Product Momentum Podcast

ITX Corp.

Amazing digital experiences don’t just happen. They are purposefully created by artists and engineers, who strategically and creatively get to know the problem, configure a solution, and maneuver through the various dynamics, hurdles, and technicalities to make it a reality. Hosts Sean and Paul will discuss various elements that go into creating and managing software products, from building user personas to designing for trackable success. No topic is off-limits if it helps inspire and build an amazing digital experience for users – and a product people actually want.

  1. 3d ago

    Ovetta Sampson: Designing AI Products Around Human Needs – Not Just Technology

    Ovetta Sampson is a design researcher, AI leader, and founder of Right AI. She previously served as VP of ML and AI Platform Design at Capital One and worked at Google and IDEO. Ovetta brought that experience to the 2026 ITX Product + Design Conference, focusing her keynote on a question that often goes overlooked: what happens when people interact with increasingly powerful machines? To help us answer that question, Ovetta offers a pair of frameworks that center on human engagement risk, responsible AI, and rethinking how product teams design AI products. Building AI responsibly requires more than better models or more sophisticated tools. Product builders must also understand the cognitive, social, cultural, and physical risks that can emerge when humans interact with technology. AI inherits many of the biases embedded in the data used to build it, Ovetta says. So organizations need to rethink how disciplines collaborate; as the lines between traditional product, design, engineering, and security silos blur, responsible AI requires organizations to redesign not only their products, but also the processes used to create them. Here’s what else we learned: Human Engagement Risk Belongs in AI Product Design Ovetta’s human engagement risk (H-E-R) framework is based on a fundamental premise: technology can harm people when designers fail to account for how humans behave around machines. The H-E-R framework identifies cognitive, social, cultural, physiological, and community risks. These risks become especially important with generative AI, where people can easily attribute human qualities to systems that do not actually possess them. As a result, AI product teams must consider psychological and cognitive outcomes alongside traditional usability concerns. Ovetta cautions: “There are real dangerous risks when we engage with machines and don’t mindfully think about the outcomes that can happen when we don’t protect humans psychologically, cognitively, physically, and physiologically.” AI Strategy Starts With Executive Leadership Responsible AI also requires leadership decisions that extend beyond individual tools or experiments, Ovetta says. Many mid-sized organizations are hesitant to adopt AI because executives are concerned about intellectual property, trust, and data leaks. Meanwhile, employees may already be integrating AI solutions without an overarching organizational strategy. It’s a disconnect that creates opportunity for leadership to establish clear priorities before adoption becomes fragmented. AI strategy starts at the top, Ovetta adds, because executives have the authority to establish the conditions under which technology gets developed and used. “Once the C-suite understands the risk to their shareholders, to their products, to their employees, to their customers, it is much easier for me to bring in the implementation of how to mitigate those risks.” Dismantling Silos Is Essential for Effective AI Development AI challenges the traditional handoff model in which designers, engineers, security, legal, compliance, and other teams work separately before passing projects along. Ovetta says AI development requires continuous cross-functional input instead. Her D-C-R framework – draft, critique, revise – organizes teams around development stages, bringing the right expertise into each phase. “Instead of saying, ‘I’m a designer’ or ‘I’m a researcher,’ or ‘I’m a product manager,’ or ‘I’m an engineer,’ we say, ‘I’m in the draft mode,’” Ovetta adds. “Each skill set in that move brings what they need to get that draft ready for critiquing, right? And so it’s something that I give to organizations and teams to try to reimagine how they actually do their jobs.” Ovetta Sampson is not arguing for less innovation with AI; instead, she’s arguing for a different definition of responsible innovation – one that embeds human consequences, executive accountability, and cross-functional collaboration into the product development process itself. [03:10] Protecting the fragility of humanity. There are a lot of things us humans engage in, especially what I call the cognitive biases, that make engaging with machines and other automated systems that make it risky for us.   [05:57] The H-E-R Framework. But what it really is, is there are five dimensions. There’s the cognitive, there’s the social, there’s cultural, there the physiological. And then the overall community risks that when humans engage with machines, that can happen.  [10:08] LLMs built on ‘traumatized data sets.’ Generative AI has no moral code. It does not know truth or fact. And accuracy is not in its wheelhouse. In fact, it’s not in this training and it’s in its goals. So why when we type something into chat GPT, we expect truth back? I don’t know. [13:24] Protecting my values as a creator. That’s where I really want to start, because I don’t want to be a part of that. I don’t want to part of designing something that harms people. [14:00] I observed one reoccurring truth. Whatever is happening in the basement of a company starts in the C-suite. So if there is sexism, if there’s homophobia, if there racism, if there is bad culture, if it starts at the C-suite. Because the C-suite is the person who has the ultimate authority about what occurs in every floor of an organization. [18:26] The D-C-R framework — draft, critique, revise. The D-C-R framework is something I created because I was trying to explain to designers and product and engineers how their processes would change when they’re designing for and with AI. Each one of these disciplines should go through that makes the handoffs more like a circular iterative. The post 194 / Ovetta Sampson: Designing AI Products Around Human Needs – Not Just Technology appeared first on ITX Corp..

  2. Jul 28

    How Adaptive Leadership Helps Product Teams Navigate Complexity, with Rachel Kohman

    In our current environment of rapidly changing customer needs and expectations, evolving technologies, and unpredictable market swings, the best ideas rarely come from a single leader. Instead, as attendees of the 2026 ITX Product + Design Conference learned, they emerge when product teams collaborate, challenge assumptions, and adapt together. In this episode of Product Momentum, Rachel Kohman, Ed.D. joined Sean and Dan for an in-person chat, discussing why adaptive leadership helps organizations solve today’s toughest product and technology problems. Rachel, Assistant Dean of Entrepreneurship Education at Missouri S&T, draws from her experience developing future engineers, entrepreneurs, and leaders, to offer practical guidance for creating teams where everyone contributes to better decisions. Here’s what we learned: Leadership Is Everyone’s Responsibility Adaptive leadership challenges the long-held assumption that the person with authority has all the answers. Today’s problems are too complex for any one individual to solve alone, Rachel says. Product managers, UX designers, engineers, and researchers each bring their own unique perspectives to deliver desired outcomes. Not surprisingly, she adds, organizational performance improves when leadership becomes a shared responsibility. “And that’s what’s so interesting with adaptive leadership; it actually starts to change the narrative. “It’s like, ‘wait a second, the challenges we’re facing are too complex to have a single right solution.’” For product teams, the adaptive leadership mindset creates an environment where product team members contribute new ideas because they see opportunities – not because they’ve been directed to. Psychological Safety Drives Better Decision Making Echoing the sentiments of episode 78 guest Dr. Timothy Clark, Rachel says that too many good ideas remain trapped in hallway discussions or private chat messages, mostly because team members are hesitant to challenge authority. Psychological safety, what Dr. Clark refers to as the great enabler, requires people in positions of authority to model and reward everyday acts of vulnerability. Beginning with respectful communication (as opposed to public confrontation), team members should present their concerns early on with an eye toward improving the product instead of proving someone wrong. “It’s that curiosity,” Rachel continues, “it’s asking those questions of others and being willing to not have all the answers yourself.” This approach is not without risk, but its benefits are every bit as real: teams surface issues sooner, discovery improves, and teams emerge with better decisions before costly mistakes reach customers. Take a Step Back To See the Whole System Adaptive leadership also requires “stepping away” from daily execution, Rachel says. She describes the practice as “going to the balcony” – intentionally creating distance to recognize broader patterns instead of reacting only to immediate tasks. Teams who cannot see a world beyond the sprint work, feature requests, tech debt, and deadlines fail to observe market trends, learn from adjacent teams, and become aware of changes across the organization. “If you don’t take the opportunity to take a step back and pause the noise, you’re losing out on an opportunity to perceive the world around you.” Leadership Is Every Team Member’s Responsibility Adaptive leadership is not just another management framework; it’s a practical way of helping organizations respond to uncertainty. Grounded in psychological safety, product teams become more resilient when people feel comfortable sharing new ideas, questioning assumptions, and learning together. Rachel Kohman, in her own words: [03:35] Changing the narrative of leader as ‘only the person in authority.’ The term leader has actually been the noun synonymous with the person in the top spots, right? And so what’s interesting with adaptive leadership is that it actually starts to kind of change that narrative and say, ‘wait a second, the challenges we’re facing do not have like a single right solution.’   [04:38] Not for the risk-averse. It is a little bit risky for everyone; we’re asking people who are in a position of authority to become comfortable with ideas coming from others, and they actually need to be willing to listen. At the same time though, the people who aren’t in the position of authority have to be willing to step up and not just say, ‘I’ll do whatever the boss says.’ [09:53] Adaptive leadership can reduce our volume of work. I do think that as we start to integrate it into our work, it becomes part of that culture of everybody is bringing their perspective and  their expertise; it actually eases up on the amount of work that you have to do. [11:20] Entrepreneurship requires curiosity. I love when different schools of thought come together. So I don’t have to be an ardent follower of only one thing. So with entrepreneurship there’s also this idea of ‘where’s your curiosity?’ And with leadership I think it’s the same way. It’s that curiosity, it’s asking those questions of other people and being willing to not have all the answers yourself. [17:29] The adaptability of adaptive leadership. I have found ways to utilize it all across my life. I practice this in my home, in my work, with my friends, which I think is really cool. Yeah, my next book is actually how being a parent helps you be a better leader, not the other way around. It’s amazing! [18:13] The view from the balcony. Sometimes we need to step back a bit, away from the busy-ness and noise of the day-to-day tasks. For illustration: if you’ve ever seen a marching band, like on a football field, but you’re actually down on the field at the same level as the band. It can look just really busy and there’s a lot happening. But when you move way up to the top of the stands, suddenly you’re seeing what is evolving in these beautiful intricate movements. Gives you a whole different like vantage point, right? The post 193 / How Adaptive Leadership Helps Product Teams Navigate Complexity, with Rachel Kohman appeared first on ITX Corp..

  3. Jul 15

    David Pereira: How Product Teams Can Deliver More Value by Doing Less Work

    Product teams often struggle to deliver meaningful outcomes. Why? Because they confuse activity with progress. Understanding that challenge is the focus of our chat with David Pereira, recorded in person at the 2026 ITX Product + Design Conference, in Rochester, NY. David is a product management coach, speaker, and author of Untrapping Product Teams: Simplify the Complexity of Creating Digital Products. He has spent that past 17 years helping organizations create more value by eliminating busy work. In his conference workshop and keynote, David drew from his work with product teams around the world, explaining how eliminating unnecessary work, validating assumptions early, and staying close to customers enable teams to make better decisions and build products that solve real problems. Eliminate Busy Work to Create More Value Many organizations unintentionally create systems that reward activity instead of outcomes, David argues. Excessive meetings, backlog maintenance, and decision making based on conjecture rather than evidence consume valuable time without moving products forward. Rather than accepting these practices as status quo, David believes that product leaders should ask whether these activities contribute to customer or business value. Set clear boundaries around focus time and make every meeting earn its place on the calendar, he adds. “B******t management is an art,” Davids says. “It’s the art of doing things that create no value, but drain everyone’s energy.” Build To Learn: Testing Assumptions Before Crafting Solutions David’s central message in his day 1 conference workshop is that successful product teams learn before they build. Teams naturally become attached to their ideas, making it easy to seek evidence that confirms existing beliefs instead of challenging them. By identifying assumptions, prioritizing the most critical risks, and defining success criteria before running experiments, teams can quickly separate fact from opinion. AI can accelerate experiment design, but only when it supports disciplined learning – not when it replaces critical thinking. “You will build to learn, because you’ll learn from reality,” David continues. “If you don’t do that, you’re gonna make something that only works in fantasy.” Customer Reality Should Drive Every Product Decision In a return to timeless product principles, David reinforces the mantra that decisions should be grounded in real customer behavior rather than internal assumptions. Using examples drawn from his own work, David reveals customer friction that internal discussions had completely overlooked. For product managers and UX professionals alike, direct observation remains among the most effective ways to uncover opportunities that analytics and meetings often miss. “You need to go and check the users’ reality,” David says. “Because if you limit your discovery to the clinical environment of your cozy office, you’ll quickly learn that that is not how users work. You need to get out there to truly understand their reality.” [03:29] B******t management is the art of doing things that create no value, but drain your energy. The more b******t you do, the less value you create.   [04:47] [As a product manager,] your job is to simplify what others complicate. So many times we have meanings because it’s the default way of collaborating. So we need to step back and say, what on earth am I trying to achieve? [05:51] We all need time for focus. So I block my morning; nobody can reach out to me in the morning because it’s the time I’m going to do deep work. As for meetings, they need to have a few things: what is the objective? What is the context? And what is agenda? If the meeting invitation can’t answer those questions, I immediately reject. [09:56] In order to test our assumptions, we need to understand the following: If my assumption is proven false, is my idea still valid? If yes, you can ignore this assumption because your idea will still survive. But if the assumption is proven false, my idea is worthless and I start looking at things differently. [17:05] When [AI-driven] execution becomes cheap, where do you put your energy? Your energy goes to thinking, decision making. But thinking and decision making should be a collaborative exercise, not a siloed one. [20:49] What is NIHITO? NIHITO is ‘nothing important happens in the office.’ It’s an important lesson about how teams and organizations make product decisions. We need to get out of the office and into our users’ environment if we are ever to understand their reality. The post 192 / David Pereira: How Product Teams Can Deliver More Value By Doing Less Work appeared first on ITX Corp..

  4. Jul 7

    TiPS: ITX 2026 P+D Conference – Converging Around Better Problem Solving

    For the past 5 years, the ITX Product + Design Conference stands at the top of the company’s calendar. In this Topics in Product Series (TiPS) episode, Product Momentum co-host Sean Murray called the 2-day conference event “my favorite two working days of the year,” complete with workshops, keynotes, spotlight sessions, and live podcast recordings. Sean (Director of Product Management) is joined by ITX colleagues Shannon Baird (Lead UX Designer), Kyle Psaty (VP of Business Development), and Dan Sharp (Product Manager, Product Momentum co-host). With conference excitement still fresh on their minds and drawing from their experiences across product management, UX design, and business development, the panel explored the conference’s most relevant takeaways. As you’ll see and hear, one theme emerged: the boundaries that once separated the roles of Product and UX are rapidly fading. As AI changes how teams work, their success depends less on tools and more on the collaborative problem solving that grows from a deeper understanding of our products’ users. Here’s a look at what they learned: AI Amplifies Existing Product Practices Not surprisingly, Conference speakers discussed artificial intelligence and its impacts – but not as the primary topic. Instead, they focused on ways AI can be used to strengthen good product thinking, not to replace it. David Pereira, author of Untrapping Product Teams, explained that AI is most valuable when it enhances sound discovery, user research, and decision-making. Teams that already practice strong product fundamentals will benefit the most, he added. “AI accelerates what you are already doing,” David says. Leadership Is Something You Do, Not Someone You Are Leadership emerged as another major theme during the Day 1 workshops. In a Product track session guided by Rachel Kohman, attendees explored how leadership happens through everyday actions. Rather than being defined by job title or authority, leadership is revealed at all levels of the organization by speaking up, creating space for others, and helping teams navigate difficult problems. As Dan points out, “It’s really easy to think about leadership as a thing that happens when ‘somebody’s in charge.’ But that’s not always the case. Leading is a verb that you do, not an overall overarching principle. I think there’s a lot of power in that.” Product and UX Deliver Stronger Results Together Our TiPS panelists believe that the Conference’s most actionable takeaway is the growing convergence of Product and UX. Even though AI is enabling professionals to work across traditional role boundaries, a focus on shared customer and business outcomes are bringing the disciplines even closer together. “In past years,” Kyle shares, “guests like Jesse James Garrett, Jared Spool, and Rich Mironov really celebrated our conference because it brings together product and design. Historically, the impetus has been to actively bring those departments together. Now, those roles are converging in this kind of natural way; the game board is tilting us all together toward unified problem solving and shared solutioning.” [04:11] The ITX Product + Design Conference is my favorite two working days of the year! — Sean Murray, Director of Product Management, ITX.   [13:28] I’m now building my own AI design expertise, and it’s important to stop for a beat and make sure I’m asking the right questions as I design these tools. — Shannon Baird, Lead UX Designer, ITX. [18:51] One thing is clear: the work we’re doing – designers, engineers, product managers – is figuring out what brings value. It’s adaptive problem solving, right? — Dan Sharp, Product Manager, ITX. [19:50] The Product and Design roles are converging in this natural, authentic way that is tilting us all toward unified problem solving and shared solutioning. — Kyle Psaty, VP of Business Development, ITX. [21:05] That’s why this Product + UX Conference was killer for me. With AI technology becoming readily available, we’re seeing designers coding their own prototypes and product owners designing their own solutions. Our roles are more closely aligned and offering more opportunities to cross-collaborate. — Shannon Baird, Lead UX Designer, ITX. [22:33] I think we’ve lost a little bit of the in-person career development. And we wouldn’t have been able to make the observations that we were making about the blending of these worlds. There’s so much value for both distinct role sets; the opportunity to be there in person and the opportunity to talk with other people is really unique these days. — Sean Murray, Director of Product Development, ITX. Sean Murray. Sean is the Director of Product Management at ITX. His expertise lies in aligning teams with product goals, business objectives, and user value, all while creating a fun and collaborative environment where everyone can thrive. Dan Sharp. Dan is a Product Manager at ITX focusing on enterprise level clients and technology solutions. He enjoys shaping product strategy and turning a strategy into valuable solutions. Kyle Psaty. Kyle is ITX’s VP of Business Development. In this role, Kyle is the executive sponsor of the annual ITX Product + Design Conference. Shannon Baird. Shannon is a Lead UX Designer at ITX. She thrives on solving challenging problems with a user-centered design process, taking problems through research, ideation, prototyping, and testing design phases.  The post 191 / TiPS: ITX 2026 P+D Conference – Converging Around Better Problem Solving appeared first on ITX Corp..

  5. Jun 19

    Nesrine Changuel

    Product leaders often measure success in terms of retention, revenue, and growth. In this episode of Product Momentum, Nesrine Changuel explains that the most successful products achieve those outcomes by creating meaningful emotional connections with users. Nesrine’s experience includes leadership roles at Skype, Spotify, Google Meet, and Google Chrome. But these days, she is perhaps best known for her book, Product Delight. Nesrine will explore these and other topics at the ITX Product + Design Conference, June 24-25 in Rochester NY. On conference Day 1, she will conduct a workshop that delves into her Product Delight framework, guiding attendees on how to design products that users will not only use – but will come to love, remember, and recommend to others. During this conversation, Nesrine discusses what she has learned from product teams since the book’s release and explains why delight is not simply a design tactic, but a business strategy that transcends industries. Product Delight Extends Beyond Design One of Nesrine’s biggest discoveries during her global book tour was the widespread misunderstanding of what product delight actually means. Many practitioners associate delight with visual design, animations, or clever interface surprises. This view is too narrow, she says. Nesrine defines delight as the overall feeling users experience while interacting with a product. “Product delight is the entire experience,” she adds. “It’s actually the feeling that the user enjoys while using the product.” It extends well beyond aesthetics to focus on creating experiences that improve how users feel while accomplishing their goals. Emotional Connection Creates Measurable Outcomes Among Nesrine’s key challenges was helping product and business leaders recognize the fact that user emotions directly influence business performance. Emotional design has long been familiar to designers and marketers, but many product organizations still prioritize operational metrics above customer sentiment. Nesrine was able to connect the dots between delight and business performance by demonstrating that “the delight itself can actually double retention, referral and revenues.” By framing emotional connection through the lens of retention, referrals, and revenue growth, she demonstrated that delight is not a soft concept. Rather, it is a practical approach that can strengthen both customer loyalty and business results. Adding Delight to Your AI Product – Emphasize the Human Aspect On conference day 2 – Keynote Day – attendees will be treated to brand new content from Nesrine: how to add delight into your AI product. “I’ve been very quiet about AI over the last couple of months,” Nesrine shared. “I’ve always believed in the humanization of product and the human aspect, but now the product is the conversation. So how can we add delight in these kinds of experiences? That’s something new that I’m going to be talking about” at the ITX Product + Design Conference. As product teams continue navigating AI-driven technological change, core product principles remain unchanged: products that make people feel understood, respected, and supported are more likely to earn user trust, loyalty, advocacy – along with long-term success. [04:25] How writing a book is like a box of chocolates. When I was writing the book, there were some uncertainties about how it would be perceived….kind of like eating a chocolate egg, you have no idea what’s inside.  [05:33] Emotional connection is a universal topic that spans industries. When the book came out, I received a lot of feedback that actually related to the topic and the framework — even from completely diverse industries. [12:21] The ITX Product + Design Conference, June 24-25. I’m really excited to be in Rochester, NY for this event to come. It’s always a pleasure to teach the Product Delight method. It’s going to be special because I want to make it as actionable as I can; I want to make sure that I inspire people. [13:54] Nesrine’s day 2 keynote to include brand new content. I’m going to talk for the very first time about something I have not spoken about before — how to add delight and the human aspect into your AI product. [15:56] Just because it’s harder for mature, well-established companies to integrate delight into their products doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. Please don’t ignore delight; rather, to remain established and successful, you need to add those elements of delight in your product anyway. [17:58] Even busy PMs should make time for delight. Even when I was a “regular” PM sitting on a backlog on fire with so many conflicting priorities, I tried not to let that stop us from trying to incorporate any element of delight into our roadmap. The post 190 / Nesrine Changuel: How Product Delight Drives Business Outcomes appeared first on ITX Corp..

  6. Jun 9

    Mike Belsito: Why Timeless Product Skills Matter in an AI-Driven World

    Mike Belsito has spent years at the center of the product management community. As the founder of Product Collective, a leader at Mind the Product, and now Head of Product Evangelism at Pendo, Mike has built a career around learning from product professionals and sharing those insights with the broader industry. In this episode of Product Momentum, Mike joins Sean and Dan for a discussion that is absolutely top of mind for today’s product leaders today: while artificial intelligence is transforming how products are built, timeless skills such as curiosity, judgment, and taste remain essential. In fact, he argues, these capabilities will become even more valuable as technology accelerates the pace of product development. Navigating AI Through Human-Centered Product Skills In doing research for a new book, Mike engaged many product leaders who had experienced previous periods of technological disruption – e.g., the rise of the internet, telecommunications, and mobile computing. Now dealing with AI-driven opportunities and uncertainties, many leaders point to the same enduring qualities that helped them and their teams adapt during earlier transitions. Rather than focusing solely on new technologies, they emphasized the importance of human-centered skills that guide decision-making and product strategy. “It’s kind of relying on the same timeless characteristics that we’ve always thought were important,” Mike says. “And even today, we still think are important, which are things like curiosity, judgment, taste.” Balancing Output and Outcomes Our conversation with Mike also explored a growing tension within product organizations – a theme also covered in recent Product Momentum episodes. As AI enables teams to create more content, code, and functionality faster than ever before, Mike cautions against using increased output” as a measure of success. Product teams have spent years shifting their focus from user satisfaction to delivery metrics to business outcomes, Mike continues. “That mindset remains critical, even as AI changes workflows. But how do we make sure that it’s not just about the output – that we’re actually building the right things?” For product managers, designers, and engineers, the challenge is ensuring that speed does not come at the expense of delivering business value. Curiosity as a Practiced Skill Among Mike’s more surprising research discoveries was how often leaders highlighted curiosity as a skill that can be developed intentionally. Rather than viewing curiosity as an innate personality trait, many described it as a practice that strengthens through deliberate effort. It’s an insight that brings important implications for today’s product teams. Learning, questioning assumptions, and seeking new perspectives become competitive advantages in times like these when the technology landscape evolves so quickly, Mike adds. “I wasn’t thinking of curiosity as a practice or as a muscle to be flexed.” As AI continues to reshape product development, Mike offers a practical perspective for product leaders. Technology will continue to evolve, he says, but the ability to ask thoughtful questions, exercise sound judgment, and focus on meaningful outcomes remains fundamental. Those timeless capabilities may ultimately determine which teams are best equipped to thrive in an increasingly AI-driven future. [03:45[ What is product evangelism? Being Pendo’s Head of Product Evangelism is a new role for me, one that I’ve just stepped into weeks ago. Pendo has a unique point of view on how it helps product people, and it does that through its software, and now it’s all kind of software. [06:25] Mike’s new book project — the origin story. I wasn’t planning on ever writing a book again. The publisher [Wiley] reached out kind of out of the blue and told me ‘we think you have a pretty unique point of view.’ [09:41] What’s exciting you right now? What’s keeping you up at night? Essential questions Mike poses to every product leader he speaks with, in every conversation. [14:44] Rewarding outcomes over outputs. Many product folks came up in a world where we all celebrated outputs. Like, how much did we deliver this week? But then it came to a point where we said, ‘hey, it actually shouldn’t be about outputs…it should be about outcomes. And it’s even beyond outcomes for your customers — it’s about outcomes for businesses too. [17:29] Creating the right thing > Creating for creating’s sake. We have to remember that it’s not just about creating for creating sake, it’s like making sure we’re creating the right thing. [20:47] Curiosity, taste, and judgment. We used to believe that these were innate personality traits. But lately, as I have conducted research for my upcoming book, I am learning from other product leaders that these are muscles that can be strengthened, and they are muscles we must flex regularly. Want to hear more from Mike Belsito? Be sure to join us as he emcees the 2026 ITX Product + Design Conference, June 24 & 25 in Rochester, NY – for the fifth consecutive year! “I’m honored to return as emcee for the fifth year in a row. This event continues to stand out because of the incredible community it brings together and the energy in the room each time we gather. I’m proud to be part of something that keeps growing in impact and connection.” – Mike Belsito The post 189 / Mike Belsito: Why Timeless Product Skills Matter in an AI-Driven World appeared first on ITX Corp..

  7. May 27

    Prerna Singh

    Prerna Singh helps organizations build better products and stronger communities. As the founder of Scrappy to Scale Advisors and the former VP of Product and Design at Meetup, she has guided startups and mission-driven organizations through rapid change, customer discovery, and product strategy. In today’s episode, Prerna explains why human connection and disciplined product thinking matter more than ever during the AI boom. While AI may accelerate product work, she says, successful teams avoid the must stay grounded in curiosity, customer insight, and authentic community building. Sense of Community Addresses the ‘Isolation Problem’ What started as a casual gathering for fractional product leaders, Prerna’s Product Breakfasts quickly evolved into a broader support system for people navigating uncertainty and AI-driven change and the professional isolation that often comes with it. Many product professionals, she says, now feel overwhelmed by the pace of technological advancement and the pressure to keep pace. “I don’t think there’s any catching up,” Prerna adds. “‘Catching up’ implies that there’s an end goal to this. And there isn’t. So that’s where I think Breakfast is the evolution of people coming together to share what they know and helping reduce that anxiety that isn’t just a knowledge gap. It’s also an isolation problem.” First Principles, Supported by Human Interaction Product professionals need environments where they can safely discuss their own vulnerabilities. The ability to openly admit uncertainty about AI and its impact, to exchange ideas, and learn together is the hallmark of authentic, in-person interaction. “The IRL connection isn’t going anywhere,” Prerna continues. “We need that human-to-human interaction to have an outlet for where those vulnerabilities are gonna go. Otherwise, they’re just contained within us and we’re just spiraling in our own heads.” Avoiding the Trap Starts with Better Discovery Prerna’s extensive background in user research informs her belief in the importance of first principles in product management. AI tools, she says, make it deceptively easy to jump directly into solutioning without fully understanding the customer’s needs and the business’ problems. In her fractional product manager role, Prerna listens “for the thing that clients return to when they stop performing.” “‘We need AI’ is a common mantra,” she says. “But what’s interesting for me is the kernel of truth that frames that statement. And it’s not what they want. It’s what they can’t circle back to – like there’s a hidden customer insight that we’ve maybe navigated around.” Lean into Discovery, Prerna concludes. Product teams must remain disciplined about validating assumptions, conducting research, and identifying the real customer need before building anything. “Avoid the trap of jumping into solutioning.” [05:26] Origin story of the Product Leaders Breakfast. The original concept for Product Breakfast started from a place where it came out this concept of isolation. In the last 2-3 years, we’ve heard so much about AI and the way that it’s affecting our jobs. [09:36] Don’t feel like you need to ‘catch up’ to AI’s impact. I don’t think there’s any catching up. Catching up implies that there’s like an end goal to this — and, well, there isn’t. [12:00] The IRL Connection Remains Essential. This is precisely why the IRL connection isn’t going anywhere. We need the human-to-human interaction to have an outlet for sharing vulnerabilities; otherwise, they’re just contained within us and then we’re just spiraling in our own heads. [18:28] What it means to be a ‘fractional product leader’. The fractional product leader brings in a wealth of experience and is able to quickly understand the organization’s problems, the culture, the team and embed themselves as a force multiplier to help that organization achieve its goals. [26:43] AI’s support of user research and first principles. When we approach these challenges with a level of curiosity, we avoid using the first answer as the final answer. We need to dig beyond the surface level truth with user research. And this is actually where AI has been super-helpful because it’s allowing me to ingest lots of different signals to cut through the noise and figure out what that right signal is. [28:09] Spend time in the problem space. I think the trap is jumping into solutioning. This is another first principles thing where I think, again as humans, we have this tendency to want to jump right into solution as soon as we see a problem without spending time interrogating the problem. The post 188 / Prerna Singh: Avoiding the AI Build Trap with Better User Research appeared first on ITX Corp..

  8. May 13

    AI Native: Reimagining Product Roles and Development Cycles, with Adam Creeger

    Adam Creeger is the CTO of Slate and creator of iLoom (pronounced “il-LOOM”). His leadership experience at Meta, Greenhouse, and Frame.io not only informs Slate’s transformation into an AI-native organization, but also shapes the way AI influences product strategy, engineering workflows, and operational models. Throughout his conversation with Sean and Dan, Adam argues that becoming AI native is not about layering AI features onto existing products. Instead, it requires companies to rethink how software is designed, built, and operated – from the ground up. His perspective offers a practical framework for product leaders navigating AI-driven transformation. Here’s what else we learned: ‘AI Native’ Requires Organizational Reinvention AI native organizations are willing to rethink every layer of their business, Adam says. Rather than adding AI features superficially, AI native organizations redesign workflows, team structures, and customer experiences around AI capabilities. He emphasized that AI transformation changes not only products, but also how people contribute inside organizations. “To be AI native requires this deep exercise in re-imagination and not just imagination,” Adam continues. “In an AI native company – from the day-to-day operations to the ‘who does what’ – the roles and the owners of things are going to look very different.” AI is expanding participation across teams, enabling designers, support teams, and non-engineers to contribute directly to product delivery. That shift signals a major change for modern software organizations. AI and the Future of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Our conversation then turned to an exploration of how AI is already changing the traditional software development lifecycle. Years ago, Agile development emerged because humans had historically struggled to fully reason through complex systems before implementation. “I’ve realized that Agile was really a mitigation of a few things, mostly that we humans are limited in our abilities to reason through abstract concepts,” Adam says. “So when we thought about a software project, we didn’t have the ability to see around corners and understand the problems we’d face – until it was real, until you really started playing with it. Turns out that many of those challenges are very solvable by AI, allowing us to go much deeper into the problem space without ever writing a line of code. In addition, AI-assisted planning allows teams to revisit some waterfall-style thinking, but with dramatically faster iteration and validation cycles. Product Managers’ New Role: Communicate Context Importantly, AI is actually elevating the role of product managers, Adam offers. Rather than acting primarily as tactical decision-makers, product leaders can (and should) focus on providing context that enables teams to make informed decisions independently. “More than ever, the product manager has become a role about providing context,” he adds. “PMs should be elevated to a much more strategic role, understanding the long-term vision and helping to translate that to engineers.” Adam also feels that PMs should be using AI to communicate ideas about the product vision much more effectively. That evolution creates a faster and more collaborative product environment. Teams can evaluate real implementations earlier, gather customer feedback sooner, and align around outcomes instead of specifications alone. [05:54] What it means to be ‘AI native’. Conceptually, it’s same as digital native from when the internet was born many years ago. In the abstract sense, I see AI native being about the folks and the companies that are either just starting in the age of AI where everything they do is shaped by the existence of AI and their ability to use AI. [15:08] Is waterfall making a comeback? Oh man, this is one of my favorite topics. Growing up in the industry, waterfall was always like the evil thing. But with AI-assisted coding or agentic coding, you can go really deep, create a much bigger scope, and deliver it much more quickly…and it resembles more of a waterfall mentality. [21:51] The PM’s primary role: providing context. The product manager more than ever has become a role about providing context. The most powerful thing PMs can do in an organization is provide context to other people. [25:49] Exploring Adam’s iloom tool, and how it can help. Hear a quick story from Adam about how he used his iloom tool to create — and demo — a new product feature during a call with his customer success team. [28:47] Swarms. What are they, and how do they work? A swarm is a number of AI agents working together in a very collaborative way with the potential of real-time communication between them. [35:03] Avoiding ‘AI slop’ to defend and elevate a brand’s quality bar. Slate is creating a tool that makes it very difficult to create AI slop. This is a valuable proposition to brands that care deeply about what gets produced in their name. The post 187 / AI Native: Reimagining Product Roles and Development Cycles, with Adam Creeger appeared first on ITX Corp..

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Amazing digital experiences don’t just happen. They are purposefully created by artists and engineers, who strategically and creatively get to know the problem, configure a solution, and maneuver through the various dynamics, hurdles, and technicalities to make it a reality. Hosts Sean and Paul will discuss various elements that go into creating and managing software products, from building user personas to designing for trackable success. No topic is off-limits if it helps inspire and build an amazing digital experience for users – and a product people actually want.

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