“A friend told me about her company’s staff meeting today. As the ~75 people joined the Zoom call, there was some casual talk among a few staff about working remotely; a few comments through chat about the lead engineer’s impressive pandemic beard. Staff members…”
Cagan argues that many product companies have yet to seriously consider data science, even though leading firms are already gaining advantages from it. He distinguishes data science from traditional analytics by its…
John Cutler examines the difference between using mirrors and practicing mirroring, two ways of reflecting back what teams and people do. He describes how his own thinking about this distinction has evolved over the…
This article describes how John Deere, a 185-year-old equipment maker, is repositioning itself as a technology company centered on "smart farming." Facing a projected global population of 9.6 billion by 2050 and rising…
Marty Cagan and Jon Moore argue that a product-led company's engineering practices should rest on three principles: protecting customers, revenue, brand and colleagues; responding quickly to market needs; and earning…
Teresa Torres marks the one-year anniversary of Steve Jobs's death by reflecting on her mixed feelings about him. She credits Jobs with an extraordinary record of beautiful, usable products and a rare dedication to…
John Cutler, writing in response to a friend who wanted his unpolished, opinionated view, presents a set of candid operating takes for product and team leaders. The piece's premise is that leaders often hedge or present…
Teresa Torres argues that when a whole company is invited to generate product ideas, every idea deserves thoughtful feedback, since that feedback is what keeps people contributing. She walks through common idea types…
In this podcast episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille examine how people behave in communities, noticing a growing number of members who ask what they can get rather than how they can help. They argue that community…
John Cutler introduces a leadership archetype he calls 'The Standard-Setter', a manager who is skilled at advancing their own career while misreading pressure as motivation. The core belief is that everyone has another…
Marty Cagan argues that setting team objectives for a quarter is not enough; product teams must actively track and manage progress throughout the period. He explains that ongoing 'keep the lights on' work can crowd out…
Marty Cagan extends Marc Andreessen's 'software is eating the world' thesis beyond software itself, arguing that modern product techniques are disrupting entrenched industries such as automotive, animation, and…
Marty Cagan argues that many teams claiming to be Agile or Lean still operate with a Waterfall mindset, merely adopting the rituals and buzzwords. He identifies three telltale signs: risks deferred to the end…
Lenny Rachitsky, working with a labor-data firm, ranks roughly 50 companies by how much they accelerate the post-departure careers of their former product managers, using promotion, leadership, CPO, first-PM, and…
Lenny Rachitsky follows up his earlier analysis by ranking companies whose former product managers most often start companies, raise Series A rounds, accelerate their careers, or become product leaders. Using alumni…
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…
This post announces the 2026 Continuous Discovery Habits Book Club, a monthly reading program built around Teresa Torres's book to help readers practice continuous discovery rather than just read about it. The January…
This interview-style post profiles Zaz Harris, a software engineer who moved into a product management role at her own company after her supervisors noticed her interest in product work and needed to fill a gap. The…
Chris Jones argues that the popular slogans "fail fast" and "embrace failure" have outlived their usefulness because they blur risky experimentation with genuinely preventable mistakes. He proposes reserving the word…
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…
Cagan argues that product portfolio planning should be treated like financial portfolio planning: each product effort is an investment whose returns depend on where the company places its bets. Many companies either…