Hardware Founders: (When) Should You Try To Raise VC Money?

If you choose to raise any amount of venture capital investment you are making an implicit agreement with your investor that your aim is to…

Announcing Stack Overflow for Teams

New product: Stack Overflow for Teams lets you direct questions to members of your own team, company, or organization. Read more "Announcing Stack Overflow for Teams"

Announcing Startup School Beijing

Strange and maddening rules

There's this popular idea among developers that when you face a problem with code, you should get out a rubber duck and explain, to the duck, exactly how your code...

A Dusting of Gamification

I had to think for a minute to realize that Stack Overflow has “gamification" too. Not a ton. Maybe a dusting of gamification, most of it around reputation. Read more...

Podcast: How to Think Like a Product Manager

I was very excited to be on Roadmunk's podcast talking about Product Institute and how we teach Product Managers to think. The key takeaway is: it's not a linear process....

Please Try.

“What have you tried to fix that problem?” Over the past year, I’ve spent most of my time working with Product Managers, UX Designers, and Leadership of companies going through...

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Stakeholders

When I first started in Product Management, I was told that my job was to keep my stakeholders happy. My stakeholders were members of the sales team. I understand that...

What working on Pebble taught me about building hardware

Building hardware is fun but tough. We worked on Pebble for a full four years before we launched on Kickstarter in 2012. We went on to sell…

Dog Food-ing Our Way To V2 of Product Institute

Eating your own dog food is worth the challenge. After a few years of consulting, I started to feel the itch to work on a product again. I was teaching...

Podcast: Product Management in Agile Orgs

After Mile High Agile, I sat down with Howard Sublett from SolutionsIQ for the Agile Amped Podcast. We talked about how Product Management is missing from many Agile Teams and...

Product Manager vs. Product Owner

 “What is the difference between a Product Owner and a Product Manager?” It’s an interesting question and one that takes time to unpack. Let’s look at where these terms and...

Getting Sales + Product In Sync

What does an effective sales team look like at a product-led organization? “Sales already promised it.” I once joined a B2B company as a Product Manager in the the middle...

Student Spotlight: Kristen Ablamsky

Product Institute is an online school for Product Managers looking to level up their skills. We’re featuring some of our recent graduates and asking them to share their experiences, both...

Student Spotlight: Dave Masters

Product Institute is an online school for Product Managers looking to level up their skills. We're featuring some of our recent graduates and asking them to share their experiences, both...

Effective Product Roadmaps

Product Roadmaps, in general, are confusing. The truth? Even the most experienced Product Managers still don’t have them fully figured out. Three years ago I wrote a blog post about...

The time of our lives

Stop Blaming the User

I’m finally going home from a long business trip and I’m very excited. But my experience with United Airline’s customer service this morning completely killed my good mood.They keep blaming...

What if there isn't another 10x?

What if your tech company has peaked? Is relentless growth the only path, or is it time to redefine your true impact on the world?

What is Good Product Strategy?

Note: This blog post is from 2016! My latest and improved thinking on Product Strategy can be found in my book Escaping the Build Trap and at our courses at...