Reflections on 13 hours with Marty

I had the privilege of spending the day at Marty Cagan’s Transformed leadership workshop yesterday, followed by dinner with a dozen product coaches from Australia and New Zealand. I've summarized my takeaways into areas where my thinking and the Propel approach converge and diverge with what I heard yesterday.

We Converge

We Diverge

• Counterview: Managing and embedding change is a process. It helps to co-design an operating rhythm (aka process), communication methods and cadence.
• Counterview: The double diamond approach to identifying and narrowing problems and solution spaces is a valuable way to embed design thinking and customer centricity. Frameworks and tools are useful for teaching techniques.

• Counterview: Solving the wrong problem is a waste. User interviews to deeply understand the problem are as important as discovering the solution.

• Counterview: Governance needs to be right-sized. In heavily regulated and high-risk environments, checks and balances matter. They reduce risk and build trust.

Where I'm Still On the Fence

• Counterview: Prototyping doesn’t always require working software. Tools like Figma can validate value and viability before further investment. For existing products, estimating based on experience and previous developments can be effective for high-integrity commitments.

• Counterview: The above scope is true but can be unrealistic for a single person to cover in heavily regulated products.

Overall, it was a fantastic day. Lots to think about and truly inspiring to hear of the examples where the product operating model has delivered remarkable results.