Frank Tisellano

As much as I believe in making the back of the cabinet as beautiful as the front, I’ve seen many product managers, especially new ones (including a starry-eyed, 23-year-old Frank) value beautiful design in their products for the wrong reasons or at the wrong times. Here’s how I think about integrating design improvements into my products while maintaining focus on delivering for the business.

Thanks to Sean Murphy and Theresa Shafer for inviting me to speak on the Cynical PM FrameworkThe Cynical PM Framework, a business-first approach to productAs PMs, of course we have a responsibility to our users — but we’re primarily responsible for advancing the goals of our business. In this post, I posit a simple framework for identifying the different strategic roles your product might play and how to prioritize, position, and measure success once you’ve identified that role.. Had a blast sharing and discussing it live for the first time. Fantastic insights from Sean & co, and great questions from the whole Lean Culture crew.

Video and transcript inside.

Many thanks to JJ Rorie for inviting yours truly to Product Voices, her excellent product management podcast. We discuss how PMs can have more impact by increasing their focus on the commercial side of the job, including some techniques you can use to improve your business focus.

Find it wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple and Spotify, or listen directly on the Product Voices Website.

Average PMs discover customer problems and create elegant solutions to those problems with software. Building products is what they’re best at.

Great PMs recognize that building a good product is table stakes and that the way to truly differentiate themselves is by taking a strategic approach to how customers or users find and adopt their products. Read on to find out how.

As PMs, of course we have a responsibility to our users — but we’re primarily responsible for advancing the goals of our business. In this post, I posit a simple framework for identifying the different strategic roles your product might play and how to prioritize, position, and measure success once you’ve identified that role.

Do you want to be a better product manager? Do you enjoy words? Do you like the endorphin hit you get when they slide their way through your eyeballs into your brain? I sure do. Here are some of my favorite words on Product Management.

Because PMs come from diverse backgrounds and because every company does Product Management differently, there’s no ideal interview process that works for everyone. But most great PMs share key attributes and behaviors that make them great.

Over time, I’ve honed a number of interview questions I believe get to the heart of these attributes and behaviors. Responses to scenarios like these are difficult to rehearse, since they’re unpredictable and since good interviewers can ramp the difficulty of the scenario when candidates respond well.