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Mind the Product

Podcast

Why product managers are getting fired – Dave Wascha (CPTO and Advisor)

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The key principles of PLG: Leah Tharin at #mtpcon London 2025 (Product Advisor)

B2B product management

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Building Product Teams

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Minimum Viable Product

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Three unconventional ways to be a better product manager 

What product leaders can learn from mergers and acquisitions – Vincent Jong (CPO, Dealfront)

Inside Amex’s mobile app redesign – Jose Quesada at #mtpcon London 2025 (VP Product, Amex)

Breaking into product management: A practical guide for aspiring product professionals

The best resources for product managers in 2025

Eira is an editor for Mind the Product. She's been a business journalist, editor, and copywriter for longer than she cares to think about.

Eira Hayward

In this Sunday Rewind we look back at Marty Cagan’s opening keynote from mtpcon London 2016, where he shares his thoughts on what makes a great product manager by looking at the people behind some great products.
<figure id="attachment_9242" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9242" style="width: 968px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-9242" src="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/marty-cagan-at-mind-the-product-300x200.jpg" alt="Marty Cagan at Mind the Product 2016" width="968" height="645" srcset="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/marty-cagan-at-mind-the-product-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/marty-cagan-at-mind-the-product-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/marty-cagan-at-mind-the-product-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://www.mindtheproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/marty-cagan-at-mind-the-product.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 968px) 100vw, 968px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-9242" class="wp-caption-text">Marty Cagan: Great product managers are smart, creative and persistent</figcaption></figure>
Behind every great product there is always someone who works hard to solve incredibly difficult problems. In this talk Marty examines some highly successful products, and the outstanding product managers responsible for them.
Marty looks at the work of Martina Lauchengco, who improved the performance of MS Word for the Mac, and at the work of Kate Arnold in the early years at Netflix. He also looks at Jane Manning’s work on Google Adwords, at Alex Pressland’s work on the BBC’s mobile strategy, at Camille Hearst’s work to make iTunes a part of the daily life for American Idol watchers, and at Lea Hickman’s work to develop Adobe Creative Cloud.
<a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/tag/sunday-rewind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Discover more insights from our Sunday Rewind series.</a>
Marty’s examples show that product management is distinct from other disciplines, he says. Product managers must deeply understand all aspects of the business, from marketing to sales, finance, manufacturing, legal, and partnerships.
Great products require intense collaboration with design and engineering to solve real problems for customers in ways that meet needs of business. Great product managers are smart, creative and persistent, says Marty. They’re not afraid to lead through inspiration, motivation and logic.
<a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/behind-every-great-product-marty-cagan/">Watch Marty’s opening keynote on great product managers from mtpcon London 2016</a>

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Product Management Skills

How to keep your head about generative AI (when everyone is losing theirs) by Claire Woodcock

How to F.A.I.L. better in product by Marc Abraham

10 years Wiser: Lessons learned from scaling Wise by Nilan Peiris

Fighting product-market drift by Dave Wascha

Experiment like a boss by Merissa Silk

How to find out what your customers want by Janet Bumpas

All product management should be focused on growth by Partho Ghosh

Product, dance, and pockets of brilliance by Pippa Topp

A quick look at decision supervision by Lucy Spence

Identify and manage imposter syndrome by Phyllis Njoroge

SUNDAY REWIND: Behind every great product by Marty Cagan

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SUNDAY REWIND: Behind every great product by Marty Cagan

Eira Hayward

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