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
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
I had a wonderful time discussing management myths, fake agility, and how to get to done with Kumar Dattatreyan. He runs the Agile Meridian podcast. You can also find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/live/_L4TnfDeQAs?si=SZs1oLuL6faYG7Bg Kumar was a terrific host—we had a delightful conversation. We discussed several of my books: The Modern Management Made Easy books (the
Since I am not traveling (!), my podcast returns this week. This is early in a romantic suspense story. Yes, there’s only the suspense right now. The romance part will arrive a little later. Maybe next week. We will see. Hope you enjoy this small glimpse of the story. The Podcast: The Transcript: This is
As far as I can tell, all organizations have the appetite for more work than they have people or time to do that work. It does not matter if the organization is one person or thousands. We all want to accomplish more than we have people. That’s why we need a product vision to drive
I started this series by saying a team can create a useful project charter in less time than you think. So what prevents teams from doing so? Too often, the project is not ready. The team might be ready, but the project is not. In effect, the project starts with scarcity. (I used to think