Product Management Skills

Not many product people can claim to have coached staff at the White House. “It’s my most proud achievement,” says Silicon Valley veteran Janice Fraser, “It was such an honour to be invited to support our public service… it was a peak life experience for me. For four years, every six months during Obama’s second Read more »

The hype around artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has led to lots of jargon, so that this very powerful technique has become more difficult to understand. The tips below have all helped me, so I hope this article will help product managers to cut through the noise and better understand how AI can fit Read more »

You will find a wide range of free, accessibility tools online. These include everything from colour contrast checkers and readability tools to open-source screen readers. For example, you can make some quick checks using the WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool (input a URL and the tool will immediately highlight errors) while the Gunning Fog Index can be Read more »

We’re taking a short break from releasing new episodes over the holidays. We’ll be back with new interviews in early January. But don’t despair! In the meantime, we’re re-running two episodes that fit the theme of the season: reflection and planning for 2020. Randy’s Pick ‘Tis the season to make a list of resolutions for Read more »

Taking a break from the always entertaining/sometimes informative podcast Jake & Jonathan (formerly known as The Product Breakfast club, which he co-hosts with Jake Knapp), AJ&Smart CEO Jonathan Courtney joined us to chat about Design Sprints, workshops, and how to get groups of people collaborating. Quote of the Episode One of the best things about Read more »

In this #mtpcon London talk, Lindsey Jayne, former VP Product at Monzo, discusses the importance of writing clearly in order to make better decisions and diversify thinking. Key points There is too much noise in our working lives – we are bombarded by words and thoughts which are difficult to understand By being clearer in Read more »

During five minutes with three product people, how much can you learn? Quite a lot as it turns out! Find out here as we chat to product pros Lucy Spence, Shaun Russell, and Joe Leech. Lucy Spence has a career in product that’s something to envy. She’s worked for some great brands including, Amazon, LoveFilm, Read more »

If you’ve got a background in waterfall processes, it can seem as if agile techniques are just about making it up as you go along. (MTP’s own James Mayes once commented that waterfall, on the other hand, “is making it up before you even begin”.) What happens if we embrace this, and bring improv techniques Read more »

I’d always thought that Motown’s success was a combination of its talented stars and fortunate timing, but I recently learned that much of its success was down to a mastery of the power of the team – loosely coupled, highly aligned. The mindset and methods responsible for Motown’s huge success in its heyday are just Read more »

It’s time to talk about part-time working. Specifically, how to work well as a part-time product manager, the benefits this arrangement brings to you and your company, and how to tackle the common perception that part-time simply cannot work. The following suggestions are all very personal to me, although I have seen similar patterns with Read more »