Path2Product's Mission is to bridge the gap in product management experience for aspiring product managers, so the Lessons In Product Management podcast is here to support that effort, as well as provide valuable insights to existing PMs and PM leaders.
Summary: In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , John discusses the importance of developing into a T-shaped product manager — someone who has deep expertise in one area but broad knowledge across many disciplines. He explains how the expectations of PMs are evolving, particularly with the rise of generative AI, and gives tactical advice on building a career growth roadmap. Timestamps: 00:09 – Introduction to the episode and topic. 00:23 – What is a T-shaped PM? (Depth and breadth exp...
In this episode, Paul Lunow discusses how product managers can improve their relationships and communication with engineers. Topics include creating psychological safety, the necessary technical knowledge for PMs, avoiding common anti-patterns, managing workload effectively, and earning engineers' trust by supporting shipped features. Paul also shares insights from his career and promotes his new novel.
Podcast Summary: Megan Shulby on Post-Launch Product ManagementIntroduction & Megan’s Background 01:24 - 02:01 – Megan Shulby is introduced; she and John connected via LinkedIn due to her content on underrated product management topics. 02:01 - 04:39 – Megan shares her journey from Hollywood entertainment (e.g., The Biggest Loser ) to digital marketing, leading to product management. She pursued graduate studies in Information Systems and Marketing to gain technical expertise. 04:40 - 05:47 ...
Episode Summary: In this episode, John Fontenot explores a thought-provoking topic: the potential consolidation of Product Management (PM) and User Experience (UX) roles due to advancements in Generative AI. He examines the overlap between these two disciplines, the evolving responsibilities of PMs and UX designers, and how organizations may react to increased efficiency through AI. Key Takeaways: 1. Understanding the Unique Roles of PM and UX Designer (00:25 - 02:32) PMs focus on business objec...
In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , host John Fontenot tackles a listener's question: How can a product manager succeed in a waterfall environment? He acknowledges that while Agile is often the preferred framework, many industries and organizations still operate in waterfall models, making adaptability key. Fontenot offers two approaches: The Ideal Scenario – Where leadership is open to change, product managers can integrate discovery into waterfall planning by validating key ...
Do you feel constantly pressured to ship new features? Do you get the space you need for proper discovery? Most Product Managers feel this pressure, and I was recently asked on LinkedIn why this is the case. What about our company cultures or human nature drives this desire for more new stuff? In this episode, I attempt to break down the top 3 reasons why I believe Product culture drives outputs over outcomes, even we say we want the opposite. Linkedin Post If you're looking to get your shot...
On today's Lesson in Product Management, this one is for the perfectionists out there. If you consider yourself a "creative" or an artist, you might be tempted to hide your work until you deem it "perfect" - but that could be hurting you more than you know. On this episode we break down why perfectionism hurts you and those around you and ultimately will set you back in your career and the progress you seek to make for customers. If you're looking to get into product ...
It's easy to get overly focused on "doing your job" as a product manager. Unfortunately, we risk taking too narrow of a view of what our job actually is. When it comes to working with PMMs (product marketing managers), it's no different. And it's about time we start treating them like partners rather than someone we throw releases over the wall to and expect them to make our products sell. If you're looking to get into product management and want the training and experience you need to get there...
Some of the greatest leaders and leadership authors have given the advice to "Lean into your strengths." This idea makes sense in some instances. In other cases, it can handicap your career and growth trajectory. If you want to get into product management and challenge yourself to gain much needed PM experience, join a growing community of 1,000+ aspiring product managers on Path2Product where we bridge the gap of product management experience for aspiring PMs....
On today’s episode, I got to chat with Bob Ainsbury, Chief Product Officer at Granicus. Bob is a long-time Product leader who has had a winding journey from engineering to sales and marketing leadership to leading strategy and now in the C-suite as a Product executive. For most of Bob’s career, he’s been in highly regulated spaces like Healthcare and government. On today’s episode, we dive into Bob’s experience in leading product in regulated industries and cover a bunch of fun topics such as: P...
What is your relationship like with your stakeholders? If you're not treating them like partners, I can promise you it's not great. In this episode, we share how to build great relationships with your "stakeholders" and create win/win relationships that stop making stakeholders feel like blockers to your desired progress. If you're looking to get into product management, join us at Path2Product to get the knowledge, experience, and coaching you need to make that transition and accelerate your ...
On today's lesson in product management, John Fontenot shares a recent story about his experience working in a Scrum shop and how the rigid interpretation of Scrum almost killed his ability to ship a critical integration on time. If you're interested in entering product management and want to gain the hands-on experience you need to make that leap, join us at Path2Product and start earning much-needed experience today....
The difference between regular managers and product managers... Regular manager: "Don't bring me problems. Bring me solutions!" Product Manager: "Don't bring me solutions. Bring me problems" It's our job to care more about the problem driving the request for a solution than the solution itself. But it can be hard navigating those conversations with large customers or senior stakeholders. On this lesson in product management, we discuss this reality and practical tips for dealing with it. If you ...
Key Takeaways Side projects offer valuable experience for aspiring PMs and an outlet for creativity/ownership for employed PMs Benefits include mental health, skill development, and potential innovation Time management and prioritizing core job responsibilities are crucial when pursuing side projects Companies like Google (20% time) demonstrate the value of fostering entrepreneurial creativity in employees Topics: The Broken Talent Acquisition Process in Product Management Benefits of Side Proje...
Hello and welcome in to another episode of Lessons in Product Management, I’m your host, John Fontenot, and on today’s episode I have Paul Turaew on to talk about his journey into product management and we riff on a number of topics in research. Paul’s a long-time PM, having held a variety of Sr. IC and Director of Product Management roles in Healthcare. Some of the topics we cover on today’s episode include the tension between research and shipping products, what’s the “MVP” of research, changi...
On today’s episode, I got to speak with Stephanie Jerome, Product Manager at Akoya. Stephanie has a ton of experience managing internal products, and that was the focus of our conversation today. Stephanie also shared how she got her start in product management and lessons she’s learned along the way. If you’re managing or considering managing internal products or looking to get your first shot at a PM job, this is a great episode to check out! If you're looking to get into product managemen...
On today’s episode, we have Emilia Kortrynska, Head of Marketing at UserPilot. In the discussion with Emilia, we talk about some incredibly interesting research that came out of UserPilot recently about how Sales Led Growth appears to beat Product Led Growth in many categories. Which to PLG evangelists like myself, really caught me off guard. But we discuss why quant data is only one piece of the story and why you need to balance quant with qual research and the benefits of research in general. ...
It's a hotly debated topic, whether you should always pay customers for their time when sourcing and conducting interviews. Spoiler alert! I think you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you make it a habit of paying customers for feedback. In this episode, we unpack all the reasons why you should never pay customers for interviews and the benefits you'll see as a result. If you're looking to get into product management or interested in up-leveling your product sense through a...
There are pros and cons to preparing for user research. As they say, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. And the same is true with prepping for research. On this episode, we break down the benefits of user interview preparation and the potential drawbacks if you let perfection become the enemy of progress. If you're looking to get into product management but lack hands on experience, check out Path2Product where you get high-quality PM training AND the ability to put your learning i...
After taking a year off to focus on work and life, we're back and excited to be back! We've been building ResearchRepo for Product teams to collaborate, consolidate, and communicate research that ties back to company goals and objectives. I've started a new role as VP of Product at Terlumina But we're doubling down on Path2Product to help aspiring and junior product managers get the experience and practice they need to land their first job or uplevel their product sense...
This is a crazy and turbulent time in Tech. Companies are hitting financial hard times or restructuring as the economy is forcing extreme prioritization of resources. If you find yourself on the unfortunate end of these layoffs, I have someone on the show who has been through several and helped several others through this process. Don't miss the great advice on this week's episode of Lessons in Product Management!
Dan Balcauski is a pricing expert and dropped by the pod to share key insights, hot takes, and practical advice for product teams and leaders to help unpack the pricing process, key variables, and mistakes to avoid. Show notes: 0:00-0:30 - Episode Intro 0:30-1:55 - Dan’s Intro/Background 1:55-4:55 - From Engineer to Pricing Guru 4:55-6:42 - Biggest Pricing Pitfall 6:42-19:00 - Segmentation Myths and Realities 19:00-21:00 - defining value (3 Types) 21:00-26:35 - The Value Cascade 26:35-36:45 - Ho...
There are great frameworks for prioritizing features, but what if prioritizing features isn't the right approach? We dig into why opportunity costs are the most underrated variables in prioritizing Product decisions. If you're looking to get into product management, come join us at Path2Product to gain the hands-on PM experience you need to land your first product role. 0:00-4:20 - Episode Intro 4:20-6:54 Opportunity Cost in Action 6:54-8:50 - Economics in Product Management? 8:50-17:52 - ...
This week's lesson in product management is brought to you by Derek Osgood, Founder and CEO of Ignition. If your product launches are less than ideal, you should listen to what Derek has to say. Even if you're launches go well, there are great tips on how to optimization the success of your launches. 0:00-0:32 - Podcast intro 0:32-2:30 - Derek’s Intro 2:30-4:15 - Who is Ignition for? 4:15-4:40 - Where to find Ignition 4:40-8:40 - The PM/PMM Disconnect 8:40-10:23 - Aligning PM/PMM Teams 10:...
As you wrap up the last 30 days of your 30, 60, 90-day onboarding, it's time to start drafting strategy. In this episode I break down how to do that with a simple framework and how to shrink the timeline if you don't have 90 days to get it done in a new position. Here's the episode with Randal Whitmore Here's the link to the product strategy development course on YouTube Join us on Path2Product if you're looking for the Product Management experience you need to land a PM job...
Many answers to the question of "why do you want to be a product manager" have some variation of "ideation." While ideation and solutioning are definitely part of product management, it's by far NOT the most important thing to get right. If you're looking to get into product management, join us at Path2Product to streamline your path to product management
Story time - your competitor launched a feature. They’re making a bunch of noise on all the social channels. An influencers Tie Tok of the new thing went viral. Your execs are screaming that you need to respond. As the Product Manager, what do you do? That's exactly the scenario we'll unpack on this week's lesson in product management.
Andrew and I both had non-traditional paths into product management, and we've both experienced and seen how broken the talent acquisition process is for aspiring PMs. On this episode, you'll hear a passionate discussion of what problems we've noticed and some fun banter on how we'd fix the problem.
On this episode of Lessons in Product Management, I sat down with Luke and Jakub from GetResponse as they shared their experiences launching products into new markets, what it takes to do it successfully, how to test into it, and how partnerships can be great and complicated at the same time.
On today's episode, Eva Beasley shares her experience before and after getting into Product Management. One of the things she noticed about some of the PMs she interacted with was an anti-pattern that needed to be addressed, so we did so here. If you're looking to get into Product Management, join us on Path2Product where we're bridging the gap in product management experience for aspiring PMs. Episode Notes: 0:00-1:30 - Eva Beasley Intro 1:30-2:36 - Eva’s R...
