hackajob’s Post

🚀 Product Weekend in the US? What's Your Take? 🌎 Hey Product Community! We've got some exciting whispers to share – there's been a buzz about bringing Product Weekend to the US! Think New York, Boston, San Francisco... Sounds thrilling, right? We're super excited about this opportunity and the possibility of expanding to the New World. But, as with any big move, we want to hear from YOU, our amazing community. 🤔 Do you think expanding Product Weekend to US cities makes sense? What challenges or risks do you foresee? Drop your thoughts, insights, and predictions in the comments below. Your input is invaluable in shaping the future of Product Weekend. Let’s explore this new adventure together! #USExpansion #CommunityFeedback #ProductManagement

This week was my last one after both an incredible and challenging 4 years at Vonage. It was a hell of a journey, started 4 days before Covid-19 sent everyone home, and I had to find my new professional path from home, with a 3-month-old baby in the other room. The days have gone by, and by taking baby steps (see what I did there?) I began to shape myself as the Product Manager I grew to be. I believe that in product roles, there should be a north star value that will define your entire decision-making, prioritization, and your approach to tiny features and giant initiatives at once. I knew what value I could bring to the table. Empathy. The ability to identify with issues, to walk in my users' shoes, to understand how to loop in the developers, designers, data analysts, salespeople, marketing, support, well... you got it. The problem with empathy is that people can see it as weakness, or take it for granted. I believe that bringing empathy as a main value to your role can work like a magic in the way you approach problems and tackle the solution. Thanks, Vonage, for letting me be myself and allowing me to push my boundaries. I'm going to miss the brilliant and talented people there. My next chapter is right around the corner 🤩 These are the stickers I made and handed out on my last day, as a kindly reminder

The last 3 years have been the best and wildest of my life. I had the privilege of working directly on the rocket that will take humanity to other planets, at a company town where the Factory, beer garden, and my pillow were a 5-minute walk apart. I'm extremely grateful for this time and feel like I won the mentor / friend lottery while I was here. For anyone interested in full-contact engineering, I can't recommend Starbase and the Starship program enough. A few reflections: 1. Go fast - 'long is wrong' 2. The responsible engineer model (as opposed to PM's), where a single engineer is accountable to an outcome, really unlocks: extreme ownership, minimal latency, and greater understanding of the problem 3. Scope rocks - engineers want to help the mission, and delivered scope = impact 4. Be a 'person who cares' (in the words of one of my managers) - success happens because every link in the chain cares about the outcome The decision to leave was not an easy one, but with it I'll be moving back to Northeast Ohio to be closer to family, renovating a home, and getting myself involved in the area's manufacturing scene. Ad astra!

Have you ever been so excited for a day at work that you couldn't sleep the night before? I hadn't. Until today. This morning I spent 3 fantastic hours with the incredible Danielle Heward from Optimo | Certified B Corp. Danielle was helping me to articulate the values, vision and a mission statement for lead-well.org This is a really big deal for me. I deliberately put off trying to cover all these bases when I started my business, because I knew that to get through my first year I needed to be agile, to get started with a minimal viable offer and to learn as I went along. For this effort to have paid off is hugely validating. And the value added from my conversation today with Danielle has been enormous. I can't exaggerate the relief and security that comes from seeing months of ideas and ambitions captured on post-its and flip chart in front of me. They're now safe and ready for me to start formulating a strategy. And its now even clearer to me how important my personal values are in how I operate. And today has affirmed how motivated I am by creating an environment in which people can thrive. I'm looking forward to sharing all of this with you all... ...and in the meantime, today has really got me thinking about what matters to other people. What drives them? What is their raison d'etre? So, what is your reason for getting up and going to work? I'd love to know! #motivation #development #values #missionstatement #vision

TL;DR Inspired by Ha Nguyen's Product Breakfast series, Jori and I are hosting a product breakfast next Monday January 22nd here in NYC (location will be shared when you're confirmed but will be in Manhattan).  Signup here: https://lnkd.in/eRBixCyB A bit of background: The great connector, Ha, introduced us late last year as two people who had recently left their full-time roles and were figuring out what to do next. We instantly bonded and connected over the ambiguity and lack of structure we found ourselves in, and realized that there are so many people in the same boat. We're starting this breakfast series to foster connection amongst product mangers and leaders and are planning on doing themed breakfasts to help facilitate meaningful and productive conversations.  This breakfast's theme will be: Navigating alternatives to a full-time product career  So if you're diverging away from a traditional full-time product role or contemplating a move, come hang out with us. Signups are here and limited to keep the conversation intimate: https://lnkd.in/eRBixCyB Please forward/tag anyone you think might be interested in joining us and if you can't make it for this one, stay tuned for future breakfasts. 

🚀 Update Alert! 🚀 Great news, everyone! After thorough testing, I'm excited to share that last week, we made significant progress in our development process by completing the most requested feature for our speech AI model - real-time (instant) transcription. Stay tuned for updates with KanjuTech as we prepare for its release in the next few weeks! #AI #DeepTech #SpeechAI

It's hard to believe it's been three months since I joined Nordstrom as a Software Engineer 1. This week, I had a unique opportunity to step out of my usual coding environment and support our stores during the big Anniversary Sale. I was on the front lines, working in order consolidation and directly interacting with the end users of our apps. Hearing their feedback firsthand was incredibly insightful and rewarding. It gave me a whole new perspective on the impact of our work and how we can improve user experiences. For my fellow entry-level software engineers, here are a few takeaways: 1. User Interaction Matters: Always seek feedback from real users. It bridges the gap between development and actual usage. 2. Field Experience is Golden: Stepping into a different role, even temporarily, can provide valuable insights and inspire improvements in your work. 3. Stay Curious: Every interaction is a learning opportunity. Ask questions, listen, and observe. I'm excited to take these learnings back to the team and continue building great solutions. #Nordstrom #NordstromAnniversary2024

Adding a product person to your early-stage start-up before you have product-market fit? You're just inviting in another voice for disagreement. Why? Because it creates an unnecessary membrane for ideas to pass through from CEO to engineer and customer and back. This at a phase when the concepts are loose and the strategy could be changing daily in response to facts on the ground. This layer generates friction. → It causes misalignment. → It invites disagreement. → It waters down bold ideas. Think about it. You're adding another person to convince. ↳ Another perspective to align with. Early-stage growth is about speed. Often less is more. Leveling up on product skills among founding team members is frequently much more efficient.

Ready to level up your product development game? Having a clear vision or "North Star" is essential for efficient and effective product development. You not only have a guiding light for your projects, but you also have something to refer back to when new ideas pop up. It's all about working smarter, not harder. By mapping out your North Star, you can ensure that every decision and task aligns with your ultimate goal, preventing distractions and keeping teams focused on what truly matters. My suggestion... take the time to define your North Star and watch your product development process become more streamlined and successful. #ProductDevelopment #NorthStar #Efficiency