Knowledge shared by our community

How Work Visa Uncertainty Made Me More Successful at Work

This article is about the challenges of working on a work visa in the US and UK for eight years. It discusses how the author used the uncertainty of their situation to their advantage, pushing themselves to work harder and reinvent themselves every year. It also discusses how the author had to build relationships in a new environment and culture, and learn a different language. The article concludes with the lessons the author learned, such as going out of their comfort zone, taking risks, and being confident and assertive.

How to Set Up a Bi-Directional Roadmap

This article discusses how to create a product roadmap in a bi-directional process that includes the engineering team. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the different perspectives of the Product Manager and the engineers, and encourages engineers to develop their skills in selling their ideas. It also highlights the need to ensure that engineers feel included in the decision-making process in order to avoid frustration and demotivation.

How Restructuring Can Help Your Team to Claim Ownership

The manager of a team of five people restructured the team into two subteams, each with their own area of focus. This allowed the team to develop their subject matter expertise and become respected for their competencies. The team feedback was positive and the team was able to move faster with improved collaboration. The manager learned that it is hard to enforce accountability without establishing ownership first, and that reorgs can lead to isolation if knowledge sharing does not happen early on.

Understanding the Importance of Tech Microculture Within Large Corporations

This article discusses the importance of developing a microculture within tech teams in large corporations. It outlines the methodology, processes, autonomy, values, and alignment needed to create a successful team culture. It emphasizes the need to understand the team, build trust and empathy, and align the team mission statement with the company mission statement.

Joining and Successfully Leading a New Team

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning to a new role and how to successfully navigate the introductory period. The author recommends the book _The First 90 Days_ by Michael Watkins and suggests dividing the first three months into three phases: meeting people, becoming gradually involved in product releases and development cycle, and building team strategy. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of stakeholder management, building trust and empathy, and practicing influence without authority.

Introducing Processes for Continuous Improvement

This article discusses the introduction of continuous improvement processes at a company with no existing processes in place. The author introduced one-on-ones, retros, and post-mortems to the team, modeling vulnerability to encourage feedback and trust. The article emphasizes the importance of modeling values and creating a culture of psychological safety to drive long-term change.

The Quick Fix to a Slow Team: A Consultant’s Perspective

A consultant was hired to help a team that was moving slow due to a lack of product direction, back-end resources, and project management. The consultant instituted weekly retros, sprints, and iteration planning meetings to improve the process. They also added more resources, delegated tasks, and worked more closely with Product to gain clarity on business objectives. The consultant learned the importance of delegation, continual improvement processes, and developing team structure.

How to Spot Key Issues

When joining a new company, the author noticed organizational and cultural issues that needed to be addressed. To do this, they conducted interviews with stakeholders from different departments to collect information and gain an overview of the situation. They then synthesized the information, prioritized it, and drafted an action plan with concrete measures, timing, and resources. Finally, they communicated the plan to the whole team and monitored progress through regular surveys. Through this process, the author learned the importance of an outsider perspective, engaging stakeholders, and clear communication when trying to bring about change.

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

Creating a Healthy Remote Environment

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a company had to quickly transition to remote work. The manager took a variety of actions to ensure employees had the necessary equipment, had a healthy work-life balance, and felt supported. These included providing mental health courses, surveys to understand employee needs, fitness classes, and virtual open hours. The manager also increased communication with the team and one-on-ones with reports. Lessons learned included the importance of personal interaction, communication, work-life balance, and productivity guidance.

Managing Managers: How to Stay Close to Problems on the Ground

When transitioning from managing individual contributors to managing managers, it is important to accept that you will be further from the ground and ‘engineering reality’. Investing in your managers is key, as they will be the ones solving the problems. Be clear on goals and objectives, and use one-on-ones to get a pulse of what is happening on the ground. Changes will take longer to implement, so be sure to be clear in your direction.

Managing Your Time Effectively

When the author became a manager, they found it difficult to stay organized and prioritize tasks. To better manage their time, they attended a time management training, turned off notifications, used the Urgent/Important matrix, and embedded self-reflection into their planning activities. On a company-wide level, they introduced Slack standups and limited multitasking. Through these actions, the author learned the importance of time management and the techniques and tools that can help them manage their time more efficiently.

Remote Onboarding: A New Reality?

The shift to remote work has posed many challenges for onboarding, particularly for a PM role which requires a lot of communication and interaction. The author has experienced difficulties such as not being able to associate a person with a name, not being able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues, incomplete onboarding documentation, and difficulty coordinating work between multiple stakeholders. Despite these challenges, the author has found ways to make the remote onboarding process more efficient, such as recording meetings, checking in with their manager, and creating better documentation for future remote onboarders.

Looking for a PM Job During the Covid-19 Pandemics

In this article, the author shares their experience of changing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the actions they took, such as updating their resume and LinkedIn profile, and how they applied for jobs both directly and through recruiters. They also share lessons learned, such as being flexible in how they saw their role, being well prepared for interviews, and being aware of the high supply and low demand in the job market.

Trailing New Products: What to Go for -- Quantity or Quality?

This case study looks at the lessons learned from a mobile voice application that was late to market and had high expectations. Initially, 1500 people signed up to use the application, but only 3% provided meaningful feedback. To improve the feedback process, a survey was sent out to select 30 users who were comfortable with technology and providing constructive feedback. The lesson learned was to be clear about the type of trialist you want to recruit and target early adopters who are comfortable with technology and giving constructive feedback.

Networking for Product Leaders: A Giving Mindset Approach

A head of new product innovation was not an expert on the subject and wanted to learn more. He used LinkedIn to reach out to people in similar roles in different industries, and kept track of his conversations and network. He also had a giving mindset, and shared events and resources with his network. His networking endeavors were successful and helped him with hiring.

Ensuring Diversity of Thinking through Design Thinking Techniques

To improve the quality of ideas generated in product brainstorms, the team implemented silent brainstorming, 'How Might We' questions, and invited diverse thinkers to the workshops. This resulted in more original ideas, increased motivation, and a more inclusive team culture.

Setting the First Product Innovation Team in a Large Corporation

The author was tasked with setting up the first product innovation team in their company. They designed a process with three stages, took their proposal to the Board, and set up the process with the right representatives. They also had to upskill product managers and recruit additional resources. Finally, they set up an informal pitching session to funnel new product ideas into the process. Lessons learned included the need for people to be comfortable with ambiguity, to set guardrails for innovation, and to drastically reduce the time spent on any new idea.

The Hidden Value of Agile Processes

After becoming popular to deconstruct Agile and not use Scrum or XP anymore, the author attempted to keep their team processes as lightweight as possible. However, they failed to acknowledge the hidden benefits of Agile processes. After experimenting with processes, the author learned to understand the second-order effects of the processes they use, limit the scope of experiments, and not follow processes blindly.

How Different Systemic Incentives Are Making Cross-Departmental Cooperation More Challenging

A consultant was tasked to develop software for a financial news company and was required to release the software every two weeks. The process was manual and time consuming, leading to the site being down for an hour each time. After talking to the operations team, it was discovered that they had tools available to automate the process, but they were incentivized for stability and were not bought into the notion of more frequent releases. Through building trust and understanding, the consultant was able to show them that more frequent releases would lead to more stable systems and they eventually bought into the idea. This experience taught the consultant the importance of building trustful relationships across people with different systemic incentives to achieve better team outcomes.

How Work Visa Uncertainty Made Me More Successful at Work

This article is about the challenges of working on a work visa in the US and UK for eight years. It discusses how the author used the uncertainty of their situation to their advantage, pushing themselves to work harder and reinvent themselves every year. It also discusses how the author had to build relationships in a new environment and culture, and learn a different language. The article concludes with the lessons the author learned, such as going out of their comfort zone, taking risks, and being confident and assertive.

How to Set Up a Bi-Directional Roadmap

This article discusses how to create a product roadmap in a bi-directional process that includes the engineering team. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the different perspectives of the Product Manager and the engineers, and encourages engineers to develop their skills in selling their ideas. It also highlights the need to ensure that engineers feel included in the decision-making process in order to avoid frustration and demotivation.

How Restructuring Can Help Your Team to Claim Ownership

The manager of a team of five people restructured the team into two subteams, each with their own area of focus. This allowed the team to develop their subject matter expertise and become respected for their competencies. The team feedback was positive and the team was able to move faster with improved collaboration. The manager learned that it is hard to enforce accountability without establishing ownership first, and that reorgs can lead to isolation if knowledge sharing does not happen early on.

Understanding the Importance of Tech Microculture Within Large Corporations

This article discusses the importance of developing a microculture within tech teams in large corporations. It outlines the methodology, processes, autonomy, values, and alignment needed to create a successful team culture. It emphasizes the need to understand the team, build trust and empathy, and align the team mission statement with the company mission statement.

Joining and Successfully Leading a New Team

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning to a new role and how to successfully navigate the introductory period. The author recommends the book _The First 90 Days_ by Michael Watkins and suggests dividing the first three months into three phases: meeting people, becoming gradually involved in product releases and development cycle, and building team strategy. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of stakeholder management, building trust and empathy, and practicing influence without authority.

Introducing Processes for Continuous Improvement

This article discusses the introduction of continuous improvement processes at a company with no existing processes in place. The author introduced one-on-ones, retros, and post-mortems to the team, modeling vulnerability to encourage feedback and trust. The article emphasizes the importance of modeling values and creating a culture of psychological safety to drive long-term change.

The Quick Fix to a Slow Team: A Consultant’s Perspective

A consultant was hired to help a team that was moving slow due to a lack of product direction, back-end resources, and project management. The consultant instituted weekly retros, sprints, and iteration planning meetings to improve the process. They also added more resources, delegated tasks, and worked more closely with Product to gain clarity on business objectives. The consultant learned the importance of delegation, continual improvement processes, and developing team structure.

How to Spot Key Issues

When joining a new company, the author noticed organizational and cultural issues that needed to be addressed. To do this, they conducted interviews with stakeholders from different departments to collect information and gain an overview of the situation. They then synthesized the information, prioritized it, and drafted an action plan with concrete measures, timing, and resources. Finally, they communicated the plan to the whole team and monitored progress through regular surveys. Through this process, the author learned the importance of an outsider perspective, engaging stakeholders, and clear communication when trying to bring about change.

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

Creating a Healthy Remote Environment

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a company had to quickly transition to remote work. The manager took a variety of actions to ensure employees had the necessary equipment, had a healthy work-life balance, and felt supported. These included providing mental health courses, surveys to understand employee needs, fitness classes, and virtual open hours. The manager also increased communication with the team and one-on-ones with reports. Lessons learned included the importance of personal interaction, communication, work-life balance, and productivity guidance.

Managing Managers: How to Stay Close to Problems on the Ground

When transitioning from managing individual contributors to managing managers, it is important to accept that you will be further from the ground and ‘engineering reality’. Investing in your managers is key, as they will be the ones solving the problems. Be clear on goals and objectives, and use one-on-ones to get a pulse of what is happening on the ground. Changes will take longer to implement, so be sure to be clear in your direction.

Managing Your Time Effectively

When the author became a manager, they found it difficult to stay organized and prioritize tasks. To better manage their time, they attended a time management training, turned off notifications, used the Urgent/Important matrix, and embedded self-reflection into their planning activities. On a company-wide level, they introduced Slack standups and limited multitasking. Through these actions, the author learned the importance of time management and the techniques and tools that can help them manage their time more efficiently.

Remote Onboarding: A New Reality?

The shift to remote work has posed many challenges for onboarding, particularly for a PM role which requires a lot of communication and interaction. The author has experienced difficulties such as not being able to associate a person with a name, not being able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues, incomplete onboarding documentation, and difficulty coordinating work between multiple stakeholders. Despite these challenges, the author has found ways to make the remote onboarding process more efficient, such as recording meetings, checking in with their manager, and creating better documentation for future remote onboarders.

Looking for a PM Job During the Covid-19 Pandemics

In this article, the author shares their experience of changing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the actions they took, such as updating their resume and LinkedIn profile, and how they applied for jobs both directly and through recruiters. They also share lessons learned, such as being flexible in how they saw their role, being well prepared for interviews, and being aware of the high supply and low demand in the job market.

Trailing New Products: What to Go for -- Quantity or Quality?

This case study looks at the lessons learned from a mobile voice application that was late to market and had high expectations. Initially, 1500 people signed up to use the application, but only 3% provided meaningful feedback. To improve the feedback process, a survey was sent out to select 30 users who were comfortable with technology and providing constructive feedback. The lesson learned was to be clear about the type of trialist you want to recruit and target early adopters who are comfortable with technology and giving constructive feedback.

Networking for Product Leaders: A Giving Mindset Approach

A head of new product innovation was not an expert on the subject and wanted to learn more. He used LinkedIn to reach out to people in similar roles in different industries, and kept track of his conversations and network. He also had a giving mindset, and shared events and resources with his network. His networking endeavors were successful and helped him with hiring.

Ensuring Diversity of Thinking through Design Thinking Techniques

To improve the quality of ideas generated in product brainstorms, the team implemented silent brainstorming, 'How Might We' questions, and invited diverse thinkers to the workshops. This resulted in more original ideas, increased motivation, and a more inclusive team culture.

Setting the First Product Innovation Team in a Large Corporation

The author was tasked with setting up the first product innovation team in their company. They designed a process with three stages, took their proposal to the Board, and set up the process with the right representatives. They also had to upskill product managers and recruit additional resources. Finally, they set up an informal pitching session to funnel new product ideas into the process. Lessons learned included the need for people to be comfortable with ambiguity, to set guardrails for innovation, and to drastically reduce the time spent on any new idea.

The Hidden Value of Agile Processes

After becoming popular to deconstruct Agile and not use Scrum or XP anymore, the author attempted to keep their team processes as lightweight as possible. However, they failed to acknowledge the hidden benefits of Agile processes. After experimenting with processes, the author learned to understand the second-order effects of the processes they use, limit the scope of experiments, and not follow processes blindly.

How Different Systemic Incentives Are Making Cross-Departmental Cooperation More Challenging

A consultant was tasked to develop software for a financial news company and was required to release the software every two weeks. The process was manual and time consuming, leading to the site being down for an hour each time. After talking to the operations team, it was discovered that they had tools available to automate the process, but they were incentivized for stability and were not bought into the notion of more frequent releases. Through building trust and understanding, the consultant was able to show them that more frequent releases would lead to more stable systems and they eventually bought into the idea. This experience taught the consultant the importance of building trustful relationships across people with different systemic incentives to achieve better team outcomes.

How Work Visa Uncertainty Made Me More Successful at Work

This article is about the challenges of working on a work visa in the US and UK for eight years. It discusses how the author used the uncertainty of their situation to their advantage, pushing themselves to work harder and reinvent themselves every year. It also discusses how the author had to build relationships in a new environment and culture, and learn a different language. The article concludes with the lessons the author learned, such as going out of their comfort zone, taking risks, and being confident and assertive.

How to Set Up a Bi-Directional Roadmap

This article discusses how to create a product roadmap in a bi-directional process that includes the engineering team. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the different perspectives of the Product Manager and the engineers, and encourages engineers to develop their skills in selling their ideas. It also highlights the need to ensure that engineers feel included in the decision-making process in order to avoid frustration and demotivation.

How Restructuring Can Help Your Team to Claim Ownership

The manager of a team of five people restructured the team into two subteams, each with their own area of focus. This allowed the team to develop their subject matter expertise and become respected for their competencies. The team feedback was positive and the team was able to move faster with improved collaboration. The manager learned that it is hard to enforce accountability without establishing ownership first, and that reorgs can lead to isolation if knowledge sharing does not happen early on.

Understanding the Importance of Tech Microculture Within Large Corporations

This article discusses the importance of developing a microculture within tech teams in large corporations. It outlines the methodology, processes, autonomy, values, and alignment needed to create a successful team culture. It emphasizes the need to understand the team, build trust and empathy, and align the team mission statement with the company mission statement.

Joining and Successfully Leading a New Team

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning to a new role and how to successfully navigate the introductory period. The author recommends the book _The First 90 Days_ by Michael Watkins and suggests dividing the first three months into three phases: meeting people, becoming gradually involved in product releases and development cycle, and building team strategy. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of stakeholder management, building trust and empathy, and practicing influence without authority.

Introducing Processes for Continuous Improvement

This article discusses the introduction of continuous improvement processes at a company with no existing processes in place. The author introduced one-on-ones, retros, and post-mortems to the team, modeling vulnerability to encourage feedback and trust. The article emphasizes the importance of modeling values and creating a culture of psychological safety to drive long-term change.

The Quick Fix to a Slow Team: A Consultant’s Perspective

A consultant was hired to help a team that was moving slow due to a lack of product direction, back-end resources, and project management. The consultant instituted weekly retros, sprints, and iteration planning meetings to improve the process. They also added more resources, delegated tasks, and worked more closely with Product to gain clarity on business objectives. The consultant learned the importance of delegation, continual improvement processes, and developing team structure.

How to Spot Key Issues

When joining a new company, the author noticed organizational and cultural issues that needed to be addressed. To do this, they conducted interviews with stakeholders from different departments to collect information and gain an overview of the situation. They then synthesized the information, prioritized it, and drafted an action plan with concrete measures, timing, and resources. Finally, they communicated the plan to the whole team and monitored progress through regular surveys. Through this process, the author learned the importance of an outsider perspective, engaging stakeholders, and clear communication when trying to bring about change.

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

Creating a Healthy Remote Environment

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a company had to quickly transition to remote work. The manager took a variety of actions to ensure employees had the necessary equipment, had a healthy work-life balance, and felt supported. These included providing mental health courses, surveys to understand employee needs, fitness classes, and virtual open hours. The manager also increased communication with the team and one-on-ones with reports. Lessons learned included the importance of personal interaction, communication, work-life balance, and productivity guidance.

Managing Managers: How to Stay Close to Problems on the Ground

When transitioning from managing individual contributors to managing managers, it is important to accept that you will be further from the ground and ‘engineering reality’. Investing in your managers is key, as they will be the ones solving the problems. Be clear on goals and objectives, and use one-on-ones to get a pulse of what is happening on the ground. Changes will take longer to implement, so be sure to be clear in your direction.

Managing Your Time Effectively

When the author became a manager, they found it difficult to stay organized and prioritize tasks. To better manage their time, they attended a time management training, turned off notifications, used the Urgent/Important matrix, and embedded self-reflection into their planning activities. On a company-wide level, they introduced Slack standups and limited multitasking. Through these actions, the author learned the importance of time management and the techniques and tools that can help them manage their time more efficiently.

Remote Onboarding: A New Reality?

The shift to remote work has posed many challenges for onboarding, particularly for a PM role which requires a lot of communication and interaction. The author has experienced difficulties such as not being able to associate a person with a name, not being able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues, incomplete onboarding documentation, and difficulty coordinating work between multiple stakeholders. Despite these challenges, the author has found ways to make the remote onboarding process more efficient, such as recording meetings, checking in with their manager, and creating better documentation for future remote onboarders.

Looking for a PM Job During the Covid-19 Pandemics

In this article, the author shares their experience of changing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the actions they took, such as updating their resume and LinkedIn profile, and how they applied for jobs both directly and through recruiters. They also share lessons learned, such as being flexible in how they saw their role, being well prepared for interviews, and being aware of the high supply and low demand in the job market.

Trailing New Products: What to Go for -- Quantity or Quality?

This case study looks at the lessons learned from a mobile voice application that was late to market and had high expectations. Initially, 1500 people signed up to use the application, but only 3% provided meaningful feedback. To improve the feedback process, a survey was sent out to select 30 users who were comfortable with technology and providing constructive feedback. The lesson learned was to be clear about the type of trialist you want to recruit and target early adopters who are comfortable with technology and giving constructive feedback.

Networking for Product Leaders: A Giving Mindset Approach

A head of new product innovation was not an expert on the subject and wanted to learn more. He used LinkedIn to reach out to people in similar roles in different industries, and kept track of his conversations and network. He also had a giving mindset, and shared events and resources with his network. His networking endeavors were successful and helped him with hiring.

Ensuring Diversity of Thinking through Design Thinking Techniques

To improve the quality of ideas generated in product brainstorms, the team implemented silent brainstorming, 'How Might We' questions, and invited diverse thinkers to the workshops. This resulted in more original ideas, increased motivation, and a more inclusive team culture.

Setting the First Product Innovation Team in a Large Corporation

The author was tasked with setting up the first product innovation team in their company. They designed a process with three stages, took their proposal to the Board, and set up the process with the right representatives. They also had to upskill product managers and recruit additional resources. Finally, they set up an informal pitching session to funnel new product ideas into the process. Lessons learned included the need for people to be comfortable with ambiguity, to set guardrails for innovation, and to drastically reduce the time spent on any new idea.

The Hidden Value of Agile Processes

After becoming popular to deconstruct Agile and not use Scrum or XP anymore, the author attempted to keep their team processes as lightweight as possible. However, they failed to acknowledge the hidden benefits of Agile processes. After experimenting with processes, the author learned to understand the second-order effects of the processes they use, limit the scope of experiments, and not follow processes blindly.

How Different Systemic Incentives Are Making Cross-Departmental Cooperation More Challenging

A consultant was tasked to develop software for a financial news company and was required to release the software every two weeks. The process was manual and time consuming, leading to the site being down for an hour each time. After talking to the operations team, it was discovered that they had tools available to automate the process, but they were incentivized for stability and were not bought into the notion of more frequent releases. Through building trust and understanding, the consultant was able to show them that more frequent releases would lead to more stable systems and they eventually bought into the idea. This experience taught the consultant the importance of building trustful relationships across people with different systemic incentives to achieve better team outcomes.

How Work Visa Uncertainty Made Me More Successful at Work

This article is about the challenges of working on a work visa in the US and UK for eight years. It discusses how the author used the uncertainty of their situation to their advantage, pushing themselves to work harder and reinvent themselves every year. It also discusses how the author had to build relationships in a new environment and culture, and learn a different language. The article concludes with the lessons the author learned, such as going out of their comfort zone, taking risks, and being confident and assertive.

How to Set Up a Bi-Directional Roadmap

This article discusses how to create a product roadmap in a bi-directional process that includes the engineering team. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the different perspectives of the Product Manager and the engineers, and encourages engineers to develop their skills in selling their ideas. It also highlights the need to ensure that engineers feel included in the decision-making process in order to avoid frustration and demotivation.

How Restructuring Can Help Your Team to Claim Ownership

The manager of a team of five people restructured the team into two subteams, each with their own area of focus. This allowed the team to develop their subject matter expertise and become respected for their competencies. The team feedback was positive and the team was able to move faster with improved collaboration. The manager learned that it is hard to enforce accountability without establishing ownership first, and that reorgs can lead to isolation if knowledge sharing does not happen early on.

Understanding the Importance of Tech Microculture Within Large Corporations

This article discusses the importance of developing a microculture within tech teams in large corporations. It outlines the methodology, processes, autonomy, values, and alignment needed to create a successful team culture. It emphasizes the need to understand the team, build trust and empathy, and align the team mission statement with the company mission statement.

Joining and Successfully Leading a New Team

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning to a new role and how to successfully navigate the introductory period. The author recommends the book _The First 90 Days_ by Michael Watkins and suggests dividing the first three months into three phases: meeting people, becoming gradually involved in product releases and development cycle, and building team strategy. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of stakeholder management, building trust and empathy, and practicing influence without authority.

Introducing Processes for Continuous Improvement

This article discusses the introduction of continuous improvement processes at a company with no existing processes in place. The author introduced one-on-ones, retros, and post-mortems to the team, modeling vulnerability to encourage feedback and trust. The article emphasizes the importance of modeling values and creating a culture of psychological safety to drive long-term change.

The Quick Fix to a Slow Team: A Consultant’s Perspective

A consultant was hired to help a team that was moving slow due to a lack of product direction, back-end resources, and project management. The consultant instituted weekly retros, sprints, and iteration planning meetings to improve the process. They also added more resources, delegated tasks, and worked more closely with Product to gain clarity on business objectives. The consultant learned the importance of delegation, continual improvement processes, and developing team structure.

How to Spot Key Issues

When joining a new company, the author noticed organizational and cultural issues that needed to be addressed. To do this, they conducted interviews with stakeholders from different departments to collect information and gain an overview of the situation. They then synthesized the information, prioritized it, and drafted an action plan with concrete measures, timing, and resources. Finally, they communicated the plan to the whole team and monitored progress through regular surveys. Through this process, the author learned the importance of an outsider perspective, engaging stakeholders, and clear communication when trying to bring about change.

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

Creating a Healthy Remote Environment

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a company had to quickly transition to remote work. The manager took a variety of actions to ensure employees had the necessary equipment, had a healthy work-life balance, and felt supported. These included providing mental health courses, surveys to understand employee needs, fitness classes, and virtual open hours. The manager also increased communication with the team and one-on-ones with reports. Lessons learned included the importance of personal interaction, communication, work-life balance, and productivity guidance.

Managing Managers: How to Stay Close to Problems on the Ground

When transitioning from managing individual contributors to managing managers, it is important to accept that you will be further from the ground and ‘engineering reality’. Investing in your managers is key, as they will be the ones solving the problems. Be clear on goals and objectives, and use one-on-ones to get a pulse of what is happening on the ground. Changes will take longer to implement, so be sure to be clear in your direction.

Managing Your Time Effectively

When the author became a manager, they found it difficult to stay organized and prioritize tasks. To better manage their time, they attended a time management training, turned off notifications, used the Urgent/Important matrix, and embedded self-reflection into their planning activities. On a company-wide level, they introduced Slack standups and limited multitasking. Through these actions, the author learned the importance of time management and the techniques and tools that can help them manage their time more efficiently.

Remote Onboarding: A New Reality?

The shift to remote work has posed many challenges for onboarding, particularly for a PM role which requires a lot of communication and interaction. The author has experienced difficulties such as not being able to associate a person with a name, not being able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues, incomplete onboarding documentation, and difficulty coordinating work between multiple stakeholders. Despite these challenges, the author has found ways to make the remote onboarding process more efficient, such as recording meetings, checking in with their manager, and creating better documentation for future remote onboarders.

Looking for a PM Job During the Covid-19 Pandemics

In this article, the author shares their experience of changing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the actions they took, such as updating their resume and LinkedIn profile, and how they applied for jobs both directly and through recruiters. They also share lessons learned, such as being flexible in how they saw their role, being well prepared for interviews, and being aware of the high supply and low demand in the job market.

Trailing New Products: What to Go for -- Quantity or Quality?

This case study looks at the lessons learned from a mobile voice application that was late to market and had high expectations. Initially, 1500 people signed up to use the application, but only 3% provided meaningful feedback. To improve the feedback process, a survey was sent out to select 30 users who were comfortable with technology and providing constructive feedback. The lesson learned was to be clear about the type of trialist you want to recruit and target early adopters who are comfortable with technology and giving constructive feedback.

Networking for Product Leaders: A Giving Mindset Approach

A head of new product innovation was not an expert on the subject and wanted to learn more. He used LinkedIn to reach out to people in similar roles in different industries, and kept track of his conversations and network. He also had a giving mindset, and shared events and resources with his network. His networking endeavors were successful and helped him with hiring.

Ensuring Diversity of Thinking through Design Thinking Techniques

To improve the quality of ideas generated in product brainstorms, the team implemented silent brainstorming, 'How Might We' questions, and invited diverse thinkers to the workshops. This resulted in more original ideas, increased motivation, and a more inclusive team culture.

Setting the First Product Innovation Team in a Large Corporation

The author was tasked with setting up the first product innovation team in their company. They designed a process with three stages, took their proposal to the Board, and set up the process with the right representatives. They also had to upskill product managers and recruit additional resources. Finally, they set up an informal pitching session to funnel new product ideas into the process. Lessons learned included the need for people to be comfortable with ambiguity, to set guardrails for innovation, and to drastically reduce the time spent on any new idea.

The Hidden Value of Agile Processes

After becoming popular to deconstruct Agile and not use Scrum or XP anymore, the author attempted to keep their team processes as lightweight as possible. However, they failed to acknowledge the hidden benefits of Agile processes. After experimenting with processes, the author learned to understand the second-order effects of the processes they use, limit the scope of experiments, and not follow processes blindly.

How Different Systemic Incentives Are Making Cross-Departmental Cooperation More Challenging

A consultant was tasked to develop software for a financial news company and was required to release the software every two weeks. The process was manual and time consuming, leading to the site being down for an hour each time. After talking to the operations team, it was discovered that they had tools available to automate the process, but they were incentivized for stability and were not bought into the notion of more frequent releases. Through building trust and understanding, the consultant was able to show them that more frequent releases would lead to more stable systems and they eventually bought into the idea. This experience taught the consultant the importance of building trustful relationships across people with different systemic incentives to achieve better team outcomes.

How Work Visa Uncertainty Made Me More Successful at Work

This article is about the challenges of working on a work visa in the US and UK for eight years. It discusses how the author used the uncertainty of their situation to their advantage, pushing themselves to work harder and reinvent themselves every year. It also discusses how the author had to build relationships in a new environment and culture, and learn a different language. The article concludes with the lessons the author learned, such as going out of their comfort zone, taking risks, and being confident and assertive.

How to Set Up a Bi-Directional Roadmap

This article discusses how to create a product roadmap in a bi-directional process that includes the engineering team. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the different perspectives of the Product Manager and the engineers, and encourages engineers to develop their skills in selling their ideas. It also highlights the need to ensure that engineers feel included in the decision-making process in order to avoid frustration and demotivation.

How Restructuring Can Help Your Team to Claim Ownership

The manager of a team of five people restructured the team into two subteams, each with their own area of focus. This allowed the team to develop their subject matter expertise and become respected for their competencies. The team feedback was positive and the team was able to move faster with improved collaboration. The manager learned that it is hard to enforce accountability without establishing ownership first, and that reorgs can lead to isolation if knowledge sharing does not happen early on.

Understanding the Importance of Tech Microculture Within Large Corporations

This article discusses the importance of developing a microculture within tech teams in large corporations. It outlines the methodology, processes, autonomy, values, and alignment needed to create a successful team culture. It emphasizes the need to understand the team, build trust and empathy, and align the team mission statement with the company mission statement.

Joining and Successfully Leading a New Team

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning to a new role and how to successfully navigate the introductory period. The author recommends the book _The First 90 Days_ by Michael Watkins and suggests dividing the first three months into three phases: meeting people, becoming gradually involved in product releases and development cycle, and building team strategy. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of stakeholder management, building trust and empathy, and practicing influence without authority.

Introducing Processes for Continuous Improvement

This article discusses the introduction of continuous improvement processes at a company with no existing processes in place. The author introduced one-on-ones, retros, and post-mortems to the team, modeling vulnerability to encourage feedback and trust. The article emphasizes the importance of modeling values and creating a culture of psychological safety to drive long-term change.

The Quick Fix to a Slow Team: A Consultant’s Perspective

A consultant was hired to help a team that was moving slow due to a lack of product direction, back-end resources, and project management. The consultant instituted weekly retros, sprints, and iteration planning meetings to improve the process. They also added more resources, delegated tasks, and worked more closely with Product to gain clarity on business objectives. The consultant learned the importance of delegation, continual improvement processes, and developing team structure.

How to Spot Key Issues

When joining a new company, the author noticed organizational and cultural issues that needed to be addressed. To do this, they conducted interviews with stakeholders from different departments to collect information and gain an overview of the situation. They then synthesized the information, prioritized it, and drafted an action plan with concrete measures, timing, and resources. Finally, they communicated the plan to the whole team and monitored progress through regular surveys. Through this process, the author learned the importance of an outsider perspective, engaging stakeholders, and clear communication when trying to bring about change.

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

Creating a Healthy Remote Environment

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a company had to quickly transition to remote work. The manager took a variety of actions to ensure employees had the necessary equipment, had a healthy work-life balance, and felt supported. These included providing mental health courses, surveys to understand employee needs, fitness classes, and virtual open hours. The manager also increased communication with the team and one-on-ones with reports. Lessons learned included the importance of personal interaction, communication, work-life balance, and productivity guidance.

Managing Managers: How to Stay Close to Problems on the Ground

When transitioning from managing individual contributors to managing managers, it is important to accept that you will be further from the ground and ‘engineering reality’. Investing in your managers is key, as they will be the ones solving the problems. Be clear on goals and objectives, and use one-on-ones to get a pulse of what is happening on the ground. Changes will take longer to implement, so be sure to be clear in your direction.

Managing Your Time Effectively

When the author became a manager, they found it difficult to stay organized and prioritize tasks. To better manage their time, they attended a time management training, turned off notifications, used the Urgent/Important matrix, and embedded self-reflection into their planning activities. On a company-wide level, they introduced Slack standups and limited multitasking. Through these actions, the author learned the importance of time management and the techniques and tools that can help them manage their time more efficiently.

Remote Onboarding: A New Reality?

The shift to remote work has posed many challenges for onboarding, particularly for a PM role which requires a lot of communication and interaction. The author has experienced difficulties such as not being able to associate a person with a name, not being able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues, incomplete onboarding documentation, and difficulty coordinating work between multiple stakeholders. Despite these challenges, the author has found ways to make the remote onboarding process more efficient, such as recording meetings, checking in with their manager, and creating better documentation for future remote onboarders.

Looking for a PM Job During the Covid-19 Pandemics

In this article, the author shares their experience of changing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the actions they took, such as updating their resume and LinkedIn profile, and how they applied for jobs both directly and through recruiters. They also share lessons learned, such as being flexible in how they saw their role, being well prepared for interviews, and being aware of the high supply and low demand in the job market.

Trailing New Products: What to Go for -- Quantity or Quality?

This case study looks at the lessons learned from a mobile voice application that was late to market and had high expectations. Initially, 1500 people signed up to use the application, but only 3% provided meaningful feedback. To improve the feedback process, a survey was sent out to select 30 users who were comfortable with technology and providing constructive feedback. The lesson learned was to be clear about the type of trialist you want to recruit and target early adopters who are comfortable with technology and giving constructive feedback.

Networking for Product Leaders: A Giving Mindset Approach

A head of new product innovation was not an expert on the subject and wanted to learn more. He used LinkedIn to reach out to people in similar roles in different industries, and kept track of his conversations and network. He also had a giving mindset, and shared events and resources with his network. His networking endeavors were successful and helped him with hiring.

Ensuring Diversity of Thinking through Design Thinking Techniques

To improve the quality of ideas generated in product brainstorms, the team implemented silent brainstorming, 'How Might We' questions, and invited diverse thinkers to the workshops. This resulted in more original ideas, increased motivation, and a more inclusive team culture.

Setting the First Product Innovation Team in a Large Corporation

The author was tasked with setting up the first product innovation team in their company. They designed a process with three stages, took their proposal to the Board, and set up the process with the right representatives. They also had to upskill product managers and recruit additional resources. Finally, they set up an informal pitching session to funnel new product ideas into the process. Lessons learned included the need for people to be comfortable with ambiguity, to set guardrails for innovation, and to drastically reduce the time spent on any new idea.

The Hidden Value of Agile Processes

After becoming popular to deconstruct Agile and not use Scrum or XP anymore, the author attempted to keep their team processes as lightweight as possible. However, they failed to acknowledge the hidden benefits of Agile processes. After experimenting with processes, the author learned to understand the second-order effects of the processes they use, limit the scope of experiments, and not follow processes blindly.

How Different Systemic Incentives Are Making Cross-Departmental Cooperation More Challenging

A consultant was tasked to develop software for a financial news company and was required to release the software every two weeks. The process was manual and time consuming, leading to the site being down for an hour each time. After talking to the operations team, it was discovered that they had tools available to automate the process, but they were incentivized for stability and were not bought into the notion of more frequent releases. Through building trust and understanding, the consultant was able to show them that more frequent releases would lead to more stable systems and they eventually bought into the idea. This experience taught the consultant the importance of building trustful relationships across people with different systemic incentives to achieve better team outcomes.

How Work Visa Uncertainty Made Me More Successful at Work

This article is about the challenges of working on a work visa in the US and UK for eight years. It discusses how the author used the uncertainty of their situation to their advantage, pushing themselves to work harder and reinvent themselves every year. It also discusses how the author had to build relationships in a new environment and culture, and learn a different language. The article concludes with the lessons the author learned, such as going out of their comfort zone, taking risks, and being confident and assertive.

How to Set Up a Bi-Directional Roadmap

This article discusses how to create a product roadmap in a bi-directional process that includes the engineering team. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the different perspectives of the Product Manager and the engineers, and encourages engineers to develop their skills in selling their ideas. It also highlights the need to ensure that engineers feel included in the decision-making process in order to avoid frustration and demotivation.

How Restructuring Can Help Your Team to Claim Ownership

The manager of a team of five people restructured the team into two subteams, each with their own area of focus. This allowed the team to develop their subject matter expertise and become respected for their competencies. The team feedback was positive and the team was able to move faster with improved collaboration. The manager learned that it is hard to enforce accountability without establishing ownership first, and that reorgs can lead to isolation if knowledge sharing does not happen early on.

Understanding the Importance of Tech Microculture Within Large Corporations

This article discusses the importance of developing a microculture within tech teams in large corporations. It outlines the methodology, processes, autonomy, values, and alignment needed to create a successful team culture. It emphasizes the need to understand the team, build trust and empathy, and align the team mission statement with the company mission statement.

Joining and Successfully Leading a New Team

This article discusses the challenges of transitioning to a new role and how to successfully navigate the introductory period. The author recommends the book _The First 90 Days_ by Michael Watkins and suggests dividing the first three months into three phases: meeting people, becoming gradually involved in product releases and development cycle, and building team strategy. Additionally, the author emphasizes the importance of stakeholder management, building trust and empathy, and practicing influence without authority.

Introducing Processes for Continuous Improvement

This article discusses the introduction of continuous improvement processes at a company with no existing processes in place. The author introduced one-on-ones, retros, and post-mortems to the team, modeling vulnerability to encourage feedback and trust. The article emphasizes the importance of modeling values and creating a culture of psychological safety to drive long-term change.

The Quick Fix to a Slow Team: A Consultant’s Perspective

A consultant was hired to help a team that was moving slow due to a lack of product direction, back-end resources, and project management. The consultant instituted weekly retros, sprints, and iteration planning meetings to improve the process. They also added more resources, delegated tasks, and worked more closely with Product to gain clarity on business objectives. The consultant learned the importance of delegation, continual improvement processes, and developing team structure.

How to Spot Key Issues

When joining a new company, the author noticed organizational and cultural issues that needed to be addressed. To do this, they conducted interviews with stakeholders from different departments to collect information and gain an overview of the situation. They then synthesized the information, prioritized it, and drafted an action plan with concrete measures, timing, and resources. Finally, they communicated the plan to the whole team and monitored progress through regular surveys. Through this process, the author learned the importance of an outsider perspective, engaging stakeholders, and clear communication when trying to bring about change.

Hiring 100 Percent Online With a 100 Percent Success Rate

This article outlines the steps taken to improve a company's hiring process. The author suggests empathizing with potential candidates, using new tools to increase efficiency, revisiting technical challenges, explaining the vision and goals, and providing feedback at each stage. The article also emphasizes the importance of providing feedback, learning from customer experience, sharing long-term vision and mid-term goals, and having a standardized process.

Creating a Healthy Remote Environment

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a company had to quickly transition to remote work. The manager took a variety of actions to ensure employees had the necessary equipment, had a healthy work-life balance, and felt supported. These included providing mental health courses, surveys to understand employee needs, fitness classes, and virtual open hours. The manager also increased communication with the team and one-on-ones with reports. Lessons learned included the importance of personal interaction, communication, work-life balance, and productivity guidance.

Managing Managers: How to Stay Close to Problems on the Ground

When transitioning from managing individual contributors to managing managers, it is important to accept that you will be further from the ground and ‘engineering reality’. Investing in your managers is key, as they will be the ones solving the problems. Be clear on goals and objectives, and use one-on-ones to get a pulse of what is happening on the ground. Changes will take longer to implement, so be sure to be clear in your direction.

Managing Your Time Effectively

When the author became a manager, they found it difficult to stay organized and prioritize tasks. To better manage their time, they attended a time management training, turned off notifications, used the Urgent/Important matrix, and embedded self-reflection into their planning activities. On a company-wide level, they introduced Slack standups and limited multitasking. Through these actions, the author learned the importance of time management and the techniques and tools that can help them manage their time more efficiently.

Remote Onboarding: A New Reality?

The shift to remote work has posed many challenges for onboarding, particularly for a PM role which requires a lot of communication and interaction. The author has experienced difficulties such as not being able to associate a person with a name, not being able to interpret facial expressions and non-verbal cues, incomplete onboarding documentation, and difficulty coordinating work between multiple stakeholders. Despite these challenges, the author has found ways to make the remote onboarding process more efficient, such as recording meetings, checking in with their manager, and creating better documentation for future remote onboarders.

Looking for a PM Job During the Covid-19 Pandemics

In this article, the author shares their experience of changing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the actions they took, such as updating their resume and LinkedIn profile, and how they applied for jobs both directly and through recruiters. They also share lessons learned, such as being flexible in how they saw their role, being well prepared for interviews, and being aware of the high supply and low demand in the job market.

Trailing New Products: What to Go for -- Quantity or Quality?

This case study looks at the lessons learned from a mobile voice application that was late to market and had high expectations. Initially, 1500 people signed up to use the application, but only 3% provided meaningful feedback. To improve the feedback process, a survey was sent out to select 30 users who were comfortable with technology and providing constructive feedback. The lesson learned was to be clear about the type of trialist you want to recruit and target early adopters who are comfortable with technology and giving constructive feedback.

Networking for Product Leaders: A Giving Mindset Approach

A head of new product innovation was not an expert on the subject and wanted to learn more. He used LinkedIn to reach out to people in similar roles in different industries, and kept track of his conversations and network. He also had a giving mindset, and shared events and resources with his network. His networking endeavors were successful and helped him with hiring.

Ensuring Diversity of Thinking through Design Thinking Techniques

To improve the quality of ideas generated in product brainstorms, the team implemented silent brainstorming, 'How Might We' questions, and invited diverse thinkers to the workshops. This resulted in more original ideas, increased motivation, and a more inclusive team culture.

Setting the First Product Innovation Team in a Large Corporation

The author was tasked with setting up the first product innovation team in their company. They designed a process with three stages, took their proposal to the Board, and set up the process with the right representatives. They also had to upskill product managers and recruit additional resources. Finally, they set up an informal pitching session to funnel new product ideas into the process. Lessons learned included the need for people to be comfortable with ambiguity, to set guardrails for innovation, and to drastically reduce the time spent on any new idea.

The Hidden Value of Agile Processes

After becoming popular to deconstruct Agile and not use Scrum or XP anymore, the author attempted to keep their team processes as lightweight as possible. However, they failed to acknowledge the hidden benefits of Agile processes. After experimenting with processes, the author learned to understand the second-order effects of the processes they use, limit the scope of experiments, and not follow processes blindly.

How Different Systemic Incentives Are Making Cross-Departmental Cooperation More Challenging

A consultant was tasked to develop software for a financial news company and was required to release the software every two weeks. The process was manual and time consuming, leading to the site being down for an hour each time. After talking to the operations team, it was discovered that they had tools available to automate the process, but they were incentivized for stability and were not bought into the notion of more frequent releases. Through building trust and understanding, the consultant was able to show them that more frequent releases would lead to more stable systems and they eventually bought into the idea. This experience taught the consultant the importance of building trustful relationships across people with different systemic incentives to achieve better team outcomes.