Podcast appearances and mentions of kent mcdonald

Gareth Pettigrew, founder of Pettigrew Communications I’ve thought about doing an episode like this for a while, but I kept bumping into the same problem: the “so what” question. Why should a 15-person MSP owner, already wearing six hats, care about communications? Gareth Pettigrew cracked that code in about 30 seconds. As the industry moves from search to chat, non-paid citations and earned media are proving to be critical to how large language models answer queries and surface companies. If you’re not showing up in that landscape, you’re increasingly invisible in ways that didn’t exist two years ago. Gartner is projecting PR budgets to double over the next year. The ground has shifted. Gareth spent years leading partner communications for Cisco and Okta, and what always stood out to me is that he genuinely understands the partner business – not just the vendor talking points. He’s now launched his own consultancy, Pettigrew Communications, offering fractional senior comms leadership and project-based consulting for companies across the channel. In this conversation, we dig into why PR isn’t what most partners think it is anymore – it’s not press releases and pitching journalists. The media landscape has changed dramatically with AI, and the real opportunity for small partners is in thought leadership, LinkedIn engagement, and building an externally wired narrative that positions you as a trusted voice in your niche. Gareth offers a three-week roadmap: week one, listen to the industry conversations and identify one or two niches you can credibly insert yourself into. Week two, build your story – one page, three to five core messages. Week three, identify ten influencers to follow. Then activate on LinkedIn by commenting meaningfully for a month before posting your own perspectives. We also talk about common mistakes – like treating PR as a marketing tactic or relying on internally oriented messaging – and what success actually looks like when you’re starting from zero. This is the first in a planned series. Future episodes will go deeper into messaging, LinkedIn best practices, crisis communications, and more. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. My guest today is Gareth Pettigrew. Gareth spent years leading partner communications at Cisco and most recently at Okta, and he’s now launched his own consultancy, Pettigrew Communications, offering fractional comms leadership to companies across the channel. I’ve known Gareth for a long time, and what’s always stood out to me is that he genuinely understands the partner business – not just the vendor talking points, but how partners actually operate and communicate day to day. I’ve wanted to do an episode on communications and PR for partners for a while now, but I kept bumping into the same problem: I couldn’t crack the “why should a 15-person MSP care about this” question in a way I thought would actually land. And then I talked to Gareth, and he cracked it in about 30 seconds. We’re going to get into why communications matters more right now than it ever has, why it doesn’t have to be the heavy lift you think it is, and Gareth’s going to give you a practical, week-by-week roadmap for getting started – even if you have zero budget and zero comms experience. This is also the first in what we’re planning as a series. Gareth and I are going to go deeper on specific threads in future episodes – things like crisis communications, LinkedIn thought leadership, working with your vendor’s PR team – so think of this one as the foundation. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Gareth Pettigrew. Robert Dutt: Gareth, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate you joining us. Gareth Pettigrew: Glad to be here, Rob. Robert Dutt: I thought of you to have this conversation because we’ve sat down at many conferences and with many vendor execs when you were running comms around the world, one might say. You know, channel leaders from Cisco and even after you’d moved off the partner beat specifically, I think you always did a really good job of, when talking to us on the channel side, framing up the partner side of the conversation in a way that leads me to believe that you’ve got a pretty good grip on what a lot of these guys are doing, which I think is really important for this conversation. This is something that I’ve thought about doing for a while, doing an episode like this, but I kept bumping into the same problem. Basically the “so what” problem. Why should I care about communications as a 15-person MSP owner? Then when we did our pre-call to discuss the possibility of doing this and where it could go, you kind of cracked that code in about 30 seconds. So let me put it right to you. For that 15-person MSP kind of partner who’s listening to this, they’re busy, they’re wearing six hats. They own marketing. They oversee sales. They probably do HR. They have a business to run. Why should communications be on their radar right now, and what’s changed that makes that even more urgent than you would have said a few years ago? Gareth Pettigrew: Fundamentally, in a word, like almost everything right now, it’s around AI. And perhaps not intuitively, it appears that PR is emerging as one of the big winners of AI. Maybe not for the reasons you think, though. Number one is that non-paid citations, and specifically earned media, are proving to be incredibly important in terms of the LLMs answering their questions. So as the industry shifts from search to chat, we’re seeing PR be much more important in terms of that overall mix. The second thing, and this will resonate with a lot of people, is the amount of AI slop that’s out there. And Rob, as a journalist, I see you laughing. What we see is a lot of content being created, but it’s all generic crap. It’s all the same. What happens is that damages trust, damages customers’ belief in executives, in companies. So increasingly we’re seeing companies, and especially it’s happening a lot at the higher end of the market, executives are really investing in human communicators to help them break through the slop and stand out. So that’s the real reason for why now. I will say though, Rob, I think at the end of the day for PR, you need two ingredients. You need a story and you need a storyteller. And one of the things, why I’ve always been partner-focused, it wasn’t just because I liked the channel. It was self-interested as well, in that I found some of the best storytellers in the industry weren’t the vendor executives, they were the partner executives. So I’ve always been stunned that more partners don’t lean quite heavily into comms as a real big part of their new biz and their marketing mix. A lot of them are really well positioned to raise their awareness through communications. Robert Dutt: So tell me a bit about that. I’m curious what you’ve seen. What sets apart those partners who you’ve sat there and thought, “You know what, you could be doing my exact role here and telling this story.” What is it, and particularly what separates those who do it really well and those who just kind of either go through the motions or leave it on the table, as it were? Gareth Pettigrew: And let’s be clear, everyone isn’t a great storyteller. But what I’ve seen is that in the partner communities, we’re rife with the type of personalities that make for great storytellers. A lot of those people with entrepreneurial spirit who are very proactive sellers, they spend their day not talking to engineers and vendors and all of that stuff, but they spend their day talking to customers. So they know what’s top of mind for their customer. Often with vendor executives, that’s one of the biggest challenges. It’s pivoting from that internal orientation to an external orientation. And a lot of partners are already there. So I’ve really seen some come across consistently. I’ve seen partner executives be on the level with my top executives at the vendor, or even better. So they’re in a great place. Robert Dutt: So for the partner who’s hearing this and thinking, “Okay, I get it. That’s cool. I can tell my story and I understand the customer’s viewpoint, so I should be able to put it in their words and their thoughts. But I don’t have the budget and I definitely don’t have a comms person, nor is that on my roadmap of my next few hires.” I think a lot of people still picture PR as press releases and pitching journalists, and that feels like a lot of work. How would you position what communications actually looks like today for a company at that kind of 15-person size? Gareth Pettigrew: I think the biggest blocker to companies getting involved in PR is they’ve got a legacy idea of what PR is. PR equals press release. That’s 15, 20 years ago. The reality is, especially over the past year and now with AI, we’ve seen the media landscape change absolutely dramatically. The media business model has been disaggregated with Google and others blowing up the advertising business model. And we’ve seen a decrease in some ways in terms of the number of journalists that we have out there. But an increase in some other mediums – things such as podcasts, things such as Substack. We see much more new media, much more niche media. And that’s in the traditional, what we call the earned space. We’ve also seen the social media rise. We’ve seen the advent of owned media, be that executives taking a thought leadership stance on LinkedIn or X as it may be, or in terms of their newsrooms. A lot of vendors do this. They turn their newsrooms into actual content destinations to get their story out there. And finally, there’s a lot of paid options, right? Whether that’s traditional publications offering paid events, paid content, or paid influencers. If we think about political conventions or Apple events, it used to be media dominating the front row. Those are all influencers now. So with that in mind, with the landscape changing, that means there’s a flywheel of options to get your message out there. But that also changes your tactics. And I’d strongly recommend for any partner getting involved, don’t try to boil the ocean. Let’s really make sure you pick one thing, pick two things. Let’s do it well. And if it works for you, then you start to lean in and invest more. Then maybe you bring in the consultant. Maybe you think about hiring a multimedia kid right out of PR or journalism school. Maybe you look to get a freelance journalist to help you write some articles for your website. So there’s definitely a strategy you can follow as a big partner organization. We see Worldwide Technologies and others really investing aggressively in some of these things. But for smaller organizations as well, especially if you’re a strong storyteller. Start small, pick your battles. Robert Dutt: What do you find are some of the common, especially for that smaller partner, some of the common places to start? If you were sitting down with that 15-person MSP, no budget, no comms person, just saying, “All right, I want to give this a shot.” What are the first and second things to think about? Gareth Pettigrew: Let me give you a bit of a roadmap in terms of how I do it. The first thing I’d recommend is let’s think about your story. The single biggest mistake that most technology companies make is that they’re internally wired. “What do we want to talk about?” You’ve got to flip that orientation. So it’s, what are the industry conversations – maximum two conversations – that you can insert yourself into? I would spend your first week listening to the conversations out there. Be honest with yourself. How can we insert ourselves into this conversation? Be very specific in terms of what that conversation is that you want to insert yourself into. Are you a security partner? Is it about securing AI agents? It could be whatever niche you’re in. Be very prescriptive with what that conversation you’re going to insert yourself into. Second week, build out your story. Most companies don’t spend enough time on their story. One page, three to five messages. Build out your messages, build out your bullet points, your sound bites. That’s going to be your foundation. You don’t have to say the exact same thing every time, but you have to know what your general storyline is. It doesn’t mean you’re repetitive, but you do know where you’re going to play and what you’re going to say in general. The final part of that, week three, think about the influencers that you’re going to follow. Pick 10 influencers for that conversation. Who are the journalists? Who are the industry analysts? Who are the vendors in the industry that you admire the most, that have the best perspective? And then finally, let’s activate. We’re going to start on LinkedIn. The first thing you’re going to do is comment. Spend maybe a month not even posting, just commenting. Block 15 minutes, twice a week. Comment on others in a meaningful way. Think about your narrative, focus on your conversation, and then start getting out there with some of your own perspectives, your own posts. You’ll be able to find your niche. Just get started on LinkedIn. That’s the path I would take if I’m a partner and I just want to get my toe in and see how it’s going. Robert Dutt: That makes sense. And by meaningful, I presume you mean something that is not directly self-promotional when you’re commenting, but adding value into the conversation in a way that maps to those messages that you’ve laid out. Gareth Pettigrew: It’s externally wired. Don’t talk about your products. Don’t talk about any of those things. Talk about you as an industry expert. What’s your perspective on this protocol? What’s your perspective on a new product that one of your vendors is putting out there? What’s your perspective on a controversial topic that’s come up? Get your perspective in there. You are not selling. You’re thinking of yourself more as a consultant, not a salesperson. That’s an important flip that needs to take place. The difference between PR and marketing – PR is that thought leadership. It’s very much that top of funnel. You’re about raising awareness. You’re about getting yourself in the door. It’s not the middle or lower part of the funnel in which you’re actually actively selling to that prospect. It’s about raising awareness. Robert Dutt: On the marketing side, I think a lot of partners are used to the idea of leaning on, borrowing from, adopting from vendor resources, MDF-type stuff. Is there a similar motion that can be applied on the communication side, wherein I can take some stuff that my vendors are producing anyway and repurpose or reuse? Gareth Pettigrew: Absolutely. That’s where a lot of the partners may also find where those narratives are that may well fit. Some vendors do it better than others, let’s be honest. Some are very self-promotional. I think you want to stay away from those. But yes, follow those executives. Follow the social handles of your vendors. When you’re at the events, introduce yourself to the PR people. I’ve got to tell you, when I was at Cisco, when I was at Okta, I always had my handful of partners who I knew I could always go to if I needed them to talk to a journalist. One of them, and we’re talking Canadian here, Kent McDonald over at Longview Systems was always one of my go-tos. When I was at Cisco, I knew I could send Kent a text and Kent would always give a great quote. He’d always be responsive. He’d always be friendly. He’d always be positive. That’s one of the other things. Once you build up that thought leadership muscle, don’t be shy about introducing yourself to the PR person. Give them your card. When they call, just be responsive. Robert Dutt: And similarly, I guess there’s an opportunity to not necessarily cold-call a tech journalist such as myself, but think about the niches that your customers are in and reaching out to the journalists who are covering that, establishing yourself as someone that they can go to. Let me tell you, I’m always looking for that Kent McDonald or those other partners who are available, have a take, and can riff with you. It’s something that my peers are certainly looking for. Gareth Pettigrew: I completely agree. But the way to make sure that you’re not cold-calling that journalist is you’re very targeted. Remember when we said identify your conversation and then identify who’s really influential in that conversation? Figure out who those journalists are and comment regularly. And then once they start responding to you a little bit, after a while, maybe you DM them and say, “Hey, by the way, if you’re ever writing a story, I’m happy to chat with you.” I think that’s, as a DIY PR practitioner, how I would approach that. Robert Dutt: So as you start doing this, how do you know it’s working? What does success look like when you’re starting from zero and you don’t have the luxury of an agency sending you a monthly report on what you did, how it hit, where it appeared, those kinds of things? How do I measure what I’m doing? Because obviously that’s something that’s important to partners on anything they’re doing. Gareth Pettigrew: Well, Rob, let’s assume if we’re talking to that 15-person MSP who’s just getting started, primarily your impact is going to be on LinkedIn. And really, LinkedIn is an engagement platform. You want to go in and measure your engagement and see how that’s increasing on a monthly or quarterly basis. The one thing I will say, and I’ll pass on this fabulous little piece of advice – or this story – it starts to become self-evident as well, in that you can have those quantitative measures, but also qualitative. When I started working with Okta, the country manager was a guy who became a good friend of mine, Dan Kagan. I remember our first meeting, we sat down and said, “Okay Dan, one of the things we regularly need you to do is we need you to be engaged on LinkedIn. We’re going to need you to post once a week or once every couple of weeks, and we’re going to have to have you go in and comment.” He said, “Guys, listen, I love this idea, but I’m not going to have time to do it. I’m working 50 hours a week. I’ve got a young family. I can’t make this happen.” After two months, he’s pinging us once a week if we haven’t got anything out. And the reason for that is he’s getting inbound recognition. He’s getting people pinging him saying, “Hey, could you speak at this conference?” “Hey, I saw what you said.” When you talk to CTV News, when you post it on LinkedIn, it becomes somewhat self-fulfilling in that it really is a strong funnel to help build your awareness. So that’s one of the things I’ve seen. There’s the quantitative and the qualitative, but it is important to measure your rhythm. Robert Dutt: We’ve talked about what to do as easy first steps. I’m curious, as you’ve been through this exercise or seen others go through this exercise, what’s a common mistake that organizations, particularly smaller organizations, make when they start to pay attention to comms? Maybe a well-intentioned first step that backfires or ends up being a waste of time? Gareth Pettigrew: Rob, I think the couple of mistakes that I see companies make in this – and by the way, this isn’t just on the partner side, this is all across. Number one is they view PR as a marketing tactic. And ultimately, PR and marketing – there’s a big gray area in between, increasingly right now – but they do have different centers of gravity. Marketing, for the most part, is about demand generation. And PR, its center of gravity is about awareness, building awareness and managing reputation. So while there is an overlap, they’re not the same things. And when you look to apply a marketing lens to a PR strategy, that results in you being typically very internally oriented. “We have a new product, we’ve got to launch a product.” Well, the media landscape has changed. There aren’t many, if any, journalists, certainly not in Canada, that really write on product anymore. So that’s part of the challenge, when you view through a marketing lens. The second one that’s related is executive skin in the game. If you’re going to do this, the executives need to get involved. It’s not something you punt over to your marketing team. Marketing should be an incredibly close partner of comms, but the executives need to have skin in the game as well. Executives are going to be the ones that are out there, the thought leaders. If you get to the point of having spokespeople, they’re going to be the spokespeople. So marketing is a partner, but they can’t be the single driver. And we talked about internal versus external orientation. Being externally wired is absolutely essential, both in terms of your story but also your strategy. Those, Rob, would be the biggest hurdles that I see. Robert Dutt: This is a topic that we could probably go off in many different directions for hours, but I’m respectful of people’s time who listen to this podcast. So let me end it with this. We’ve covered the basics of it, the “what to do” as those first steps, and given some good actionable advice, I think. If we were to keep going and do this on a regular drumbeat and discuss aspects of communications, what are the threads that you think matter most for this audience? Where would you go next in terms of topics? There are so many different things I think we could pull on, but I’m curious what you see as the next steps, or maybe step two for a partner organization. Gareth Pettigrew: In all honesty, if we were to think about future podcasts here, Rob, I think about, let’s dig a little deeper in terms of how you actually architect that externally wired narrative. How do you identify that conversation? Be a little bit more prescriptive. What does a messaging house look like from a PR standpoint? How do media messages differ from marketing messages? That would certainly be one. For me, I’m a storyteller at heart. It should start with the story. But then I think digging a little bit deeper into, “What are some best practices in terms of building up your thought leadership on LinkedIn? How can you, as an executive, up your game? What are the pragmatic steps? What are five things you can do to become a better LinkedIn thought leader?” I think, Rob, those are a couple that I’d start with, but then I’d love to hear from the audience, from some partners out there. What are those challenges that they would love some help solving? Robert Dutt: Brilliant. And that’s not even getting into potentially crisis communications, internal communications, any number of different aspects of this dialogue. I think we’ve set the stage nicely and I thank you very much for taking the time, Gareth. I know you’re setting up your own shop and just getting started with Pettigrew Communications. Do you want to share a little bit about what you’re doing and what the goal is there? Gareth Pettigrew: Absolutely. So Rob, I’m a Canadian boy. Raised in Toronto and I live on Vancouver Island. I’ve spent the last 20 years inside big tech, working with Cisco, working with Okta, and really I’m looking to bring some of that expertise to smaller companies or to tech communications firms. So it’s time for a new chapter, Rob. I’m very lucky. I found a profession I absolutely love, but I needed a little bit of a different rhythm. We’ve heard from Gartner that with the focus on AI putting a bit of a tailwind towards PR, the anticipation is that over the next year, PR budgets are going to double. So hopefully it’s a good time to get into this. And I’m really excited to work with a lot of different companies and help them fix some of the things that we talked about here. I’m very passionate about it, excited to get started, and it should be fun. Robert Dutt: Brilliant. And anytime you’re entering into a market that’s doubling in the course of a year, that’s probably a good sign. Gareth, I appreciate you taking the time. Let’s chat again soon. Gareth Pettigrew: Thanks, Rob. Take care. Robert Dutt: There you have it, Gareth Pettigrew from Pettigrew Communications. I’d like to thank Gareth for his time, and honestly, for making the case I’ve been trying to make to this audience for years, better than I ever could. The idea that earned media is now one of the primary ways that AI and large language models surface information about your company – and that if you’re not showing up in that landscape, you’re increasingly invisible – I think that reframes this whole topic from “nice to have” to “you’re leaving real business on the table.” And Gareth’s three-week roadmap for getting started – listen, build your story, find your influencers, then show up on LinkedIn – is about as actionable as it gets. No budget required, no agency required, just intentionality. We’re going to keep going with this. Gareth and I are planning deeper dives on specific topics – messaging, LinkedIn best practices, crisis comms, and more – and we’d love to hear from you on what communications challenges you’re facing in your business. Drop me a line, I’m easy to find. Thanks as always for listening. If you’re enjoying In The Channel, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most podcast directories. A rating or a review goes a long way if you have a minute. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

In this episode of Business Analysis Live, Susan Moore isjoined by Kent McDonald—freelance product manager, author, and speaker—for a candid conversation on what business analysis professionals really need to understand about agile. Together, they explore the evolution (and dilution) of agile practices, the confusion around roles like product owner vs. business analyst, and how professionals can navigate agile environments without getting lost injargon or rigid frameworks.You'll hear real-world stories, practical advice, and arefreshing perspective on how business analysis professionals can meet the real definition of agile - supporting better collaboration, faster learning, andmeaningful outcomes for their teams.If you've ever felt boxed in by "the agile way" or wondered how to demonstrate your impact as a business analysis professional — this episode is for you!

As startups grow, product teams often find themselves caught between speed and structure. In this episode of The Product Experience, Charlotte King, Lead Product Manager at eBay, shares practical insights from her work leading teams through this transition at companies including Moonpig, Flipdish, and ThoughtWorks. Charlotte unpacks how to define product's role during scaleup, build team structure around strategic value, and use tools like Wardley Mapping and Team Topologies to support organisational change. She also introduces the DHM model (Delightful, Hard to copy, Margin-enhancing) and discusses how to make strategy tangible for cross-functional teams. This conversation is especially useful for product leaders, heads of product, and founders navigating scale.Chapters1:13 – Charlotte's background2:36 – Product's role in startups, scaleups and enterprises4:35 – What product teams need to succeed during scale6:42 – Defining product's role as the company grows9:00 – Using Wardley Mapping to assess team maturity14:30 – Creating and communicating guiding principles20:30 – Using the DHM model to prioritise value25:48 – Structuring teams with Team Topologies29:03 – Multidisciplinary collaboration in practice30:41 – Lessons from leading transformation32:30 – Final reflections and takeawaysFeatured Links: Follow Charlotte on LinkedIn | eBay | Wardley Maps | What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron PrattOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Most organisations dream of building products that delight users. But what happens when the users are your internal teams—and the product is the business itself? In this episode of The Product Experience, Randy Silver sits down with Jo Wickremasinghe, Chief Product & Technology Officer at BPP, to talk about leading transformation at scale.Featured Links: Follow Jo on LinkedIn | BPP | 'What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron PrattOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

BONUS: Keeping Backlogs Lean With The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework with Kent McDonald In this BONUS episode, we explore the art of backlog management with product management expert Kent McDonald. As someone with decades of experience in software product development, Kent shares practical strategies for keeping backlogs lean, meaningful, and focused on outcomes that truly matter. Learn how to escape the trap of bloated backlogs and implement a Now-Next-Later-Never approach that will transform your product management practice. The Problem with Bloated Backlogs "Some teams use backlogs as 'long term storage' devices." Product backlogs often become unwieldy and difficult to manage because teams view them as a permanent repository for every idea that comes along. Kent explains that this "storage mentality" is one of the primary reasons backlogs grow out of control. Another common mistake is diving in too early and splitting items before they're actually ready to be worked on, which multiplies the backlog size unnecessarily. These practices lead to confusion, lost focus, and ultimately decrease a team's ability to deliver value efficiently. The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework "You want to group things together on roughly categories of when you will attack it." Kent walks us through the practical implementation of a Now-Next-Later-Never roadmap approach that keeps things manageable. This framework provides a simple but powerful way to organize initiatives based on their priority and timing. Instead of maintaining an endless list of requirements, teams can group work into these four buckets, making it easier to communicate priorities both internally and with stakeholders. Kent emphasizes that these roadmap items should be described in terms of outcomes rather than features, helping everyone stay focused on the value being delivered rather than specific implementations. For more on the origin of the Now-Next-Later roadmap practice, see this article by Janna Bastow. Making "Now" Work in Practice "We only split items in the 'now' column." When implementing the Now-Next-Later-Never approach, the "Now" column is where the magic happens. Kent advises: Only split items that are in the "Now" column into actionable tasks Express roadmap items in terms of outcomes or customer problems to solve Limit the number of items in the "Now" column to maintain focus List outcomes rather than detailed features to avoid having a large number of items Kent explains that the "Later" and "Never" columns serve an important purpose in setting expectations with stakeholders about what won't be worked on immediately or at all. Managing the Movement Between Roadmap Categories "Items can move back and forth, to facilitate expectation setting." The Now-Next-Later-Never roadmap isn't static. Kent provides practical advice on how to manage the flow of items between categories: Revisit the roadmap regularly, ideally monthly Consider reviewing the roadmap during sprint review sessions Use this format when communicating with stakeholders for clearer expectation setting Hold strong on the "Now" items to maintain focus and avoid constant reprioritization This approach creates a dynamic but controlled environment where priorities can evolve without creating chaos or confusion. Dealing with Backlog Bloat "Create a 'museum', a set of items you can look at, but don't look at every day." For teams struggling with already-bloated backlogs, Kent offers bold but effective advice: Create a "museum" for items you want to preserve but don't need to see daily Consider deleting your old backlog and starting fresh Begin by asking: "What are the main outcomes we're trying to achieve?" Focus on getting to a smaller set of bigger items, then sequence them appropriately These approaches help teams overcome the fear of "losing" work while refocusing on what truly matters. Maintaining a Lean Backlog "Backlog items don't age well." Kent's team maintains an impressively lean backlog of just 23 items across three brand websites. He shares the routines and guardrails that prevent backlog bloat from creeping back in: Create a filter to control what gets into the backlog in the first place Keep the Product Owner just slightly ahead of the development team Avoid the anti-pattern of trying to keep all developers busy all the time Remember that backlog items don't age well and lose relevance over time These practices ensure the team stays focused on delivering current value rather than managing an ever-growing list of aging requirements. About Kent McDonald With decades in software product development, Kent is a go-to expert in product management, and agile strategy. He is a seasoned consultant and author of three books on agility, he helps teams cut through clutter to focus on what truly matters. When not optimizing workflows, he's exploring National Parks (52/63) or grooving to some jazz tunes. You can link with Kent McDonald on LinkedIn, or follow Kent McDonaldn on Substack.

This week on the podcast, we're joined by Dave Killeen, VP of Product at Pendo, who shares his go-to AI tools that can help make life a little easier for product managers—tried, tested, and ready to use.Featured Links: Follow Dave on LinkedIn | Pendo | Claude | Manus |'What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron PrattOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Product management is facing a crisis — and Dave Wascha calls it The Reckoning. In this episode, Dave joins Lily and Randy to unpack the growing backlash against the product profession. He shares stories from his time at Microsoft, Moonpig, and Zoopla, revealing why product people lost the room — and how to win it back.Featured Links: Follow Dave on LinkedIn | 'Product Management is NOT dead' feature by Dan Olsen | 'What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron PrattOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Mergers and acquisitions are often seen as boardroom strategy – but it's becoming ever more important for product leaders to be key stakeholders in the process. In this live interview recorded at #mtpcon London 2025, Randy sits down with Vincent Jong, CPO at Dealfront, to explore the real, unfiltered lessons of product leadership during M&A.Vincent shares stories from inside two major integrations offering tactical insight into what product teams need to know, how to spot risk before it's too late, and why defining success early is critical. Featured Links: Follow Vincent on LinkedIn and his website | Join Vincent at Saas on The Beach event in May | Buy Vincent's book 'Product-Led Sales: Combine the Best of Product-Led Growth and Sales' | 'What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron PrattOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.

Prioritization is more than just sorting a to-do list—it'sabout making decisions about what you will and won't do. In this episode, Susan talks with Kent McDonald, speaker, author and product management practitioner, about the myths and misconceptions around prioritization.  Kent brings years of experience in product management,business analysis, and agile methodologies to the discussion. He's seen a lot of prioritization issues over all those years! We explore the difference between prioritization and sequencing, why "priority" isn't always singular, and how filters—not buckets—can help organizations make betterdecisions.You'll learn how to challenge traditional prioritizationtechniques, ask the right questions to uncover true business objectives, and ensure that your backlog is a strategic tool rather than a cluttered wish list. If you've ever struggled with stakeholder demands, competing priorities, orbacklog bloat, this conversation is for you!

This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Kent McDonald about his experience working with organizations that build software for internal use, emphasizing the importance of product management in these contexts. Read a transcript of this interview: bit.ly/3zw4WaJ Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter for your monthly guide to the essential news and experience from industry peers on emerging patterns and technologies: www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter Upcoming Events: QCon San Francisco (November 18-22, 2024) Get practical inspiration and best practices on emerging software trends directly from senior software developers at early adopter companies. qconsf.com/ QCon London (April 7-9, 2025) Discover new ideas and insights from senior practitioners driving change and innovation in software development. qconlondon.com/ The InfoQ Podcasts: Weekly inspiration to drive innovation and build great teams from senior software leaders. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts: - The InfoQ Podcast www.infoq.com/podcasts/ - Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture - Generally AI Follow InfoQ: - Mastodon: techhub.social/@infoq - Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ - LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq - Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 - Instagram: @infoqdotcom - Youtube: www.youtube.com/infoq Write for InfoQ: Learn and share the changes and innovations in professional software development. - Join a community of experts. - Increase your visibility. - Grow your career. www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth Campus Ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents, "Resurrection (in a Person) Meets Lazarus."

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth Campus Ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents, "Spiritual Milkshakes: Growing Into Salvation.”

Kent McDonald shares his thoughts on what it takes to succeed as a Business Analyst in an Agile environment. The post MBA219: How To Be an Agile Business Analyst appeared first on Mastering Business Analysis.

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth Campus Ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents, "The God of the Found: The Extravagant and Illogical Love of God.”

El Product Manager o responsable de producto en el mundo del desarrollo de software necesita tener una capacidad de juicio del negocio, no solo estar centrado en problemas de ingeniería. Es como el abogado del usuario dentro de la propia empresa. Tiene unas funciones muy distintas a las de un gerente de proyectos o project manager ¿Cuáles son las habilidades puntuales de ambos perfiles? ¿Puede una sola persona asumir ambos roles? En este episodio te ayudamos a entender las tareas y responsabilidades de estos roles distintos, hacia dónde están orientados (usuario final vs. ejecución y outcome del proyecto) y qué factores hacen que necesites uno u otro perfil.Contadnos qué cosas nos hemos dejado en el tintero en los comentarios. Esto es un podcast que se hace de manera asíncrona pero puede ser dinámico también así podemos dotarnos de la experiencia de vosotros. ¡Esperamos que tengáis una muy buena semana!Estos son los enlaces a los temas de los que hemos hablado:Si deseas ampliar más sobre la diferencia entre responsable de producto y gerente de proyectos, te recomendamos este artículo: https://productcoalition.com/product-vs-project-management-batman-robin-or-marvel-dc-bd42a7069cd8Mind the Product: https://www.mindtheproduct.comArtículo de Autentia: https://www.adictosaltrabajo.com/2019/08/14/product-manager-o-project-manager/Scrum: https://www.atlassian.com/es/agile/scrumGoogle's Associate Product Manager (APM) program: https://careers.google.com/programs/apm/Kent McDonald: https://www.kbp.media/author/kent-mcdonald/Product School: https://productschool.comProductCon: https://productschool.com/productcon/Asana: https://asana.com/Waterfall: https://www.smartsheet.com/content-center/best-practices/project-management/project-management-guide/waterfall-methodologyLa gente de dirección de producto en tech necesita tener una capacidad de juicio, no solo estar centrados en problemas de ingeniería. Es como el abogado del usuario dentro de la propia empresa porque tienes que comunicar sus problemas y qué necesitan. Buen post de Paul Adams, SVP of Product en Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/blog/product-judgment/Fran Sevillano (invitado en el E25) transicionando a PM: https://fransevillano.com/2020/02/07/why-become-a-product-manager/Transicionando a Product manager (Afterwork en español): https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xNTZhN2NjYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/YTRjN2UzZjktYTYwOC00NDA0LWIwNzQtZGU1NTE0NWNmMDJj?ved=2ahUKEwiXovOxtM_qAhVBlxoKHZkRB_AQkfYCegQIARAFSenior Product Manager Remote NoiceJobs: https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAE1KZCcECQB1y6g0ygSenior Agile/Scrum Remote NoiceJobs: https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAElD2ZwmavdgJhN4hgShreyas Doshi: https://twitter.com/shreyasLibro de Bruce McCarthy: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/product-manager-vs/9781492034452/#:~:text=Bruce%20McCarthy%2C%20CEO%20of%20UpUp,initial%20research%20to%20final%20product%E2%80%94Síguenos en Twitter:Danny Prol: https://twitter.com/DannyProl/Claudio Cossio: https://twitter.com/ccossioEstamos en todas estas plataformas:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/saas-product-chat/id1435000409ListenNotes: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/saas-product-chat-daniel-prol-y-claudio-CABZRIjGVdP/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36KIhM0DM7nwRLuZ1fVQy3Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS8zN3N0Mzg2dg%3D%3D&hl=esBreaker: https://www.breaker.audio/saas-product-chatWeb: https://saasproductchat.com/

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents "Liberated into Life: Jesus vs. Evil.”

Kent McDonald shares his thoughts about what you need to know about Agile and how to use Example Mapping; a technique to create a shared understanding. The post MBA195: Example Mapping appeared first on Mastering Business Analysis.

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents " Mephibosheth & the God Who Cares for the Rejected"

Kent McDonald helps us uncover information and elicit requirements using an ancient questioning technique. The post MBA180: Socratic Questioning appeared first on Mastering Business Analysis.

The Bible is not just a book about how God rules. It is also a book about how people lived. Jesus broke the racial traditions of the Old Testament. He brought the Good News to those that were considered unworthy. Scriptures: Deuteronomy 7 Matthew 15: 21-28 Matthew 16: 20 Exodus 21

The Christian life is not meant to be lived in a comfortable way. We are meant to be uncomfortable, to step into the lives of the messy and broken. When God wraps his arms around us, we can change the world.   Scripture: Mark 6: 45

We can find God when we seek and search for him with our whole heart. God is reflected in all of us. Due to technical difficulties, the first half of Kent's talk was not recorded properly.

Jesus' first message was so radical that the people in power wanted to throw him off a cliff. In spite of this, Jesus took his message to the street. He didn't just give speeches, he lived out what he preached. We as followers are often hiding from God when we pretend that we've got it all figured and, yet, we're seeking, wondering if there's something more.

With the rise of digital products in our lives and especially the lives of our children, how can we help each other to overcome the negative effects of social media? Physical space matters-God gave us bodies for a reason. We must strive to prioritize physical community built on God's love for us. Scripture: John 1: 14

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth Campus Ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents "Redefining Community."

Kent McDonald (Class of 2019), a senior double major in English Literature and Dramatic Arts talks about his time studying abroad in Kings College and Oxford. Kent talks about figuring out the logistics of study abroad, course planning and credit transfers, enjoying the classes and Professors while at Kings College and Oxford. Additionally, Kent talks about the impactful personal and academic growth he experienced while abroad, and how it has enriched his Carolina Experience.

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life regional trainer, presents “The Evil Triad: The Dragon and the Two Beasts.”

In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Kent McDonald and Heather Mylan-Mains on their talk at Agile 2017 about Socratic Questioning Why listen to this podcast: - Socratic questioning n approach to learning which is based on getting to answers through a question-based dialogue - Frequently what is presented at the beginning of a product investigation is a proposed solution rather than exploring the real need - There are six categories of questions to expose assumptions, change perspectives and delve into an issue or opportunity - There are other techniques which are needed when there is uncertainty about the existence of a problem or opportunity - This approach is not just restricted to elicitation – it can be used very effectively in a team situation when exploring options and identifying challenges More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2AX6pX8 You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8 Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq Want to see extented shownotes? Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2AX6pX8

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life regional trainer, presents "I AM the Resurrection and the Life."

Kent J. McDonald uncovers better ways of delivering value by doing it and helping others do it.  His more than 15 years of experience include work in business analysis, strategic planning, project management, and product development in a variety of industries including financial services, health insurance, performance marketing, human services, nonprofit, and automotive. He is active in the business analysis and agile software development communities helping people share stories about what does and does not work.  He shares those stories at beyondrequirements.com, techwell.com, and projectconnections.com in addition to presenting at and helping organize several local and international conferences.  He is co-author of Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility, a book that brings together immediately usable frameworks and step-by-step processes that help organizations deliver business value and build competitive advantage. His current project is  Beyond Requirements: Analysis with an Agile Mindset. Available on Amazon.com - http://amzn.to/1rkYKUf Other Writings: Article: What Are We Building Again? http://www.projectconnections.com/articles/070507-mcdonald.html

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents "Trust in God our Good Shepherd."

Kent McDonald, author of Beyond Requirements and co-author of Stand Back and Deliver, sat down with us at Agile India 2017 to talk about the differences between effectiveness and efficiency.

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents "Eating with the Pharisees: A Holistic Salvation for All Peoples."

This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, talks to Kent McDonald, Steve Adolph and Ryland Leyton about the state of business analysis and product management in agile product development. They were participants in a weekend workshop where the Agile Alliance and the International Institute of Business Analysis were collaborating to produce a revised version of the Agile Extension to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge. Why listen to this podcast: - Analysis skills are necessary for successful product development - We don’t question and challenge the rationale and strategic alignment of projects enough, which results in lots of waste from doing the wrong projects or building the wrong features in a project - The best return on investment that you can get is to stop wasting your money - Value is hard to define but crucial to identify; the definition of value will be different in every context - Agile methods provide for learning and rapid feedback, which enables us to optimize value and ensure strategic alignment in product development - User stories are conversation placeholders, not orders to be fulfilled Notes and links can be found on InfoQ: bit.ly/2e32o5X - 6m 20s Analysis skills reside in many different roles and doing analysis in agile development is far less prescriptive that has been the case. - 6m 44s You need to have a very comprehensive toolkit and have the ability to relate the tool needed to the context of the work being done. - 9m 13s Advanced organisations are changing when they utilise analysis skills to determine which initiatives should be worked on and how they align with organisation strategy; being able to review these decisions even after an initiative has started, stopping development work when it is no longer valuable. More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ. bit.ly/2e32o5X You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/2cMnjfW

Kent McDonald, a member of the Whitworth campus ministry staff and Young Life Regional Trainer, presents "The Suffering Messiah: Peter Gets It (kind of)."

In this episode I speak with Kent McDonald regarding his work in Agile business analysis, our lab at the conference, his books and his work as the chair of Agile 2013.  I have worked with Kent for several years and find his talent, humor and pragmatism a wonderful addition to any project. Enjoy our talk and say hello to him at Agile 2013.