Marty Cagan examines the Waterfall product development process, which he notes remains the most common way software products are built despite being decades old and widely criticized. He explains its phased structure of…
Marty Cagan introduces the discovery sprint, a one-week time-boxed effort to tackle a substantial problem or risk in a product's definition and validate a potential solution with real users. He explains that the…
Marty Cagan describes the Group Product Manager (GPM), a hybrid role between an individual contributor and a first-level people manager, which he has seen work well in fast-growing product organizations. A GPM is…
Marty Cagan argues that most tech product companies struggle to find enough very strong product managers, and that strong product teams depend on them. He points to Google's Associate Product Manager program, which…
Marty Cagan argues that the common belief that great products come from listening to customers is a myth for technology products, because customers often cannot imagine what is possible or what they want until they see…
Marty Cagan argues that great brands come from great products rather than from marketing alone, and that Silicon Valley companies often err by fixating on technology. He notes HP's brand was stronger when built on…
Marty Cagan describes a shared workspace he helped create in Silicon Valley for very early-stage startups, which often struggle with the time and money needed to set up an office. The space offers flexible…
Marty Cagan contrasts strong product teams with weak ones, drawing on years of working with both top technology companies and struggling ones. He argues the differences are not minor but span leadership behavior, team…
Marty Cagan argues that the coming decade will be among the most productive for product innovation. He points to four converging forces: ubiquitous connected mobile devices, powerful platforms that give apps instant…
Marty Cagan argues that successful product-model transformations deliberately confront political realities rather than avoiding them, since changing how an organization decides and builds is fundamentally a people…
Marty Cagan argues that a common and avoidable form of waste in product teams is when one member, often a user researcher, learns something important about customers but the rest of the team doesn't absorb it. Findings…
Marty Cagan argues that Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs)—technical product creators who embed with customers to deeply understand their problems—are a powerful practice that applies well beyond the hard, high-stakes…
Marty Cagan argues that 'specials'—large customer or partner deals that come with a condition to build exactly what they request—can derail a product company. Although the cash is tempting, especially for cash-strapped…
Marty Cagan argues that product managers should validate a product specification before handing it to engineering, rather than trusting the spec and planning to adjust after beta feedback. Because prototyping costs have…
Marty Cagan argues that product leaders should not be dismissed because of their youth, noting that outstanding product people exist across all ages. He points out that anyone 24 or older has grown up alongside the…
Marty Cagan argues that enterprise software is in poor shape: products are often hard to use, don't work out of the box, and force customers into costly professional services. He contends that good product management…
Marty Cagan argues that consumer internet services differ sharply from traditional enterprise software: there is no sales force or distribution channel between the product and its users, so ideas can be tested and…
Marty Cagan examines how Agile methods, especially Extreme Programming (XP), fit into product management for commercial products. He first outlines the twelve shared Agile principles and XP's core practices, which were…
Marty Cagan answers reader follow-up questions after his previous article on the two product worlds he works in. He points readers to books that explain the cultures and product practices of Apple, Amazon, Google and…
Marty Cagan argues that policy is an integral part of product, not a separate concern, and that many product leaders underestimate its role. He notes that while most products treat policy as minor business rules like…
Marty Cagan describes a common remote-work problem in product discovery: teams drift back into passing static artifacts between product manager, designer, and engineers instead of collaborating closely. His proposed fix…
Marty Cagan argues that the founders of many of the world's most successful high-tech companies, such as Gates, Jobs, Bezos and Page, were effectively product managers in the best sense. They identified opportunities…
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Marty Cagan argues that Agile methods such as Scrum originated in the custom software world, where software is built for a specific customer under contract, rather than in product software companies. That origin…
Marty Cagan argues that many teams disband the people who built and launched a product right after release, wasting the period when learning and correction are most valuable. He proposes a dedicated "Rapid Response"…
Marty Cagan, author of four bestselling product books, shares his process for writing non-fiction books, framing the book as a product whose readers are customers. He argues that the decisive factor is whether the…
Marty Cagan argues that product creation is a blend of art and science, though he has long leaned toward the scientific side because of his training. Reading Rick Rubin's book The Creative Act reshaped his view…
Marty Cagan argues that while remote product teams can deliver nearly as well as co-located ones, discovery and innovation suffer most when people work apart. He frames discovery as the core challenge, since creativity…
Marty Cagan reflects on the many competing definitions of the product role and argues that how a product person defines their job reveals a lot about their experience. He highlights an analysis by technology analyst…
Marty Cagan argues that the products most PMs will build in the coming years are "intelligent products" that blend deterministic and probabilistic behavior. He traces the history of AI from 1980s expert systems, whose…