Founder of Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) and author of Inspired, Empowered and Transformed.
Marty Cagan argues that most digital transformations fail, and draws on two decades of hands-on work helping companies adopt the product operating model to name the root causes. He lists ten recurring mistakes, ranging…
Marty Cagan addresses a common objection from non-tech companies: that the product operating model doesn't apply to them. He argues that being a 'tech company' is about how a business chooses to power its offering with…
Marty Cagan contrasts the traditional project model, where IT builds specific features by fixed dates, with the product model, where durable teams own business outcomes. He argues projects are slow, costly, and produce…
Marty Cagan argues that any recognized product risk taxonomy beats having none, since teams that skip risk assessment often fail, especially with MVPs. He compares three common frameworks: the original…
Marty Cagan argues that moving from command-and-control leadership to an empowered product model requires changes on both sides: executives must not simply step back, and product teams must engage executives more, not…
Marty Cagan argues that as companies shift from stakeholder-driven feature teams to empowered product teams, the relationship between product teams and stakeholders must change on both sides. Creating a solution…
Marty Cagan argues that generative AI will reshape how product teams are built and how they work, drawing on his decades of experience through successive tech disruptions like the PC, the internet, and mobile. He is…
This tribute essay by Christian Idiodi remembers Jeremiah Ivan, a former VP of Engineering he worked alongside at Merrill and Snagajob, using anecdotes to show what makes an agent of change. Ivan's unconventional…
Marty Cagan argues that a common reason transformation efforts fail is structural: large management consultancies and IT outsourcing firms are poorly positioned to drive a shift to the product model. Their people are…
Marty Cagan argues that the rapid rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney and GPT-4 is a disruptive technology wave comparable to personal computers, the Internet, and the iPhone. He notes that disruptions…
Marty Cagan introduces the core competencies that a product operating model requires, framing product teams as responsible for solving hard customer and business problems rather than delivering features on request. He…
Marty Cagan explains that his upcoming book TRANSFORMED needs a name for the way the best tech companies work, and he tentatively settles on the 'product operating model' or 'product model.' He notes that the industry…
Marty Cagan announces that the next SVPG book, TRANSFORMED, is in progress with Lea, Jon, Christian and Chris as co-authors, targeting early 2024. The book addresses the many established companies that struggle to shift…
Marty Cagan introduces the product operating model as a set of first principles that leading product companies use to consistently create technology-powered solutions that deliver customer value and business results…
Marty Cagan argues that the real alternative to dedicated Agile coaches is competent line management: engineering, product, and design managers coaching their people in hands-on skills. He contrasts a 'Team Red' that…
Marty Cagan reflects on a virtual conference where he was invited to speak to Agile coaches about managing complexity, and urges coaches to watch the recording despite its uncomfortable critiques. He argues that Agile's…
Marty Cagan argues that the product industry needs more skilled product coaches, and that many self-described coaches lack real product experience. He insists that effective product coaching must rest on relevant…
Marty Cagan lays out the product operating model, in which a product manager sits on a small cross-functional team alongside a designer, a tech lead and engineers, and is accountable for solving customer problems that…
This is an index page from SVPG (Silicon Valley Product Group) curating its articles on product discovery, the work of deciding what to build before handing it to delivery. The page is organized into four groups…
Marty Cagan argues that policy is an integral part of product, not a separate concern, and that many product leaders underestimate its role. He notes that while most products treat policy as minor business rules like…
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…
Marty Cagan argues that "product sense" is a misleading term because it suggests an innate gift, when in reality it is deep product knowledge built through sustained immersion in a specific product space. He describes…
This essay, the third in a series on meaningful transformation, argues that companies must change how they choose which problems to solve, not just how they build or solve them. It moves beyond feature roadmaps toward…
The authors argue that many companies become efficient feature factories: most roadmap features fail to generate a positive return, often estimated at only 10-20%. The root cause is feature teams that serve internal…
This is an index page from Marty Cagan's SVPG site introducing a series of articles on how a company can transform from merely adequate to truly excellent at product work. It groups the articles into themes…
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…
Marty Cagan argues that as companies shift from sales-driven feature teams to empowered product teams, the way product teams engage customers changes, and customers need to understand why. He frames a set of pledges…
Marty Cagan responds to recurring questions about whether SVPG promotes a specific branded process such as 'the INSPIRED process' or 'the EMPOWERED process'. He argues that nearly everything involves some process, and…
The author argues that many companies reach an early beachhead of customers, assume product/market fit, and then stall because they neglected market fit. Market fit means discovering 'market pull': what makes customers…
Marty Cagan argues that the best products often emerge during economic downturns, when companies lack the money to paper over weak products. He contends that many firms, especially those with abundant funding, assume…