Leadership
Honest writing about product, operations, leadership, and the career in between.
The Women Who Don't Help Other Women (And Why We Need to Talk About It)
There are women who will actively not help other women. They don’t mentor them. They don’t sponsor them. They compete …
Read moreBetter to Over-Communicate Than Under: A Lesson from the Train
I’ve spent enough time on Australian and British trains to notice something peculiar about how they talk to passengers. In …
Read moreBeing the Only Woman in the Room: What I Learned After a Decade of It
I have been the only woman in the room so many times that I stopped counting. Not in a dramatic way. Just regularly. In meetings. …
Read moreWhat a Good Retro Looks Like (And Why Most Are Awkward Therapy Sessions)
If your retrospectives feel like awkward therapy sessions where someone mentions a problem that doesn’t get solved, and …
Read moreConfidence Is Not the Problem: Why Telling Women to 'Speak Up More' Misses the Point
The most common piece of advice given to women in professional settings is some variation of “be more confident” or …
Read moreThe Hidden Cost of Unclear Roles and Responsibilities
There’s a particular kind of dysfunction that sets in when nobody is quite sure who owns what. It’s not dramatic. …
Read moreWhat Most Meetings Are Really About (And It's Not the Agenda)
There’s the agenda, and then there’s what’s actually happening.
The stated agenda might be “quarterly …
Read moreThe Product Manager Is Not the CEO of the Product (And Other Myths)
Every PM cohort, every blog post about product management, every career fair talk includes this line: “The product manager …
Read moreMentorship vs Sponsorship: What Women Actually Need to Advance
A mentor gives you advice. A sponsor puts their name and credibility behind you in a room you’re not in. These are not the …
Read moreThe One-Page Brief: Why Forcing Clarity Before the Meeting Changes Everything
The one-page brief is one of the most powerful tools in any operator or PM’s kit, and almost nobody uses it. Not because it …
Read moreWhen Agile Becomes a Religion (And That's a Problem)
I worked at a company once where the product team was fanatic about Agile. Every standup was attended. Every retro was …
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