Episodes

Creativity and fear – daily realities for product managers We product managers are inventing stuff most of the time. Whether it’s new features, or designs, or go to market materials, or just making decisions. And that means we are going to have creative blocks. A lot. That is, except for those times when we can Read More

What stories can I tell? Everyone knows that “stories are fundamental tools of persuasion.” At least, that’s what everyone says. But what does it actually mean? It’s clear that they’re not just talking about any story, right? So, what stories are they talking about? And the answer is actually very simple, even if you’re not Read More

Why do product managers need to know about sales funnels? I’m not successful if my product doesn’t sell. And I’ve argued before on this podcast that I have a lot of influence – as a product manager – over the success of my product. And my framework, what I call the Secret Product Management Framework, Read More

“Your team is failing” This episode is inspired by a story a friend recently told me. In an interview, he got the question I used as the title, “Your team is failing. What do you do?” I thought, “Well, I have some opinions on this question!” (And note, I also incorporated his very good answer Read More

Russ Meek on (over) simplifying a business presentation My guest on this episode is Russ Meek, a product manager in the travel and hospitality industry. For many years he was with Sabre Corporation, focusing on Hotel Property Management. After several years of working on a very successful product line there, he volunteered to take on Read More

What’s the best way to learn product management? Can you learn product management from bullet points? Well. no. Or yes. Maybe? If you follow me or other product management people on LinkedIn, you know there are a LOT of posts about product management. They are short and pithy, often presented in bullet points. (Including my Read More

Authenticity is great – if you can fake that, you’ve got it made! Confidence is often a big challenge for product managers, because so much of the time we are in the realm of uncertainty. But to be persuasive we need to be confident – our audience is more likely to be persuaded by a Read More

How to Make an Impact As A Product Leader In this episode, how to accelerate your career growth by developing your leadership skills. Practical advice and actionable steps for product managers looking to advance in their careers. There’s a difference between management and leadership. John C. Maxwell said, “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or Read More

Managing Your Cognitive Resources To Be More Effective As a product manager, one of your most precious resources is your “cognitive storage tank.” It’s like a real fuel tank – when it’s exhausted, your cognitive abilities stop working well. And when that happens, it means you can’t be as innovative, you can’t be as creative, Read More

​Increasing your luck surface area “Chance favors the prepared mind.” From Louis Pasteur, the famous 19th century biologist and biochemist. Having a “prepared mind” is one way to increase your luck surface area. It gives you “more opportunities to be lucky.” And it can have a big payoff! How do you make your luck surface Read More

Dan Balcauski, the product pricing guru (part 2) Dan’s interview is excellent – and long. It’s going to expand your mind on how to think about pricing – so much so, in fact, that I have to air the interview in two parts! And this is part 2. (Find part one at 134: Dan Balcauski Read More

Dan Balcauski, the product pricing guru Dan’s interview is excellent – and long. It’s going to expand your mind on how to think about pricing – so much so, in fact, that I have to air the interview in two parts! JJ Rorie introduced me to Dan a few months ago. She’s a product management Read More

Rerun of episode 108 This episode is a rerun of episode 108, Learning From Failure, and you can find the complete show notes at https://secretsofpm.com/108. Rerun of episode 108 This episode is a rerun of episode 108, Learning From Failure, and you can find the complete show notes at https://secretsofpm.com/108.

Irene Yu is Helping Product Managers Become More Technical (Without Learning To Code) Irene is a former developer turned founder of SkipLevel, a consulting and training company focused on improving the interface between product managers and developers. Specifically, by helping product managers become more technical (but not teaching them to code, because that’s not useful.) Read More

Leading impactful product teams If you’re a product leader, then you probably have a few goals for yourself and your team: Having a big impact on the business. Increasing sales, revenue, and profits. Perhaps you aspire to be a gifted, charismatic leader. But what if the team isn’t meeting the potential? It’s not having the Read More

5 Ways Product Managers Can Make More Money Software product managers are responsible for $5-$10 million in new revenue over the next 12 months. How do you get that? There are five ways your revenues can increase: Your market grows, and you grow with it naturally You beat your competitors more in your existing deals Read More

A look back, a look forward for the podcast In this episode I look back at 2022 and its highlights on the podcast, and what you can expect for 2023. Episodes I mentioned 121: Andrew Bowker on “Build Your Own Product” 106: Product Management And The Smart Sales Method, with Joe Morone 98: The 5 Read More

Putting knowledge in your product creates happier customers and great differentiation Even if it’s basic knowledge that everyone knows, putting it in your product will make your product more valuable. And of course, the more knowledge you can embed, the better. Links The article this episode is based on – Customers Don’t Buy Capabilities, They Read More

I asked ChatGPT some questions about product management. In this episode, I review its answers, and share my thoughts on this amazing new technology and its current limitations.

The goal is a repeatable sales process, but… One of the goals of a relatively early stage company is to establish some sales and marketing traction. This is often called “a repeatable sales model.” Which means that a trained sales person – trained on how to market and sell your product – can successfully sell Read More

The Value Inequality is about Risk vs Price vs Value This is the second of two episodes (here’s part one) centered around what I call the Value Inequality. It’s a way of thinking about your customer’s perception of risk versus cost and value of your product. This episode is a bit wider ranging than the Read More

The Value Inequality is new way of thinking about pricing, value, and the customer’s perception of risk.

Product Roadmaps – can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em Facts about roadmaps They are predicting the future As Neils Bohr said, “Prediction is hard, especially about the future.” A roadmap is interpreted as a commitment This is a cognitive bias of your audience You must manage it The audience doesn’t really want to Read More

Is the Value Proposition problematic? Shreyas Doshi wrote in a post on LinkedIn a few months ago: In product management, it is easy to BS yourself (and others) when framing a proposal in terms of “Value Proposition”. Any proposal with the right business speak can be made to sound compelling that way. This happens all Read More