Before the holidays this year, I was a speaker on a panel of design students interested in the tech world. I thought I'd post the questions and my answers below, in case they're helpful to anyone else! What does a day in your job look like? Problem solvingBacklog adminLots of writing and thinkingLots of meetings …
A case for doing two backlog grooming sessions a sprint
Okay, no one needs more meetings but before you stop reading I'm going to make a case for doing two backlog grooming sessions every sprint. I believe this will make your backlog grooming more efficient. Backlog discovery Backlog discovery is the first of the two meetings I'm advocating for. This should be SHORT: like 30 …
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Remembering my dad, year five
CW // death and dementia Christmas 2015 had a catch phrase in my family. “Merry fucking Christmas!” we'd giggle at each other. It was the year that we broke the news to my then 92-year-old grandmother that her beloved sister had died two days earlier. Nana had emigrated to Canada as a War Bride during …
Moving from discovery to delivery as a product manager
Moving your from discovery to delivery as a product manager can be tricky! Sometimes it's hard to know how to move forward and when the time is right. I like to follow Jerin Stewart's advice on this and to move into delivery when you have no more than 70% of the info you need, and …
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Talking to Morgan Patzelt of Showbie
I recently had the good fortune of talking to Morgan Patzelt who is a product manager at Showbie. I met her because one of her colleagues (hi Ella!) messaged me on this here website after reading one of my product manager interviews and told me Morgan and I should connect. I'm so glad we did! …
Using a physical inbox for productivity
One of the best (and easiest) productivity tips I started using last year, is using an old-school, physical inbox! This is just what it sounds like. It's a box, bigger than paper-sized. Put all of the random things that come into your space that you need to do something about in it. This little tip …
How to deal with all of your tasks
Figuring out how to deal with all of your tasks can be really overwhelming! The way that you manage tasks in your workflow can be a huge help to your overall productivity. Having a good system in place is so helpful. Here are some tricks that I use, in case they are helpful to you! …
Talking to Kat Zivanovich of Shopify
Kat Zivanovich is a Senior Product Manager at Shopify. I met Kat while I was working at Clearly. She was working at Huge, and we worked on a project together. She is actually one of the people who got me interested in product management! Do you consider your product a Saas product? I work on …
Mentorship and your career
On Tuesday evening, I had the distinct pleasure of being a panelist for the inaugural mentorWIT event, "Transform Your Career Through Mentorship." The other three panelists and I shared our thoughts and insight on mentorship for women in tech. Below are some of the questions we were asked (as well as a few we didn't …
Calendar blocking for better product management
Calendar blocking productivity hack for product managers.