“This post is part of a series about making better product decisions. At the World Domination Summit 2013, Jia Jiang gave an amazing talk about his experience following his dreams. When he was young, he saw Bill Gates speak, and he dreamed of starting a company someday. But like many”
Lenny Rachitsky profiles Saturn, a calendar-centered social app for high school students that became a top App Store performer. The post draws five lessons from its founders on building viral consumer social products…
Marty Cagan argues that moving to the product model rarely requires a reorganization, because org design is largely orthogonal to whether a company adopts product principles. He describes the two dominant org models…
This reading guide introduces Chapter 6 of Continuous Discovery Habits, the monthly book club installment marking the book's fifth anniversary. It argues that product teams should stop reacting to every customer need…
Teresa Torres responds to Hope Gurion's proposal to add customer segments to opportunity solution trees, arguing that the tool should stay simple and focused on a single product outcome. She disagrees with two of Hope's…
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 argues that product teams relying on long, pre-negotiated roadmaps repeatedly fail to deliver business results because of two unavoidable realities. First, at least half of ideas won't work, whether…
Marty Cagan argues that the core of the product manager job is product creation: working daily with designers and engineers to solve customer problems in ways that are both loved by customers and viable for the…
Marty Cagan recalls his early-1980s work at HP Labs, where research head Joel Birnbaum asked why most people dislike their computers, and proposed the idea of a 'domesticated computer' that adapts to people rather than…
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 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…
Jon Moore, an SVPG partner, argues that the principles behind empowered, outcome-focused product teams are not new and not tech-specific. He points to Ingvar Kamprad's 1976 essay 'Testament of a Furniture Dealer' as…
Marty Cagan responds to readers stuck in IT-mindset organizations who ask whether they can change their company or must leave for a startup. He argues that established companies can still produce disruptive innovation…
Marty Cagan argues that the current resistance to AI products mirrors the denial that greeted the Internet in the mid-1990s. Back then, many organizations insisted their old Waterfall funding, building, and shipping…
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…
Marty Cagan argues that leaders often undermine their product organizations even when their intentions are good, and he lists ten common behaviors that stop leaders from actually helping. The behaviors range from…
The article argues that Chief Product Officer roles have multiplied since 2020 as companies become more customer-centric, but the title is inconsistently applied and poorly defined. It distinguishes the CPO, who sets…
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…
A reader question about business model types prompts this issue, which the author notes was hard to find summarized anywhere. It lays out eight core ways businesses make money, such as selling a thing, renting, taking a…
Guest author Ben Erez argues against the view that feature-team PMs are merely project managers, contending they do real product work and that feature-factory setups can suit CEOs with strong product visions. He…
Marty Cagan argues that the foundation of a strong empowered product team is unencumbered, direct access to four constituencies: customers and users, product data, business stakeholders, and engineers. He explains that…
This episode of Just Now Possible features a conversation with Priya Nakra and Olivia Rowley of Override Labs, a nonprofit building technology to prevent gender-based violence. Their flagship product, Is This Okay?…
Marty Cagan argues that beyond the business case for the product model, there is a moral case: empowered teams are happier, more fulfilled, and proud of improving customers' lives or society. He notes that organizations…
Marty Cagan answers reader questions prompted by his earlier article distinguishing product teams from feature and delivery teams. He clarifies that designers and engineers contribute far beyond usability and…