I’ve always seen my workspace as an extension of how I think — structured, focused, but also open to exploration.
I recently shared a snapshot of my setup and routines with Workspaces. In it, I talk about how I try to stay present across work and life, the balance between structure and curiosity, and why I keep a Meta Quest within reach.
Topics we touched on: – How time blocking and notification control help me stay present in both work and family life – Why I lean on tools that reduce friction — and occasionally spark delight – The role mindful experimentation plays in maintaining creativity – My view on remote work as a way to unlock more inclusive collaboration
For remote-first teams, meetups can serve as the pit stop for team building—cultivating lasting psychological safety, among other benefits. For our team, this year’s gathering in Chamonix, France, was notably meaningful, as it was our first meetup in over three years!
With our company now more than three times the size than at previous meetups, our time together served as a critical milestone in our growth.
It was also a great opportunity for me to connect with everyone, as I joined Float just a few months prior as our first Director of Product.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Rebecca Kalogeris, Vice President of Marketing & Product Strategy at Pragmatic Institute, a company that provides training and enterprise transformation services for B2B tech organizations.
Rebecca shared insights from her extensive experience in marketing and product strategy, emphasizing the importance of targeted and well-communicated product launches. She discussed how Pragmatic Institute’s framework focuses on identifying market problems as a foundation for successful product development and launch.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Dan Erickson, CEO and Founder of Viable, a company that helps businesses learn from customer feedback through advanced natural language processing.
Dan brought unique insights from his experience developing NLP tools that aggregate customer feedback across multiple channels to identify themes and produce actionable insights. At the time of our conversation, Viable was using a combination of in-house and third-party models, including GPT-3, to analyze qualitative data.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Dan Balcauski, Principal Consultant at Product Tranquility, a consultancy that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products.
Dan brought extensive experience from his 15+ years managing products throughout their lifecycle - from concept incubation through launch, maintenance, platform transitions, and end of life. His background spans both consumer and B2B companies across multiple industries and company sizes from startups to publicly-traded multinationals.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Sam Higham, VP of Product at Glean, a note-taking solution for learning and productivity.
Sam brought a wealth of experience from his 10+ years in product development across nearly every role except coding. Beyond his work at Glean, he also serves as a product coach and trainer for Mind the Product, helping guide individuals through their product management careers.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Seán Massey, Lead Product Manager at DWP Digital, the digital arm of the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions.
Seán brought unique insights from his extensive experience in the public sector, having started in operations at DWP before moving into project management and eventually product leadership. At the time of our conversation, he was leading digital debt services that support millions of people in the UK.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Erin Hess, a Senior Test Engineer at Crema who I had the pleasure of working with directly.
Erin brought a unique perspective to our conversation, having started her career as a graphic designer before becoming a self-taught coder who developed a passion for software testing. With over 12 years of experience across multiple roles within software development, she offered valuable insights into the often-overlooked field of testing.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Paul Ortchanian, Founder and CEO of Bain Public, a product leadership firm that helps companies make informed decisions and deliver high-quality products.
Paul brought a wealth of experience from his leadership roles at San Francisco Bay Area startups and high-growth companies. Our conversation focused on his transition out of the corporate world and into entrepreneurship, where he revealed the challenges of breaking through organizational barriers to do the right thing for products.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Chanel Maddox, a talented Product Manager at Crema who I had the privilege of collaborating with directly.
Chanel brought unique insights from her background in consulting, where her inquisitive nature led her to question the “why” behind product decisions. At the time of our conversation, she was overseeing product planning, client/team relations, and team responsibilities throughout the product lifecycle at Crema.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Elise Fox, a Senior Product Manager at Chegg, an education technology company focused on improving learning outcomes.
Elise brought a unique perspective to our conversation about transitioning into product management, having started her career in traditional publishing before moving into educational technology. At the time of our conversation, she was working on Chegg Life, a vertical dedicated to supporting students beyond just their academic needs.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with two technology experts from Crema: CK Hicks, a Creative Technologist, and Scotty Moon, a Senior Application Developer.
CK explores how people interact with technology in the world around them, focusing on driving functional, disciplined innovation through real-world prototypes. Meanwhile, Scotty brings over 15 years of experience as a Mobile Developer with expertise in React Native, Java, Swift, and Flutter, along with a passion for mentoring junior developers.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Brandon Blackman, a product manager at Crema with extensive experience in healthcare tech startups and enterprise-level web applications.
Brandon brought unique insights to our conversation about product roadmaps, having overseen development for various digital products including e-commerce stores, mobile apps, and enterprise applications. At the time of our conversation, he was also serving on the board of directors for HealthSplash, a healthcare platform focused on solving the problem of denied medical claims.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with Natalie Mandriko, a product manager at GroundTruth with experience spanning both B2B and B2C products.
Natalie’s background uniquely qualifies her to discuss cross-functional collaboration, as she has worked across software development, QA, and product management roles. At the time of our conversation, she was working as a growth product manager for WeatherBug, managing partnerships and leading growth analytics initiatives.
In this episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I spoke with John Carter, Founder and Principal of TCGen Inc., about cultivating innovation within product teams.
John brings extraordinary experience as an advisor to some of the world’s most respected technology companies including Abbott, Amazon, Apple, Bose, Cisco, Fitbit, HP, IBM, and Roche. He was the chief engineer and inventor of the popular Bose noise-canceling headphones and helped create Apple’s new product process.
In this inaugural episode of The Product Manager Podcast, I joined Ben Aston to launch a new community focused on evolving the playbook for product management, development, and strategy.
We explored:
The vision behind The Product Manager community and podcast My role as Director of Product Management at Crema and the expertise I bring to the host position The fundamentals of product management and how we think about this discipline in 2021 What listeners can expect from future episodes with product leaders This conversation marked the beginning of a podcast journey that would go on to feature discussions with product leaders across industries, sharing practical strategies for everything from product vision to execution.
Agile transformation is hard. Leaning into it requires pushing the comfort of your organization’s culture and expertise. Navigating company politics is a necessary truth due to the perceived relinquishment of control it asks leaders for. Perhaps most insidious of all is facing down the challenge of your team’s doubt in the yet-to-be-seen results a successful agile transformation could have.
Yet, all of these challenges can be circumnavigated if everyone engages in the agile transformation themselves.
There’s a lot of content, guides, textbooks, courses, and certifications available on agile product management. You don’t need all of that.
At its core, agile product management is built around a simple, people-oriented philosophy. Many of the processes that agile takes form in are simple and easy to understand. Yet, the complexity arises through misunderstood expectations, roles, and process.
Through this guide, we’ll:
Explore agile product management, its philosophy, and the processes that it takes shape in.
Trust is crucial, yet often absent Trust is the foundation of any successful product team. Trust is what all good intentions and results are built upon. Yet, in a recent online survey conducted by product leaders at Crema, we found a lack of trust is surprisingly common across many organizations. Even for many of the organizations that do have it, there’s a heavy weight present with that trust: it has to be earned, and what can be earned can be taken away.