Randy Silver: The conversations that create impactful products Make Things That Matter

Randy Silver is a product leadership advisor, podcast host, and global product community weaver. We explore the conversations needed to drive impact and perception of value.
You can also read this episode here.
—
Topics discussed:
(04:00) Moving from a journalistic editor to product editor
(07:34) Parallels between product management film production
(09:53) Missed opportunities & the need for collaboration
(15:21) Alignment with stakeholders
(18:24) Sales misalignment and restructures
(21:10) Diagnosing teamwork challenges with partners
(25:02) Diagnosing your new org via informational interviews
(28:05) Creating a manager README
(30:11) Roles and responsibilities convo for better understanding
(35:19) Guiding conversations and change
(44:22) Did reorganization at Airbnb address strategy misalignment?
(46:18) Defensive reaction within product community to Airbnb
(52:14) Coordinating while scaling
—
Links & resources mentioned
Find the full transcript at: https://podcast.makethingsthatmatter.com/randy-silver-conversations-create-impact#transcript
Send episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via email
Randy Silver: website, LinkedIn, Twitter
• MTP talk: “Getting aligned with your exec team by Randy Silver”
• Podcast: The Product Experience
• Book: “What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of Crisis”
• The product environment canvas
• Stakeholder Informational interview template
—
Related episodes:
• Andrew on Randy’s podcast, The Product Experience
• #72 Pam Fox Rollin: Growing groups into teams
• #44 Teresa Torres: Habits for clear thinking and better product bets
• #18 Josh Seiden: Create clarity with outcomes thinking
• #5 Rich Mironov: Building a thriving product organization
• #3 Christina Wodtke: Unleashing potential with extraordinary teams
—
People & orgs:
• Georgie Smallwood
• Matt LeMay
• Alan Albert - value based pricing
• Itamar Gilad
—
Books:
• Growing Groups Into Teams
• Evidence Guided
• The Team That Managed Itself
• Continuous Discovery Habits
• Outcomes Over Output
• Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management
—
Other resources:
• Product, it’s time to grow up
• The 11 Laws of Showrunning
• Rich Mironov: The slippery slope of sales-led development
• The Journey to Empowered Teams - Twitter, Airbnb & Tumblr
• Product Strategy Acid Test
• OODA loop
• Manager README: The Indispensable Document for the Modern Manager
• Roman Pichler - the decision making chart
• Relentless equanimity


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.makethingsthatmatter.com