Verdi

I just posted another article in the occasional series exploring how the product model manifests in different leading product companies, this time discussing Amazon. I co-authored this with Europe-based product coach Richard Russell: https://lnkd.in/g-TJz5sS

Exploring the Challenges of Product Management and the Pivot in Verdi's Development In Episode 018 of the #kilnroadtrip, created and produced by The Swell Pod, hosts Spencer McKeown ?? and Josh Taylor interview Brad Romney, CEO of Verdi, discussing the challenges and intricacies of product management. They explore Verdi's platform and its benefits for product managers and entrepreneurs. Additionally, there's a light-hearted exchange about gourmet potato chips and dark chocolate, reflecting on the importance of understanding the origins of our food and drawing parallels to the podcast's mission of uncovering insightful stories. Check out the full episode here: Youtube - https://lnkd.in/gQfHSbzz Apple Podcasts - https://lnkd.in/gJSX9kDa Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g6VAzEDD Location - Kiln Salt Lake City, UT Be sure to follow Brad Romney: https://lnkd.in/ghFMTzKr Check out Verdi: https://www.getverdi.com/ Join The Swell Pod on the Kiln. Roadtrip by listening, watching, and subscribing to the podcast today! – https://lnkd.in/dC8wxwTQ The Kiln Road Trip: Uncovering Deep Truths with 100 Pleasantly Rebellious Humans. 10 days. 5 States. 3,580 Miles.100 Interviews! Daily episodes starting on March 5, Monday to Friday, for the next 100 days, followed by a short documentary and a book about the journey. Thank you to the partners and sponsors who made the Kiln.roadtrip possible: Kiln Moterra Campervans Torus And thank you to the crew who helped us document and share the journey: Denisse Leon Ty Cottle Nathan Clark Findlay McKeown #SwellPod, #KilnRoadTrip, #Kiln, #MotorraCamperVans, #podcast, #interview, #innovation, #resilience, #communitybuilding, #passion, #purpose, #community, #diversity, #collaboration, #thoughtleadership, #100interviews, #entrepreneur, #CEO, #leadership

Signs you're becoming a "real" PM... You’ll feel like you are annoying the crap out of your team You’ll find yourself sheepishly asking for an estimate You’ll realize that estimates are worthless, but still be pressured for a “rough sense of timeframe” You’ll struggle to explain why your intuition is valid (and be right) You’ll struggle to explain why your intuition is valid (and be wrong) You’ll be pressured to ship something before it’s ready You’ll try to make something perfect when you should have shipped it months ago You’ll put together the best roadmap in the world, and get everyone to buy-in, and then everything will change in an instant You’ll forget a seemingly trivial detail that will cause a massive delay You’ll rabbit hole on a seemingly important detail that will cause a massive delay for no apparent customer value You’ll be blamed for being too solution focused You’ll be blamed for being too high level You’ll have to break crappy news to your team (often admitting that you’re to blame) You’ll fancy yourself as technical but be humbled daily You’ll fancy yourself as UX-savvy but be humbled daily You’ll fancy yourself as business-savvy but be humbled daily You’ll be worried about “distracting” your team, and find yourself not being transparent. And this will come back to haunt you You’ll find yourself parroting something engineers told you, and realize just how little you understand You’ll be asked to make your backlog / roadmap more visible, but then be derided when you shift things around You’ll have a day filled with meetings, and realize you added absolutely no value You’ll run a great meeting, and no one will notice You’ll work up a full-fledged wireframe, and then try to tell your UX team member that you don’t have a design in mind You’ll ship a dud feature that no one uses You’ll ship an awesome feature that no one even notices You’ll have to implement an exec’s idea, and know it sucks. And then have to live through the success theater that accompanies the release of said idea You’ll try to follow up on the impact of shipped features, but get overwhelmed by the next batch You’ll want to pull your hair out listening to your team debate the technical merits of two, almost identical approaches You’ll advocate for your pet solution against an almost identical team proposed approach You’ll say “No” to something just to prove to yourself that you have some influence and a point of view, and then realize that doing that is stupid You’ll say “Yes” to a customer in a moment of pure delusion, and then find yourself stubbornly trying to defend a feature that only they will use You’ll hear that you are not technical enough for the role You’ll be “empowered” on paper, but find yourself taking orders You’ll catch yourself giving orders, and learn to empower your team instead You’ll think you’ve learned from your mistakes, and you’ll magically make them again (just to make sure the learning is ingrained)

We just added 10 more slots for this Friday's AI x PM event! AI x PM: The Future of Product Management The only #UtahTechWeek event exclusively for Product People! Sign up here to snag a spot: https://lu.ma/d6vxln3o It's gonna be fun! Free lunch, free prizes, and a free session of “Product Therapy” ?? Co-hosted by?Verdi?and UPG Friday (1/26) @ 12-1:30p Kiln Lehi 2 1850 Ashton Blvd, Suite 500 Lehi, UT 84043 If you're still unable to get in or can't make it, send me a DM and we'll get you into the next one.

There's a growing trend of specialization in Product Management. While browsing through job titles and descriptions on Glassdoor and LinkedIn, I noticed that the descriptions are getting very specific. For example, I saw: - A Fintech company that's hiring PMs with "experience in payment apps". - A B2B SaaS company that prefer PMs with past B2B experience and who can work RFPs & partner with sales. - An AI-enabled product that wants PMs who are knowledgeable in data sciences, deep learning and ML models. I advocate the idea that PMs are generalists at heart, with an ability to adapt to different products by virtue of their transferable skill set. However, it seems that market is shifting demand towards PMs that can hit the ground running. These "specialization" requirements have different vectors. Product Managers are expected to have depth in various permutations of 5 aspects: 1. Industry experience e.g. Fintech, Healthtech, Proptech etc. 2. Skillset experience e.g. Platform PM, Data PM, Growth PM etc. 3. Technology specialization e.g. Mobile, API, Web3, IoT, Hardware etc. 4. Audience specialization e.g. B2B, B2C, D2C etc. 5. Product Type exposure e.g. SaaS, E-Commerce, Marketplaces etc. Of course, these can be combined together. For example, you can have companies pursuing a B2B Growth Product Manager. If this trend continues, PMs might need to plan their next career moves with an intention to go deep. I'm still contemplating on the "1 Major, 2 Minors" advice someone gave me: 1. Major in product management. Mastering the fundamentals of PM does takes time. Ensure you practice skills like discovery, strategy, roadmaps, prioritization, stakeholder management, product analytics and so on. Go broad. 2. Minor in a product type. Pick up a product type like B2B and get depth in how the buying cycle works and the considerations PMs have to make in it. 3. Minor in an industry. Take time to build depth in domain knowledge and get into the weeds of it. This might seem like an awful lot but a solid 2-3 year stint at a growing company can enable you to achieve this. Soon, it seems telling someone that you're a Product Manager will evoke the same response when someone says they're a doctor. The follow-up question will be: "What kind?" -- Curious: What kind of a Product Manager are you? What do you aspire to be?