Cagan argues that many companies remain stuck in failed models of product management because they misdefine the role. Rather than restating what the job is, he lists common misconceptions and explains why each one…
Cagan argues that a rebrand rarely fixes a company's real problems, because a brand is not a name, logo, or ad budget but the sum of every way a company touches customers. He contends that strong brands are built on a…
Marty Cagan argues that no single product management model fits every company; the right one depends on context, and it is best chosen by starting from the problems a company is actually experiencing. Drawing on his…
The essay argues that frustration with time to market often comes from unrealistic expectations, where executives assume that turning an idea into a shipped product should take less time than generating the idea itself…
Cagan asks how much technical competency a product manager really needs, noting that managers and candidates alike are unsure where the bar sits. He argues technology knowledge matters because great products pair a real…
Cagan argues that companies often ask how they can copy the product management model of Google or Apple, but this usually backfires. Those models fit their specific founders, cultures, and products, and Apple's in…
Marty Cagan and Martina Lauchengco argue that the terms "product" and "solution" are often misused, especially in enterprise and infrastructure software. They define a real product as one customers pay for, that works…
This essay extends an earlier sports-management analogy about actively managing a team's skills and composition, now using gardening instead. It argues that managers cannot simply hire people and wait for results; they…
In this interview-based essay, Marty Cagan talks with serial entrepreneur Danny Shader about what makes a CEO effective at building products customers love. Shader argues that the CEO's personal attention to product…
The article argues that product and corporate leaders should manage their teams the way professional sports coaches and general managers do: continuously evaluating talent, upgrading skills, and filling critical gaps…
Marty Cagan argues that Agile methods, such as Scrum and XP, change but do not eliminate the product manager's job, and he offers guidance specific to product software rather than custom or IT projects. The product…
Cagan argues that a great product comes from pairing a real customer need with a solution that has just become technically possible, which makes the product manager and engineer relationship critical. He frames the two…
Marty Cagan argues that product management is a series of choices about which problems, customers, and features to pursue, and that personas are one of his favorite tools for making them. A persona is an archetype of an…
Marty Cagan argues that many companies wrongly merge product management with project management, a habit inherited from shipped-software companies like Microsoft. That model breaks down for internet services, where many…
Marty Cagan argues that testing high-fidelity prototypes with real users is the most important activity a product manager performs, because it reveals whether people can use a product and whether they want it before…
Cagan argues that product teams commonly treat requirements and design as a scheduled, sequential phase, which leads to engineers building unvalidated solutions that customers don't want. He reframes this stage as…
Marty Cagan argues that great product managers are rare but identifiable, and that the best way to find them is to screen for a specific set of traits and skills. He stresses that traits like product passion, customer…
Marty Cagan argues that the head of product management, typically a Director or VP, is one of the most consequential roles in a high-tech company, because a great product can redefine a business and a few failed…
Marty Cagan argues that many product releases fail because the product manager role is poorly defined in companies, and that this is often the root cause of wasted release cycles. He defines the product manager as the…
Marty Cagan argues that many product releases fail because the product manager role is poorly defined in companies, and that this is a root cause of wasted release cycles. He defines the product manager as the single…
Cagan argues that strong products are the foundation of a sustainable business, and that weak products force sales and marketing into costly workarounds and frustrate customers. The remedy he proposes is a Charter…
Marty Cagan reflects on his first weeks with the original iPhone to extract product lessons. He argues that breakthrough products cannot come from focus groups or pundits, since users only describe incremental…
Cagan argues that cost estimation in software stays confusing because management needs cost figures very early, while engineering can only produce accurate estimates after the solution is detailed. This mismatch leads…
Cagan argues that many product managers, especially those coming from engineering, have only a shallow grasp of how their product and company make money. He recommends cultivating a relationship with someone in the…
Marty Cagan argues against setting a fixed percentage split between new product development and improving existing products. Instead, every investment, whether new or improvement, should be treated as a product…
Marty Cagan argues that product managers who are forbidden from talking directly with users should push hard to change that policy, and if they cannot, should consider leaving for a company where they can do their job…
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 the true measure of a product manager is the success of their product, but that picking the right success metric is hard. He proposes the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which asks customers how likely…
Marty Cagan answers a set of recurring questions he fielded at a conference, distilled into a quick Q&A on how product organizations should be structured. He argues that product management defines what engineering…
Cagan argues that user experience design should be completed before implementation begins, even though requirements/design and implementation/testing can each be run in parallel within their own pairs. He explains that…