Founder of Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) and author of Inspired, Empowered and Transformed.
Marty Cagan argues against a common corporate arrangement that splits the product role between a 'product manager' who handles customers and stakeholders and a 'product owner' who handles the backlog and developers. He…
Marty Cagan argues that Product Market Fit and the Product Vision are related but distinct, and that teams often confuse them. The Product Vision describes the services and customers a company intends to serve over…
Marty Cagan reviews Eric Ries's book "The Lean Startup" and argues it is one of the best product books in years, relevant to both new and experienced product people and not only early-stage startups. He notes Ries…
Marty Cagan pays tribute to Steve Jobs following his death, calling him arguably the greatest figure in the product world. He credits Jobs with tackling very hard problems and producing products that defined their…
Marty Cagan argues that the term minimum viable product is used so inconsistently that it confuses product teams, and proposes a clearer working definition. He defines an MVP as the smallest product that is valuable…
Marty Cagan argues that competition is a constant in most markets, yet companies often waste energy reacting to rivals through feature-chasing and attacking competitors' weaknesses. He contends customers rarely leave…
Marty Cagan argues that project-based funding, where companies approve discrete projects with business cases, is a poor model for building strong products. Teams cannot know early whether a project is worth pursuing or…
Marty Cagan argues that product evangelism, which he describes as selling the dream, is a core job for founders and product managers alike. Without it, strong teams are hard to assemble at startups, and at larger…
Marty Cagan argues that great product companies require genuine passion for a long-term vision, not just the pursuit of a quick hit. He observes a renewed 'product frenzy' fueled by mobile, where building an app is…
Marty Cagan argues that good product teams must excel at product discovery, which is fundamentally a skill of learning quickly: identifying the right target customer, finding the key problems to solve, and designing…
Marty Cagan argues that the single most valuable thing a product manager can do is run face-to-face user tests on prototypes or live products. Each test has two parts in sequence: a usability check to see whether users…
Marty Cagan argues that many product teams still fly blind because they do not instrument their products to collect usage analytics, or collect so little that they cannot see how customers actually use features. He…
Marty Cagan argues that 'The Innovator's Dilemma' describes a symptom of large-company decline rather than its root cause. Drawing on Ben Horowitz's 'Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO' framing, he contends that startups are…
Marty Cagan argues that product teams learn most when they put early, rough ideas in front of real users, and that they should do so faster than feels comfortable. He notes that polishing ideas in private mostly deepens…
Marty Cagan argues that product leaders must actively develop their product managers, since strong teams are essential and people leave managers rather than companies. He presents a gap-analysis tool for ongoing skills…
Cagan argues that the old model of carefully controlled, consistent product messaging no longer works, because most people first hear about a product from others outside the company's control. Messaging must now engage…
Cagan argues that the core goal of product discovery is finding the smallest valuable, usable, feasible product as fast as possible by failing fast. He describes two techniques: disposable user prototypes tested with…
Marty Cagan argues that many product companies pride themselves on a 'consensus culture', but in practice this breeds frustration, slowness, risk-aversion and unimpressive products. The root problem, he says, is…
Cagan argues that marketing success starts with the product itself, so product marketers should help shape a product during planning rather than receiving a finished one to promote. He proposes three tests: whether…
Cagan argues that the product design field should expand its focus well beyond usability. Usability still matters and can differentiate products, especially in enterprise software, but the harder question is whether…
Marty Cagan argues that some project managers and Scrum Masters act as "process police," treating adherence to the official process as the goal rather than the outcomes it is meant to produce. Such enforcement slows…
Marty Cagan argues that 'product' is unclear in Internet companies, where software is intangible and large sites are split into many smaller products largely for internal organizational reasons. He proposes defining…
Cagan describes a "Big Bang" release as a project built for months and then launched all at once, a common outcome of Waterfall but also possible under Scrum. He argues it almost never goes well: dates slip or features…
Marty Cagan argues that the concept of a "requirement" is misleading in product work. What stakeholders and customers present as requirements are often untested assumptions or guesses about an underlying problem, while…
Marty Cagan argues that splitting product work across teams is one of the hardest and most recurring organizational questions once a company outgrows its earliest stage, and that there is no quick general answer. He…
Marty Cagan argues against the view that a technology company is essentially made of engineers who build software and salespeople who sell it, with everyone else treated as overhead. He contends that combining even…
Marty Cagan argues that in many startups the CEO is the most effective head of product, especially in consumer companies, because the CEO best understands the market, customer and company and is fully committed. He…
Marty Cagan argues that weak products are those that fail to meet their objectives or create new revenue and growth for the company. He lists ten root causes, centered on the absence of a real product vision…
Marty Cagan argues that slow product delivery is usually not caused by weak developers but by organizational and process problems. Drawing on his work with many product teams, he lists the ten most common root causes of…
Marty Cagan argues that product innovation is no longer confined to Silicon Valley and that talent in developing markets is moving through a clear progression. The industry began with outsourcing, moved to US companies…