Iterative planning &amp; design, also known as design thinking, is a process and philosophy that centers around deeply understanding customer problems, then designing solutions and testing those prototyped solutions in an iterative way, continuously getting real feedback from customers and improving the solution along the way. If there’s one key tenet of product management, it’s that uncovering and truly understanding the core need of the customer is crucial, and design thinking is a great tool to aid in that.

MPM 044: How Design Thinking Can Help Your Product Management Team, with Bob Burgarino, EVP with Apiture

We hear a lot about AI – artificial intelligence – these days. According to McKinsey, AI technologies are projected to increase labor productivity by up to 40% and Executives are highly optimistic in its potential—80% believe artificial intelligence improves worker performance and creates jobs.&nbsp; Frankly not all of us know a lot about AI and specifically how we in product management will need to understand, embrace, and utilize it. Chris Butler is an expert on AI and he will share his thoughts on how AI is going to impact product management and how product managers and product leaders can leverage AI for the betterment of their products, their businesses, and customers.

MPM 045: Product Management and AI, an interview with Chris Butler, IPSoft’s Chief Product Architect

Succeeding in product management and innovation while our industries and markets are changing around us is something we deal with every day. As the saying goes, “The only constant is change.” That’s what it feels like sometimes as product managers and product leaders. We rarely have the luxury of a slow-moving market. We must constantly be on top of changing market dynamics and evolving customer needs while still trying to manage the day-to-day process of developing and supporting products. It’s one of the things that make product management so difficult but also so rewarding when we get it right.

MPM 046: Driving Innovation in a Fast-Growing Industry: The Importance of Organizational Collaboration, with Kevin Wunder, Senior Director, Product Management of Loveland Innovations

There are many products that stand the test of time and become embedded in consumers’ lives. Think banking, healthcare, insurance or, depending on where you live, taxi cabs. For decades at a time, consumers are content in how they interact with these products, until someone comes along and disrupts the experience in ways consumers didn’t even know possible.&nbsp;  This episode is about the strategy and process of rebuilding century old products for the modern consumer.

MPM 047: Rebuilding Century Old Products for the Modern Consumer, Lessons from Insurtech: a conversation with Kate Terry, Co-Founder & COO of Surround Insurance

Probably the most significant aspect of product management is the ability to gather feedback from customers and use that feedback to uncover core needs. While we all likely understand the importance of this activity, frankly most organizations don’t do it very well.&nbsp;  Generally speaking, Business to Consumer (or B2C) companies seem to have figured this out a little better than most Business to Business (B2B) companies. While there may be myriad reasons for that, there is a lot to be learned from voice of customer mechanisms employed by many B2C organizations.

MPM 048: Customer Feedback: What B2B Companies Can Learn from the B2C World, with Rebecca Nathenson, Senior Director of Product Management for Jobvite

For most of us who have led product teams, scaling the team as you grow brings unique challenges. It’s a good problem to have, as they say. It means the organization and products are growing, but we must be diligent as we scale to maintain process consistency, product quality and team culture. While speed is important when you need more resources… skillset, mindset and cultural fit are of utmost importance and simply can’t be short-changed in the process. So it takes diligence, patience and planning.

MPM 049: Scaling Product Management Teams, with Jessica Hall, VP Product Strategy & Design with 3Pillar Global

Empathy is a critical ingredient in successful product management. It affords us the ability to get in the shoes of our users and customers. It helps us feel their pain, celebrate their wins and feel a deep sense of commitment to help them solve their problems and be successful. Every great product manager has a deep sense of empathy.  But empathy is one of those things that’s not easily defined or at least concretely described in context. Our guest on this episode, Ashley Wali, VP Product at Discuss.io, will share her experience with the evolution of user empathy and how she’s been able to incorporate empathy-building initiatives in her team and reap the benefits of those initiatives.

MPM 050: The Evolution of User Empathy, with Ashley Wali, VP of Product with Discuss.io

Cybersecurity is a scorching hot topic these days. Of course, there are products out there singularly focused on cybersecurity, but the impact of cyber threats goes far beyond the target of those products and touches a plethora of others. Think of all the connected products that you own… your Alexa or Google Home, your garage door opener may be on an app, your refrigerator may be able to tell you if you have milk or not. Now think of all the medical devices in hospitals that are connected to the cloud in some way. All these products, and many more, are targets for cyber hacks. As such, the topic of cybersecurity is top of mind for many product managers.

MPM 051: Cybersecurity Trends in Product Management, with Kanika Thapar Mehta, Group Product Manager, Cisco

Sequent Learning Networks is one of the most highly recognized training companies in the fields of product management, product strategy, and product marketing. This channel hosts the podcasts that we currently sponsor in support of our learning and development programs.