The Power of Collaboration Between Junior and Senior Engineers

When growing teams, the author struggled to find the right balance between senior and junior software developers. To solve this problem, the author hired a 1:1 ratio of senior and junior developers, and paired them together for a month. The author also conducted multiple interviews to determine if the candidates would align with the company culture. Through this process, the author learned that some engineers prefer to work independently, and that some engineers need to be pushed to teach others.

Why We Need Diversity

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how it can lead to better products and a more successful company. It also highlights the need to remove bias from job descriptions, and to be transparent and authentic about diversity statistics. Finally, it suggests that employees take initiative and hold their companies accountable in order to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

How to Feel Heard During Video Meetings

This article discusses the challenges of imposter syndrome and speaking up during remote Zoom meetings, which is especially difficult for PMs. It outlines the steps taken to address the issue, such as talking to people within the organization, understanding proper Zoom etiquette, and advocating for oneself and others. It also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor, using online and offline resources, and not questioning oneself.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

How to Encourage Innovation in Your Team

The Director of Product was tasked with unlocking innovation at scale. To do this, they focused on problems instead of ideas, brought visibility and collaboration to meaningful problems, and made discovery a priority. Through this process, they learned that structured discovery enables innovation, spending a disproportionate amount of time on understanding the problem is crucial, and collaboration is key.

How Aligned Product and Marketing Teams Can Impact Growth & User Experience

In 2020, a joint strategy was developed between the CPO & CMO, pairing a Product & Engineering leader with a Marketing leader to co-own a company-level key result. This allowed for effective communication, shared accountability, and trust between the Marketing and Product & Engineering organization. Lessons learned include the importance of accountability & alignment, good communication, and shared accountability.

How to Scale Product Teams for Empowerment & Impact?

This article outlines the challenge of scaling an organization, specifically a product and engineering organization, from 6 to 12 PMs and eventually to 15. The author explored customer journey, product surfaces, and underlying technology to identify areas of ownership for each of the 11 teams. To bring various functions together, they set up a cross-functional council for each area to set goals and track progress. The author also proposed tandem leadership for each area to provide effective leadership. The article also provides lessons learned from the experience.

How Technical is Your Conversation?

A Product Manager used an analogy-based role play to explain two-factor authentication to a senior IT leader and his team. The leader was surprised to see a 6-digit token generated on a mobile phone could authenticate on a remote server without an internet connection. The team found the exercise very helpful and were able to understand the system better with the simple example than with all the cryptographic challenges that lie beneath.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.

Overcome a Poor Working Relationship

When working with a colleague from another department, a lack of results and blame-game ensued. To resolve the issue, a heart-to-heart conversation was held and both parties shared their views. This allowed them to come up with a plan to address the processes and become more collaborative. The lesson learned is to take the time to connect with colleagues, focus on the company mission and vision, and find a way to the ultimate goal.

Managing Team Collaboration After an Acquisition

After a company acquisition, a team was tasked with building a data pipeline with the other engineering team. The other team was confident in their abilities, but the results were 10x slower than expected. The team learned a valuable lesson and now take a two-pronged approach to ensure expectations are set and measurable metrics are used to monitor progress. This is to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that deadlines are met.

How an Empathetic Approach Can Solve Problems

When a manager has an employee who feels they have reached the top of their learning curve and refuses to be pushed further, it is important to talk it out, provide mentorship, create action plans, and start with a question. Through understanding the context of the situation, the manager was able to help the employee learn and grow from their domain knowledge and take ownership at all levels. This ultimately resulted in positive feedback from other team members and managers.

Creating a Cultural Shift for Effective Meetings: Building a Writing Culture

Poor documentation can be risky for businesses, but adopting a writing culture can help to increase inclusivity, reduce meeting time, and increase productivity. To build a successful writing culture, it is important to make it collaborative, document the process and make it accessible, and encourage people to read it. Remote work requires trust, focus time, and asynchronous ways to collaborate and discuss.

How Data-Driven Products Help Customers and Increase Sales

Yellow Pages, a company focused on helping small businesses get discovered online, faced a decline in customer and revenue growth due to competition from Google and Facebook. To combat this, they created a free digital presence health scan to evaluate small business websites and inform them of their online presence. This scan was used to upsell other digital products, such as listing management, social advertising, and website building, and resulted in a doubling of acquisition rates and 70,000 small businesses purchasing their listing management product. The data-driven approach was beneficial for both the company and their clients, as it allowed them to understand their needs and find the right solution.

How to Increase Engagement Using the Right Metrics

This article describes the process of implementing a system of measurements to improve the product of a multinational TV news channel. The team created active and engaged user metrics, a North Star metric of active users, and personalized content recommendations to increase user engagement. The article also highlights the importance of measurement in product improvement and how metrics can benefit creativity.

How to Build a Software Team from the Ground Up

The author was hired as the second full-time technical employee to join a software team with a lack of trust and responsibility. To change the leadership team's mindset, the author established software as a long-term asset rather than an expense center. The author implemented a 50/50 model with half the team in-house and half off-shore, and hired an external recruiter to bring in talent. The author also established agile processes and team-building activities to increase motivation and value. Lessons learned include the need for a recruiter to find quality talent, and that employees join and stay based on their work and leadership.

How to Stay Up-to-Date Managing a Large Remote Team

This article discusses the challenges of managing a large, remote team of 50+ engineers located around the world. To overcome these challenges, the author created a formalized process that included onboarding lessons, weekly meetings, and skip-level meetings. The author also learned that change is always difficult and should be suggested rather than forced, and that having processes in large teams is beneficial.

How to Transition Into an Executive Role

An engineer realized that technical skills alone would not help him grow his career, so he began to focus on learning the language of business, understanding what motivates people, and building high-performance teams. He gained an MBA to validate himself and gain clarity on what he wanted to pursue. After years of dedication to his company, he was able to become the Chief Technology Officer. He learned that time management is the number one challenge when moving into an executive role, and that growing your career is not about being the best at what you do, but being the best collaborator you can be.

Creating a Sustainable Work-Life Balance

Bungie executive, John Smith, has found it difficult to balance his work and personal life. He has implemented strategies such as high-intensity sports, taking routine breaks, and day-to-day strategies such as exercise to help him achieve a better work-life balance. He has also learned two pieces of advice related to work-life balance: setting explicit boundaries and embracing the inability to set clear boundaries.

How to Build a Successful Onboarding Process

This article discusses the importance of having a structured onboarding process for new team members. It provides advice on how to create onboarding documentation, such as provoking questions, starting from scratch or with previous experience, and using internal reviews. It also suggests that the onboarding document should include anything that may be important, and that feedback should be incorporated into the process.

The Power of Collaboration Between Junior and Senior Engineers

When growing teams, the author struggled to find the right balance between senior and junior software developers. To solve this problem, the author hired a 1:1 ratio of senior and junior developers, and paired them together for a month. The author also conducted multiple interviews to determine if the candidates would align with the company culture. Through this process, the author learned that some engineers prefer to work independently, and that some engineers need to be pushed to teach others.

Why We Need Diversity

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how it can lead to better products and a more successful company. It also highlights the need to remove bias from job descriptions, and to be transparent and authentic about diversity statistics. Finally, it suggests that employees take initiative and hold their companies accountable in order to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

How to Feel Heard During Video Meetings

This article discusses the challenges of imposter syndrome and speaking up during remote Zoom meetings, which is especially difficult for PMs. It outlines the steps taken to address the issue, such as talking to people within the organization, understanding proper Zoom etiquette, and advocating for oneself and others. It also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor, using online and offline resources, and not questioning oneself.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

How to Encourage Innovation in Your Team

The Director of Product was tasked with unlocking innovation at scale. To do this, they focused on problems instead of ideas, brought visibility and collaboration to meaningful problems, and made discovery a priority. Through this process, they learned that structured discovery enables innovation, spending a disproportionate amount of time on understanding the problem is crucial, and collaboration is key.

How Aligned Product and Marketing Teams Can Impact Growth & User Experience

In 2020, a joint strategy was developed between the CPO & CMO, pairing a Product & Engineering leader with a Marketing leader to co-own a company-level key result. This allowed for effective communication, shared accountability, and trust between the Marketing and Product & Engineering organization. Lessons learned include the importance of accountability & alignment, good communication, and shared accountability.

How to Scale Product Teams for Empowerment & Impact?

This article outlines the challenge of scaling an organization, specifically a product and engineering organization, from 6 to 12 PMs and eventually to 15. The author explored customer journey, product surfaces, and underlying technology to identify areas of ownership for each of the 11 teams. To bring various functions together, they set up a cross-functional council for each area to set goals and track progress. The author also proposed tandem leadership for each area to provide effective leadership. The article also provides lessons learned from the experience.

How Technical is Your Conversation?

A Product Manager used an analogy-based role play to explain two-factor authentication to a senior IT leader and his team. The leader was surprised to see a 6-digit token generated on a mobile phone could authenticate on a remote server without an internet connection. The team found the exercise very helpful and were able to understand the system better with the simple example than with all the cryptographic challenges that lie beneath.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.

Overcome a Poor Working Relationship

When working with a colleague from another department, a lack of results and blame-game ensued. To resolve the issue, a heart-to-heart conversation was held and both parties shared their views. This allowed them to come up with a plan to address the processes and become more collaborative. The lesson learned is to take the time to connect with colleagues, focus on the company mission and vision, and find a way to the ultimate goal.

Managing Team Collaboration After an Acquisition

After a company acquisition, a team was tasked with building a data pipeline with the other engineering team. The other team was confident in their abilities, but the results were 10x slower than expected. The team learned a valuable lesson and now take a two-pronged approach to ensure expectations are set and measurable metrics are used to monitor progress. This is to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that deadlines are met.

How an Empathetic Approach Can Solve Problems

When a manager has an employee who feels they have reached the top of their learning curve and refuses to be pushed further, it is important to talk it out, provide mentorship, create action plans, and start with a question. Through understanding the context of the situation, the manager was able to help the employee learn and grow from their domain knowledge and take ownership at all levels. This ultimately resulted in positive feedback from other team members and managers.

Creating a Cultural Shift for Effective Meetings: Building a Writing Culture

Poor documentation can be risky for businesses, but adopting a writing culture can help to increase inclusivity, reduce meeting time, and increase productivity. To build a successful writing culture, it is important to make it collaborative, document the process and make it accessible, and encourage people to read it. Remote work requires trust, focus time, and asynchronous ways to collaborate and discuss.

How Data-Driven Products Help Customers and Increase Sales

Yellow Pages, a company focused on helping small businesses get discovered online, faced a decline in customer and revenue growth due to competition from Google and Facebook. To combat this, they created a free digital presence health scan to evaluate small business websites and inform them of their online presence. This scan was used to upsell other digital products, such as listing management, social advertising, and website building, and resulted in a doubling of acquisition rates and 70,000 small businesses purchasing their listing management product. The data-driven approach was beneficial for both the company and their clients, as it allowed them to understand their needs and find the right solution.

How to Increase Engagement Using the Right Metrics

This article describes the process of implementing a system of measurements to improve the product of a multinational TV news channel. The team created active and engaged user metrics, a North Star metric of active users, and personalized content recommendations to increase user engagement. The article also highlights the importance of measurement in product improvement and how metrics can benefit creativity.

How to Build a Software Team from the Ground Up

The author was hired as the second full-time technical employee to join a software team with a lack of trust and responsibility. To change the leadership team's mindset, the author established software as a long-term asset rather than an expense center. The author implemented a 50/50 model with half the team in-house and half off-shore, and hired an external recruiter to bring in talent. The author also established agile processes and team-building activities to increase motivation and value. Lessons learned include the need for a recruiter to find quality talent, and that employees join and stay based on their work and leadership.

How to Stay Up-to-Date Managing a Large Remote Team

This article discusses the challenges of managing a large, remote team of 50+ engineers located around the world. To overcome these challenges, the author created a formalized process that included onboarding lessons, weekly meetings, and skip-level meetings. The author also learned that change is always difficult and should be suggested rather than forced, and that having processes in large teams is beneficial.

How to Transition Into an Executive Role

An engineer realized that technical skills alone would not help him grow his career, so he began to focus on learning the language of business, understanding what motivates people, and building high-performance teams. He gained an MBA to validate himself and gain clarity on what he wanted to pursue. After years of dedication to his company, he was able to become the Chief Technology Officer. He learned that time management is the number one challenge when moving into an executive role, and that growing your career is not about being the best at what you do, but being the best collaborator you can be.

Creating a Sustainable Work-Life Balance

Bungie executive, John Smith, has found it difficult to balance his work and personal life. He has implemented strategies such as high-intensity sports, taking routine breaks, and day-to-day strategies such as exercise to help him achieve a better work-life balance. He has also learned two pieces of advice related to work-life balance: setting explicit boundaries and embracing the inability to set clear boundaries.

How to Build a Successful Onboarding Process

This article discusses the importance of having a structured onboarding process for new team members. It provides advice on how to create onboarding documentation, such as provoking questions, starting from scratch or with previous experience, and using internal reviews. It also suggests that the onboarding document should include anything that may be important, and that feedback should be incorporated into the process.

The Power of Collaboration Between Junior and Senior Engineers

When growing teams, the author struggled to find the right balance between senior and junior software developers. To solve this problem, the author hired a 1:1 ratio of senior and junior developers, and paired them together for a month. The author also conducted multiple interviews to determine if the candidates would align with the company culture. Through this process, the author learned that some engineers prefer to work independently, and that some engineers need to be pushed to teach others.

Why We Need Diversity

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how it can lead to better products and a more successful company. It also highlights the need to remove bias from job descriptions, and to be transparent and authentic about diversity statistics. Finally, it suggests that employees take initiative and hold their companies accountable in order to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

How to Feel Heard During Video Meetings

This article discusses the challenges of imposter syndrome and speaking up during remote Zoom meetings, which is especially difficult for PMs. It outlines the steps taken to address the issue, such as talking to people within the organization, understanding proper Zoom etiquette, and advocating for oneself and others. It also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor, using online and offline resources, and not questioning oneself.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

How to Encourage Innovation in Your Team

The Director of Product was tasked with unlocking innovation at scale. To do this, they focused on problems instead of ideas, brought visibility and collaboration to meaningful problems, and made discovery a priority. Through this process, they learned that structured discovery enables innovation, spending a disproportionate amount of time on understanding the problem is crucial, and collaboration is key.

How Aligned Product and Marketing Teams Can Impact Growth & User Experience

In 2020, a joint strategy was developed between the CPO & CMO, pairing a Product & Engineering leader with a Marketing leader to co-own a company-level key result. This allowed for effective communication, shared accountability, and trust between the Marketing and Product & Engineering organization. Lessons learned include the importance of accountability & alignment, good communication, and shared accountability.

How to Scale Product Teams for Empowerment & Impact?

This article outlines the challenge of scaling an organization, specifically a product and engineering organization, from 6 to 12 PMs and eventually to 15. The author explored customer journey, product surfaces, and underlying technology to identify areas of ownership for each of the 11 teams. To bring various functions together, they set up a cross-functional council for each area to set goals and track progress. The author also proposed tandem leadership for each area to provide effective leadership. The article also provides lessons learned from the experience.

How Technical is Your Conversation?

A Product Manager used an analogy-based role play to explain two-factor authentication to a senior IT leader and his team. The leader was surprised to see a 6-digit token generated on a mobile phone could authenticate on a remote server without an internet connection. The team found the exercise very helpful and were able to understand the system better with the simple example than with all the cryptographic challenges that lie beneath.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.

Overcome a Poor Working Relationship

When working with a colleague from another department, a lack of results and blame-game ensued. To resolve the issue, a heart-to-heart conversation was held and both parties shared their views. This allowed them to come up with a plan to address the processes and become more collaborative. The lesson learned is to take the time to connect with colleagues, focus on the company mission and vision, and find a way to the ultimate goal.

Managing Team Collaboration After an Acquisition

After a company acquisition, a team was tasked with building a data pipeline with the other engineering team. The other team was confident in their abilities, but the results were 10x slower than expected. The team learned a valuable lesson and now take a two-pronged approach to ensure expectations are set and measurable metrics are used to monitor progress. This is to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that deadlines are met.

How an Empathetic Approach Can Solve Problems

When a manager has an employee who feels they have reached the top of their learning curve and refuses to be pushed further, it is important to talk it out, provide mentorship, create action plans, and start with a question. Through understanding the context of the situation, the manager was able to help the employee learn and grow from their domain knowledge and take ownership at all levels. This ultimately resulted in positive feedback from other team members and managers.

Creating a Cultural Shift for Effective Meetings: Building a Writing Culture

Poor documentation can be risky for businesses, but adopting a writing culture can help to increase inclusivity, reduce meeting time, and increase productivity. To build a successful writing culture, it is important to make it collaborative, document the process and make it accessible, and encourage people to read it. Remote work requires trust, focus time, and asynchronous ways to collaborate and discuss.

How Data-Driven Products Help Customers and Increase Sales

Yellow Pages, a company focused on helping small businesses get discovered online, faced a decline in customer and revenue growth due to competition from Google and Facebook. To combat this, they created a free digital presence health scan to evaluate small business websites and inform them of their online presence. This scan was used to upsell other digital products, such as listing management, social advertising, and website building, and resulted in a doubling of acquisition rates and 70,000 small businesses purchasing their listing management product. The data-driven approach was beneficial for both the company and their clients, as it allowed them to understand their needs and find the right solution.

How to Increase Engagement Using the Right Metrics

This article describes the process of implementing a system of measurements to improve the product of a multinational TV news channel. The team created active and engaged user metrics, a North Star metric of active users, and personalized content recommendations to increase user engagement. The article also highlights the importance of measurement in product improvement and how metrics can benefit creativity.

How to Build a Software Team from the Ground Up

The author was hired as the second full-time technical employee to join a software team with a lack of trust and responsibility. To change the leadership team's mindset, the author established software as a long-term asset rather than an expense center. The author implemented a 50/50 model with half the team in-house and half off-shore, and hired an external recruiter to bring in talent. The author also established agile processes and team-building activities to increase motivation and value. Lessons learned include the need for a recruiter to find quality talent, and that employees join and stay based on their work and leadership.

How to Stay Up-to-Date Managing a Large Remote Team

This article discusses the challenges of managing a large, remote team of 50+ engineers located around the world. To overcome these challenges, the author created a formalized process that included onboarding lessons, weekly meetings, and skip-level meetings. The author also learned that change is always difficult and should be suggested rather than forced, and that having processes in large teams is beneficial.

How to Transition Into an Executive Role

An engineer realized that technical skills alone would not help him grow his career, so he began to focus on learning the language of business, understanding what motivates people, and building high-performance teams. He gained an MBA to validate himself and gain clarity on what he wanted to pursue. After years of dedication to his company, he was able to become the Chief Technology Officer. He learned that time management is the number one challenge when moving into an executive role, and that growing your career is not about being the best at what you do, but being the best collaborator you can be.

Creating a Sustainable Work-Life Balance

Bungie executive, John Smith, has found it difficult to balance his work and personal life. He has implemented strategies such as high-intensity sports, taking routine breaks, and day-to-day strategies such as exercise to help him achieve a better work-life balance. He has also learned two pieces of advice related to work-life balance: setting explicit boundaries and embracing the inability to set clear boundaries.

How to Build a Successful Onboarding Process

This article discusses the importance of having a structured onboarding process for new team members. It provides advice on how to create onboarding documentation, such as provoking questions, starting from scratch or with previous experience, and using internal reviews. It also suggests that the onboarding document should include anything that may be important, and that feedback should be incorporated into the process.

The Power of Collaboration Between Junior and Senior Engineers

When growing teams, the author struggled to find the right balance between senior and junior software developers. To solve this problem, the author hired a 1:1 ratio of senior and junior developers, and paired them together for a month. The author also conducted multiple interviews to determine if the candidates would align with the company culture. Through this process, the author learned that some engineers prefer to work independently, and that some engineers need to be pushed to teach others.

Why We Need Diversity

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and how it can lead to better products and a more successful company. It also highlights the need to remove bias from job descriptions, and to be transparent and authentic about diversity statistics. Finally, it suggests that employees take initiative and hold their companies accountable in order to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

How to Feel Heard During Video Meetings

This article discusses the challenges of imposter syndrome and speaking up during remote Zoom meetings, which is especially difficult for PMs. It outlines the steps taken to address the issue, such as talking to people within the organization, understanding proper Zoom etiquette, and advocating for oneself and others. It also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor, using online and offline resources, and not questioning oneself.

Succeeding as a New Product Manager

A remote PM for a widely dispersed engineering team in New York had to balance the team's enthusiasm with the company's priorities. To do this, the PM got to know the team through 1:1s, conducted a virtual brainstorming session, and was overly communicative. The PM learned that it is important to understand communication styles, conduct information gathering sessions, and share drafts early and often.

How to Encourage Innovation in Your Team

The Director of Product was tasked with unlocking innovation at scale. To do this, they focused on problems instead of ideas, brought visibility and collaboration to meaningful problems, and made discovery a priority. Through this process, they learned that structured discovery enables innovation, spending a disproportionate amount of time on understanding the problem is crucial, and collaboration is key.

How Aligned Product and Marketing Teams Can Impact Growth & User Experience

In 2020, a joint strategy was developed between the CPO & CMO, pairing a Product & Engineering leader with a Marketing leader to co-own a company-level key result. This allowed for effective communication, shared accountability, and trust between the Marketing and Product & Engineering organization. Lessons learned include the importance of accountability & alignment, good communication, and shared accountability.

How to Scale Product Teams for Empowerment & Impact?

This article outlines the challenge of scaling an organization, specifically a product and engineering organization, from 6 to 12 PMs and eventually to 15. The author explored customer journey, product surfaces, and underlying technology to identify areas of ownership for each of the 11 teams. To bring various functions together, they set up a cross-functional council for each area to set goals and track progress. The author also proposed tandem leadership for each area to provide effective leadership. The article also provides lessons learned from the experience.

How Technical is Your Conversation?

A Product Manager used an analogy-based role play to explain two-factor authentication to a senior IT leader and his team. The leader was surprised to see a 6-digit token generated on a mobile phone could authenticate on a remote server without an internet connection. The team found the exercise very helpful and were able to understand the system better with the simple example than with all the cryptographic challenges that lie beneath.

Should Product Managers be Technical?

This consulting engagement with a startup founder focused on product management practices. Through further discussion, it was revealed that the founder's real issue was a matter of innovation. By probing deeper into the problem, a more appealing solution was found, strengthening the business association. Being technical in the situation was beneficial in coming to a closure.