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Articles


Skills That Make Product Managers Valuable
Effective product management is about making good business decisions—faster and with better outcomes—despite ambiguity, competing priorities, and the occasional fire drill.

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Project Management Isn’t Product Management
Learn the key differences between product management and project management. Discover why product managers are essential for long-term...

Steve Johnson
4 min read


Why I Hate User Stories (And You Should Too)
Customers Don’t Actually Know What They Want. One of the most important lessons in product management is this: customers don’t actually know their true problems—or the ideal solution. That’s your job. Your job is to discover the problem, not just write down what someone asked for.

Steve Johnson
4 min read


Don’t Skip the Retro—Your Product Quad Has Work to Do
Most launch retrospectives are either skipped or sanitized into team therapy. But if you’re working with a Product Quad—product manager, engineering lead, UX designer, and product marketing manager—you’re sitting on a goldmine of insight.

Steve Johnson
2 min read


When Everyone’s Right: Prioritization with the Product Quad
Product prioritization isn’t hard because people disagree—it’s hard because everyone’s right. The Product Quad—product manager, tech lead, UX designer, and product marketing manager—each brings a valid, but partial, view of the work.

Steve Johnson
4 min read


Release and Launch Planning with the Quad
Product teams often rely on an outdated checklist, a set of Jira tickets or user stories, a countdown to a ship date, and a long list of promotional deliverables. But that approach fails to deliver the expected results.

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Elegance is a Product Decision
Elegance is too often treated as optional in product management—something nice to have if there’s time or budget. But for products that live in customers' daily lives, elegance isn’t a luxury. It’s part of the why that draws people in and keeps them loyal.

Steve Johnson
4 min read


Market Sizing That Doesn’t Suck: Ditch TAM/SAM/SOM for Something Useful
Tired of the TAM/SAM/SOM theater? Explore two practical, persona-first alternatives to market sizing that go beyond inflated top-down...

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Defining Your Product Vision: The Foundation for Strategy, Roadmaps, and Success
A well-defined product vision is the cornerstone of successful product management. It’s what separates products that merely ship features...

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Meetings: A Necessary Evil of Business
"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that...

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Embrace Iterative Planning: Breaking Free from Waterfall Thinking
Many teams use a linear approach to planning that limits their ability to adapt to an ever-changing world.

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Improve Your Sales Results with Better Sales Enablement
Boost sales results by improving your sales enablement approach. Learn how product managers can equip sales teams with the tools they need

Steve Johnson
5 min read


Chaos in Teams: A Limerick
Only 20% of teams have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. 47% report that process is their company's most significant challenge...

Barb Nelson
1 min read


Why AI Won’t Eat Product Management
In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries, one question looms large: Will AI replace product managers? The answer

Bob Levy
5 min read


Nothing is New: Writing Requirements in the Age of AI
For decades, product managers have been writing requirements. The reality? With AI, it’s simply another way of writing requirements.

Steve Johnson
2 min read


Chaos in Growth: A Limerick
Empower your customer-facing teams with launch strategies that translate into product growth. Successful teams ensure that...

Steve Johnson
1 min read


Don't Waste Time with Generic AI Prompts—Master the Craft of Context
Why Product managers must master the art of crafting detailed, context-rich prompts.

Bob Levy
6 min read


Chaos in Planning: A Limerick
When customers request a feature, they’re almost always wrong. When they report a problem, they are almost always right. Empower your...

Steve Johnson
1 min read


Chaos in Strategy: A Limerick
The essence of strategy lies in understanding the problems you will solve for your customers and why your approach is superior to others....

Steve Johnson
1 min read


Product Feature Requests Are Like Marketing Leads
Just as sales sifts through leads, product managers must prioritize requests that are vital, valuable, and viable.

Steve Johnson
3 min read
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