I’m trying to finish my product value team series. I started what I thought was the next-to-last post. I’m still writing, almost 1200 words later. (1200 words!!) I’m stuck. Clearly not with the words. I got a lot of words. But with the ideas. I’m having trouble expressing what I mean. That’s when I realized […]
I started this series bemoaning the fact that we have too few product managers. That leads to no product leaders for a team. Worse, some teams have either strategic product thinkers or tactical thinkers—but not both. Instead, we can consider several possible product value teams to prevent insufficient product leadership. I already discussed the Vertical
Some of the writers who take my writing workshop tell me they have writer’s block. But they can write me long emails, so it’s not literally writer’s block. However, they are stuck on something—something that prevents them from writing something useful. So they call it writer’s block. Instead, I suspect they have project block, where
My podcast this week is an excerpt from a fiction spy story. After I recorded this, my podcast host sent me an email that my fees are rising. I will move my podcast for 2026, and let you know when I do. (Or, I’ll just use YouTube for the videos.) If you have an opinion
Teams can flounder in the face of insufficient strategic and tactical product leadership. What problems does this product need to solve for its customers and when? How does the team know? That issue of strategy and tactics might require a Vertical Product Value team to answer. While that’s an unusual approach, it might be better
This week’s podcast is from one of my upcoming columns on projectmanagement.com. Enjoy! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for November 28, 2025, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is part of what I hope will be
This is Johanna Rothman’s November 2025 Pragmatic Manager newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. I’ve been working with Stephanie, a senior leader who’s trying to nudge her organization to more organizational agility. Not because agility is so “good,” but because they want to quickly launch new products and new versions
The whole point of product management is to increase the product capabilities over time. Those capabilities will expand the customer base by offering new value. More customers means more revenue. That’s why the product vision for this release is so critical. That product vision requires strategic product leadership. The backlog is the tactical implementation of
I’ve been diligently working on my Kickstarter for Effective Public Speaking. I have learned a ton about graphics, creating an inviting Kickstarter, and organizing rewards. Yes, I am acting as a product manager for my book. (All you product managers—no one respects you enough. No one. Launching anything is quite the challenge.) Here is the
In my recent project charter series, I said we need a product vision to drive the project charter effort so the customers can get this container of value. Who creates that product vision? The product leader. However, too many supposedly agile teams lack an effective product leader. Here’s what I’ve seen: A part-time product manager