Pragmaticlive

This episode was recorded during our recent Product Chat Webinar. "Human-centered innovation" is the latest industry buzzword, and knowing how to leverage this approach is essential for driving success across products, services and business models. In this Product Chat, you'll learn... How human-centered innovation can help shape key business plans   Tactics for employing human-centered innovation within your organization   Case studies of successful applications that created stellar impact for products and offerings

When you have a creative idea, you’re going to face objections. The best approach is to build the systems that’ll support the innovation even before you ask for additional resources from leadership. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Kirk Westwood author of The Very Best Bad idea.   They discuss: Why a company must be agile for innovation to succeed The reaction to expect from others when you’re on the verge of innovation How to ask strategic questions to get buy-in for your idea Additional Resources At Pragmatic Institute, we offer two courses that’ll explore innovation in-depth. Focus This course shows you how to find opportunities in your market’s problems, score them objectively and identify where your company’s strengths intersect with market values. Then, you’ll learn how to use that knowledge and market data to successfully and credibly sell your strategies internally. Design This course teaches you how to take a human-centered

While you might be comfortable with the concept: NIHITO (nothing important happens in the office), getting the most out of market visits is challenging. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Joy McCaffrey, product manager at LeaseQuery about her systematic approach to market research. They discuss:   How to leverage an interview questions library Capturing quantitative data and qualitative data by utilizing both open-ended and close-ended questions How to schedule time with customers, non-customers, users and executives Effective ways to present insights to leadership Additional Resources There is a new course update to Market. This course helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn More And, the newest course, Insight, provides you with a grounded and actionable approach to incorporating data into product practices and dec

This episode was recorded during our recent Product Chat Webinar.   When tackling market problems we all know the importance of identification and validation so we can move strategically and confidently towards building the kinds of products and features customers want to buy. Now more than ever, Agile has paved a new wave of product efficiency by enhancing collaboration using an incremental approach to providing solutions.   But how do you navigate the agile process for a product or feature when you’ve identified a market problem? What types of principles should you be adhering to and what are the biggest benchmarks to measure progress and success?   Join Lisa Boivin, Product Manager at Paramount+ for her discussion on how to use Agile to tackle market problems and help create features and products that over-deliver time after time.In this Product Chat, you’ll learn: How to use agile thinking to identify market problems Ways to solve market problems utilizing an agile workflow Key indicators for tracking p

Product marketing has evolved from a task management role to a strategic role in an organization. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic instructor Steve Gaylor about what it means to be a product marketer in 2022. They discuss: The responsibility of moving into a strategic role. The relationship between execution and strategy. The power behind knowing which activities and tasks to stop, not just what to start. How to think about buyers journey differently for renewals versus new customers. Additional Resources Market This course helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn More

Validating market problems isn’t about listening only to the noisy 20 percent of the market. Instead, it’s about understanding the needs of the quiet 80 percent too. Without validation, product teams can invest valuable time and resources into an idea that is destined to fall flat. In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic instructor Terry Sadowski who candidly shares his experience with a launch failure. They discuss: How pressure and novelty can cause you to ignore established processes that protect against launch failures The ways hindsight reveals all the missteps overlooked in a moment of excitement and energy How to move forward after a big failed launch Key advice to avoid a failed launch Want to learn more about effective launches? Launch is a course that helps you create a more strategic approach to exceed your business objectives. Learn to execute successful launches that align your entire organization around the same

Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Diane Pierson, an instructor at Pragmatic Institute, on the organizational mechanics of innovation.What does innovation mean at your company and to your leadership? That definition and focus give you and your team the ability to move in the most effective direction.   During this episode, Rebecca and Diane discuss: The difference between innovation and invention Thinking beyond existing personas Investing in emerging opportunities Setting realistic expectations around innovation initiatives Additional Resources [Podcast] How Forbes Creates Innovative Leadership Tactics and Product Approaches Without a Model Listen Now   [Course] Market helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn how to align across go-to-market teams by effectively sharing and leveraging your buyer knowledge to prioritize the right product marketing strate

Product teams build impressive and detailed launched strategies. But, how do you get an entire organization to execute a coordinated effort that results in a successful launch?In this episode of Pragmatic Live, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews interviews Pragmatic instructor Todd Middlebrook about the 90-second launch story.They discuss: The complicated process of a launch The value of having clarity on the end goal The components of a 90-second story Additional Resources There is a new course update to Market. This course **helps you gain a thorough understanding of your buyers and how they like to buy so you can build the product marketing strategies that deliver results. Learn More   Want to learn more about effective launches? Launch is a course that helps you create a more strategic approach to exceed your business objectives. Learn to execute successful launches that align your entire organization around the same strategies and goals. Enroll Today

Product professionals are tasked with taking what they learn from the market and making it a reality. But, to do that, you have to communicate effectively with the people building the product. In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute interviews Jonathan Lucky, scrum master at Dazn, and they talk about how to bring information to the engineering team that is digestible and usable. Jonathan discusses: The value of shortening the feedback loop between the engineers and customers Why you should include the engineers in the buyer persona creation process to create an environment where insights are jointly-owned Effectively building teams and optimizing communication   Additional Resources: [Article] Using Data-Driven Personas to Boost Business [Article] 7 Buyer Persona Generators and Templates   Knowing who buys your products is one thing. Becoming an expert on your buyers and using that knowledge to create product marketing plans that impact the bottomline is somethi

Listening to your market might lead your efforts in a new direction. That's what happened when Richard White, founder and CEO of Fathom, began talking to his audience about the challenges of scheduling customer interviews. While scheduling was a problem, the bigger challenge was the massive time investment required to capture insights from each interview. During this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of Marketing and Product Strategy interviews Richard about how he and his team discovered and validated a market problem and then designed an innovative solution. Richard's solution, Fathom.Video, is a Zoom app that allows you to record and highlight notes during zoom meetings in real time. Those highlights can be assembled into a video you can share with your team. The initial waitlist for Fathom.Video is over 70K strong, but Pragmatic Institute listeners get to skip the waitlist and go directly to the front of the line: fathom.video/pod. Listen now to learn more.

In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Rod Griffith, chief client officer at MarketReach on how to help current customers discover new value in a product. Rod discusses how personal benefits can be a strong differentiator, especially when the competition focuses on business benefits. He explains how to uncover and leverage unrecognized benefits, unrecognized beneficiaries and unrecognized uses. They also explore how to remain authentic in the sales process by indirectly highlight personal benefits through conversation and questions.

Guest host Michael Li—the founder and president of The Data Incubator—sits down with Aishwarya Srinivasan, an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Innovation Leader at IBM. Aishwarya works cross-functionally with the product team, data science team and sales to research AI use cases for clients at IBM Data & AI. In her role, she conducts discovery workshops and builds assets to showcase the business value of the technology. Aishwarya holds a postgraduate degree in data science from Columbia University. The two data science experts discuss the importance of building responsible AI systems that aren't harmful to society, citing examples in the media. Aishwarya shares the responsibilities of roles like AI ethicists, UX researchers, data scientists and cybersecurity officers in upholding responsible AI standards. She also highlights the key issues organizations will have to grapple with as AI continues to evolve, and she shares key takeaways for leveraging machine learning and AI to create business v

We're throwing it waaay back to 2019 if you want to listen to one of our most popular episodes to date.  While the conversation was a couple years ago, the information remains incredibly relevant.    Netflix is one of the biggest, most recognizable names in the world, and it’s one of the biggest, most recognizable names in data science. But what does that really mean to be a data scientist in a big company like Netflix? Senior data scientist at Netflix, Dr. Becky Tucker, joins our podcast to share her experience learning data science and working at Netflix.    Want to learn more about data science and how you can use it in your business? Check out our Business of Data Science course, designed for business leaders looking to become more data driven. If you’re looking to take data science training like Dr. Becky, check out our TDI data science courses. And make sure you listen to our other great podcasts, and join us for the best product training in the world.

A throwback this week because we want to end the year thinking about how to grow product teams in 2022. First step: Interviews.  The wrong hire can negatively affect the entire department and the product long into the future, so getting the right people for the job is critical. Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic Instructor, Paul Young, about Product Manager X-Factors—or the skills that make a product manager excel. He explains that being a product manager requires a diverse set of skills including soft skills like leadership, curiosity, listening, pitching and building consensus across the organization. During the conversation, Paul dives deep into some of these characteristics including why they matter and how to spot them during a job interview.

"How many buyer personas should you have?” This is the most common question companies ask when refining or starting their first persona project. In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing at Pragmatic Institute, asks Adrienne Barnes, founder of Best Buyer Persona, that question. And she answers. This conversation is all about buyer personas including, how to research, how to create meaningful segments with the jobs-to-be-done method, and whether or not you should name them.

Customer success isn't just a department, especially in subscription businesses. In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Kirsten Butzow, senior VP of customer operations at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who explains why companies have to earn their customers business on a regular basis and how to do it. They discuss that even know the product team understands the market problems, it's the customer success team that will reveal whether or not the product team hit the mark. They also outline the natural checkpoints along the way to know if the organization is staying grounded in the problems and personas.

How often should you conduct market visits? What data should you gather? And, where does discovery fit within the product roadmap cycle? This episode is a recording from the latest Product Chat featuring Ted Best, senior vice president of product at Offerpad. During his expert presentation, he answers these common market visit questions and explain how to implement a continuous discovery strategy. He also provides an approach to using market visits to answer the “why” of the roadmap, not just the “what” and the “when.”

There isn't just one type of buyer's journey, there are three: trust journey, relationship journey and analytical journey. During this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews pricing expert Mark Stiving, chief pricing educator at Impact Pricing. Not only does he explore the three types of buyer's journeys in-depth, but he also gives listeners the one question they should ask to quickly identify which journey their customer is on. He also explains the value map and why you should always assume your buyer is on a trust journey until proven otherwise.

“The roadmap really should be a conversation” - Jim Semick, founder and chief strategist of Product Plan.  Are you curious what the best framework is to plan and prioritize a product roadmap? Are you a Product Manager that wonders how often to update this tool? Listen in as Rebecca Kalogeris is joined by Jim Semick to discuss Product Plan’s annual survey results, his tried and true method of ‘value vs effort’ and his advice on updating and maintaining roadmaps that work.  Jim explains that updating roadmaps often keeps the product conversation open, and that for how many hours product managers spend managing the roadmap each week that it’s important to share them with their teams frequently so there’s a level of transparency and understanding when something changes. Roadmaps are embodiment of strategy, building the roadmaps are a part of how you define and share that strategy across the organization.

(This episode was recorded during our recent Product Chat)   During this episode, Lindsay Hunt, director of product at TaskRabbit shares insights on customer and revenue retention and how to build products and services that keep your market coming back. She teaches how to navigate when you have two users in a marketplace, strategic angles to entice and delight customers and opportunities for revenue growth by nurturing relationships and creating products people want to buy.