Georgy Korev

All Product Mgt coaching (PMC) is valuable if there is a tangible RoI. The problem is ensuring the cost meets the value. Coaches ask for a fee based on their own experience, not the level of student and career level (mostly), for obv reasons. This makes it difficult for those in the earlier stages of Product Management to be able to afford good PMC, which are the ones who need it the most but are unlikely to get the most RoI due to the high cost. I’ve found this is similar for all coaching. This is where Evie’s group coaching offers significant value as it allows entry level and ‘younger PMs’ access to advanced experience and advice without the hefty price tag that comes with one on one coaching. #Coaching #PM #learning #product

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As a PM, how much tech I need to know? Let me ask you a question - Imagine you are product manager for Chrome dev tools or a PM at Unity. How will you ever understand your users, user segments, user journeys and their pain points? If you endeavour to ever become a solid PM in these roles, I imagine there is no running away from Tech, have never advocated Tech as an end goal, it will always be a means to an end goal. PS: If you are happy playing the UI game for your website, app and happy reviewing engagement and funnel data that your analyst has supplied you, that’s entirely a choice that you have made. The question to ask yourself is what is your moat as a PM and typically the answer is always a mix of hard and soft skills. Ask yourself - Does domain knowledge help, do hard core data skills help, does scripting knowledge help? Follow me for high quality content, not product philosophy but practical insights https://lnkd.in/gHweK_q7 AND also here https://lnkd.in/ggUKftFq

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What would the world look like without great product people? Maybe the better question is: What would it sound like? Probably something like this, non-stop. Great product teams are building a world where the sounds of user frustration no longer go unheard. Pendo exists to help them understand the source of those frustrations—and make the right decisions to create a better product experience for all. See how Pendo works ➡ : https://lnkd.in/eUiJb6bv

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You've probably heard it too: "The best PMs are great storytellers." And most of us are - except when it comes to our own stories. Think of your favorite Product influencer. What sets them apart isn't just their PM skill. It's their ability to tell their story in a way that resonates with their audience. Here are 3 ways the job conditions you to struggle with your own story: ⛔ It's Not About You The PM is not the protagonist. It's the user, stakeholders, or the problem. A good PM steps away from ego and empathizes with others. As we do this, we fall out of the habit of putting ourselves center stage. "A good PM shares credit." But when you're interviewing or asking for a raise, if 'we' did all the work, what did *you* do? 📈 Outcomes Over Process "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Cpt. Picard, USS Enterprise, Star Trek Product Management (and tech in general) prefers outcomes to process. Outcomes, whether success or failure, are visible and easy to group. Process is much harder to quantify. Did you do the right things even if you were on a sinking ship? Was your decision process solid, even if the outcome wasn't what you wanted? Half of the companies out there are below average. This is statistical truth. We can't all be on rocket ships, and anyone who says they can spot a rocket ship early is yanking your chain. But the learning, growth, and excellence (rocket ship or not) happen in the process. Those are stories worth telling, and we shouldn't be afraid to tell them, outcomes be damned. 🙊 Silence is Competence You were hired to solve problems, so you do. Complaining regularly to your manager about issues you were hired to solve doesn't bode well for your job security. So you put your head down, work hard, and minimize the challenges. But every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. If you downplay the middle, the end doesn't feel like a payoff. You can't have a comeback without a setback. Minimizing challenges makes you look competent and in control. Until it's time to interview or negotiate again, and you've fallen out of practice at telling it like it was. The glorious highs and the gut-churning lows are both essential components. One HBS professor called his self-narrative his "personal mythology". Heroes overcome insurmountable odds. Clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. Or rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Whatever your story is, you have to learn to tell it if you want to grow as a PM. You're the only one who can. Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog: https://lnkd.in/d6dpCSAT

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So here in the UK it is election time. What if our new PM was a Product Manager? I have been exploring how to manage the most complex product organisations like a country or a big company. I would love to hear your thoughts. #Election #Elected #ProductManagement #PM

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🚀 Product Leaders, let's chat about backlogs for a sec! Ever feel like managing your product’s development process is a juggling act? Let’s simplify it by splitting our efforts into two clear backlogs: 1️⃣ Discovery Backlog 2️⃣ Delivery Backlog Why two, you ask? It helps teams: ⏹ Reinforce the principle that great product teams don't just churn out requested features. Instead, they generate and evaluate multiple solutions during Discovery and only move forward with the ones they validate. ⏹ Manage and communicate the flow of product ideas more effectively. 🔍 Discovery Backlog This "Opportunity Backlog" is where we list potential opportunities for Discovery. An opportunity is a specific problem or need we've identified that we believe we can address with our product. Each opportunity should answer: 1️⃣ What’s the problem we're solving? 2️⃣ Who are we solving it for? 3️⃣ What outcomes are we hoping for? 4️⃣ What observations support the problem's breadth and intensity? Effectively, this creates an "Opportunity Brief" for each opportunity, helping to: ⏹ Prioritize which opportunities get promoted to Discovery. ⏹ Align the team on the problem, what we know, and our goals. 🚀 Delivery Backlog This "Product Backlog" is where validated requirements live, often expressed as user stories in Jira, Linear, etc. "Validated" means the team is confident the solution is valuable, usable, feasible, and viable. ✨ Putting It All Together Using "Discovery Backlog" and "Delivery Backlog" simplifies the process: 1️⃣ Ideas & insights come from anywhere. The PM translates the idea into an opportunity and adds it to the Discovery Backlog. 2️⃣ Discovery Backlog: Opportunities live here until prioritized for Discovery. 3️⃣ Discovery: Opportunities are validated here and added to the Delivery Backlog. 4️⃣ Delivery Backlog: Requirements live here until prioritized for Delivery. 5️⃣ Delivery: Build, test, deploy. Are your teams managing one backlog or two? If you answered one, consider splitting it up to improve prioritization and increase the value of what you build. 🚀 #ProductManagement #Agile #Innovation #Teamwork

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I found ‘product manager’ in the list of ‘bullshit jobs’. Now come on, if you’ve ever built a product, you’d know all the challenges, if not I’ll list them for you. Bane of every product manager's existence: - Sentences starting with 'but I thought you meant...' If we can somehow solve the miscommunications that happen in meetings and minds among team members, being a PM would be easier. You can’t keep a ‘not-confused’ team when you’re functioning on guesswork. -A product could have many features, so which ones do you decide to build? Each feature can behave in many ways, which way would you choose? The one backed by user evidence. Getting insights into past and present user behavior to predict future reactions to certain features in the particular app market is the holy grail of planning for the perfect product. You’re a PM building product and user journeys, get AI to do the data collection and analysis for you. I’m working on an AI capable of understanding huge databases and connecting data silos with customer details to process your queries in natural language- so you get insights without writing mySQL queries yourself or involving data analysts in your team. If we get the user research part sorted you’ve got an evidence-backed plan to go along with so no other challenges should matter but. 1. Teams take their own time Sales are still figuring out features that sold well withholding buyer insights, engineering wants three more weeks for what should have taken two days, and the design team is still waiting for inspiration to strike. All teams could 100% benefit from less guesswork. 2. Product strategy meetings You’ve probably gotten used to defending your product roadmap like it’s Fort Knox, all while everyone aims their strategic missiles of 'just one small change' at your carefully laid plans. Lead with evidence-backed research into user behavior. But at the end of the day, when you see your product solve real problems, all the chaos, all the juggling acts, and all the heated debates fade into the background.

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MVP—> 🚀 launching a 💩 product into the wild 🦁! Some people think of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as the minimal effort needed to launch a product; this misunderstanding usually results in a poor product. The customer experience matters: how they see, hear, feel, and interact with your product. A wrong first impression leads to churn and negative associations. Internally, a rushed MVP creates operational bottlenecks and workarounds, increasing costs and making the product rigid. The key word is "viable". An MVP should help your organisation mitigate risk by testing the product in the real world early. Some call it a Minimal, Lovable Product, focusing on solving customer problems and providing value. Products are complex. Viewing them as ecosystems rather than linear constructs helps frame the MVP. Don't waste time gold-plating; you don't know how your product will be received. Find the balance between launching early and offering a viable/lovable solution. Next time someone mentions MVP, ask: Will it scale (if needed)? Will it cause churn? Is the experience viable? What's the impact on operational costs as you grow? #mvp #mlp #product Image DALL-E using the text as a prompt, spot the hallucinations and errors 😆

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It's wild to see how many product teams still "performing activities" rather than realizing business outcomes. And even if you're a PM who feels the need to "perform work" (so that you won't lose your job), helping move forward your business can protect, well, you and your team! Go attend Matt LeMay's webinar tomorrow! On impact-first product work.

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Debate: What is Driving the Rise in Popularity of the IC Product Lead? In recent years, the product management landscape has experienced a fascinating shift with the rise of the Individual Contributor (IC) Product Lead. This role is gaining momentum and redefining what it means to drive product success. But why is this role becoming so prominent? Here are my thoughts on what an IC Product Lead brings to the table, and why I believe they are essential for any business. ⭐ Deep Expertise ⭐ IC Product Leads often possess a wealth of specialised knowledge, allowing them to dive deep into specific product areas. This focused expertise enables them to make informed, strategic decisions that propel products forward. ⭐ Ownership and Impact ⭐ Without the traditional responsibilities of people management, IC Product Leads can dedicate their time and energy to owning key product initiatives. This leads to higher impact and faster execution on critical projects. ⭐ Flexibility and Agility ⭐ In today’s fast-paced tech environment, the ability to pivot and adapt is crucial. IC Product Leads, with their hands-on approach, are perfectly positioned to respond quickly to market changes and user feedback. ⭐ Career Growth ⭐ This role offers a new pathway for career advancement. Talented product professionals who thrive on direct product impact, rather than team management, can now climb the ladder without shifting into managerial positions. In my view, the IC Product Lead role will continue to evolve, shaping the future of product management. It’s an exciting time for product professionals to leverage their skills, drive innovation, and make a tangible difference in their organisations. What are your thoughts on the rise of the IC Product Lead, and the value they bring? Have you observed this trend in your own company, or made recent hires in this area? Let’s discuss! #productlead #productmanagement #debate #product

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I had the opportunity to join a webinar today in which Teresa Torres discussed the common mistakes that product teams make when trying to construct and use Opportunity Solution Trees (OST). My biggest takeaways: -As amazing as generative AI can be, DO NOT let AI (or any automated process) do this work for you. The work IS the point, the document is not. -This is a method of using samplings of customers in order to make decisions - this is not quantitative data. Recognize the value of each and do not confuse the two! -The OST is a living document - return to it after every 3-4 customer interviews (you should be doing at least 1 customer interview per week) and adjust based on what real customers are telling you. -Oh yeah - and if you are not conducting customer interviews on a regular basis, you are not ready to start using an OST. Thank you for this webinar - it was great!

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If Product Managers asked me for one piece of advice, it would be this: Get comfortable with people not being happy with you, at least not at first. Pleasing everyone is NOT your job. Trying to make all engineers happy? You’ll end up with a product that’s a collection of interesting engineering problems. Making all stakeholders happy? You’ll get features based on individual preferences. Aiming to please every customer? You’ll never have a real strategy. To deliver a great product, you might have to let some people be unhappy in the short term. If you can’t handle ongoing tension with your team and stakeholders, you’ll never be an outstanding Product Manager. Clarity and confidence in your actions are key to staying comfortable with conflict. Being a people-pleaser is exhausting. You’re constantly worried about others’ opinions, your confidence plummets, and you avoid taking courageous actions. You lose momentum at the first sign of resistance. The trick? Mindset. Know and own your self-worth. It’s about consistently owning your contribution and role, without letting anyone make you doubt yourself. I help my clients establish daily routines to kill self-doubt and the desire to please people the moment it emerges. So worry less about what other people think of you in the short term. Instead, focus more on long-term victories that will enable you to gain massive success in the long run.

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Why is it so difficult to get product owners or senior stakeholders to priorities a list of features? Why is the idea of reducing scope within a feature so difficult to explain? You might not have heard this explanation before. "the unconscious follows the law of either positive or negative infinite sets: either it does have an object, in which case it has it in its full (infinite) positive potentialities as a class; or it does not have it, in which case its absence is taken to mean that this object has maximum (infinite) negative powers." Blanco, Ignacio Matte. The Unconscious as Infinite Sets: An Essay in Bi-logic (Maresfield Library) . Karnac Books. Kindle Edition. 

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Do you feel anxiety when looking at your Product backlog with those 1014 tickets? What if I told you there is another way? Here are 8 ways to keep your backlog clean and actionable: 1) Differentiate between a backlog item and an idea - It's ok to have a notebook, Figma, mural, whatever, where you collect all ideas and requests. However, the backlog should only contain items you aim to work on FOR REAL within the next 1-3 quarters. 2) Set a hard limit of tickets - In my experience, only the top 20-30 tickets will actually have any chance to ever be closed as completed. There are too many new directions, opportunities, and urgent tasks coming in overriding the priority of tasks further in the backlog. Just close the items that will never happen or at least move them to your ideas space. 3) Don't make it a BUGlog - bugs are tasks like all others. They need value and effort estimation and have to be prioritized against any other product opportunity. If they don't make the cut, they don't make the cut, sorry. No point collecting bugs - they are not Pokemon! 4) Keep the tickets high quality - However, if there is something in your backlog, let it shine! Make sure to include the user story, impact hypothesis, requirements, and links to design and tracking specifications. The tickets should be able to speak for you when you are not around. 5) Try to have 3 months' worth of refined items ready to go - It might be hard (try daily refinements!) to achieve and it's worth it! With items ready for the next 3 months for the team can pick up, you will have so much time to do proper long-term planning and assessment. It's worth the initial effort! 6) Introduce visual cues - It's much easier to look at the backlog if you can easily tell apart a new feature task, improvement initiatives, bugs, and research. If you add other color cues to represent item status, you will be able to tell everything at a glance. 7) Add key stakeholders to their tickets of interest - A personal update email may work. Automated status updates work too and keep relevant people in the loop with no time investment on your end! 8) Create a task document associated with a backlog item - This is basically an extended version of the ticket, where you can collect all the pre-development research and post-development results and observations. Collecting this info in one place saves you hours when it comes to writing progress updates and presentations. At the same time, your tickets remain clean and hold only the relevant information. There you go! Here are my 8 ways to keep the backlog neat and functional. Will those work for your backlog and if not, why? Or perhaps you can contribute more pieces of advice? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagment #productmanagers #backlog P.S. Having a clean backlog is one thing. Having great tasks to put there is another challenge. To be well equipped to face that challenge, check out my courses at drtbartpm. com :)

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How to support your Support Team as a PM ... If you’re in Product, and especially if you’re new to the role, chances are your guardian angel is on your Support team. I see this firsthand almost every day. They know the software inside and out, they handle likely even more uncensored feedback than you do, and - just like you - every single thing they do is meant to benefit your users and your software. My other favorite tips for how to partner with Support as a PM: One: Make time for them. I know I mentioned before release notes help, but really work to find the best way to ensure that the team leads know what’s new, what's next, and which bug fixes are in progress. Is it an email? A Slack/Teams ping? A one sheeter? Ask their preference. Two: Shadow them! Especially if you’re new to the company, try to get time observing as they work. One company I worked for made several hours of shadowing Support *mandatory* for new hires and it was honestly the best onboarding idea I’ve seen. Three: If they say they’re worried and an issue is urgent - listen. The best Support folks are calm under fire and they don’t exaggerate, so if they’re worried about something, learn everything you can about it and loop in your lead engineer. It’ll be the easiest decision you make all day. And for my shameless plug, here’s to all the Ops & Support (both b'cast and software) colleagues who helped me over the years and/or bailed me out of trouble, including: Don Buckindail, Tad Lin, Robin Russ, LIT, ITIL,PMP, MIS, Kevin Spires, Matt McSweeney, Cheryl Fields, Mark Luciano, Christian Jackson, Kevin Taverner, Sue Rasmussen, Germain P. #ProductManagementTips, #SoftwareSupport, #BroadcastSupport, #ProductTeamwork

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A CTO walks into the CEOs office and says "I am no longer the CTO you need"... The CEO feels a range of emotions: → 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 - CTO performing well, an instrumental member of the leadership team → 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 that they do not consider themselves appropriate to lead the next phase of growth → 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 of their self awareness and honesty. You know the expectations will be changing given growth plans. → 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 towards finding a solution to: • Maintain oversight and delivery of planned technology initiatives    • Drive technology innovation    • Evolve culture and maintain/boost morale    • Ensure that technology has a strong voice and input into the business strategy Time for the CEO to take a 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝. In. Out. In. Out. 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝟭. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗧𝗢 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 and provide additional support. A stage appropriate Fractional CTO could help 1-2 days a week in an advisory capacity. This could help boost the confidence of the current CTO and grow them into the next stage leader. 2. 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 and find interim support You accept that you are going through a period of high change. The leader you need for the next 6-12 months may be very different from what you need in 24 months. You don't want to be in this position again. 3. 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗖𝗧𝗢 that can start immediately You have heard it's a buyers market. Maybe you can. However, do you really want to make such an important hire in haste? 🌟 Hi CEO 👋 I'm Ryan, The Product Minded CTO and I am ready to help with options 1 and 2. Let's work together to: • Create an environment where people are able to do the best work of their careers • Hit your financial targets whilst unlocking future growth • Dominate your market through tech innovation • Delight your customers • Create your legacy    𝗗𝗠 "𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣" to continue the conversation.          𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗠𝗲? • Over the last 15 years I helped scale two e-commerce and marketplace businesses to £600m+ valuations with multiple exits • I have scaled engineering orgs to 80+ engineers • Experienced scaling in a variety of contexts < £2m revenues through to  £300m+ revenue. Privately owned, VC and PE backed.         𝗣.𝗦 What option would you choose?   

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☠ Product Management is dead! ☠ "Product isn't needed anymore, developers can run it." "Ai is going to replace Product Managers." I agree. The role of the Product Leader is the future of Product, here's why. Product Managers typically aren't driving the vision, strategy or decision making, they are the execution. So with Ai and other tools a lot of these tasks can now be completed through automation or prompts. BUT you still need the vision, strategy and leadership. Product is becoming lean (pun intended) and good Product Leaders will roll up their sleeves and work closely with technical and design teams. The future of Product isn't dying, it's thriving thanks to Ai. Here's some of the tools that I've played with so far. Heatseeker will help you validate your product before you even start. Peak will help you with pricing at scale. Google's Gemini bot can be a research and insights companion. Uizard by Miro Labs allows you to create low and high fidelity wireframes from a prompt. Anthropic's Claude.ai will take those wireframes and fire out your user stories. ChatGPT will help you create content, including any localisation needs. And Sora will create product, explainer and marketing videos for you. Midjourney will help you create digital assets and media. Amplitude gives you real-time data insights and experiment. Atlassian will help you automate and manage teams at scale. Productboard will help you build your roadmap using the right inputs and ensure you're prioritising the right thing. Am I missing anything? #product #ai #productleader

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