Building a Virtual Board of Directors with AI featuring Victor Njoroge

In this conversation, Dave Prior interviews Victor Njoroge about the intersection of AI and product management. Victor shares his background and role at Clarion, emphasizing the importance of optimizing workflows for sales development representatives. They discuss the concept of Sidebar, a platform for brainstorming and sharing ideas among professionals. Victor explains how he built a virtual board of directors using AI to gain diverse perspectives on product management challenges. The conversation highlights the significance of trust in AI tools, the need for continuous learning, and the enduring value of human skills in the age of AI.

Video: https://youtu.be/Z1oVjbl6V8Y

Audio: https://on.soundcloud.com/7SpXAA8EZRsxKiwP6o

Navigating AI - Making Sense of Agents and When To Use Them with Hugo Bowne-Anderson

In this conversation, Dave Prior and Hugo Bowne-Anderson discuss the evolving landscape of AI and data science, focusing on the role of AI agents in solving business problems. Hugo shares insights on how to effectively implement AI solutions, the importance of understanding the underlying data, and the need for continuous improvement in AI systems. They also touch on the skills necessary for navigating the AI landscape, the value of collaboration between technical and non-technical teams, and the importance of assessing the value of AI projects. Hugo concludes by offering a course on building AI applications, emphasizing the iterative nature of AI development.

You can find the interview here.

Being a Product Owner with No Direction From Above with Richard Cheng

What do you do when you're a Product Owner who gets no direction or support from above? You and the other POs are each told your product is the top priority for the organization but there are not enough developers to do the work. You don't have clarity on company strategy or what the stakeholders want. 

In this episode, Richard Cheng is back for a discussion about how a PO can survive given the challenges listed above.

The intro to this podcast includes details of some new things I'm working on - The Agile Network, my new Art of War for Collaboration course, and the Guided Personal Kanban courses I'm doing for Modus Institute; as well as the podcasting I did at Agile 2024, so.. here are links for that stuff. 

You can find the podcast here.

Links from Dave's Intro

• The Agile Network* https://theagilenetwork.com/

*If you’d like a discount on an annual membership or want to try a month for free, send an email to dave@theageilnetwork.com and let me know.

• Agile 2024 Interviews: https://drunkenpm.blogspot.com/2024/07/agile-2024-all-interviews.html
• The Art of War for Collaboration Course https://modusinstitute.com/course/art-of-war-collaboration
• Guided Personal Kanban (September 2024) https://modusinstitute.com/course/guided-pk-sep-usa
• Public Scrum Training CSM/CSPO/A-CSPO https://www.scrumalliance.org/courses-events/search?tr=14153&cnty=US

What's The Next Most Important Thing to Learn with Scott Sehlhorst

 

I’m testing out the AI Generated Summary…

Click here to go straight to the podcast

In this conversation, Dave Prior and Scott Sehlhorst discuss the importance of improving the product plan while executing it. They explore the common problem of companies jumping straight into execution without considering what they should build and why. Scott emphasizes the need to shift from a mindset of control to one of influence, where product managers focus on solving problems and creating value for customers and the business. They also discuss the concept of uncertainty and sensitivity and how to navigate it using impact mapping to identify needs and changes. In this conversation, Scott Sehlhorst discusses the importance of shifting into a business model and the need to create changes and hypotheses. He emphasizes the process of narrowing down the target population and quantifying the impact of changes. Scott also highlights the significance of determining sensitivity and making connections between cause and effect. He introduces the confidence rubric and explains how to prioritize experiments. The conversation concludes with the idea of constantly improving the plan and focusing on the next most important thing to learn.

You can find the podcast here.

Improving Value Delivery In Your Organization with Gil Broza

Gil Broza joins me to provide a walkthru of Square, a new tool he has developed that will help you assess product development in your organization and determine what improvements will have the biggest impact on your ability to deliver value. 

You can find the interview here.

Creating Outcome Focused User Stories with Scott Sehlhorst

Scott Sehlhorst joins me for this interview that builds on his recent blog post “How to Make Your Product Special” (https://bit.ly/3AciBBK). We dig into product positioning, why understanding the desired outcome the product is supposed to provide is often the thing fail to understand, and how to start creating User Stories that are focused on those outcomes instead of the output-driven stories most people write.

You can find the interview here: https://bit.ly/3ODw3D1

Understanding the Product Goal with Don McGreal

In my continuing quest to get sorted on the Product Goal I reached out to Don McGreal. Don is the VP of Learning Solutions at Improving, the co-Author of The Professional Product Owner book, the co-founder of TastyCupcakes.org, and a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer. 

The was one of the most impactful conversations I have had about Product Goal and it left me with not only a much deeper understanding of why it exists and how it can help, but how it is going to reshape the way I think about, and work with, the Product Backlog.

You can find the interview here.

Jason Tanner - Becoming a Certified Scrum Trainer

I've posted a new episode of the Reluctant Agilist on Project Manqgement.com that features Jason Tanner, CEO of Applied Frameworks and Certified Scrum Trainer. The interview focuses on the process Jason uses to help Certified Scrum Trainer candidates work towards their certification. If you aren't familiar with the process of becoming a CST, it is not an easy path. For many people, it takes 3-5 years from the time they start working on it, until they reach their goal.

You can find the podcast, contact info and more at:

https://bit.ly/2TSrPuR

Scaling Product Development with Ellen Gottesdiener and Andy Repton

Earlier this fall at the 2018 Large Scale Scrum Conference in NYC, Ellen Gottesdiener and Andy Repton led a session called “What is Our Product” (https://less.works/sessions/2018-less-conference-new-york-what-is-our-product-88). During the course of their presentation they showcased many of the tools they use with clients to determine what the product they are building actually is. In this interview Ellen and Andy explain why this question is not as easy to understand as it seems and why it is so critical to product success. During the course of our conversation they walk through some of the tools they use to help clients deepen their understanding of the product, how to make sure it is strategically aligned, and how this can even be done with massive organizations that are developing infrastructure products. 

You can find the podcast and more details on their session here: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/49746/Scaling-Product-Development-with-Ellen-Gottesdiener-and-Andy-Repton