In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Dan Olsen, the author of the Lean Product Playbook and a Lean Product Consultant about his transition into Lean, Product Management, his coaching style and the Lean Product Mindset.
Who is Dan Olsen?
Dan Olsen is a product management and Lean startup consultant, speaker, and author based in Silicon Valley. At Olsen Solutions, he works with CEOs and product leaders to build great products and strong product teams, often as interim VP of Product. His clients include Facebook, Box, Microsoft, Medallia, and One Medical Group.
Dan is the author of the bestseller The Lean Product Playbook. Prior to consulting, Dan worked at Intuit, where he led the Quicken product team. He also led product management at Friendster. Dan was also cofounder and CEO of TechCrunch award winner YourVersion, a personalized news startup.
He earned engineering degrees from Northwestern and Virginia Tech and an MBA from Stanford. Dan is founder of the Lean Product & Lean UX Silicon Valley Meetup, the largest product-focused meetup in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 5,300 members.
What you will learn – Lean Product Mindset and more!
- Many years back, you started your career in the US Navy and then moved on to making software products. How was your experience moving from hardware to software products?
- How did you get started with using Lean?
- Who are the people that’ve influenced you the most?
- What makes you different from other product managers and makers?
- Have you trained or coached other product people to do what you are doing as a product manager? How successful have they been in being able to replicate the results?
To be continued in Episode 85.
Useful Links
- Dan Olsen on the interweb
- leanproductplaybook.com
- Twitter @danolsen
- Dan’s book
- The Lean Product Playbook (click here to buy on Amazon)
Getting Started & Resources
- Tiny Book Of Triggers for actionable triggers to learn fresh new Product Management & Design skills & more. (click here to download)
- Get Started with Design Your Thinking (click here)
- Handpicked Resources (click here)
