Episode Description

1:00- Meet Nils Davis

2:47- Nils reminds us that Product Managers are really “Unicorns” in the workforce

7:00- Nils shares his favorite phrase as a Product Manager “Your obvious is your art”

8:47- Nils shares the pros/cons of understanding your “spike”

10:03- We discuss how it's difficult to share our superpower with the people that surround us

12:08- Nils shares the different ways we can discover our PM spike/superpower

15:45- Todd shares the struggle with asking for feedback to identify your PM spike/superpower

17:52- Nils shares one of his PM spikes

20:15- Todd shares the PM spike he wishes he had

22:12- Todd compares Joe’s PM spike to that of a Golden Retriever

25:20- A new word is introduced to the Product Porch- “Pragmatic Empathy”

28:15- Todd asks the question of whether or not the PM role has a unique set of capabilities

33:19- We review the stable of “Product” Unicorns-

36:19- Todd reminds us why he’s against Annual Performance Reviews and not a coder 🙂

39:10- We wrap up with our advice for the PM community struggling to find their “spike” (Nils-leverage Clifton Strengths Finder assessment)- people are the stars of their own movies

40:18- Todd- Don’t feel guilty for your spike. Find that thing that you love and lean into it

41:30- Joe- Be genuine and true to yourself (not as profound as Todd/Nils)

42:00- Nils ends with a very profound thought- “Product Managers are amazing creatures, yet you would never know it from reading their resume”

Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at Patreon.com/TheProductPorch.

2:15 What are the Product Management trends everyone is talking about

4:30- Todd asks the question: Are we focusing on the problem at the expense of the solution?

7:00- Joe explains why he believes we have over-indexed on some of the common PM themes

10:05- We are getting paid to deliver- reality check for all PMs

11:45- Ryan tells how this is a struggle for Type A personalities

13:16- Todd walks us through his approach to move to execution (from high-level concepts to delivery)

14:21- Joe’s shares an unpopular opinion about SAFe and its value for Product Leaders

16:08- Todd shares how he uses Ryan and Joe for some very specific product needs- team bonding moment

18:45 Todd admits that SAFe quarterly planning is awesome. Joe and Todd have a moment

22:54- What is the Product Managers Role in Solutioning? Ryan shared his POV

27:12- Todd shares a current situation on what to do with competing perspectives on proposed solutions-

29:09- You need to have confidence and conviction- Ryan Cantwell- this is what a PM needs to do

30:30- Sometimes you just make calculated risks as Product Managers- we discuss as a team

35:03- Todd kicks off a Job title game- problem or solution. Grab your popcorn!

39:01- Todd shares why he loves “defining the problem”

41:04- Key Takeaways-

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1:22 The fellas discuss their favorite Ken phrase

1:44- Ken tells us what it means to be a product management truth teller

5:16- What can we do as product managers to become more valuable?

8:35- One of the first steps- What goal are you trying to achieve and how can I help you get there?

10:30- Ken tells us why you should spend 20 min a week interviewing a customer

12:55: Todd outlines why experimentation is critical for a product manager

16:45- The team discuss the product management anti-patterns we should watch out for

23:00- How to make yourself an indispensable product person?

26:30- Ken talks about how you can build a quarterly plan to build a strong product management team

28:00- Todd shares his PM secret sauce- Product Framing

29:00- Ryan reminds us to ask the question “So What”

30:56- We share Ken’s favorite PM phrase “Magic Beans”

34:15- What got us here (why are there so many PMs that are unemployed)?

37:40- Is there another domain where the role is defined by someone who doesn’t understand the value of product management?

40:00 Key Takeaways/Wrap-up

Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at Patreon.com/TheProductPorch.