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…
“Getting a group together to generate ideas—an activity often referred to as “brainstorming”—doesn’t always go smoothly. In the past, Teresa has written about the major reasons why traditional brainstorming doesn’t work: social loafing (people tend not to work as hard in a group setting), conformity (people”
Executive coach Natalie Rothfels observes widespread workplace anger among clients and offers a four-step process for turning it into useful insight. Drawing on Buddhist, Internal Family Systems, and somatic ideas, she…
Guest post by Justin Gage, writer of Technically, offering five practical technical areas product managers should understand to work more effectively with engineers. He argues that a strong technical foundation makes…
Jason Fried argues that marketing is less about slogans or campaigns and more about the transfer of whatever a team actually feels about its work. At its best, genuine enthusiasm and care spread outward and become the…
Teresa Torres argues that user stories communicate product requirements more effectively than traditional Product Requirement Documents. Long PRDs tend to be read once and then abandoned, while a set of user stories…
The essay challenges the common assumption that publicly expressed vulnerability signals humility. The excerpt, which is cut off early, suggests the author will argue that vulnerability performed with a veneer of…
Cagan argues that remote development teams, whether from outsourcing, acquisitions, or internal centralization, magnify normal communication and execution problems and often frustrate organizations. He offers three…
Cagan argues that friction between product and marketing is common and usually stems from the two functions not collaborating well, even though their goals should align. He stresses that marketing is critical and that…
Marty Cagan argues that in empowered product teams, the quality of decisions depends not only on logic and data but on how they are made, so that teammates, executives, stakeholders and customers can understand and…
Teresa Torres, drawing on her experience screening and interviewing product managers, outlines the most common mistakes candidates make. She argues that product management is not about personal opinion alone, that…
Lenny Rachitsky and researcher Noam Segal interviewed over 30 tech professionals about using AI in job hunts and found the strongest candidates built personal feedback loops with AI. The post packages those techniques…
Teresa Torres argues that drawing maps and visual models sharpens thinking, and that the Business Model Canvas spread because it makes a business model visible on one page. She draws on cognitive psychology, notably…
This podcast episode, hosted by Teresa Torres with guest Petra Wille, addresses how product people can stay grounded and still act helpfully when the world feels overwhelming. The conversation argues that coping need…
This weekly roundup by Teresa Torres curates readings on building better products, grouped around experimentation, skill development, and influence. Her central point is that experiments only produce value when they are…
Marc McCabe, an experienced angel investor who has helped dozens of startups raise money from pre-seed to Series C, argues that fundraising is best treated as a structured, trust-building process rather than a scramble…
Marty Cagan argues that a successful move to the product model depends on the product organization earning the trust of the rest of the company, which is a race to win over executives before they lose confidence. Senior…
Teresa Torres argues that great products depend on a clear vision, which she treats as one of three pillars alongside sound decision making and building the right team. Product teams often assume alignment that doesn't…
Teresa Torres proposes a draft list of seven foundational traits that underlie strong product management, arguing that developing these core abilities would fuel progress across the many specific skills PMs need. She…
Marty Cagan argues that as companies grow, decisions drift toward committee consensus, where the goal shifts from building something great to avoiding blame, and innovation stalls. He proposes keeping product discovery…
Lenny Rachitsky shares a guest post by prompt engineer Mike Taylor covering eight prompting techniques, from role-playing and few-shot examples to chain-of-thought, retrieval, and using an LLM as a judge. Each tactic…
Executive coach Natalie Rothfels explains why asking for help builds career leverage rather than signaling weakness. The post offers a four-phase method for working through fear of asking, a structured template for…
Teresa Torres argues that product teams should not commit to specific features by specific dates, because product work is inherently unpredictable and date-based roadmaps tend to create chaos, broken trust, and wasted…
This podcast episode argues that organizational change is exhausting and that individuals usually waste energy trying to fix their companies' people and processes. Teresa Torres and Petra Wille describe a three-part…