#product-management

#product-management

I joined my last company as a director of product, and within a couple of months, I had been promoted to the VP of product. Then, a couple of months later, that company almost went out of business. They had to downsize and kept me and one other person on. I was very thankful, as they laid off the rest of the company and tried to restart. We really gave it the old college try, but we weren't getting the traction we needed.

Every CEO knows the feeling of promised features taking months longer than expected, simple changes breaking unrelated systems, and top engineers fighting fires more than they build the future. Welcome to technical debt: the detritus of yesterday's innovation that increasingly blocks progress today. The crucial reality is that tech debt isn't an "IT issue"-it's a business strategy problem that directly impacts your bottom line, competitive positioning, and organizational resilience.

Evidence maps are logical tools for consolidating data and insights, offering clarity in decision-making amidst a sea of qualitative and quantitative data gathered from multiple tests.

Create claims 30,000 monthly active users, that it processes more 20,000 projects daily, and that its Frontier AI agent is "so reliable you can build entire apps without looking at the code once, under the hood."

"Data scientists are great when you want to optimize your product by 2% or 5%, but that's definitely not what you want to be doing when you start a company."

Nora emphasizes the importance of curiosity in identifying gaps or assumptions in product management, advocating for a culture of openness and diverse perspectives. She believes that understanding the audience is crucial, as this aligns closely with product strategy and helps to create meaningful interactions.

The rise of product operations didn't happen overnight. It started with changing expectations around what product managers should focus on, then the pandemic created three specific challenges that made dedicated operational support essential.

Every product leader used to brag about how quickly they could ship their product. However, with the rise of new regulations, today's top PMs brag about their ability to ship fast while also showing their work, dataset lineage, bias tests, and audit hooks before any code reaches production.

Transparency and clarity are fundamental to establishing trust in product management. Users want assurance that what they purchase will meet their needs and work as expected.

AI systems function as amplified mirrors that reflect any flaws or biases on an industrial scale, revealing potential dangers when not properly tested.

The concept of 'ask for forgiveness rather than permission' embodies a bold innovation philosophy, yet can lead to career setbacks if risk management is neglected.

"Every problem is a people problem. Understanding people's personalities is essential to create a healthy team dynamic that fosters collaboration and productivity."

The common thread among failed tech giants like Nokia and BlackBerry is that product managers lost their agility and client focus at the moment adaptation became survival.

The shift from traditional product management to more AI-driven development is indeed a cultural change, especially in high-stakes industries where risk aversion is natural.

Product management is akin to firefighting while building, where crises force PMs to rapidly switch focus and manage damage control.

Everybody wants to ship code every moment they can. I have friends who go to production twice a day, and small, iterative chunks are the right way to endure your business.

In 2010, I got fired. I deserved it. I wasn't wrong, but I deserved it.

Technology must align with customer needs, serving as an enabler for business objectives. A product-led approach prevents the creation of solutions that may be technically impressive but commercially irrelevant.

"Many Product Trios are breaking down worldwide. Sometimes, there's just a single designer for 4 PMs or 12 Engineers."

The obsession with root-cause analysis remains constant as I focus on understanding what prevents one more successful trip, whether debugging a SQL query or redesigning a reservation flow.

One of the most common misconceptions is that healthcare platforms and products are difficult to build to benefit patients. Outsiders often think that because the healthcare ecosystem has competing incentives, none of them prioritize the patient experience.