Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 62
Jun 10, 2021 · 9 min
“Q: I’m a PM and I’m having a hard time getting buy-in for my ideas. My teammates quickly shoot me down, or disregard my recommendations. Any advice? That sounds rough! I’d be super-discouraged if I were in your shoes. But I’m inspired that you’re using this as a learning opportunity instead of calling it quits. To help you build your getting-buy-in muscles, I pulled in Shivani Berry, the CEO and Founder of Arise Leadership, to share…”
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 1
Apr 27, 2021 · 16 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyA guest post by DJ DiDonna of the Sabbatical Project that debunks three common manager objections to sabbatical programs: that everyone will leave, that the company will collapse without the leader, and that people…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresFeb 12, 2025
Feb 12, 2025 · 12 min
Teresa Torres and Hope Gurion argue that many organizational transformations toward the product operating model stall because companies start before they are ready. Driven partly by consultants and the success of big…
SVPG · Marty CaganJun 30, 2020
Jun 30, 2020 · 4 min
Christian Idiodi argues that hiring experienced product people is not enough, because even strong hires lack the company-specific context, decision-making knowledge, and relationships needed to succeed. Standard…
SVPG · Marty CaganAug 2, 2015
Aug 2, 2015 · 7 min
Marty Cagan, a longtime admirer of Apple, argues that the first Apple Watch after Steve Jobs is a disappointing product that falls short of Apple's usual standards of value. He criticizes its dependence on the phone…
SVPG · Marty CaganApr 30, 2006
Apr 30, 2006 · 3 min
Marty Cagan argues that a company growing rapidly from startup to large organization faces stress, and that practices and people who drove early success can later hold it back. He suggests leaders who excel at startups…
SVPG · Marty CaganApr 12, 2016
Apr 12, 2016 · 3 min
Marty Cagan reflects on witnessing gender-based bias early in his career and argues that avoiding discrimination is not enough; leaders must actively work to counter the lingering effects of past inequities. He focuses…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresJun 16, 2026
Jun 16, 2026
This podcast episode argues that organizational change is exhausting and that individuals usually waste energy trying to fix their companies' people and processes. Teresa Torres and Petra Wille describe a three-part…
Lenny’s Podcast78 min
Jerry Colonna · May 8, 2025
Key learnings- Ask how you have been complicit, not responsible, in creating the conditions you say you don't want; this evokes personal agency…
- Use radical self-inquiry to examine what you claim to want versus what you actually feel, such as saying you dislike busyness…
- Notice whether your drive comes from proving your worth; separate the enjoyment of the work from the need to feel like somebody.
Lenny’s Podcast115 min
Kevin Yien · Aug 18, 2024
Key learnings- Consider entering product management from engineering, design, or sales, since those roles teach you the front-line work a PM…
- Treat product management as converting a team's potential energy into realized customer value, and only add PMs where that work…
- Write clearly and compellingly enough that others can act on it; Kevin argues a PM who cannot sell or support their own product…
The Looking Glass podcastApr 14, 2026
Apr 14, 2026
Key learnings- World-class designers are distinguished by judgment and taste, not just the ability to execute polished visuals.
- Excellent designers obsess over the underlying problem before jumping to solutions, which separates them from those who iterate…
- Strong designers can articulate why a decision is right, tying craft choices back to user needs and business constraints.
SVPG · Marty CaganJul 17, 2011
Jul 17, 2011 · 4 min
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…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresFeb 7, 2024
Feb 7, 2024 · 11 min
Sandrine Veillet, VP of Global Product at WebMD, describes how she introduced continuous discovery into a large, previously waterfall-style product organization. She began by building a product vision and simple…
@shreyas · Shreyas Doshi on X♥ 210
Something that’s changed rapidly in the past year: Product Managers who’ve historically viewed their role as “my main job is to execute” are finding it way harder to get hired at top companies than those who’ve viewed their role as “my main job is to make the product successful”
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 21
May 18, 2021 · 11 min
Carole Robin, co-creator of Stanford's 'Touchy Feely' course, answers a reader whose co-founder relationship is deteriorating while the business still needs it to work. She argues that co-founder friction, like marriage…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresMar 13, 2019
Mar 13, 2019 · 13 min
Teresa Torres, who teaches design-based courses at Northwestern, argues that continuous discovery principles extend beyond product work to broader organizational challenges like engagement, team effectiveness, and…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresSep 13, 2023
Sep 13, 2023 · 8 min
This Product in Practice piece profiles how Hemnet, Sweden's largest property portal, adopted continuous discovery through a grassroots start. A User Research Director and a Chief Product Officer describe how one…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresDec 16, 2015
Dec 16, 2015 · 10 min
Teresa Torres shares her top picks from the 74 books she read in 2015, grouped into product-management-adjacent titles, books on meaning and happiness, academic reads that shaped her thinking, and favorite fiction. The…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresOct 4, 2023
Oct 4, 2023 · 6 min
Teresa Torres argues that product teams should not commit to specific features by specific dates, because product work is inherently unpredictable and date-based roadmaps tend to create chaos, broken trust, and wasted…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 21
Oct 8, 2019 · 11 min
Lenny Rachitsky's early newsletter answers three reader questions: how to motivate engineers to hit arbitrary deadlines, where to find real PM career ladders, and how to get executives to accept more actionable customer…
Lenny’s Podcast129 min
Fiona Fung · Jun 21, 2026
Key learnings- Manage with AI by running recurring Claude sessions over repos, Slack, and metrics to summarize shipped work and turn it into…
- Automate daily leadership rituals such as scanning feedback channels with scheduled routines that surface themes and draft PRs…
- Give Claude explicit frameworks such as checked-in specs and skills describing what good looks like, so automated code review can…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresOct 15, 2013
Oct 15, 2013
Teresa Torres argues that product managers often make quick, gut-based calls when colleagues ask for features or details, and that the way decisions are made matters as much as the decisions themselves. Drawing on…
The Beautiful Mess · John Cutler♥ 62
May 31, 2026
John Cutler reflects on the pull many product people feel to help and improve things, and on how that impulse can turn into exhaustion if left unchecked. He frames the desire to help as a real gift that helps people…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresMar 18, 2025
Mar 18, 2025
This podcast episode, hosted by Teresa Torres with guest Petra Wille, examines the difference between product training and product coaching and when each is the right tool. Training builds foundational knowledge and…