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…
“So what does it take to become a CPO? Let’s start by exploring what a CPO does. Though this varies in each organization, the role centers on setting and leading the company’s product strategy. As a C-level position, the person who holds it should have authority to make decisions. They should be viewed as a partner for the CEO to…”
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…
Teresa Torres argues that job seekers should treat themselves as a product and, like any good product, target a narrow market rather than trying to appeal to everyone. A broad search across trendy tech companies leaves…
Marty Cagan argues that after filtering out bad ideas, the next key tool for making hard investment choices is a Board of Advisors. Unlike a board of directors, which is shaped by investor duties and CEO oversight, an…
This post is Part 1 of a Phase 2 series on scaling marketplaces, asking how a company can tell whether it is supply-constrained or demand-constrained once it has product-market fit. The author argues the answer is…
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…