Knowledge shared by our community

My One-on-Ones With Myself

This article outlines the steps taken by the author to plan their career goals and stay on track. These steps include planning their week on Sundays, staying offline in the morning, and having a monthly self-reflection meeting. The author also discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and learning from others who have achieved their goals. Finally, the author emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding why their goals are important to them.

Being Intentional About Your Career Growth

This article is about the author's journey of becoming intentional about their career growth. They started reading books about management and soft skills development, reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, and having conversations with their manager. They learned that they needed to be visible and gain recognition in order to be promoted, and started dedicating weekly time to their career-related activities. They also learned that it is important to be intentional about their career growth and to express their intentions, even if there are no opportunities available.

How to Instill a Growth Mindset in Your Team

OY! is a leading fintech organization in the region that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money securely. To keep up with the ever-changing payment landscape, the organization has implemented a number of processes to instill and nurture a growth mindset organization-wide. This includes a personal growth plan, virtual office hours program, and book reading club. Lessons learned include the need to identify key people to buy in to the growth mindset and serve as ambassadors, and the importance of preparing reports for the next step in their careers.

The Benefits of an Agile Working Environment

This article discusses the transition from a waterfall process to an Agile process in software engineering. It explains the benefits of Agility, such as the ability to get early feedback from customers and modify the product accordingly. It also provides lessons learned, such as keeping teams small, understanding everyone's individual working style, and getting early feedback.

Finding Peace Between Culturally-Diverse Teams

When taking over a large team with a lot of churn and political issues between the US and India, the main goal was to bring civility and trust. To do this, the team was broken into three groups, an employee from India was promoted to provide mentorship, and a people manager was brought in. Training material was created, and a two-week onboarding session was set up for new members. In order to build trust, the manager met with each team member every quarter. Compromise was essential, and the responsibilities were shared fairly. Ultimately, this sense of unity was able to mend the rift between the two teams.

Working Toward a New Vision

After being acquired, the VP of Engineering had to adjust to a new leadership and take on the role of setting the vision for the team. He established a one-year goal, but it ended up taking two years to complete. He learned to delegate more and to think in a longer-term time frame. He also realized that he should have hired more people upfront and been more aggressive in meeting his goals.

Pretotyping a Product That Doesn’t Yet Exist

This article discusses the concept of "pretotyping," which is a method of testing the viability of a product or feature before investing resources into building it. It involves creating a "fake door" with a menu of options to see which ones drive the most foot traffic. This method was used to determine which type of insurance to prioritize in terms of development. The article also provides lessons learned, such as gathering feedback through a "like" button and defining a hypothesis and metrics to measure success.

Testing and Solving a Problem as a Team

After spending time with a new development team, the author wanted to increase their rate of releases. The team had a large QA team and an extensive QA cycle, and the author tried to move from manual QA to an automated system. After a few mishaps, the author sought out the advice of someone not involved with the project and eventually created a small testing framework that shortened the QA process from three days to twenty minutes. The author learned that sometimes you need to be naive in order to solve a problem, and that if you showcase something working, you will earn the buy-in you need from others.

It Takes Focus to Make a Turnaround

The speaker joined a new company and was tasked with turning around a unit that was not running well. They identified the lack of focus as the main issue and proposed to focus everybody on a couple of tasks and put the other team efforts on hold. This allowed the team to release their first project within three weeks and build a sense of trust with one another. The speaker learned that asking what could be done in a feasible amount of time, executing with the right amount of vigor and discipline, and starting small and setting achievable goals are key to success.

Avoiding “Automatic Mode”

Automatic mode is a natural part of the brain's behavior, where it conserves energy by not thinking. As a leader, it is important to pull people out of this mode to get them thinking again and generating value. Doing this builds trust and is key for innovation, as the biggest asset in an innovative company is its people's brain power.

Resolving a Start-Up’s Dysfunctional Past as Their New Product Manager

A new employee was tasked with doubling a product's engagement within a year. After facing pushback from the existing Product and Engineering teams, the employee took a data-driven approach to resolving conflicts and gaining buy-in from all teams. Through patience, understanding, and data-driven decision-making, the employee was able to meet the goal of doubling engagement within nine months.

Phasing Out an Employee Struggling to Assimilate into the Culture of the Company

A Product Manager was hired with a great resume, but they had difficulty working with others and staying communicative. The manager tried to mentor them, but the employee was not receptive. After a year, the manager had to let them go, learning the lessons that it is important to hire the right person from the start and not to prioritize one individual at the expense of everything else.

How to Deliver Value in the Three-Sided Marketplace

The author joined a three-sided marketplace as a senior product manager and was soon promoted to the Director of Product. To better understand the needs of brands and nonprofits, the author developed relationships with team members, attended sales calls, and conducted interviews. Through this process, the author was able to increase the number of shoppers to brands and donations to nonprofits. The author also learned that user research and product analytics are essential for understanding user needs and delivering successful products.

Hiring for a Startup

This article discusses the challenges of hiring for startups, including the difficulty of competing with larger companies for talent. It outlines the importance of sourcing talent, preparing for interviews, creating a seamless candidate journey, and closing a candidate. It also emphasizes the need for flexibility, understanding why people want to join a startup, investing in metrics, and considering cultural fit in the interview process.

Breaking Out Our Project Team Into Multiple Stream-Aligned Teams

When thinkmoney needed to scale, they reorganized their development team into smaller, cross-functional teams with UX Designers and Product Owners. They started small, setting up one team and experimenting with processes, and then emulated the process with multiple teams. To promote a change in mindset, they focused on collaboration and psychological safety, and encouraged team members to participate in processes. Lessons learned included starting small, creating a safe environment, and embracing organizational evolution over transformation.

Becoming a Manager: My Three-Step Journey

This article discusses the journey of a software developer transitioning into a management role. Through self-assessment, light-touch mentorship, and delegation, the author was able to gain the confidence and skills necessary to take on the role of a team lead. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of mindset shift, delegating tasks, focusing on value, and developing emotional intelligence.

Assuming the Role of the Champion

As a Product Manager, it is important to build a personal relationship with each team member in order to create a foundation of trust and enable the team to reach its highest-performing potential. This requires getting to know each team member and their individual strengths, as well as taking responsibility for the team's successes and failures. It is also important to have a clear idea of what excellence looks like and to provide emotional support when necessary.

Beyond the Work/Life Balance: Connecting with Your World Deeply in Order to Find Your Purpose

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing one's own time in order to achieve balance in life and work. It suggests that having a practice at the beginning and end of each week to look forward and block out time for important tasks can help with this. It also emphasizes the importance of investing in relationships at home and understanding one's own purpose in order to be successful.

Choosing the Long-Term Well-Being of the Team Over the Small Things

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing relationships over projects and deadlines. The author shares his journey of understanding that this way of thinking leads to a deficit in the workplace and how it has made a difference in his day-to-day work. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and creating a safe space for team members to be vulnerable. He believes that this type of team will result in an outcome multiplied by the sum of each individual contributor.

Thinking Both Short-Term and Long-Term as a Manager

Product Managers must be able to wear both the manager and leadership hats, which are very different functions. Management is about choosing a direction and optimizing, while leadership is about asking higher level questions and creating buy-in. To be successful, Product Managers must be able to think critically, engage with customers and stakeholders, and develop their own leadership characteristics. They must also be able to plan their weeks and allocate their time responsibly.

My One-on-Ones With Myself

This article outlines the steps taken by the author to plan their career goals and stay on track. These steps include planning their week on Sundays, staying offline in the morning, and having a monthly self-reflection meeting. The author also discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and learning from others who have achieved their goals. Finally, the author emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding why their goals are important to them.

Being Intentional About Your Career Growth

This article is about the author's journey of becoming intentional about their career growth. They started reading books about management and soft skills development, reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, and having conversations with their manager. They learned that they needed to be visible and gain recognition in order to be promoted, and started dedicating weekly time to their career-related activities. They also learned that it is important to be intentional about their career growth and to express their intentions, even if there are no opportunities available.

How to Instill a Growth Mindset in Your Team

OY! is a leading fintech organization in the region that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money securely. To keep up with the ever-changing payment landscape, the organization has implemented a number of processes to instill and nurture a growth mindset organization-wide. This includes a personal growth plan, virtual office hours program, and book reading club. Lessons learned include the need to identify key people to buy in to the growth mindset and serve as ambassadors, and the importance of preparing reports for the next step in their careers.

The Benefits of an Agile Working Environment

This article discusses the transition from a waterfall process to an Agile process in software engineering. It explains the benefits of Agility, such as the ability to get early feedback from customers and modify the product accordingly. It also provides lessons learned, such as keeping teams small, understanding everyone's individual working style, and getting early feedback.

Finding Peace Between Culturally-Diverse Teams

When taking over a large team with a lot of churn and political issues between the US and India, the main goal was to bring civility and trust. To do this, the team was broken into three groups, an employee from India was promoted to provide mentorship, and a people manager was brought in. Training material was created, and a two-week onboarding session was set up for new members. In order to build trust, the manager met with each team member every quarter. Compromise was essential, and the responsibilities were shared fairly. Ultimately, this sense of unity was able to mend the rift between the two teams.

Working Toward a New Vision

After being acquired, the VP of Engineering had to adjust to a new leadership and take on the role of setting the vision for the team. He established a one-year goal, but it ended up taking two years to complete. He learned to delegate more and to think in a longer-term time frame. He also realized that he should have hired more people upfront and been more aggressive in meeting his goals.

Pretotyping a Product That Doesn’t Yet Exist

This article discusses the concept of "pretotyping," which is a method of testing the viability of a product or feature before investing resources into building it. It involves creating a "fake door" with a menu of options to see which ones drive the most foot traffic. This method was used to determine which type of insurance to prioritize in terms of development. The article also provides lessons learned, such as gathering feedback through a "like" button and defining a hypothesis and metrics to measure success.

Testing and Solving a Problem as a Team

After spending time with a new development team, the author wanted to increase their rate of releases. The team had a large QA team and an extensive QA cycle, and the author tried to move from manual QA to an automated system. After a few mishaps, the author sought out the advice of someone not involved with the project and eventually created a small testing framework that shortened the QA process from three days to twenty minutes. The author learned that sometimes you need to be naive in order to solve a problem, and that if you showcase something working, you will earn the buy-in you need from others.

It Takes Focus to Make a Turnaround

The speaker joined a new company and was tasked with turning around a unit that was not running well. They identified the lack of focus as the main issue and proposed to focus everybody on a couple of tasks and put the other team efforts on hold. This allowed the team to release their first project within three weeks and build a sense of trust with one another. The speaker learned that asking what could be done in a feasible amount of time, executing with the right amount of vigor and discipline, and starting small and setting achievable goals are key to success.

Avoiding “Automatic Mode”

Automatic mode is a natural part of the brain's behavior, where it conserves energy by not thinking. As a leader, it is important to pull people out of this mode to get them thinking again and generating value. Doing this builds trust and is key for innovation, as the biggest asset in an innovative company is its people's brain power.

Resolving a Start-Up’s Dysfunctional Past as Their New Product Manager

A new employee was tasked with doubling a product's engagement within a year. After facing pushback from the existing Product and Engineering teams, the employee took a data-driven approach to resolving conflicts and gaining buy-in from all teams. Through patience, understanding, and data-driven decision-making, the employee was able to meet the goal of doubling engagement within nine months.

Phasing Out an Employee Struggling to Assimilate into the Culture of the Company

A Product Manager was hired with a great resume, but they had difficulty working with others and staying communicative. The manager tried to mentor them, but the employee was not receptive. After a year, the manager had to let them go, learning the lessons that it is important to hire the right person from the start and not to prioritize one individual at the expense of everything else.

How to Deliver Value in the Three-Sided Marketplace

The author joined a three-sided marketplace as a senior product manager and was soon promoted to the Director of Product. To better understand the needs of brands and nonprofits, the author developed relationships with team members, attended sales calls, and conducted interviews. Through this process, the author was able to increase the number of shoppers to brands and donations to nonprofits. The author also learned that user research and product analytics are essential for understanding user needs and delivering successful products.

Hiring for a Startup

This article discusses the challenges of hiring for startups, including the difficulty of competing with larger companies for talent. It outlines the importance of sourcing talent, preparing for interviews, creating a seamless candidate journey, and closing a candidate. It also emphasizes the need for flexibility, understanding why people want to join a startup, investing in metrics, and considering cultural fit in the interview process.

Breaking Out Our Project Team Into Multiple Stream-Aligned Teams

When thinkmoney needed to scale, they reorganized their development team into smaller, cross-functional teams with UX Designers and Product Owners. They started small, setting up one team and experimenting with processes, and then emulated the process with multiple teams. To promote a change in mindset, they focused on collaboration and psychological safety, and encouraged team members to participate in processes. Lessons learned included starting small, creating a safe environment, and embracing organizational evolution over transformation.

Becoming a Manager: My Three-Step Journey

This article discusses the journey of a software developer transitioning into a management role. Through self-assessment, light-touch mentorship, and delegation, the author was able to gain the confidence and skills necessary to take on the role of a team lead. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of mindset shift, delegating tasks, focusing on value, and developing emotional intelligence.

Assuming the Role of the Champion

As a Product Manager, it is important to build a personal relationship with each team member in order to create a foundation of trust and enable the team to reach its highest-performing potential. This requires getting to know each team member and their individual strengths, as well as taking responsibility for the team's successes and failures. It is also important to have a clear idea of what excellence looks like and to provide emotional support when necessary.

Beyond the Work/Life Balance: Connecting with Your World Deeply in Order to Find Your Purpose

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing one's own time in order to achieve balance in life and work. It suggests that having a practice at the beginning and end of each week to look forward and block out time for important tasks can help with this. It also emphasizes the importance of investing in relationships at home and understanding one's own purpose in order to be successful.

Choosing the Long-Term Well-Being of the Team Over the Small Things

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing relationships over projects and deadlines. The author shares his journey of understanding that this way of thinking leads to a deficit in the workplace and how it has made a difference in his day-to-day work. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and creating a safe space for team members to be vulnerable. He believes that this type of team will result in an outcome multiplied by the sum of each individual contributor.

Thinking Both Short-Term and Long-Term as a Manager

Product Managers must be able to wear both the manager and leadership hats, which are very different functions. Management is about choosing a direction and optimizing, while leadership is about asking higher level questions and creating buy-in. To be successful, Product Managers must be able to think critically, engage with customers and stakeholders, and develop their own leadership characteristics. They must also be able to plan their weeks and allocate their time responsibly.

My One-on-Ones With Myself

This article outlines the steps taken by the author to plan their career goals and stay on track. These steps include planning their week on Sundays, staying offline in the morning, and having a monthly self-reflection meeting. The author also discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and learning from others who have achieved their goals. Finally, the author emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding why their goals are important to them.

Being Intentional About Your Career Growth

This article is about the author's journey of becoming intentional about their career growth. They started reading books about management and soft skills development, reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, and having conversations with their manager. They learned that they needed to be visible and gain recognition in order to be promoted, and started dedicating weekly time to their career-related activities. They also learned that it is important to be intentional about their career growth and to express their intentions, even if there are no opportunities available.

How to Instill a Growth Mindset in Your Team

OY! is a leading fintech organization in the region that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money securely. To keep up with the ever-changing payment landscape, the organization has implemented a number of processes to instill and nurture a growth mindset organization-wide. This includes a personal growth plan, virtual office hours program, and book reading club. Lessons learned include the need to identify key people to buy in to the growth mindset and serve as ambassadors, and the importance of preparing reports for the next step in their careers.

The Benefits of an Agile Working Environment

This article discusses the transition from a waterfall process to an Agile process in software engineering. It explains the benefits of Agility, such as the ability to get early feedback from customers and modify the product accordingly. It also provides lessons learned, such as keeping teams small, understanding everyone's individual working style, and getting early feedback.

Finding Peace Between Culturally-Diverse Teams

When taking over a large team with a lot of churn and political issues between the US and India, the main goal was to bring civility and trust. To do this, the team was broken into three groups, an employee from India was promoted to provide mentorship, and a people manager was brought in. Training material was created, and a two-week onboarding session was set up for new members. In order to build trust, the manager met with each team member every quarter. Compromise was essential, and the responsibilities were shared fairly. Ultimately, this sense of unity was able to mend the rift between the two teams.

Working Toward a New Vision

After being acquired, the VP of Engineering had to adjust to a new leadership and take on the role of setting the vision for the team. He established a one-year goal, but it ended up taking two years to complete. He learned to delegate more and to think in a longer-term time frame. He also realized that he should have hired more people upfront and been more aggressive in meeting his goals.

Pretotyping a Product That Doesn’t Yet Exist

This article discusses the concept of "pretotyping," which is a method of testing the viability of a product or feature before investing resources into building it. It involves creating a "fake door" with a menu of options to see which ones drive the most foot traffic. This method was used to determine which type of insurance to prioritize in terms of development. The article also provides lessons learned, such as gathering feedback through a "like" button and defining a hypothesis and metrics to measure success.

Testing and Solving a Problem as a Team

After spending time with a new development team, the author wanted to increase their rate of releases. The team had a large QA team and an extensive QA cycle, and the author tried to move from manual QA to an automated system. After a few mishaps, the author sought out the advice of someone not involved with the project and eventually created a small testing framework that shortened the QA process from three days to twenty minutes. The author learned that sometimes you need to be naive in order to solve a problem, and that if you showcase something working, you will earn the buy-in you need from others.

It Takes Focus to Make a Turnaround

The speaker joined a new company and was tasked with turning around a unit that was not running well. They identified the lack of focus as the main issue and proposed to focus everybody on a couple of tasks and put the other team efforts on hold. This allowed the team to release their first project within three weeks and build a sense of trust with one another. The speaker learned that asking what could be done in a feasible amount of time, executing with the right amount of vigor and discipline, and starting small and setting achievable goals are key to success.

Avoiding “Automatic Mode”

Automatic mode is a natural part of the brain's behavior, where it conserves energy by not thinking. As a leader, it is important to pull people out of this mode to get them thinking again and generating value. Doing this builds trust and is key for innovation, as the biggest asset in an innovative company is its people's brain power.

Resolving a Start-Up’s Dysfunctional Past as Their New Product Manager

A new employee was tasked with doubling a product's engagement within a year. After facing pushback from the existing Product and Engineering teams, the employee took a data-driven approach to resolving conflicts and gaining buy-in from all teams. Through patience, understanding, and data-driven decision-making, the employee was able to meet the goal of doubling engagement within nine months.

Phasing Out an Employee Struggling to Assimilate into the Culture of the Company

A Product Manager was hired with a great resume, but they had difficulty working with others and staying communicative. The manager tried to mentor them, but the employee was not receptive. After a year, the manager had to let them go, learning the lessons that it is important to hire the right person from the start and not to prioritize one individual at the expense of everything else.

How to Deliver Value in the Three-Sided Marketplace

The author joined a three-sided marketplace as a senior product manager and was soon promoted to the Director of Product. To better understand the needs of brands and nonprofits, the author developed relationships with team members, attended sales calls, and conducted interviews. Through this process, the author was able to increase the number of shoppers to brands and donations to nonprofits. The author also learned that user research and product analytics are essential for understanding user needs and delivering successful products.

Hiring for a Startup

This article discusses the challenges of hiring for startups, including the difficulty of competing with larger companies for talent. It outlines the importance of sourcing talent, preparing for interviews, creating a seamless candidate journey, and closing a candidate. It also emphasizes the need for flexibility, understanding why people want to join a startup, investing in metrics, and considering cultural fit in the interview process.

Breaking Out Our Project Team Into Multiple Stream-Aligned Teams

When thinkmoney needed to scale, they reorganized their development team into smaller, cross-functional teams with UX Designers and Product Owners. They started small, setting up one team and experimenting with processes, and then emulated the process with multiple teams. To promote a change in mindset, they focused on collaboration and psychological safety, and encouraged team members to participate in processes. Lessons learned included starting small, creating a safe environment, and embracing organizational evolution over transformation.

Becoming a Manager: My Three-Step Journey

This article discusses the journey of a software developer transitioning into a management role. Through self-assessment, light-touch mentorship, and delegation, the author was able to gain the confidence and skills necessary to take on the role of a team lead. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of mindset shift, delegating tasks, focusing on value, and developing emotional intelligence.

Assuming the Role of the Champion

As a Product Manager, it is important to build a personal relationship with each team member in order to create a foundation of trust and enable the team to reach its highest-performing potential. This requires getting to know each team member and their individual strengths, as well as taking responsibility for the team's successes and failures. It is also important to have a clear idea of what excellence looks like and to provide emotional support when necessary.

Beyond the Work/Life Balance: Connecting with Your World Deeply in Order to Find Your Purpose

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing one's own time in order to achieve balance in life and work. It suggests that having a practice at the beginning and end of each week to look forward and block out time for important tasks can help with this. It also emphasizes the importance of investing in relationships at home and understanding one's own purpose in order to be successful.

Choosing the Long-Term Well-Being of the Team Over the Small Things

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing relationships over projects and deadlines. The author shares his journey of understanding that this way of thinking leads to a deficit in the workplace and how it has made a difference in his day-to-day work. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and creating a safe space for team members to be vulnerable. He believes that this type of team will result in an outcome multiplied by the sum of each individual contributor.

Thinking Both Short-Term and Long-Term as a Manager

Product Managers must be able to wear both the manager and leadership hats, which are very different functions. Management is about choosing a direction and optimizing, while leadership is about asking higher level questions and creating buy-in. To be successful, Product Managers must be able to think critically, engage with customers and stakeholders, and develop their own leadership characteristics. They must also be able to plan their weeks and allocate their time responsibly.

My One-on-Ones With Myself

This article outlines the steps taken by the author to plan their career goals and stay on track. These steps include planning their week on Sundays, staying offline in the morning, and having a monthly self-reflection meeting. The author also discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and learning from others who have achieved their goals. Finally, the author emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding why their goals are important to them.

Being Intentional About Your Career Growth

This article is about the author's journey of becoming intentional about their career growth. They started reading books about management and soft skills development, reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, and having conversations with their manager. They learned that they needed to be visible and gain recognition in order to be promoted, and started dedicating weekly time to their career-related activities. They also learned that it is important to be intentional about their career growth and to express their intentions, even if there are no opportunities available.

How to Instill a Growth Mindset in Your Team

OY! is a leading fintech organization in the region that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money securely. To keep up with the ever-changing payment landscape, the organization has implemented a number of processes to instill and nurture a growth mindset organization-wide. This includes a personal growth plan, virtual office hours program, and book reading club. Lessons learned include the need to identify key people to buy in to the growth mindset and serve as ambassadors, and the importance of preparing reports for the next step in their careers.

The Benefits of an Agile Working Environment

This article discusses the transition from a waterfall process to an Agile process in software engineering. It explains the benefits of Agility, such as the ability to get early feedback from customers and modify the product accordingly. It also provides lessons learned, such as keeping teams small, understanding everyone's individual working style, and getting early feedback.

Finding Peace Between Culturally-Diverse Teams

When taking over a large team with a lot of churn and political issues between the US and India, the main goal was to bring civility and trust. To do this, the team was broken into three groups, an employee from India was promoted to provide mentorship, and a people manager was brought in. Training material was created, and a two-week onboarding session was set up for new members. In order to build trust, the manager met with each team member every quarter. Compromise was essential, and the responsibilities were shared fairly. Ultimately, this sense of unity was able to mend the rift between the two teams.

Working Toward a New Vision

After being acquired, the VP of Engineering had to adjust to a new leadership and take on the role of setting the vision for the team. He established a one-year goal, but it ended up taking two years to complete. He learned to delegate more and to think in a longer-term time frame. He also realized that he should have hired more people upfront and been more aggressive in meeting his goals.

Pretotyping a Product That Doesn’t Yet Exist

This article discusses the concept of "pretotyping," which is a method of testing the viability of a product or feature before investing resources into building it. It involves creating a "fake door" with a menu of options to see which ones drive the most foot traffic. This method was used to determine which type of insurance to prioritize in terms of development. The article also provides lessons learned, such as gathering feedback through a "like" button and defining a hypothesis and metrics to measure success.

Testing and Solving a Problem as a Team

After spending time with a new development team, the author wanted to increase their rate of releases. The team had a large QA team and an extensive QA cycle, and the author tried to move from manual QA to an automated system. After a few mishaps, the author sought out the advice of someone not involved with the project and eventually created a small testing framework that shortened the QA process from three days to twenty minutes. The author learned that sometimes you need to be naive in order to solve a problem, and that if you showcase something working, you will earn the buy-in you need from others.

It Takes Focus to Make a Turnaround

The speaker joined a new company and was tasked with turning around a unit that was not running well. They identified the lack of focus as the main issue and proposed to focus everybody on a couple of tasks and put the other team efforts on hold. This allowed the team to release their first project within three weeks and build a sense of trust with one another. The speaker learned that asking what could be done in a feasible amount of time, executing with the right amount of vigor and discipline, and starting small and setting achievable goals are key to success.

Avoiding “Automatic Mode”

Automatic mode is a natural part of the brain's behavior, where it conserves energy by not thinking. As a leader, it is important to pull people out of this mode to get them thinking again and generating value. Doing this builds trust and is key for innovation, as the biggest asset in an innovative company is its people's brain power.

Resolving a Start-Up’s Dysfunctional Past as Their New Product Manager

A new employee was tasked with doubling a product's engagement within a year. After facing pushback from the existing Product and Engineering teams, the employee took a data-driven approach to resolving conflicts and gaining buy-in from all teams. Through patience, understanding, and data-driven decision-making, the employee was able to meet the goal of doubling engagement within nine months.

Phasing Out an Employee Struggling to Assimilate into the Culture of the Company

A Product Manager was hired with a great resume, but they had difficulty working with others and staying communicative. The manager tried to mentor them, but the employee was not receptive. After a year, the manager had to let them go, learning the lessons that it is important to hire the right person from the start and not to prioritize one individual at the expense of everything else.

How to Deliver Value in the Three-Sided Marketplace

The author joined a three-sided marketplace as a senior product manager and was soon promoted to the Director of Product. To better understand the needs of brands and nonprofits, the author developed relationships with team members, attended sales calls, and conducted interviews. Through this process, the author was able to increase the number of shoppers to brands and donations to nonprofits. The author also learned that user research and product analytics are essential for understanding user needs and delivering successful products.

Hiring for a Startup

This article discusses the challenges of hiring for startups, including the difficulty of competing with larger companies for talent. It outlines the importance of sourcing talent, preparing for interviews, creating a seamless candidate journey, and closing a candidate. It also emphasizes the need for flexibility, understanding why people want to join a startup, investing in metrics, and considering cultural fit in the interview process.

Breaking Out Our Project Team Into Multiple Stream-Aligned Teams

When thinkmoney needed to scale, they reorganized their development team into smaller, cross-functional teams with UX Designers and Product Owners. They started small, setting up one team and experimenting with processes, and then emulated the process with multiple teams. To promote a change in mindset, they focused on collaboration and psychological safety, and encouraged team members to participate in processes. Lessons learned included starting small, creating a safe environment, and embracing organizational evolution over transformation.

Becoming a Manager: My Three-Step Journey

This article discusses the journey of a software developer transitioning into a management role. Through self-assessment, light-touch mentorship, and delegation, the author was able to gain the confidence and skills necessary to take on the role of a team lead. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of mindset shift, delegating tasks, focusing on value, and developing emotional intelligence.

Assuming the Role of the Champion

As a Product Manager, it is important to build a personal relationship with each team member in order to create a foundation of trust and enable the team to reach its highest-performing potential. This requires getting to know each team member and their individual strengths, as well as taking responsibility for the team's successes and failures. It is also important to have a clear idea of what excellence looks like and to provide emotional support when necessary.

Beyond the Work/Life Balance: Connecting with Your World Deeply in Order to Find Your Purpose

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing one's own time in order to achieve balance in life and work. It suggests that having a practice at the beginning and end of each week to look forward and block out time for important tasks can help with this. It also emphasizes the importance of investing in relationships at home and understanding one's own purpose in order to be successful.

Choosing the Long-Term Well-Being of the Team Over the Small Things

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing relationships over projects and deadlines. The author shares his journey of understanding that this way of thinking leads to a deficit in the workplace and how it has made a difference in his day-to-day work. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and creating a safe space for team members to be vulnerable. He believes that this type of team will result in an outcome multiplied by the sum of each individual contributor.

Thinking Both Short-Term and Long-Term as a Manager

Product Managers must be able to wear both the manager and leadership hats, which are very different functions. Management is about choosing a direction and optimizing, while leadership is about asking higher level questions and creating buy-in. To be successful, Product Managers must be able to think critically, engage with customers and stakeholders, and develop their own leadership characteristics. They must also be able to plan their weeks and allocate their time responsibly.

My One-on-Ones With Myself

This article outlines the steps taken by the author to plan their career goals and stay on track. These steps include planning their week on Sundays, staying offline in the morning, and having a monthly self-reflection meeting. The author also discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and learning from others who have achieved their goals. Finally, the author emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding why their goals are important to them.

Being Intentional About Your Career Growth

This article is about the author's journey of becoming intentional about their career growth. They started reading books about management and soft skills development, reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, and having conversations with their manager. They learned that they needed to be visible and gain recognition in order to be promoted, and started dedicating weekly time to their career-related activities. They also learned that it is important to be intentional about their career growth and to express their intentions, even if there are no opportunities available.

How to Instill a Growth Mindset in Your Team

OY! is a leading fintech organization in the region that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money securely. To keep up with the ever-changing payment landscape, the organization has implemented a number of processes to instill and nurture a growth mindset organization-wide. This includes a personal growth plan, virtual office hours program, and book reading club. Lessons learned include the need to identify key people to buy in to the growth mindset and serve as ambassadors, and the importance of preparing reports for the next step in their careers.

The Benefits of an Agile Working Environment

This article discusses the transition from a waterfall process to an Agile process in software engineering. It explains the benefits of Agility, such as the ability to get early feedback from customers and modify the product accordingly. It also provides lessons learned, such as keeping teams small, understanding everyone's individual working style, and getting early feedback.

Finding Peace Between Culturally-Diverse Teams

When taking over a large team with a lot of churn and political issues between the US and India, the main goal was to bring civility and trust. To do this, the team was broken into three groups, an employee from India was promoted to provide mentorship, and a people manager was brought in. Training material was created, and a two-week onboarding session was set up for new members. In order to build trust, the manager met with each team member every quarter. Compromise was essential, and the responsibilities were shared fairly. Ultimately, this sense of unity was able to mend the rift between the two teams.

Working Toward a New Vision

After being acquired, the VP of Engineering had to adjust to a new leadership and take on the role of setting the vision for the team. He established a one-year goal, but it ended up taking two years to complete. He learned to delegate more and to think in a longer-term time frame. He also realized that he should have hired more people upfront and been more aggressive in meeting his goals.

Pretotyping a Product That Doesn’t Yet Exist

This article discusses the concept of "pretotyping," which is a method of testing the viability of a product or feature before investing resources into building it. It involves creating a "fake door" with a menu of options to see which ones drive the most foot traffic. This method was used to determine which type of insurance to prioritize in terms of development. The article also provides lessons learned, such as gathering feedback through a "like" button and defining a hypothesis and metrics to measure success.

Testing and Solving a Problem as a Team

After spending time with a new development team, the author wanted to increase their rate of releases. The team had a large QA team and an extensive QA cycle, and the author tried to move from manual QA to an automated system. After a few mishaps, the author sought out the advice of someone not involved with the project and eventually created a small testing framework that shortened the QA process from three days to twenty minutes. The author learned that sometimes you need to be naive in order to solve a problem, and that if you showcase something working, you will earn the buy-in you need from others.

It Takes Focus to Make a Turnaround

The speaker joined a new company and was tasked with turning around a unit that was not running well. They identified the lack of focus as the main issue and proposed to focus everybody on a couple of tasks and put the other team efforts on hold. This allowed the team to release their first project within three weeks and build a sense of trust with one another. The speaker learned that asking what could be done in a feasible amount of time, executing with the right amount of vigor and discipline, and starting small and setting achievable goals are key to success.

Avoiding “Automatic Mode”

Automatic mode is a natural part of the brain's behavior, where it conserves energy by not thinking. As a leader, it is important to pull people out of this mode to get them thinking again and generating value. Doing this builds trust and is key for innovation, as the biggest asset in an innovative company is its people's brain power.

Resolving a Start-Up’s Dysfunctional Past as Their New Product Manager

A new employee was tasked with doubling a product's engagement within a year. After facing pushback from the existing Product and Engineering teams, the employee took a data-driven approach to resolving conflicts and gaining buy-in from all teams. Through patience, understanding, and data-driven decision-making, the employee was able to meet the goal of doubling engagement within nine months.

Phasing Out an Employee Struggling to Assimilate into the Culture of the Company

A Product Manager was hired with a great resume, but they had difficulty working with others and staying communicative. The manager tried to mentor them, but the employee was not receptive. After a year, the manager had to let them go, learning the lessons that it is important to hire the right person from the start and not to prioritize one individual at the expense of everything else.

How to Deliver Value in the Three-Sided Marketplace

The author joined a three-sided marketplace as a senior product manager and was soon promoted to the Director of Product. To better understand the needs of brands and nonprofits, the author developed relationships with team members, attended sales calls, and conducted interviews. Through this process, the author was able to increase the number of shoppers to brands and donations to nonprofits. The author also learned that user research and product analytics are essential for understanding user needs and delivering successful products.

Hiring for a Startup

This article discusses the challenges of hiring for startups, including the difficulty of competing with larger companies for talent. It outlines the importance of sourcing talent, preparing for interviews, creating a seamless candidate journey, and closing a candidate. It also emphasizes the need for flexibility, understanding why people want to join a startup, investing in metrics, and considering cultural fit in the interview process.

Breaking Out Our Project Team Into Multiple Stream-Aligned Teams

When thinkmoney needed to scale, they reorganized their development team into smaller, cross-functional teams with UX Designers and Product Owners. They started small, setting up one team and experimenting with processes, and then emulated the process with multiple teams. To promote a change in mindset, they focused on collaboration and psychological safety, and encouraged team members to participate in processes. Lessons learned included starting small, creating a safe environment, and embracing organizational evolution over transformation.

Becoming a Manager: My Three-Step Journey

This article discusses the journey of a software developer transitioning into a management role. Through self-assessment, light-touch mentorship, and delegation, the author was able to gain the confidence and skills necessary to take on the role of a team lead. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of mindset shift, delegating tasks, focusing on value, and developing emotional intelligence.

Assuming the Role of the Champion

As a Product Manager, it is important to build a personal relationship with each team member in order to create a foundation of trust and enable the team to reach its highest-performing potential. This requires getting to know each team member and their individual strengths, as well as taking responsibility for the team's successes and failures. It is also important to have a clear idea of what excellence looks like and to provide emotional support when necessary.

Beyond the Work/Life Balance: Connecting with Your World Deeply in Order to Find Your Purpose

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing one's own time in order to achieve balance in life and work. It suggests that having a practice at the beginning and end of each week to look forward and block out time for important tasks can help with this. It also emphasizes the importance of investing in relationships at home and understanding one's own purpose in order to be successful.

Choosing the Long-Term Well-Being of the Team Over the Small Things

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing relationships over projects and deadlines. The author shares his journey of understanding that this way of thinking leads to a deficit in the workplace and how it has made a difference in his day-to-day work. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and creating a safe space for team members to be vulnerable. He believes that this type of team will result in an outcome multiplied by the sum of each individual contributor.

Thinking Both Short-Term and Long-Term as a Manager

Product Managers must be able to wear both the manager and leadership hats, which are very different functions. Management is about choosing a direction and optimizing, while leadership is about asking higher level questions and creating buy-in. To be successful, Product Managers must be able to think critically, engage with customers and stakeholders, and develop their own leadership characteristics. They must also be able to plan their weeks and allocate their time responsibly.

My One-on-Ones With Myself

This article outlines the steps taken by the author to plan their career goals and stay on track. These steps include planning their week on Sundays, staying offline in the morning, and having a monthly self-reflection meeting. The author also discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and learning from others who have achieved their goals. Finally, the author emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding why their goals are important to them.

Being Intentional About Your Career Growth

This article is about the author's journey of becoming intentional about their career growth. They started reading books about management and soft skills development, reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, and having conversations with their manager. They learned that they needed to be visible and gain recognition in order to be promoted, and started dedicating weekly time to their career-related activities. They also learned that it is important to be intentional about their career growth and to express their intentions, even if there are no opportunities available.

How to Instill a Growth Mindset in Your Team

OY! is a leading fintech organization in the region that enables businesses and individuals to send and receive money securely. To keep up with the ever-changing payment landscape, the organization has implemented a number of processes to instill and nurture a growth mindset organization-wide. This includes a personal growth plan, virtual office hours program, and book reading club. Lessons learned include the need to identify key people to buy in to the growth mindset and serve as ambassadors, and the importance of preparing reports for the next step in their careers.

The Benefits of an Agile Working Environment

This article discusses the transition from a waterfall process to an Agile process in software engineering. It explains the benefits of Agility, such as the ability to get early feedback from customers and modify the product accordingly. It also provides lessons learned, such as keeping teams small, understanding everyone's individual working style, and getting early feedback.

Finding Peace Between Culturally-Diverse Teams

When taking over a large team with a lot of churn and political issues between the US and India, the main goal was to bring civility and trust. To do this, the team was broken into three groups, an employee from India was promoted to provide mentorship, and a people manager was brought in. Training material was created, and a two-week onboarding session was set up for new members. In order to build trust, the manager met with each team member every quarter. Compromise was essential, and the responsibilities were shared fairly. Ultimately, this sense of unity was able to mend the rift between the two teams.

Working Toward a New Vision

After being acquired, the VP of Engineering had to adjust to a new leadership and take on the role of setting the vision for the team. He established a one-year goal, but it ended up taking two years to complete. He learned to delegate more and to think in a longer-term time frame. He also realized that he should have hired more people upfront and been more aggressive in meeting his goals.

Pretotyping a Product That Doesn’t Yet Exist

This article discusses the concept of "pretotyping," which is a method of testing the viability of a product or feature before investing resources into building it. It involves creating a "fake door" with a menu of options to see which ones drive the most foot traffic. This method was used to determine which type of insurance to prioritize in terms of development. The article also provides lessons learned, such as gathering feedback through a "like" button and defining a hypothesis and metrics to measure success.

Testing and Solving a Problem as a Team

After spending time with a new development team, the author wanted to increase their rate of releases. The team had a large QA team and an extensive QA cycle, and the author tried to move from manual QA to an automated system. After a few mishaps, the author sought out the advice of someone not involved with the project and eventually created a small testing framework that shortened the QA process from three days to twenty minutes. The author learned that sometimes you need to be naive in order to solve a problem, and that if you showcase something working, you will earn the buy-in you need from others.

It Takes Focus to Make a Turnaround

The speaker joined a new company and was tasked with turning around a unit that was not running well. They identified the lack of focus as the main issue and proposed to focus everybody on a couple of tasks and put the other team efforts on hold. This allowed the team to release their first project within three weeks and build a sense of trust with one another. The speaker learned that asking what could be done in a feasible amount of time, executing with the right amount of vigor and discipline, and starting small and setting achievable goals are key to success.

Avoiding “Automatic Mode”

Automatic mode is a natural part of the brain's behavior, where it conserves energy by not thinking. As a leader, it is important to pull people out of this mode to get them thinking again and generating value. Doing this builds trust and is key for innovation, as the biggest asset in an innovative company is its people's brain power.

Resolving a Start-Up’s Dysfunctional Past as Their New Product Manager

A new employee was tasked with doubling a product's engagement within a year. After facing pushback from the existing Product and Engineering teams, the employee took a data-driven approach to resolving conflicts and gaining buy-in from all teams. Through patience, understanding, and data-driven decision-making, the employee was able to meet the goal of doubling engagement within nine months.

Phasing Out an Employee Struggling to Assimilate into the Culture of the Company

A Product Manager was hired with a great resume, but they had difficulty working with others and staying communicative. The manager tried to mentor them, but the employee was not receptive. After a year, the manager had to let them go, learning the lessons that it is important to hire the right person from the start and not to prioritize one individual at the expense of everything else.

How to Deliver Value in the Three-Sided Marketplace

The author joined a three-sided marketplace as a senior product manager and was soon promoted to the Director of Product. To better understand the needs of brands and nonprofits, the author developed relationships with team members, attended sales calls, and conducted interviews. Through this process, the author was able to increase the number of shoppers to brands and donations to nonprofits. The author also learned that user research and product analytics are essential for understanding user needs and delivering successful products.

Hiring for a Startup

This article discusses the challenges of hiring for startups, including the difficulty of competing with larger companies for talent. It outlines the importance of sourcing talent, preparing for interviews, creating a seamless candidate journey, and closing a candidate. It also emphasizes the need for flexibility, understanding why people want to join a startup, investing in metrics, and considering cultural fit in the interview process.

Breaking Out Our Project Team Into Multiple Stream-Aligned Teams

When thinkmoney needed to scale, they reorganized their development team into smaller, cross-functional teams with UX Designers and Product Owners. They started small, setting up one team and experimenting with processes, and then emulated the process with multiple teams. To promote a change in mindset, they focused on collaboration and psychological safety, and encouraged team members to participate in processes. Lessons learned included starting small, creating a safe environment, and embracing organizational evolution over transformation.

Becoming a Manager: My Three-Step Journey

This article discusses the journey of a software developer transitioning into a management role. Through self-assessment, light-touch mentorship, and delegation, the author was able to gain the confidence and skills necessary to take on the role of a team lead. The article also provides lessons learned, such as the importance of mindset shift, delegating tasks, focusing on value, and developing emotional intelligence.

Assuming the Role of the Champion

As a Product Manager, it is important to build a personal relationship with each team member in order to create a foundation of trust and enable the team to reach its highest-performing potential. This requires getting to know each team member and their individual strengths, as well as taking responsibility for the team's successes and failures. It is also important to have a clear idea of what excellence looks like and to provide emotional support when necessary.

Beyond the Work/Life Balance: Connecting with Your World Deeply in Order to Find Your Purpose

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing one's own time in order to achieve balance in life and work. It suggests that having a practice at the beginning and end of each week to look forward and block out time for important tasks can help with this. It also emphasizes the importance of investing in relationships at home and understanding one's own purpose in order to be successful.

Choosing the Long-Term Well-Being of the Team Over the Small Things

This article discusses the importance of prioritizing relationships over projects and deadlines. The author shares his journey of understanding that this way of thinking leads to a deficit in the workplace and how it has made a difference in his day-to-day work. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and creating a safe space for team members to be vulnerable. He believes that this type of team will result in an outcome multiplied by the sum of each individual contributor.

Thinking Both Short-Term and Long-Term as a Manager

Product Managers must be able to wear both the manager and leadership hats, which are very different functions. Management is about choosing a direction and optimizing, while leadership is about asking higher level questions and creating buy-in. To be successful, Product Managers must be able to think critically, engage with customers and stakeholders, and develop their own leadership characteristics. They must also be able to plan their weeks and allocate their time responsibly.