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Published by Nils Davis
The Secrets of Product Management podcast by Nils Davis is for all product manager, product marketers, innovators who want to create more value in the world through successful products. Product management tips, covering storytelling, getting a job, resumes, persuasion and influence, and more.
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The latest episodes published to this podcast’s own RSS feed. Titles and descriptions are the publisher’s.
Unveiling the PDMA Body of Knowledge with Chad McAllister This episode my guest Chad McAllister introduces us to the Product Development and Management Association’s (PDMA) Body of Knowledge (BOK), a valuable yet underappreciated resource in product management. Established in 1976, PDMA has been pivotal in advancing product development and management practices across industries. Chad, a <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/163-chad-mcallister-unveiling-the-pdma-body-of-knowledge/">Read More</a>
Chris Mason on Product Management Jobs My guest on this episode is Chris Mason, the co-founder and leader of Intelligent People, a recruiting firm in the UK that focuses on product managers and other product people – designers, heads of product, etc. In our interview, he shares his insights on the state of the product <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/162-chris-mason-on-product-management-jobs-and-the-pm-job-market/">Read More</a>
Clifton Gilley of Gartner’s Tech Product Management team In this week’s episode my guest is Clifton Gilley, a long time product manager, and now a VP Analyst with Gartner’s Tech Product Manager team. Cliff made the jump from product management practitioner to analyst because they had the data. As he says, “What really made me <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/161-clifton-gilley-on-what-the-data-shows-about-product-leaders-and-product-laggards/">Read More</a>
Embracing Change and Customer Engagement in Product Management In this episode Mike Smart, an old friend and longtime product management leader, instructor, and consultant, says we can’t wait for the world to change (quoting an old John Mayer song). Product management needs to seize the day, and actively engage with customers even if it means <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/160-seize-the-customer-conversation-and-other-advice-with-mike-smart/">Read More</a>
The Transformative Power of Mindsets in Life and Leadership In this episode, an engaging conversation about mindsets with Ryan Gottfredson, a renowned leadership and management professor, author, and mindset expert. The core discussion revolves around the foundational role mindsets play in shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and overall success in life, work, and leadership. Gottfredson emphasizes <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/159-ryan-gottfredson-on-the-transformative-power-of-mindsets-in-life-and-leadership/">Read More</a>
Steve Johnson, OG product management thinker Steve Johnson is my guest on this week’s episode. I’m sure you know of him already. And if not, you will after this episode. He’s one of the OG product management thought leaders, especially in the software world. Many people got to know Steve during his long stint as <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/159-steve-johnson-shares-his-wisdom/">Read More</a>
Looking Back, Leaping Forward: 2023 Retrospective In the last episode of 2024, I go through a retrospective of the show for 2023, and share some of my plans for 2024. A few stats, lessons learned, things that went well and went badly, and then a sneak peek into what I’m planning for 2024. 2023 recap <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/157-looking-back-leaping-forward-2023-retrospective/">Read More</a>
Welcome back Chris Butler! My guest on this episode is Chris Butler, whom we first heard from in episode 107! It’s great to have him back, sharing some of his new projects since we last talked 18 months ago. Chris is a self-described “chaotic good” product manager, as well as a prolific writer and speaker. <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/156-chris-butler-on-why-meetings-are-great-and-other-projects/">Read More</a>
This episode is a rerun of episode 323: The Secret Product Management Framework. Use that link to visit the show notes page. This episode is a rerun of episode 323: The Secret Product Management Framework. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
Product Manager’s Guide To Cognitive Biases That sounds funny, doesn’t it? I’m not giving you cognitive biases in this episode. I’m giving you information about cognitive biases so you can manage them better. What’s a cognitive bias? According to Wikipedia: “A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment.” <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/155-the-pms-guide-to-cognitive-biases/">Read More</a>
Deconstructed storytelling can be your secret weapon I talk about “telling a story” and “using stories” all the time on this podcast. But I don’t mean sitting everyone around a campfire with a mug of hot chocolate and someone starting out “Once upon a time…” “Storytelling” often doesn’t mean literally “telling a story” in the <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/154-storytelling-deconstructed/">Read More</a>
There are no rules that define who will make a great product manager This episode was inspired by a “rant” (actually, a well-reasoned post) from Graham Reed on LinkedIn, and another post by Greg Prickril. Both were about the ridiculousness of the people posting nonsense and disinformation about product management and what it “really” is <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/153-there-are-no-rules-on-product-management-gatekeeping/">Read More</a>
Mental Models for Product Managers – fundamental tools for creating impact Mental models are like tools in a toolbox. If you have only a few tools, you can only solve a few kinds of problems. Like the famous saying – If you only have a hammer, then you have to treat every problem as a <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/152-mental-models-for-product-managers/">Read More</a>
86: Data-Driven Product Management (Rerun) This episode is a rerun of episode 86: Data-driven Product Management. Use that link to visit the show notes page. 86: Data-Driven Product Management (Rerun) This episode is a rerun of episode 86: Data-driven Product Management. Use that link to visit the show notes page.
Antifragility is the word of the day! The idea of antifragility kept coming up today and yesterday (more on that in the episode itself), so I thought I’d do a quick episode introducing the idea. Antifragility is the quality of a system that it gets stronger when bad or unexpected things occur. It’s like a <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/151-antifragility-a-preview/">Read More</a>
The Product Bible In the previous episode I made a lot of complaints about PRDs, and then I made some claims that they could be better. In this episode, how you might actually make a better PRD. (This might be me tilting at windmills!) The overall argument PRDs are problematic. They go stale. No one <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/150-product-bible-part-2-what-is-it/">Read More</a>
PRDs are problematic Among other things, PRDs have problems like this: “They go stale fast” “No one reads them” “They are about what and not why” At the beginning of a real product effort, you have very high uncertainty There’s lots of experimentation What you know changes constantly They often don’t talk about the customer, <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/149-product-bible-part-1-prds-are-problematic/">Read More</a>
What’s the first skill you should teach a new product manager? Carl Vellotti asked this question on LinkedIn a few months ago. (I can’t actually find the post, unfortunately.) My answer was about learning to do inquiry – asking good questions. I’ve covered this on the podcast before, in episode 114: Great Questions for Market <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/148-how-to-improve-your-fundamental-product-management-skills/">Read More</a>
Manan Modi, author of The Startup Product Manager My guest on this episode is Manan Modi, author of The Startup Product Manager, just published and available on Amazon. Manan reached out to me as part of his go to market plan for his book (good thinking, by the way!). And I was intrigued by his <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/147-manan-modi-on-his-new-book-the-startup-product-manager/">Read More</a>
How to show up as the amazing unicorn you are in your resume and job interviews This episode was inspired by a LinkedIn post from Jason Knight, in which he gave product managers advice on their resumes. Basically, he’s not seeing what he wants to see in peoples’ resumes. They’re boring. They don’t do a <a class="read-more-link" href="https://secretsofpm.com/149-youre-amazing-make-sure-your-resume-shows-it/">Read More</a>
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