Product Momentum Podcast

Shelly Kalish discusses the importance of 'zooming out' in product management, focusing on market trends, technology, and business goals. She emphasizes the need for communication skills and a zoom-in, zoom-out approach for product and career growth. The episode also explores lateral career growth, resilience in post-pandemic work environments, and fostering innovation through trust and collaboration.

“I have Cerebral Palsy,” says Dave Dame, Senior Director of Product Accessibility for Windows at Microsoft®. “But my money doesn’t. So if you want my money, you better build a product or a service I can use, or I’m going to spend my disposable income somewhere else.” Imagine hearing that from the estimated 2 billion individuals worldwide who identify as having a disability. Not to mention those have a disability but don’t identify as such.“ So that’s 2 billion minimally that we know of,” Dave adds. The fact is, he continues, we’re all going to be disabled someday. “It’s just that some of us beat you to it. So when we design products for someone like me today, we’re also designing for everyone else in the future. So why not get ahead?” In today’s conversation with Paul Gebel and co-host Emma Rizzo, a UX Writer and Content Strategist at ITX, Dave explains that we’ve all needed accessibility features – and will need them again in the future –  whether our disabilities are permanent, temporary, or situational. Accessibility features allow those of us in the disabled community to do things they were never able to do before, Dave says. They can be innovative, and frankly, life changing. And for everyone else who is not yet disabled, these features open more options for use and often allow product people to discover the routes with the fewest pain points. All this can be intimidating to consider. Dave Dame offers the following advice: “Don’t worry about saying the wrong thing; worry about saying nothing.” As product people, we are bound to make mistakes, that is when the learning occurs. Interested in more on the subject of inclusive design and digital accessibility? Check out the following content from Product Momentum and ITX: A 3-part blog series, authored by Susana Pallero, ITX Accessibility Consultant and a CPACC-certified Accessibility Solutions Specialist. Digital Accessibility: Making the Case to Protect a Human Right The Business Case for Accessible Design Accessible Design Inspires Innovation for All Product Momentum’s conversation with Sheri Byrne-Haber. Digital Accessibility & Inclusive Design: Understanding the Why Q&A with Antonella Iselli, a Senior UX Designer at ITX. Becoming a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies The post 123 / Essential Lessons in Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design, with Dave Dame appeared first on ITX Corp..

Quincy Olatunde, VP of Products at Peacock, discusses the importance of data in product development. He emphasizes the distinction between being data-driven and data-informed, and the need for curiosity and vulnerability in product leadership.

Jay Brewer and Zhuldyz Alimbek from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt join the hosts to discuss the importance of user feedback in product development. They emphasize the value of spontaneous feedback, understanding user problems, and incorporating diverse perspectives. The chapter also covers capturing spontaneous feedback, building a positive culture, and the importance of empathy and diversity in product development.

Yochai Konig, Vice President, Machine Learning & AI at Ada, discusses the true nature of AI and the importance of setting measurable objectives for its use in products. He explores the emergent capabilities of AI and the potential of combining multiple AI models. The chapter also focuses on effective communication, fine tuning, and distillation in machine learning.

Todd Olson and Trisha Price discuss the implementation of AI in product organizations, emphasizing the importance of solving real pain points. They explore the potential of AI in automating tasks, leveraging data for growth campaigns, and improving efficiency. They also discuss the limitations of AI in decision-making and the importance of human creativity. Additionally, they highlight the challenges faced in the ideation process and the importance of understanding user pain points. The chapter concludes by exploring different product development approaches for chat GPT and TLM models.

Christine Itwaru, Principal Strategist at Pendo, shares insights on the importance of the human connection in product management, transitioning to business strategy, the role of product ops in keeping teams healthy, and defining innovation.

Working in a startup brings the concept “CEO of the product” to a whole new level. Suddenly, as Gigantic CEO Michael Sacca and COO Chloe Oddleifson know well, you’re responsible for every aspect of your product’s development, launch, promotion, sales – and everything in between. Fun fact: there’s plenty to take away from the startup mindset for all us product managers. In this episode of Product Momentum, Michael Sacca & Chloe Oddleifson share their journey, from 6 years of working together at Dribbble to now building Gigantic from the ground up. Gigantic is a product- and marketing-focused training institute that aims to fill knowledge gaps through perpetual learning. “Michael and I were coming from a place where we knew our jobs inside and out,” Chloe says. “We knew exactly how to be useful, exactly how to bring value. And then we started Gigantic and moved into a world where it’s just us. There are no processes, there are no rules, nothing is set in stone, and there are no clear answers. We just have to pick up and figure it out.” “It doesn’t take long to see the power of a brand,” Michael adds. “I don’t think I ever respected it before as much as I do today. We can have a better product than the competition out there, but it’s so much harder to get people’s attention” when you’re just starting out. “We can build whatever we want,” he adds, but getting the attention and going to market are much different and much harder. “If someone wants to be the CEO of the product internally…,if you really want your head of product to be the CEO of the product, then they really need to understand those other disciplines and they need to be able to do them,” Michael says. In many ways, that mindset becomes easier to execute when the culture that nurtures it is founded in joy. “As we started thinking about the type of company we wanted to build, the type of culture we wanted to infuse, and the type of experience we wanted for our customers, joy was the term that best described it,” Chloe explains. “We should be able to find joy at and in the work we do because life is just too short for it to be any other way.” Catch the entire conversation with Michael Sacca & Chloe Oddleifson to learn even more about that journey and their plans to deepen Gigantic’s impact. The post 121 / A Gigantic Vision: Infusing Joy into Workplace Culture, with Michael Sacca & Chloe Oddleifson appeared first on ITX Corp..

When we’re afraid to have difficult conversations, we hold ourselves back and create more frustration and work in the long run, says Marsha Acker, founder and CEO of Team Catapult. “We spend a lot of time trying to avoid conflict and the things that make us feel uncomfortable. And yet in our attempts to avoid all that, I think we create a lot of extra work for ourselves,” Marsha adds. In today’s episode of Product Momentum, Paul and Marsha go deep on the topic of communication and leadership, exploring the structure of our communication and the role it plays in effecting personal and organizational change. Marsha is a coach, author, speaker, facilitator, and podcaster whose work is focused on communication in leadership. “Communication sits at the core of our ability to lead,” Marsha says. We don’t all see the world in the same way, leading to gaps in understanding, she adds. “What I’m articulating here is how I believe change happens,” Marsha explains. “When we communicate with one another, the words that we say, it’s like putting a train on a track. [That communication] moves us forward, propels us back, or just kind of keeps us stuck in a place. So I think it’s about how we communicate with one another and having a language to make sense of it that makes the difference.” Leadership range and communicative competence are cornerstone concepts that Marsha uses to analyze the way successful leadership is measured. There’s a very specific way she helps people self-assess not only their ability to bring a variety of different communications into a conversation, but also to examine the breadth of their leadership style. Listen to hear more from Marsha Acker in today’s episode of Product Momentum. The post 120 / Understanding Communication Structure To Effect Positive Change, with Marsha Acker appeared first on ITX Corp..

Alla Weinberg, CEO of SPOKE & WHEEL, discusses the importance of having conversations that prioritize people over work to foster psychological safety in the workplace. She emphasizes the role of leaders in creating a safe environment and highlights the significance of emotions in decision-making and building connections. The chapter also explores stress assessments, the importance of candor, and building resilient organizations and safe cultures.