Nick Papadogoulas

What do you call the job role of someone who: - iterates on product specifications in the morning, for breakfast ☕️ - meets new customers for their onboarding follow-up at lunch - has a demo meeting with a market-leading company at 3 PM - attends an event later alongside a leading tech community Tough one to call, right? But that's the point looking forward - we can't keep people in their boxes. Their value in the age of AI and automation is the way they can use their best traits in order to drive results. 💡 And #performancemanagement should follow this, not the one-size-fits-all from yesteryear.

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It's all about your engineering/system topology folks: - how is it aligning with business and customer products? - is it supporting the product manager to do what (s)he needs to do? It's much less about titles and roles: product manager vs product owner.

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6 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 10 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 "𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲" 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. I find it shocking. This insight came from this research paper I uncovered today: "A comprehensive overview of software product management challenges" by Olga Springer and Jakub Miler from Gdansk University of Technology in Poland. The study involved a systematic literature review, interviews with 10 PMs from IT companies, and surveys with 89 participants. They identified 95 problems and prioritized the most frequently mentioned ones. The findings highlight several critical issues impacting product managers, including: - No company strategy or frequent changes in strategy and priorities - Determining the true value of the product that the customer needs - Technical debt - Working in silos - Balancing between reactive and proactive work - Lack of support for research. This research feels validating as I can certainly relate to these challenges in my career. It also supports my quest for setting clear and actionable strategy for all product teams at every level! Is this in line with what you are seeing? Full research can be found here: https://buff.ly/45m0jM4 ____________💡_____________ Your interactions fuel my passion for #impactfulproduct React, follow, and let's grow together! 🚀

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📚 As I’m preparing for the ProductTank Bucharest book club next week, I’ve noted *way too many* highlights from Marty Cagan’s Transformed — so why not share some that stayed with me, maybe they resonate? 1️⃣ A thought-provoking statistic: “the percentage of features and projects on product roadmaps that actually generate a positive return on investement is depressingly small. Most industry analysts place it in the range of 10 to 30 percent.” 2️⃣ Principles trump frameworks: “the product operating model is a conceptual model. It’s a way for you to think about the work. It’s not a prescription. It’s not a process. There is no single framework or methodology or tool.” Examples of principles, you say? Outcomes over outputs is one. Experimentation + continuous delivery is another one. 3️⃣ Product management in title-only = a big point of failure — it’s a domino effect when the company doesn’t fully commit to change: “the reason why so many transformations are destined to failure is that the company is not willing to enforce this standard on the people they call product managers, so the product teams do not contain the necessary cross-functional skills, the stakeholders don’t trust the teams, the product teams are not able to deliver the necessary outcomes, and the attempt to move to the product model collapses.” 4️⃣ A good point on ownership: “Collaboration is not democracy. You don’t vote on decisions. Instead, you depend on the expertise of each member of the product team.” >>> “if your decision pertains to technology, you defer to the teach lead / if it pertains to customer experience, you defer to the product designer / if it pertains to business constraints, you defer to the product manager.” 5️⃣ Another *interesting* one: “it’s absolutely essential that the people who provide the dates are the ones who will actually have to deliver the product.” If you’ve already read it, what other points stuck with you? I’d love to know your thoughts 👇 P.S. for the #RO community, the book club details in the comments 🤓 with a shout out to Bogdan Lucaciu for initiating it ;)

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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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Most PMs I have met underestimate the impact of localization. They look at the preferences of their current customers and end up underestimating the demand for additional languages. My son needed a new skateboarding helmet. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a size small enough in Lisbon. I ended up ordering the helmet from a store in Denmark. Why? Because that was the closest store my English search query produced. I got curious and searched for information in Spanish and French. I found stores that were much closer and shipped to Portugal. They lost my business because their sites were not available in English. According to Eurostat, only 18% of Europeans regularly buy products in a foreign language online. According to a CSA research global study of 29 countries, 76% Prefer Purchasing Products with Information in their Own Language. The image attached comes from Global Localization of Google Searches by Language by Martin Krzywinski. If you look carefully, you will find that English searches dominate a few German, Swiss, and Cypriot cities and English-speaking countries. However, the majority of people search in their mother tongue. If you want more prospects to find your business, it’s not enough to offer it in one language, even if that language is English. Localization is more accessible, cheaper, and faster than ever. It’s time to make your business discoverable and accessible to broader audiences. #productmanagement #leadgen #growth

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 I AM THE DOCUMENTATION Ahhh… documentation. It’s a Love-Hate relationship, really. I guess most of you know the meme, right? You don’t want that. Now, there are several types of documentation: ⇒ For the final client or client facing documentation. It’s simple, you have a ton of tools for API documentation, but not only. You can use Archbee (YC S21) to also create public documentation. ⇒ Internal documentation, a totally different deal. It can be used for sales, customer support, whatever. Here, the new normal means centralizing, categorizing and scrubbing everything in order to combine it with an LLM, so that everyone in the team can interrogate it and get a quick response. ⇒ Developers’ documentation. What’s best for them? The sales and customer support one I mentioned earlier? Maybe it can be useful, on occasion. But in all other situations, well, most people use tools, documents, diagrams or comments in the code. What do they all have in common? They’re static. Is your product a static one? Is your product DONE? There’s no such thing as done. So… NO. Therefore, if your product is perpetually changing, for God’s sake, why would you think a static documentation would come in handy? It’s either outdated fast, so useless, or it becomes a burden to keep updated. Neither is a good option. What do YOU think is the right solution? I know of one… but no spoilers.

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From company to company, from product manager to product manger, one of the main complaints is lack of time, too many tasks, and constant context switching. Therefore I truly believe that the ability not to stress about having to handle a multitude of tasks simultaneously is an important "skill" for a product manager. Example of my current workload: 1. 2 major tasks in discovery and business case development 2. Preparation for OKRs in Q3 3. 7 epics in delivery / A/B testing process, with constant requirements clarifications, test analysis, and reviewing user sessions in FullStory 4. Participation in agile rituals of two development teams 5. Onboarding a new product manager With such a variety of tasks at different stages, I often have to switch contexts, quickly dive into matters in 10+ threads, attend numerous meetings, and still find time for focused work. Yes, there are practices that make the work easier and simpler. Yes, there are probably companies where processes are organized differently, and a product manager is more focused and has an empty calendar. And yes, you also have a choice where to work, how to work, and initiate changes so that to have healthier workload. But if you are considering a role as a product manager, I would advise you to accept the work format where you need to handle numerous tasks simultaneously as a basic reality. And if you truly enjoy your work when you can deeply and thoroughly dive into one task, have few meetings, and lots of time to think, you might be unhappy in the role of a product manager. #productmanagement #timemanagement #tips

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I'd appreciate it if you shared contact information of a reliable technical writer who can handle small projects/orders on a freelance basis 🙏 Language: English Tasks: tech documentation, APIs Volume: docs for 10-20 APIs (several days of work; we will estimate it together) #freelance #techwriter #technicalwriter #freelancetechwriter

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Curious about our Q1 product highlights and what’s on the horizon? Look no further than Optimizely’s Product Roadmaps! Discover the top 5 features that were released in Q1, and get a glimpse of exciting new features coming to the Optimizely suite by checking out our product roadmap pages: https://ow.ly/5uJM30sCBmv

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My new article on how to tackle different type of crisis. My experiences and small how-to ideas. I hope you will not need them never. But probably you will :) #crisis #product #productmanagement #

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My recent work really gave me inspiration for a a new blog. Read it on "The Product Gnome". Let me know what you think or give me feedback. Oh and btw, sharing = caring :-). "Test it? It works over there". https://lnkd.in/eiDnAta8 #productmanagement #productowner #agile #experimenting #experimentation

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Ever tried explaining what a Product Manager does? 🤔 Picture this: You're at the dinner table with relatives who ask about your job. You're tempted to say, "Well, it's like I'm the CEO... of a product." Product Management isn't about who sits where on the corporate ladder.🌟 It's about bridging the gap between teams. It's about being the glue that holds all pieces together, the rudder steering the ship 🚢 towards business wins, all while keeping customers at the heart of it all. ❤️ Does your role have a quirky job description that leaves your relatives wondering what you actually do? 🤷‍♀️ Share in the comments below!

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Just finished reading Lenny Rachitsky's newsletter with a contribution from Ben Erez about feature teams. It got me wondering – is my product team truly strategic, or are we more focused on churning out features? It seems understanding your team structure can make a big difference! I've actually had experience in both types of environments. Ben's perspective on feature teams was particularly interesting. He highlighted how PMs in these teams can still be doing really valuable work, and even become crucial assets to their CEOs. This take was refreshing compared to Marty Cagan's focus on empowered teams and the culture of valuing outcomes over outputs (wonderful insights from his appearance on Lenny's podcast/his book). It made me realize that even in a feature-focused team, there's value in shipping high-quality outputs that meet business needs. Sure, it might not be the same as a fully empowered PM role, but it can still be impactful. The key takeaway for me? It's not a binary choice. There's a spectrum of product team structures, and understanding your team's strengths and weaknesses can help you maximize your impact, regardless of the model. So, what about you? Do you identify more with a feature-first team or a more empowered PM role in your organization? #lifeofaPM Lenny's newsletter for reference and subscription -

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There's very little on how to transform a feature factory into an empowered product team as a bottoms-up initiative 🤔 and this video explains why well 🔍 As Marty Cagan said, "It becomes personal very quickly." It's difficult to write generic and actionable content, write a book, or record a training video that addresses more than a simple lack of knowledge about frameworks or ways of working because the underlying causes are too personal and company-specific. I have high hopes for David Pereira's new book "Untrapping Product Teams" to fill that void - and save many PMs from burning out ❤️ I'll report back when I get a chance to read it! 🧐 (waiting for the paper version 😁) #productmanagement #featurefactory #empoweredproductteams

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Ever wondered how 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦-𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠? Here are key takeaways from "𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭": 1. Embrace First Principles: Break down complex problems to their basic elements. 2. Plan Backwards: Visualize the end result and work backwards to find steps to get there. 3. Use Hypotheses: Experiment and test ideas instead of just sticking with what you know. 4. Learn from Failure: Each mistake offers a valuable lesson. 5. Think 10x: Aim for ten times improvement, not just incremental gains. How do you apply scientific thinking in your day-to-day work? 🤔 #Book #SameerKatkade #KeyTakeaways

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Incorrect AI-generated auto captions? No problem! You can now edit the captions directly within the CAPTR platform. See how simple it is to make changes below.

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This new article is for PMs and POs to demistify couple of concepts related to product management like priorisation, strategy, risk management and research. Often thought of very complex things we are afraid to touch, while there are ways to fear not, and get started. Hope you'll find those helpful. #productmanagement #prioritization #frameworks #research #riskmanagement #backlog #strategy

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Some thoughts on versioning roles in startups: It is widely accepted that the team that starts a company is rarely the same team that scales it to a large or public entity. Yet in practice this transition is often treated as an unexpected anomaly at each step, causing internal tension and conflict that can be a major distraction to the company to say the least. What happens when the "hacker" CTO who built the v1 of a product is now needed to manage hundreds or thousands of engineers? They either get layered or pushed aside, or have leverage and stay in their role but hinder the company's growth – all of which cause internal strife and inefficiency. Yet, the "growth CTO" may lack the hacker mentality which is required for subsequent product innovation. If you subscribe to the 3 horizons model, you know that both of these CTOs are crucial to the company's future growth, since no company ever exists in a single homogenous stage of maturity. Segmenting roles by functional area is ubiquitous in today's business - CTO, COO, CMO, CSO, and so forth, but segmenting roles by maturity stage is almost unheard of. I have been thinking about this recently, and one of the ideas that comes to mind is formally versioning or staging roles. In software systems, it's very common to use multiple versions of a software package or ML model simultaneously, so perhaps companies, too, can benefit from a "CTO 1.0" and "CTO 2.0", or an "Horizon 1 CTO" and a "Horizon 2 CTO" or a "Pre PM-fit" and a "Post PM-fit" CTO working alongside each other, which is proactively reflected in their titles and responsibilities, rather than a reactive change once the gap between their skills and talents and the company's needs arises. -- I'm curious if there are businesses out there that have successfully addressed this issue in practice, so if you know of any examples please share them below 🙏🏻

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