Kaitlin Wieand

Product management community👇 Great points for product management leaders to create a safe and collaborative environment for teams. Product management collaboration,continuous learning and leveraging external PM industry best practices is hugely important. Mind the Product #productmanagement #productleaders #productlearning #pmce # #pmbestpractices

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“If there is no clear owner, then it’s the PM that owns it.” I sat down with Esteban Contreras from #ProductState to discuss Product leadership, or Prioritization process at Productboard. We also dug into the concept of Extreme Ownership, which is a principle I firmly believe in. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eVN47mWn #productmanagement #productexcellence #ownership

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"Product Owner" is not a title!!! Hiring managers and recruiters, please stop using this term as a title. It's just a role in Agile. If you're frustrated with what has happened to the product management profession in recent years and you're in Southern California, please join me for "Reclaiming Product Management - Moving Beyond the Feature Factory" with John Mansour, July 25 in Tustin. If you're not in SoCal, visit my LinkedIn profile to check out my article on The Difference Between Product Manager and Product Owner. And, if you think "Product Owner" should be a title, leave a comment or show up next Thursday night. Let's get a discussion going! #productmanagement https://lnkd.in/gAmR-67q

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I've been a fan of the idea of Lean UX since Jeff Gothelf's book came out in 2013, but don't seem to have ever really worked on teams that fully embraced the process. I've also worked on teams that focused so much on using it to get a product out the door that our products had no real long-term vision. What's been your experience using Lean UX methodology? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? And why? #userexperience #UXD

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On a more serious note, I'd argue that a great Product Designer should be able to perform many of the tasks of a Product Owner. A designer should be fully capable and comfortable with detailing their designs, helping to prioritize features, understanding technical constraints with developers, and contributing to the overall vision and strategy.

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The art of saying "no" as a Product Manager. 🙅‍♂️ As the sun sets, it’s a reminder that in product management, one of the hardest but most important skills is learning when to say no. No to features that don’t align with the vision. No to requests that add complexity without value. No to distractions that take us off course. Saying no doesn’t mean shutting doors; it’s about keeping focus on what really matters. #ProductManagement #Leadership #DecisionMaking #Focus #USABusiness

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Tl;dr update: Still looking for work. Looking for Senior, Principal, Manager, Associate Director UX and Product Design roles. I have Product Management and Product Owner experience as well. The long of it: This morning I got the email that the position I’d gone through six rounds of interviews for was canceled. In response to market volatility, they’re pivoting. I’ve made it to final consideration 4 times since I was laid off in May. Twice the position was closed. Twice another candidate won out (we’re arch-nemeses now 👀… just kidding… 👀👀👀). My fiancée and I’ve still been planning and paying for our wedding, I’ve been homeschooling our youngest who has ADHD, is suspected to be on the spectrum, and who is an overall incredible kid. I’ve loved the time I’ve had with him… and I’ve found new levels of patience. Two hours to write a sentence is very 😳. We’ve had tickle fights, Spider-Man photo shoots, singing breaks, some tears and frustration, and a lot of hugs and “good jobs!” It’s all working out. I’m blessed, truly, to have my family and friends, to be getting interviews fairly steadily, to be consistently considered for senior or lead roles. But I’m also pretty exhausted. For the first time in my life I had an anxiety attack on an interview and couldn’t answer the question “describe your design process.” The interviewers graciously progressed through the next forty-five minutes of the call with me — but we all knew it wasn’t a good look. It was my fourth interview in two days, during moving an hour across the valley, around parenting and teaching and working a temporary full-time job as a security guard (Arizona unemployment caps at ~10% of what my monthly salary was, so a temp job pays a good deal more.) I rebalanced and have done just fine on the interviews since, but it paints a picture of the pressure. I’m an excellent team player, a capable professional, I love complex systems — generally seeing them as a chain of simple processes tying into one another, I learn quickly, lead well, and overall bring a lot to the table. Without equivocation, I’ve elevated and delivered in every role and on every project I’ve been in. I’ve had clients, co-workers, leaders and people I’ve mentored leave LinkedIn references. I think there are consistent trends they speak to. I know I bring a lot to the table — I’d love to do that for a place ready to leverage the most out of it! If anyone in my network knows of roles, or can like/repost for exposure, please spread the good stuff! I appreciate you all and I can’t wait to give a positive update!

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DIRECTOR LEVEL ROLES in Product in this economy??? Yep. People are landing director roles using the RIGHT branding and interview strategies. I want to celebrate one of my amazing clients Mark, who landed a promotion and Director level role this week. WOO HOOO. What would you do for your DREAM job as a leader? With a massive salary increase? Are you ready to become a DIRECTOR of product? Schedule a 15-minute connect session with me below to brainstorm.  Yes of course it's possible. #productmanagement

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The reason I coach product managers is the same reason I became a product manager in the first place. 💪 I’m passionate about solving problems that people need solved. 📜 There’s an endless list of problems that people need solved, but the audience and problem that hits closest to home are people who work in product that find themselves saying or believing things like: “I feel out of place.” “I’m afraid of saying something stupid.” “I’m worried I’ll make the wrong decision.” “Everyone around me seems so much smarter than me.” “People don’t take me seriously.” “I keep being overlooked for raises or promotions.” 📉 All of these ultimately lead to that person not delivering value to their teams, which in turn hits that person’s bottom line – their career, their promotions, their paycheck. And, where do these feelings come from? 🧠 Their mindset and mental well-being. ⌚ Sooner or later, product managers will face some form of stress, anxiety, self-doubt, paralysis, etc. about what they do. This is especially true since the deliverables of a product manager aren’t immediately tangible nor visible. A negative mindset hurts not only them, but their teams. A negative mindset robs their teams of meaningful progress and their customers of valuable solutions. 👞 I’ve been in those shoes and the feeling sucks. That’s why I coach. There are so many product managers just like me who are facing these problems right now. I coach because I want to be the guide that I wish I had the first time I experienced it all. I want them to confidently drive the value their teams and customers need so that they can get that same value back. I want them to know that they don’t have to go through it alone. ✉ If you’re someone working in product and you feel your mind working against you, shoot me a DM. Let’s talk it out. #productmanagement #productmanagers #mentalhealth #impostersyndrome #decisionparalysis

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Being a subject matter expert does not make you qualified to manage a product team. Can someone help me out and explain why this seems to be the norm in product these days. Effective product teams need experienced and qualified contributers and leaders.

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My biggest fear as a product manager are Friday afternoon code deployments. 😄 Kidding (but really, please don’t). My actual biggest fear is that I’m not driving the value my teams and customers need from me. 🔗 As product managers, our job is to drive value for our product’s teams and customers. We aren’t necessarily the people who deliver the tangible results that our peers and customers see – a lot of what we do is traditionally “behind the scenes” work. It makes sense, product management is often seen as the bridge between business and technology, customers and solutions, etc. 💡 That’s where a lot of my fear comes from. I’ve felt it the first day I served as a product manager, I still feel it over a decade later even with a list of achievements saying otherwise. But fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to work with coaches and mentors in the product space, each of which assure me that the feeling is normal. I recently had a conversation with a product manager from the MAANG space; several more years of experience than I and an even longer list of achievements. He, too, still holds a fear that he may not be driving value. But, he counters that fear with a few affirmations like these: “I am the reason my developers know what to build and why it matters.” “I am the reason my marketing and sales teams know who the product is for and how to engage them.” “I am the reason my product is solving a problem that people in my space want to solve in the first place.” 💭 Today, I still use affirmations to overcome my fears. They remind me that fear is “False Evidence Appearing Real.” What are you most afraid of as a product manager? How do you face your fear and overcome it? #productmanagement #productmanagers #impostersyndrome #fear #affirmations

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🔥Hot Take for PMs: Please don't hand me a solution to a problem. Instead, focus on detailing the problem and help me understand the why. We will ideate and find a solution together. Next week, in our first episode of ⚫️Bounce, Claire and I continue to unpack the PD + PM working relationship. Buckle up. Subscribe today - links in comments 👇

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I like this sentiment and I think it points to psychological safety, but not in a way that we normally think of. People think of psychological safety in terms of inside teams or within reporting structures. Product management is a great example of cross-organizational leadership through influence and persuasion rather than direct managerial control. If you don't make people comfortable raising concerns you will definitely not get the outcomes you expect. Psychological safety seems like such a heavy term, but there are subtle, small things that can make people withdraw, and as John says, people have long memories.

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"During interviews, become a detective!". Great suggestion for the candidates. Most PMs (like other roles) study interview techniques and ask generic questions about company culture or products to come across as prepared. Scrap that all. Ask tough questions about the hiring manager, their team, their methods and their retention.

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If you work in Product, I'd love to hear your insights! I’m gathering perspectives from PMs, PDs, Engineers, and Product Leaders—right up to the Chiefs. This case study will explore innovative approaches to achieving efficient product delivery, and I can’t do it without a variety of viewpoints beyond my own. If you have a few moments, please share your thoughts by clicking the link below!https://lnkd.in/giJeE-Hv Or if you are a Survey Circle participant, click below to collect points.

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I’ve always found cognitive biases fascinating. Understanding them can unlock the gap between the real world and our perceptions of it. How often have you been swayed by a "smart" person pushing an idea, only to realize their reasoning was driven by cognitive biases? Teresa Torres sheds light on two key biases: confirmation bias and escalation of commitment, both of which are crucial for self-evaluation. In product teams, decisions often come from senior leaders, and one bias to watch out for is the Dunning-Kruger effect. This happens when someone with limited knowledge overestimates their expertise. If a senior leader insists their decision is best but it stems from overestimating their own understanding, it’s important to navigate the situation carefully. The higher their position in the org chart, the greater the negative impact of a misguided decision. First, stay professional (they are your boss, after all). Second, use data to demonstrate how their assumptions might not align with the current problem or challenge. #ProductManagement #CognitiveBias #Leadership #DataDriven

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