Ideas and Insights

Resources for technology and digital leaders

Leadership & Change Jen Swanson Leadership & Change Jen Swanson

The Path to a Modern Operating Model: Navigating Transformational Leadership in Uncertain Times

This year has ushered in some “anti-pattern” behaviors across many product-led organizations, including a natural tendency to default to what feels comfortable and familiar, like command-and-control leadership behaviors. In this article, you'll learn the "watch outs" for defaulting to old ways of working, and the importance and rewards of honing transformational leadership characteristics within your org.

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Building a Mature Product-Led Operating Model: The 4 Stages of Digital Transformation

Learn about the four stages of Digital Transformation and identify the common transitions that stump teams and block momentum on the road to building a mature product-led operating model.

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Outcomes vs Outputs: A Key Mindset Shift for High-Performing Product Organizations

An important characteristic of high-performing product organizations is the company-wide ability to focus on outcomes over outputs. This article will help you understand the importance of focusing on outcomes over outputs, with some initial steps and “watch outs” to follow as you cultivate this mindset across your transforming organization.

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Leadership & Change Jen Swanson Leadership & Change Jen Swanson

Change Leadership vs Change Management in Product-Led Organizations

When you’re transforming to a product-led organization, change management is futile without the necessary change leadership approach to drive the process. This article details the difference between change leadership and change management, along with the necessary mindset shifts every leader needs to make in order to support a successful transformation toward product-led ways of working.

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How to Implement Digitization with Low Investment and High Return

Jen joins Tim Butera of AgileDrop to make the case that transformation doesn't have to mean big spending. They dig into why the current economic climate makes internal transformation smarter than ever, how legacy companies can close the gap with digital-native competitors, and what it actually takes to get Agile and product management to stick — beyond just sprinkling on the pixie dust.

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The Roadmap to Product-Led Success: Transforming Your Financial Model

In this article, you’ll learn why transforming your financial model is necessary to become a high-functioning product-led organization, as well as the mindset shifts required to unlock increased efficiency, flexibility, and long-term value creation.

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Debunking Operating Model Transformation Myths

Jen joins Deb Reuben, CEO of TomorrowZone, to challenge that assumption. They dig into the myths that derail transformation efforts and make the case for why the human side of change isn't a soft concern — it's the whole game. Jen also brings a perspective you don't hear often: why constrained, regulated environments are actually where the most interesting transformation work happens.

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Analytics: A Job for Product Managers or Product Ops?

A company's product development and delivery processes are only as good as the data that drives the decision-making behind it. But whose job should it be to wrangle all of the data – the individual Product Manager, or the Product Operations team? The answer helps teams do their jobs better, delivering products with the most value to the consumer and in the highest support of the organization’s goals.

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The Characteristics of High-Performing Product Organizations

Organizations with healthy, mature, and thriving product management practices have many common characteristics that you can learn to cultivate within your organization. This article explores the traits of high-performing product organizations so that you can better assess where your organization currently stands and opportunities for closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

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Why Good Governance is Essential to Digital Transformation

This article sheds light on the concept of governance in Digital Transformation and Operating Model Transformation, why it’s so important to get it right, and the small shifts you can start making today to improve your processes and see better results.

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Don't Project Manage Your Digital Transformation: Try A Roadmap Mindset For Better Results

No matter where you’re at in your Digital Transformation endeavors, breaking from a Project Management mindset can be really difficult. Today we’ll explore the reasons why a Project Management approach falls short in the context of Digital Transformation, and why a Roadmap mindset is key to paving the way for success.

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What the Pandemic Taught Us About the Future of Digital Transformation: A Leadership Lesson

Many companies have started return-to-office initiates, mandated in-person attendance, and are shifting back to pre-pandemic norms. But is it the right play? Today’s article explores this misstep with specific regard to Digital Transformation and sheds light on the significant opportunity leaders have to reimagine the way teams work to build resilient structures that take them into the future.

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Driving Business Success through Digital Evolution 

Jen joins the Conquer Local Podcast to explore what it actually takes to drive business success through digital transformation — and why so many organizations fall short. The conversation digs into why companies that focus narrowly on technology miss the operational and human elements that determine whether transformation efforts succeed or stall, and what it looks like to take meaningful action instead.

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Land a Coaching One-Two Punch for a Knockout Transformation

When it comes to digital transformation, many organizations try implementing Agile and Product sequentially, doing one first then following up with the other. In either of these approaches, something is missing from the landing. Today's article shares a proven technique for layering in Product and Agile coaching to make digital transformation efforts significantly more effective.

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How to Empower Your Middle Management for a Successful Digital Transformation

This article explores strategies to unfreeze middle managers and empower these crucial leaders to support a shift to a product-led operating model and, ultimately, through a successful digital transformation.

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