Make Things That Matter

Randy Silver: The conversations that create impactful products

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Episode notes

Randy Silver is a product leadership advisor, podcast host, and global product community weaver. We explore the conversations needed to drive impact and perception of value.

You can also read this episode here.

Topics discussed:

(04:00) Moving from a journalistic editor to product editor

(07:34) Parallels between product management film production

(09:53) Missed opportunities & the need for collaboration

(15:21) Alignment with stakeholders

(18:24) Sales misalignment and restructures

(21:10) Diagnosing teamwork challenges with partners

(25:02) Diagnosing your new org via informational interviews

(28:05) Creating a manager README

(30:11) Roles and responsibilities convo for better understanding

(35:19) Guiding conversations and change

(44:22) Did reorganization at Airbnb address strategy misalignment?

(46:18) Defensive reaction within product community to Airbnb

(52:14) Coordinating while scaling

Links & resources mentioned

Find the full transcript at: https://podcast.makethingsthatmatter.com/randy-silver-conversations-create-impact#transcript

Send episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via email

Randy Silver: website, LinkedIn, Twitter

MTP talk: “Getting aligned with your exec team by Randy Silver”

• Podcast: The Product Experience

• Book: “What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of Crisis”

The product environment canvas

Stakeholder Informational interview template

Related episodes:

Andrew on Randy’s podcast, The Product Experience

#72 Pam Fox Rollin: Growing groups into teams

#44 Teresa Torres: Habits for clear thinking and better product bets

#18 Josh Seiden: Create clarity with outcomes thinking

#5 Rich Mironov: Building a thriving product organization

#3 Christina Wodtke: Unleashing potential with extraordinary teams

People & orgs:

Georgie Smallwood

Matt LeMay

Alan Albert - value based pricing

Itamar Gilad

Books:

Growing Groups Into Teams

Evidence Guided

The Team That Managed Itself

Continuous Discovery Habits

Outcomes Over Output

Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management

Other resources:

Product, it’s time to grow up

Rich Mironov: The slippery slope of sales-led development

The Journey to Empowered Teams - Twitter, Airbnb & Tumblr

Product Strategy Acid Test

OODA loop

• Manager README: The Indispensable Document for the Modern Manager

Roman Pichler - the decision making chart

Relentless equanimity