In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with John Cutler, Senior Product Manager at Zendesk about feature factory, transparency and the role of a Product Manager.
There are various skills, techniques and hacks that we need to be good at as product makers. In this episode, I try to understand the top 3 areas that John believes a product manager needs to be good at. We also try to understand about failures and successes. We get into interesting topics like how a feature factory that’s not transparent can lead to failure and lack of trust. In this episode, we speak about:
- Product of You, and Why You Should Be Yourself as a Product Manager
- Feature Factory and Why Transparency Plays a Key Role
- How to Write More and Learn More
- Reflect on Success and Failure
Who is John Cutler?
John Cutler is keenly focused on user experience and evidence-driven product development.
He is currently Senior Product Manager for Search and Relevance at Zendesk. As a former UX researcher at AppFolio, a product manager at Pendo.io, AdKeeper and RichFX, a startup founder, and a product team coach, John has a perspective that spans individual roles, domains, and products. His viral enthusiasm has been heard through speaking engagements at Agile 2015, Heart of Agile Philadelphia (2016), and various ProductCamps (Vancouver, Los Angeles, Raleigh NC) and MeetUps (Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, New York).
Mixing in some less-than-typical experiences — driving rickshaws in NYC, and touring the US with “five other weird creative people in a van playing music” — John blogs prolifically about collaboration, product development, diversity, UX research, lean startup, and user experience. Some notable posts include The Evolving Product Manager Role, Persona(s) Non Grata, 12 Signs You’re Working in a Feature Factory, and Stop Setting Up Product Roadmaps To Fail.
What you will learn – Creating Products in a Secret Room and more!
Continued from Episode126.
- What are the 3 most important “things” that you think product managers and makers should focus on in developing a product mindset?
- We all learn from failures. What are the top 3 Product Management failures you’ve come across in the recent times? What were the learnings?
- How do you personally look at failure? What does John do when he realizes he has failed at something?
- You write a lot and you work a full-time job – what does your typical day look like? Do you have a morning routine?
- How do you look at success? What is that one thing that you think, has made you successful as a product manager and maker?
Useful Links
- John Cutler on the interwebs
- Flowstate App on iTunes Store
- John’s blog posts
- 12 Signs You’re Working in a Feature Factory (click to read)
- The Evolving Product Manager Role (click to read)
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