Ana Pegan

We don’t need more Product Owners. We need fewer of them. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 - 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. Over the years, “Product Owner” became the corporate placebo for “we’re doing agile.” But somewhere along the way, we confused ticket ownership with business ownership. We hired armies of Product Owners who mastered Scrum ceremonies… but lost sight of outcomes. I’ve seen companies with dozens of POs and not a single person who could explain the P&L. AI will soon write user stories, manage backlogs, and even run sprint reviews. But it won’t make the hard call on what actually matters. That’s the job of a Product Manager. 𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞. If you’re a Product Owner today, stop owning tickets. Start owning the outcome. The future doesn’t need more Product Owners. It needs Product Leaders.

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Some thoughts on dependencies: It is impossible to have perfect coherence between strategy, org structure, skills/domain knowledge, and architecture. Therefore, you should expect that some percentage of work will involve dependencies on other groups or teams. At a high level, I see three types of organizations. 1. In some organizations, leaders actively downplay the impact of dependencies. They expect managers to magically march forth and resolve issues, preserving the mirage of team independence. When the percentage of dependency-laden work is lower, this “works.” 2. In other organizations, the percentage of dependency-laden work is so high, and the appetite to remove the dependencies so low, that they have no other choice but to institutionalize the incoherence and project/program-manage the heck out of things. 3. Finally, you have some organizations that are actively working to re-architect, introduce platforms, add enabling teams, accept the current mess, and gracefully bring things to a better place. In many rapid-growth tech companies, it is the “independent” teams—or teams that have the power to request whatever they want—that actually limit the ability to fix this problem! They advocate against any sort of process or workflow that forces them to show their work. They hate the overhead. They don’t like being dragged down. Meanwhile, the shared teams, GTM teams, etc., are struggling as second-class citizens, overwhelmed by requests, and constantly blamed for things being slow. Not all dependencies are bad. If you want to do more integrated, coherent work that spans touchpoints and experiences, you are going to have dependencies. This is where program and project managers come in because, with the right approaches, they can preserve the independence of the pieces while making sure the “whole” fits together. These types of dependencies are very different from blocking dependencies or the need to coordinate super closely across teams. I do think that a reasonable metric for most companies is the percentage of teams that can operate fairly independently. But I don’t think this percentage should be 100%, or even 90% (maybe 80%?), because that might indicate a lack of cohesion. Finally… the biggest issue. The biggest issue with dependencies is when teams try to juggle all of their “other” work and then be a part-time working group member on the big cross-cutting thing. That is bound to fail! Managers get too defensive and try to act as human load balancers. Commit to the big messy project and knock it out, even if it means forming an ad hoc team.

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🎯 What role should the Chief Product Officer play in corporate strategy? A central one. A great CPO does more than lead product - they help shape the company’s strategic bets: 🧠 They bring deep customer insight into the room 📊 Translate market shifts into product opportunities 🔗 And align product execution with long-term business goals ⚙️ When the strategy changes, the CPO ensures the product roadmap flexes with it - turning vision into velocity. 💡 Strategy isn’t a slide deck. It’s what the product does. And the CPO is the one who makes that real. #productleadership #corporatestrategy #chiefproductofficer #cpo #productdrivengrowth

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Most product leaders make one big mistake when presenting to the board: They report features, plans, and projects. 💡 Instead, report impact, velocity, and what it means for the business. This is the exact 6-slide board update framework that high-performing product orgs use — clear, confident, and strategic. If you ever wondered “What does the board want to hear?”, this is your blueprint. #ProductManagement

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Product Management is under threat from AI. The PM/PO is seen by many as a delivery function whose job is to produce backlogs, PRDs, user stories, and and tickets. These tasks can done by AI, so the thinking goes, hence no need for most PMs. In other words, if all you do is create "deliverables", there's a real risk someone would feel AI can do your job. In reality product management goes far deeper than that and involves some distinctly human soft and hard skills including understanding and analyzing context, system thinking, constraints management, relationships building, and communications. These are exactly the things we focus on in my workshops. We learn techniques ranging from strategy development to execution that will make you an effective product _person_ rather than an a cog in a delivery system (useful also if you work in UX, engineering, research, or data). Can AI help -- absolutely. But armed with this knowledge you will be far less replaceable , and you may also find your work more fulfilling and enjoyable. Secure one of the last remaining tickets now.

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Tim Herbig has beautifully and simply described the process that was go through as product builders. From his latest post: When you're stuck in isolated practices, try moving around the Progress Wheel: ♟️ Strategy unclear? Look to Discovery for validated problems worth solving. 🎯 OKRs not moving? Check if they connect to strategic priorities. 🔎Discovery overwhelming? Let Strategy focus your research. Check out the full post, The Progress Wheel: My favorite Structure to Connect the Dots, here: https://lnkd.in/gSweFM8u

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Most companies still have no idea what product management actually is. I know many of you have read "Escaping the Build Trap" or are familiar with the concepts. But I'm constantly surprised by how many organizations, even successful ones, are completely clueless about the fundamentals. They think product managers are project managers with a fancier title. Or they treat them like feature factories, measuring success by how many things they ship instead of the value they create. Some give product managers zero strategic authority, then wonder why their products miss the mark. This isn't a startup problem. I've worked with massive enterprises that should know better, but they're still confusing outputs with outcomes and treating product management like an execution function instead of a strategic one. The knowledge gap isn't just about education → it's about organizational culture and leadership understanding what product management can actually do for their business. If you know companies struggling with this, point them toward the basics. We have 250+ podcast episodes tackling these exact challenges across different types of organizations. As “Escaping the Build Trap” nears its 7th anniversary, its core message is more relevant than ever. In a world full of AI hype, vibe-coding madness, and reactive, trend-chasing launches, we need to get back to fundamentals: solving real problems for real people. That’s how we build products that matter, and that’s still the way out of the build trap. What's the biggest product management misconception you've encountered in your experience?

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Most companies don’t have real product managers. They have feature owners, project managers, or product owners but not PMs who truly own outcomes. Marty Cagan explains why a real product manager is essential for an empowered product team. Here’s why: - Engineers own feasibility. - Designers own usability. - But who owns value and viability? Without a strong product manager in place, there’s a critical gap that no one else can fill. Are you truly driving product outcomes, or just managing features? Watch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/d2txQTbt

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7 Steps to Crafting a Winning Product Strategy 📌 A great product strategy is more than a vision. It’s a roadmap that guides decision making and aligns the entire organization. Without a clear strategy, teams risk building in multiple directions, losing focus, and ultimately missing market opportunities. Key elements of a strong product strategy include: 1️⃣ Understanding your target market and competitive landscape. 2️⃣ Defining clear objectives tied to business goals. 3️⃣ Prioritizing customer pain points over vanity features. 4️⃣ Balancing short-term wins with long-term innovation. 5️⃣ Continuously validating assumptions with data. 6️⃣ Aligning stakeholders and maintaining transparency. 7️⃣ Adapting the strategy as the market evolves. What’s one aspect of your product strategy that has made the biggest impact? #ProductStrategy #innovation

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From PMO to Value Realization Office (VRO). ▶️ Portfolio OKR controls (not too many Os or KRs, alignment over cascade, nested OKRs with parents, transparent, well-written outcome hypotheses) ▶️ Coaching & support for value stream aligned product teams (cadences such as MBR and QBR, coaching teams on outcomes and cadences, visualising, managing & breaking dependencies, taking an enabling leadership stance 'how can we help?') ▶️ Data feedback loops (ensuring that the KRs are measurable and measured, visualising data in tooling, reporting, inspect & adapt) #BVSSH

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"You can't talk to customers unless you've got something to show them" This is a common trope in B2B product management, where there can often be a resistance to product teams speaking to customers or users at all. But, even when you do get to do some discovery, heaven forbid you ask some open-ended questions and try to find out something new. You need a position! You need something to show them! Now, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with showing customers new stuff you're building and asking about it (as long as you ask good questions etc etc) but as soon as you show them something, the rest of the interview is going to be about that thing. Even if you ask general questions, they'll still be thinking about the thing, whatever it was. So... if you *are* going to show them a potential solution to a problem, at the very least get some unfiltered intel from them first; start the interview with some generative research questions then pivot to evaluative later on, rather than unveiling your shiny new widget and wondering why no one ever mentioned the even bigger opportunity that was right under all your noses.

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Different methods can be used to split product responsibilities, such as by user personas, customer journey phases, or specific goals. These methods should align with the strategic pillars of the company and be tailored to fit the product and team. Splitting responsibilities based on engineering layers or functional modules is discouraged as it lacks substance and independence, hindering cross-functional collaboration necessary for delivering end-to-end value. https://lnkd.in/gDvkHyr9

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Just joined a new company as a Product Leader and want to quickly generate impact? One of the best ways to do so is: 🚀 Ask these 3 questions to every PM in your team: 1. "What project in your backlog can deliver a 10x better experience for customers?" -> Directs them to highlight the truly high-impact ideas and communicates you expect them to keep the main thing the main thing. 2. "Why do you have conviction in it?" -> Encourages them to articulate reasoning. Note: don't dismiss qualitative gut checks as data can be scarce when you're operating at the frontier. 3. "What would need to be true for you to ship it next week?" -> Triggers clarity and innovative thinking. It's less about next week and more about surfacing the real constraints and bottlenecks. 💬 Listen to Customers, ASAP It might take you months to fully grasp the company’s internal dynamics, but understanding the customer jumpstarts your perspective. Check existing research or talk to some customers. If you start with these two steps, you’ll filter out the minutia. Remember: Big wins come from focusing on the right problems—and asking the right questions.

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Product strategy framework: 3 features to focus on, 3 to ditch. Product strategy can feel like chaos. Stakeholders want everything, your team is juggling priorities, and you're left wondering what are we actually trying to achieve? Without focus, the result is predictable: wasted effort, burned-out teams, and a product that doesn't deliver value.  But strategy is about choices. It's not about doing more - it's about doing less, but doing it better.  The framework for product strategy: → Identify 3 strategic pillars. These are the areas where you'll make the most impact for your users and your business. E.g. improved discovery, faster onboarding or personalised content.  → Ditch. Be clear about what you won't do - and why. E.g. features that are shiny but don't align with your strategy.  → Align. Involve your team and stakeholders early on. A strategy that no one understands or supports won't work.  A framework that gives your team clarity and keeps your product moving in the right direction. And with AI creating new opportunities and budgets, now is the time to lean in. But tread carefully: adding AI just for the sake of it won't do the trick. Focus on solving meaningful problems that differentiate your product.  A good strategy isn't about more features. It's about making better choices.  #productstrategy #aistrategy #b2b #saas #techfounder

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