If youve ever been the victim of a content management system (CMS), raise your hand. This week Chappell Ellison, Postlights Associate Director of Digital Strategy, joins Gina and Chris to unpack their complicated relationships with CMSs. They talk about knowing when its the right time to dump your current system, how you can move on from the trauma of past CMSs, and how to choose your next one. Links: Chappell Ellison
Making mistakes and learning from them is a vital part of project management and product delivery but what should you do when a recession or a worldwide pandemic hits mid-product launch? From preparing in advance to giving yourself some wiggle room, Chris and Gina share how to minimize impact. Chris Barbins Blog Scene from the Sopranos The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel Effects from the unexpected pandemic...
Something wonderful happened recently Postlight joined NTT DATA Services! This week, Chris and Gina sit down with Wayne Busch, NTT DATAs Group President of Consulting and Digital Transformation. They discuss how NTT Data thinks about digital transformation and what this partnership means for Postlight going forward. Dont worry, Postlight lives on in a bigger and better version
Many challenges come up along the way when launching a product. In this live panel event recorded at the Postlight offices, product experts Tait Foster, Phil DiGiulio, Grace Mangum, and Andres Glusman share insights on how to get to a successful product launch from finding and validating data, prioritization, managing team, managing up and more.
Feeling anxiety before a big presentation isnt uncommon. Michael Shane, Postlights Head of Digital Strategy, knows all about nailing a great performance. This week he shares the lessons he has learned from over 15 years of training and performing as a clarinetist at the likes of Carnegie Hall. Michael breaks down how the key to overcoming anxiety involves removing uncertainty and how that translates to presentations at work. Links How to turn anxiety into great performances at work...
How can you make meetings better? This week Chris and Gina break down what causes a meeting to drag and how a good meeting can unfold. They explore how to get at a meetings true agenda finding the solution to a problem. They also delve into how to ensure everyone feels their time is valued.
How do you build a great company that a lot of people want to buy? Paul and Rich join Chris and Gina to discuss their Postlight journey, the process behind NTT Datas acquisition of the company, and how to date interested buyers when looking to sell your agency. Links An Exciting Next Chapter: Postlight Joins NTT DATA!
What was the last show you watched? Why did you choose it? And how would you describe it? As Director of Product at Peacock TV, Kate Radway wants to know. This week Kate joins Chris and Gina to discuss what its like shipping product for a major streaming platform. She breaks down some of the biggest pain points she sees like when the platform brings you back to the credits of an episode youve already watched and why solving them isnt always as easy as it seems. Links: Kate Radway Twitter...
Consumer experience should always be the number one priority when developing a product. This week, Chris and Gina are joined by Michael Shane, Postlights Head of Digital Strategy, to discuss how to balance pragmatism and panache at every stage of the journey. Links: Chriss article about why health insurance websites are bad Previous Postlight episode about Speed...
A good product thinker looks ahead, not behind. This week Chris and Gina break down the importance of promoting product management over project management. They explain how you can differentiate between project thinking and product thinking and how a product-led approach can drive teams toward alignment. Instead of being driven by tickets and backlogs, product thinking asks: Wheres the problem, how does it fit into our roadmap, and how can we solve it?
As a hybrid and remote-friendly workplace, its rare that the whole Postlight team gets together, but recently the entire team congregated in New York City for a week of in-person events. In this episode, Chris and Gina chat about the importance of Remotes Week in building trust and relationships and share tips on how to make everyone feel at home during in-person events. IRL cheers to IRL meet-ups!
Keeping huge software projects on track is hard but not impossible. This week Chris and Gina walk us through how they come up with deadlines that work both for the client and the team. They explain what questions you should be asking to make sure nothing is overlooked in the beginning planning stages and explain what to do in that dreaded scenario when you realize youre not going to hit your target. A good tip: Challenge anyone who says, This should be easy. Links: The New MVP: The Minimum Valua...
Does leadership start when youre made a Head of or as a bossy child? Postlights senior leadership team takes over the podcast for a roundtable discussion on leading and learning. Nathan (Product Management), Michael (Digital Strategy), Natalie (Product Design), and Aaron (Engineering) share the mistakes that have made them better leaders, how being vulnerable builds trust, and how they can spot the spark of a potential leader within their teams. Links: Nathan Henry on Twitter Michael Shane on Tw...
Theres nothing worse than waiting for a page to load. This week, Chris LoSacco and Gina Trapani go deep on a crucial yet underappreciated feature of digital platforms speed. They break down how things can get so slow and share tips on how you can build for speed, from database indexing to managing how much processing is happening on the service side versus the client side. Weve got the need for speed! Links: Why Are Health Insurance Websites So Bad? Lighthouse Honeycomb...
Software is never done but that doesnt mean you need to be stressed about constantly reworking it. The codebase architecture choices you make at the outset can set you up better for the future. This week, Chris and Gina share their tips on building for the future, from reusing code wherever possible to deciding what kind of technical debt youre willing to take on to addressing accessibility concerns first instead of last.
Founding Executive Editor of Wired Magazine Kevin Kelly just turned 70, and on his birthday, he shared 103 bits of advice that he wished he had known. This week, Paul and Rich share some of their favorite pieces of Kevin Kelly wisdom from the list.
From sports teams to newspapers and now social media platforms, rich people have been making wildly expensive purchases for decades. This week, Paul and Rich discuss Elon Musks efforts to buy Twitter. They break down what this purchase could mean for the future of Twitter and how we got to this point in internet history.
Is impatience the root of anxiety? Is a lack of others anticipation the root of our impatience? Is good communication the root of anticipation? This week Rich, Gina, and Chris discuss when impatience is a feature and when its a bug and call on a framework from Ginas kids school to prioritize what should get done when. Links: Rich on Twitter Gina Trapani Twitter Chris LoSacco Twitter...
At what age should you give your kid a phone? This week Paul and Rich sit down to discuss the inevitable moment when their kids ask for a phone. They break down how it can be a tool for freedom and the many concerns that can come with kids having their own phones. Could the answer be banning content creation for kids? Links: Postlight - Our Work
Paul and Rich love experimenting with new tech and love the idea of decentralization, so why are they so skeptical about Web3? This week Paul and Rich distill their feelings about Web3 and explain why theyre already bored by conversations about it. They ask: Is it really worth investing in something long-term if the only benefit is that youre not missing out? Links: Is Your Religion Art or Technology?: With Aaron Lammer Decentralized Finance: Tim Meaney on the Boom of Defi and Cryptocurrencies O...
No founder should be all-consumed with work, and that is why Head of Bloomberg Beta Roy Bahat is no longer a founder. This week Roy joins Gina Trapani and Michael Shane to discuss how workplace boundaries are becoming normalized and why providing VC support in a companys irrational phase excites him more than a later, safer bet. He also stresses the importance of language in a large and diverse workforce and questions whether metaphors and analogies are useful or alienating. Links: Roy Bahat on ...
From polar expeditions to Twitters Longform team, Tony Haile knows how to lead and when to step back. Former CEO of Chartbeat and Scroll, Tony is now Senior Director of Product at Twitter. This week, he joins Gina and Paul to share wisdom on managing the managers, knowing your weaknesses, and successfully integrating a team after being acquired by a bigger player. Links: Tony Haile on Twitter Chartbeat Scroll On Grand Strategy - John Lewis Gaddis Management Time: Whos Got the Monkey? - William O...
How do you build a bridge between climate science and culture? This week, Alison Smart, Executive Director of Probable Futures, and Peter Croce, Lead Product Manager at Postlight, join Paul and Rich to talk about how to create accessible resources for understanding climate change. What tools has Probable Futures created to tackle this? How do they collaborate with clients that want to make a positive difference? And, what is the price tag for climate change? Links: Probable Futures Postlights wo...
Recently, Gina Trapani shared this question on Twitter: What are good metaphors for running a company that arent about sports or war? To her surprise, her Twitter mentions exploded. This week, she and Chris LoSacco share some of their favorite responses. They also draw parallels between playing in a band and running a business and share why running a company can be like tending a garden. Links: Gina Trapani Twitter Pelotons New CEO on the Tough Road Ahead - The New York Times...
Gina Trapani, Chris LoSacco, and Michael Shane got together on Twitter Space to chat about how people with big ideas but less authority can get buy-in and budget for future tech projects. What kind of storytelling will be the most persuasive to get your project going? What will motivate your boss to support the change? In the live event, Chris, Gina, and Michael answer these questions and share strategies to talk to execs to get them to recognize the value of your idea.
TypeScript is now one of the top five programming languages, but what is it exactly? And why has everyone adopted it in recent years? This week, Paul and Rich sit down with Orta Therox, a former engineer on TypeScript at Microsoft. He breaks down what makes up a type system, how to migrate to Typescript, and why it could be considered CTO Optimized. Links: Orta Therox Orta Therox Twitter Typescriptlang.org Why the World Is Adopting TypeScript...
As Director of Product Design at HBO Max, Michael McWatters knows a thing or two about welcoming people to a service. This week, Michael joins Paul and Rich to share why onboarding should be happening along every step of a users journey, not only as part of marketing. He draws parallels between online onboarding and in-store experiences and explains why you shouldnt be training during onboarding show, dont tell.
In 2021, Postlight grew from a small-ish agency to a team of over 100 people. This week, Gina and Chris share how they helped scale Postlight since taking on their new roles. From establishing a senior leadership team, choosing better internal tools, and sending out employee surveys, they break down how to empower your team to help everyone (company included) grow.
So much of product management is about getting to launch, but what (and how) you learn when the product is live is when the data story begins. This week, Paul and Rich chat with data enthusiast and Postlights Senior Product Manager Reed Whitmont. Reed shares what goes into a solid analytics setup, what your funnel should look like, and how to use your datas story to refine an even better product.
How do you find new leaders? Is it better to promote from within or hire from outside? Do former practitioners make better leaders? As Postlights CEO and President, Gina Trapani and Chris LoSacco ask themselves these questions daily. This week, Gina and Chris share their thoughts on how to spot leadership qualities and empower new leaders. Links: How to Build for the Handoff - Gina Trapani...
