Epics and Stories

Effective product teams realize the need to find balance across an array of competing interests. In this episode, we chat with Maya Toutountzi, Head of Product at Transifex as she shares how to effectively balance between delivering on the present needs of prospective and existing customers and realizing the longer term innovation of a company vision.

Product Owners and Product Managers - what's the difference? Should they be two separate roles or one role? We dive into this popular topic in this episode to identify environments in which the roles are separated and also explore the possibilities of keeping them together for one individual and how that might be accomplished.

It is inevitable that, at some point of a company's journey, the opportunity to merge with or acquire another company will present itself. Product Management is a challenging enough discipline to get right as it is. Imagine the additional complexities that one has to deal with when faced with the prospect of having to bring together disparate product platforms, product lines, product managers, and product processes! Claire Milligan, SVP and General Manager of Tallie and SpringAhead by Emburse, shares her experiences in navigating through this dynamic and emerging successfully from it, having gone through more than half a dozen M&A events during her time with the company.

Product Management is a line of work filled with a number of highs and lows in day-to-day execution of the job. Sometimes it can feel daunting to work through the adversity of those lows. Andrew Chung, VP of Product at eSSENTIAL Accessibility Inc, shares with us how he has managed and persevered through adversity and challenge both in the Product discipline, and also during his previous experiences as a cofounder.Music: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com

In this episode of Epics and Stories, we take on imposter syndrome. Identifying what it is, why people in product management seem to be so susceptible to it, and how we can manage and ultimately mitigate feelings of imposter syndrome as we all do our best work.Music: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com

Hanko Jones, Product Manager at Cerego, joins us for a chat about making the move into management. He shares his journey, its intimate details, and what he learned going from managing products to managing people who manage products. Be sure to tune in as we traverse through Hanko's product career, from his roots through to his uppermost branches and how he has grown and developed. Music: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com

In this episode, I share some thoughts around the key things that a Product Manager needs to be able to convey in their resume. I also outline an effective, albeit unconventional, way of displaying that information. If you've ever wondered how best to format your resume to really showcase your work in product management - give this episode a listen!Music: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com

Howard Chan, Director of Product at Goodfood, joins this episode to talk about his product career journey - spanning nearly 20 years across the consumer packaged goods, online grocery, and meal kit delivery industries, how he's dealt with overcoming anxiety and hesitation that comes in the face of great change and transition, and what he and his teams have learned as their product spaces have evolved from nice-to-haves to must-haves in a very short time with the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. Music: “Upbeat Party” by scottholmesmusic.com

I talk about making the move into a people leadership role in product management:- Different backgrounds and T-shaped skill sets - The value of diversity on a product team- Practical insights into applying effective leadershipMusic: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com

I share my thoughts on breaking into the world of product management: - Why I feel product has exploded as a career interest in the last several years- Choosing the type of company to work for- Appropriate backgrounds that lend well to a role in product- How to set yourself apart and get the best shot at landing an interview and ultimately the jobMusic: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com

In this very first episode, I start with an introduction of myself and my background in product and how my thinking and approach to product management has evolved over the last 15 years.Music: "Upbeat Party" by scottholmesmusic.com