Needs can come from different users of your product, or from different internal stakeholders who sometimes may conflict with each other. For example, one stakeholder may want you to incorporate in your product the ability to snap photos and post them on social media. Another stakeholder may want an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that is able to understand human language
The four pillars of great product teams – interview with Toby Russell

In this episode of Product Bytes we interview Toby Russell, co-CEO of Shift (NASDAQ: SFT), who shares product leadership lessons from building Shift. This is an excerpt from the interview, published in our Product Bytes channel. Toby: I am Toby Russell. I am the co-CEO of Shift. We run a company that essentially sells cars online and we are the
Velocity, capacity, or load?

In this article we are going to discuss what is the velocity of an Agile team, how to calculate capacity for a Sprint, and then how to determine the load. But let me start with a true story: We were half-way in Sprint Planning and suddenly it hit me. Like a light bulb turning on. I had been listening to
User Stories are not requirements

I always struggle with the word “requirements”. This is how specifications and functionalities are normally called when working on a project. Requirements create a blanket of necessity and limit the empowerment of product managers to be effective at solving problems. The word requirement, and its verb counterpart to require, in their essence define something that is “required”, “needed”, “expected”. The
The Product Manager’s reading list

We have compiled a list of books and articles on Agile, Product, Design Thinking, and Innovation. These books and articles offer perspectives, frameworks, and real stories for the successful application of product management practices to the ideation and development of new products. If you are a Product Owner, a Product Manager, or a Product Leader, these books and articles are
If Agile fails, blame Product management

Solid Product management and discovery practices are at the foundation of any product development effort. I often find that when Agile fails, it’s not because “Agile” doesn’t work. It’s because the organization has not taken the rights steps to foster a product development mindset. Here I share a few tips on how to support Product and Agile transformations.
Use Product Journey Maps to plan your next MVP
Plan across the 5 Dimensions of great products

Once you have a Product Vision and an initial understanding of the customer needs and the opportunity, it’s a good time to look ahead across all 5 Dimensions of great products and begin thinking about the activities to do at each stage of the product development process. As we discussed in several occasions, there is a risk in approaching the
The 3 pillars of great products

I have worked in a variety of organizations across different industries, helping my teams or my clients build successful products. From Cisco to Capital One, from my startup Goozex.com to clients I have advised, from private organizations to the military, I have found three common elements that successful teams must have to deliver great products. These elements are the three
Validate as soon as possible

A developer approached me at a recent Agile conference where I was presenting a topic on building great products with small iterations, and he said, “I wish I had known this a year ago….” He had taken on a new project from a company that provided a full document of requirements upfront. They wanted to build a new system and