One of the mistakes organizations make around strategy is injecting too much emotion or bias into the thinking, evaluation, and work around defining and implementing a strategy. A winning strategy, outside of luck, is almost always the result of a neutral perspective and approach. Strategic planning should be neutral for…

Emulating another company’s strategy isn’t inherently good or bad; however, there are considerations when doing so. We tend to fall into two camps of perspective around emulating (a polite way of saying copying) another company’s strategy. The first camp is the “Well, if it’s working for them, why wouldn’t it…

Strategy isn’t a once-a-year activity. Strategy isn’t just for when things are going bad and need to be shaken up. Strategy isn’t the production of a plan to never be viewed again until the next go around. Strategy is an ongoing activity that is central to the success of any…

Southwest Airlines recently acknowledged challenges with antiquated technology systems that caused the massive inability to operate the business and to serve customers adequately. Southwest’s technical challenges are a high-profile example of technical debt catching up to and overtaking a company’s ability to perform essential functions. Southwest appears to have kicked…

Success engenders confidence and more success for products and, therefore, product managers. Reciprocally, lack of success works the same. — Show me a product manager whose latest release is a hit with users and driving the outcomes desired by the company. I will show you a product manager who is likelier to operate confidently and will continue to have at least near-term success. On the other hand, show me a…

Every product has a dark period and sometimes several. Dark periods are when a product team knows what to design and develop and go about doing it, but the work has yet to be exposed to users in any significant way. The dark periods are challenging. Product dark periods are…

Professional services firms are one of the most challenging types of companies to create a winning strategy for. Professional services cover a broad spectrum of companies, from design agencies to law firms, accounting firms, technology consulting firms, architecture firms, and more. The thing that links professional services firms under the…

Seeing several posts among the recent string of layoffs that espouse job security at large companies as a myth and touting being your own boss (freelancer, creator, entrepreneur, etc.) as the only secure professional path. This couldn’t be further from the truth. First, the people behind the job security myth…

I went to Acadia National Park a few weeks ago. I am an outdoorsy person, and Acadia has always been a place I wanted to get to and explore. Acadia is beautiful and rugged. I hiked about 30 miles over the course of my five days there. Acadia is also…