#leadership

The Drop column: killing what you're attached to

“A backlog item you'll never build isn't free. It's rent you pay every planning cycle — re-reading it, re-debating it, re-deciding not to do it — forever, until you let it die.”

4.5 years of connected products — what I'd do again

“I had the v1 OTA post on my desk when I scoped v2. I knew exactly what it cost on v1 to ship without OTA. I deferred it anyway. The mistake wasn't ignoring the lesson — it was assuming the cost curve was the same.”

Unleash Your Inner Jedi: 7 Soft Skills for PM Success

“Alright, fellow project padawans and management maestros! Buckle up, because we’re about to embark on a wild ride through the galaxy of soft skills. These aren’t your grandma’s pr…”

Building a multi-tenant LLM platform, 0 → 1

“The rubric outranked the org chart. That's the only way a call like that ever survives.”

Rock Product Decisions With Data

“Why Data is Your Product BFF Imagine you’re crafting a killer playlist. You wouldn’t just throw on any old tunes, right? You’d consider the vibe, the listener, and what’s to…”

Crush Goals with Data: 2 Real-World Program Management Wins

“Hey there, fellow program management ninjas! Ready to dive into the wild world of data-driven decision-making? Buckle up, because we’re about to embark on a thrilling journey that’ll ma…”

Good, Fast, Cheap — the golden triangle of project management

“Customers who say 'we want all three' aren't being unreasonable. They've just never had the trade explained in a way they could feel. Your job is to make them feel it before sprint 4.”

Two years on medical IoT — the platform retrospective

“The connected health portfolio was where I learned that 'API team' and 'IoT team' are two names for the same job. The hardware ships once. The platform supports it forever.”

Unlock Soft Skills for Project Triumphs!

“Beyond the Gantt Chart: Why Soft Skills Rule the Project Realm Alright, project people, let’s get real. You can wield a mean WBS and juggle dependencies like a circus pro. But, if your soft s…”

New: PM Fundamentals — Stakeholder Management

“Most PMs lose projects in month four because the wrong person had the wrong expectation in month one. This course is how you stop being that PM.”

Why mentor with Spark — the 10-week middle-school program

“Mentoring sounds like a heavy lift. Two hours a week, for ten weeks, in the workplace you're already sitting in. That's the whole ask. The kid is the easy part.”

Why you should be a Big Brother or Big Sister

“Being a Big is the rare volunteer commitment that feels less like volunteering and more like having a really good friend who happens to be 11.”