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Mind the Product

Product Management

Sunday Rewind: Whose job is it anyway? The rise of Product Ops and why it deserves to be an independent function

Guest Post

Creating metrics that matter

B2B product management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Building Product Teams

Business Strategy

Data Driven Product Management

Digital Transformation

Diversity and Inclusion

Minimum Viable Product

OKRs

Prioritisation

Product Design

Product Research

Product Development Process

Product Ethics

Product Discovery

Product Leadership

Product Management Career

Product Strategy

Stakeholder Management

🌎 <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/world-product-day/" style="color:#FFFFFF;text-decoration:underline;">Happy World Product Day!</a> Be sure to celebrate product, yourself, and your peers today! 🎉

How much are product managers getting paid in 2024?

Leading product ops at Delivery Hero with Koen Dubelaar

Connecting fans to creators at Spotify (Dariusz Dziuk, Product Lead, Spotify)

“You’re not as competent as you think” 5 lessons from Ken Chin on navigating a product career (CPO, Spark Networks)

Everything wrong with the product management job market. And how to fix it

Emily brings nearly 15 years of product management experience to her role as Managing Director for Mind the Product. While she has worked across a variety of industries, she will always have a soft spot for the travel industry where she spent most of her early career building software for airlines and developing a leading consumer travel app, TripCase. Emily is passionate about the craft of product management and loves talking about new ways to make products people love.

Managing Director

Emily Tate

<p>It’s a new year, and while the date changing on a calendar doesn’t really have some magical power, it is a nice reminder to slow down and reflect. Many of us will think about the personal goals we want to achieve this year, our businesses will be setting plans and strategizing how to make this year the best one yet, and we’ll be looking at what behaviors in ourselves we might want to change (<em>no really, I AM going to eat healthier this time!</em>).</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-14624" src="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/happy-new-year-300x175.jpg" alt="Happy New Year" width="978" height="571" srcset="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/happy-new-year-300x175.jpg 300w, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/happy-new-year-768x448.jpg 768w, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/happy-new-year-1024x597.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 978px) 100vw, 978px" /></p>
<p>As I think about my own growth, here are my resolutions to help me be a better product manager.</p>
<h2>#1 &#8211; I resolve to stop jumping to solutions before exploring the problem</h2>
<p>Even at this stage of my career &#8211; when I <em>definitely</em> know better &#8211; it is still far too easy to see a problem and immediately think I know how to fix it. Or come up with an idea without seeing if there is a problem in the first place. This isn’t confined to big product efforts; even small things, using my product mindset to explore a problem can open up multiple options to solve it. I know of several areas in my own work where slowing down and living in the problem space will serve me well as I start this year, and I want get in the habit of proactively asking myself: “What are you really trying to do here?”</p>
<h2>#2 &#8211; I resolve to start reading the pile of books I&#8217;ve collected on my work bookshelf</h2>
<p>There is a lot of information out there that can help me grow in my craft. Articles, videos, podcasts &#8211; they all provide quick and easy ways to access the breadth of industry knowledge that is out there. Confession: I have always been drawn to buying all the books from different thought leaders, but have a habit of letting them sit on my bookshelf as nice ideas. I’ve recently started fully reading some, and have realized how much I have been missing by letting myself think quick hits are enough. While many topics are covered at a high level in blogs, books on the same subject have the ability to go so much deeper. They are worked on by their authors for months or years rather than hours, and are heavily researched, typically incorporating a lot of interviews so you’re getting the knowledge of hundreds of people rather than one.</p>
<p>So this year, I resolve to fully read 100% of the books currently on my bookshelf as of January 1st. I only have about 50% confidence I’ll hit this Key Result &#8211; a tip I learned from reading <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0996006028/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0996006028&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=mindthe-20&amp;linkId=1efd60b8b58bf34c32217f4c11cc0949" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Radical Focus</em></a> by Christina Wodtke!</p>
<figure style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/d88c871b-fad5-466d-8451-1ea8fc3b3397_AF1QipP5U0xIgKf_GkUSqNqBwwnyInx3ItbKNuLQ1dqkw2048-h1536.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1200" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">My current work bookshelf. Some I’ve read, some I haven’t, but by the end of 2019, they will all have been read.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>#3 &#8211; I resolve to continue learning from others, and sharing my experiences to help others grow</h2>
<p>Years ago, I discovered we all become better when we contribute to the community. Learning on our own can only take us so far &#8211; hearing the experiences of our product peers in other companies can spark new ideas and help us get unstuck in our challenges. And the things that feel very obvious to me might be the exact problem with which someone else is dealing and could use some advice. So I’ll continue attending local meetups in my area (have you checked out your local <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/producttank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ProductTank</a> lately?), contributing to productive conversation on <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/product-management-slack-community/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Slack</a> and Twitter, reading the thoughts of others, and writing up my own. I will fully take advantage of the conferences I attend, where I often find the conversations with new friends on breaks are just as valuable as the things I take from the people on stage. Because we all get better when we help each other.</p>
<p>What are your product resolutions? We want to hear them! Tweet yours with the hashtag #myproductresolution.</p>

core/freeform

It’s the Strategy, stupid – Andrew Martinez-Fonts (VP Product, Honeysales)

LLM workflows for product managers: 3 key takeaways (Niloufar Salehi, Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley) – ProductTank SF

How to survive the next phase of tech – Jonty Sharples (Product and Strategy Consultant)

Transformed: Moving to the product model by Marty Cagan

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Berlin

AI in practice at Berlin’s leading companies – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Berlin

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: Amsterdam

Product teams in flux – Pendomonium+#mtpcon roadshow: London

What’s next for product management in 2024? Nichole Mace (SVP Product and User Experience, Pendo)

Goals for 2019 – A Product Manager’s New Year’s Resolutions

Emily Tate

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