The Product Huddle

The Product Huddle
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Product Huddle is a podcast for product managers, product leaders, and founders who want to level up their impact. Hosted by Anamarija and Jeff Callan, the show dives into real-world product strategy, leadership, decision-making, and growth. Topics include: product culture, roadmap strategy, stakeholder management, leadership, AI in product, and how to build trust while scaling fast. New episodes monthly. Follow to get practical, no-fluff insights that make you a sharper product leader.

  1. 20h ago

    EP 14 - Be great. AI has average covered.

    Everyone has the same AI tools now. So what are we actually competing on? In this episode of The Product Huddle, Anamarija Ledic turns the tables on co-host Jeff Callan, whose new book Culture of Speed: What Stays Human When AI Outpaces Us is out now. They talk about why AI has stopped being a technology problem and become a human one, and what that means for product people, leaders, and anyone whose work is speeding up. In this episode: Why AI tools without the right culture just give you “very expensive new ways to move slowly”The claim that purely human work no longer exists (try to name one thing you do without a tool)The 15 forces of speed: barriers, drivers, and balancers, and why brakes make a race car fasterIntelligence vs. wisdom, and why judgment is still yoursDigital vs. analog context: what AI never sees in the roomWhy collecting lived experiences makes you better at your jobWhy trust is the real engine of speedPlus, how Jeff used AI to write a book about staying human, and where he drew the line. Chapters:00:00 Intro: Jeff’s new book01:30 Why write Culture of Speed now?04:00 AI isn’t a tech problem anymore, it’s a human one05:39 “There’s no such thing as purely human work”09:19 Writing a book about humans with AI tools11:37 The framework: 15 forces of speed13:46 Intelligence vs. wisdom14:59 If everyone has the same AI, what’s the edge?17:08 Moving up the stack as AI commoditizes work20:45 Are we cutting customers out of the loop?22:53 Digital vs. analog context26:27 Is our hard-won experience expiring?29:23 Go collect lived experiences31:17 Is Jeff optimistic about the future?32:31 “Being human becomes more valuable when...” Your turn: finish the sentence “In the AI age, being human becomes more valuable when…” and send us your answer. We might feature it in a future episode. Get Culture of Speed by Jeff Callan Next episode: What happens when we stop doing the work ourselves and hand it over to AI agents? New episodes once a month. Follow the show so you don’t miss the next one. Got a question, a topic you want us to argue about, or want to come on as a guest? Write to us at LinkedIn. The Product Huddle. No fluff. No hype. Just real product talk.

  2. Sep 8

    AI PM: Here to Stay, or the Next Gamification PM?

    Mobile PM. Web3 PM. Crypto PM. Growth PM. Gamification PM. Data PM. Every one of those titles was going to permanently fork the product career, and every one quietly merged back into "product manager."So when AI-focused PMs are earning $245,000 against $123,000 for a traditional PM, Jeff and Anamarija ask the uncomfortable version of the question: is this a real fork in the road, or is it growth PM wearing a bigger paycheck?The answer isn't the one either side of the hype wants. The title almost certainly doesn't survive. The judgment call underneath it does, and learning to tell those two apart is the actual skill.In this episode:The three stages every PM title cycle runs through, and where AI PM sits right nowWhy job postings climbed 14% year over year while hiring somehow got harderWhat an AI PM really does on a Tuesday: writing evals, setting acceptable error rates, measuring task completion instead of engagementJeff loses a VP of Product role to a candidate he was told was the weaker PM, because of one specialty gapMarty Cagan's shrinking product owner role vs. the go-to-market pull: two different forces coming for two different jobsA three-filter test for deciding whether any specialty is worth two years of your career, in the order that actually mattersThe three PM lanes, and what to do if you're standing in the shrinking middleWorth skipping to:05:29 — Scarcity, institutional, absorption: how every title dies09:24 — The rejection that taught Jeff what specificity really costs12:22 — The three AI PM skills that outlive the title16:47 — Five years of experience with a two-year-old tool17:54 — Which lane are you actually in?The line we keep coming back to: don't reorganize your identity around the word. Reorganize it around the judgment call the word is pointing at. That one survives.Which lane are you in, and which one do you feel yourself being pulled toward? Tell us: we're revisiting this in a year to see whether "AI PM" already sounds as dated as "gamification PM" does today.Hosted by Anamarija Ledic and Jeff Callan.New episodes monthly.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LM9YD03btAEJeff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcallan/Anamarija: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anamarijaledic/

  3. Aug 12

    Ep. 12 - Customers Ignore Your AI 3x More. Why Is It On Your Roadmap?

    Every roadmap has AI on it. Almost none of it came from a customer. This is our first birthday episode, twelve episodes, twelve months, nobody has quit, and we spent it on the AI that turns up on the roadmap without a ticket, without an interview, and without a single customer's name attached to it. The number that framed the conversation: Gartner surveyed 3,000+ people and found they're three times more likely to reach for a third-party AI tool than the one their own vendor built for them. Company chatbot usage has been flat since 2022. The features are getting built. They're just being walked around. Anamarija and Jeff get into where these features actually come from, why "AI-powered insights" keeps appearing on slides nobody can define, and what it costs when the roadmap loses credibility with the people who have to build it, which is more than the wasted sprint. Also: whether pushing back with evidence works (sometimes), what to do when it doesn't, and why "mobile-first" and "web3-first" should have taught us this already. If you've ever shipped something you knew wouldn't get adopted, this one's for you. (00:39) The Gartner data: customers are routing around your AI(03:38) The AI features we all quietly ignore(06:00) Why product people adopt faster than everyone else(09:09) Where unrequested features actually come from(12:23) Vibe coding, feature bloat and congested menus(15:59) Is this hype, or is this control?(18:56) Mobile-first, cloud-first, web3-first, now AI-first(22:12) The hidden bill: burned trust and stranded investment(27:14) When leadership strong-arms the roadmap(31:51) Ego, control, and making it their idea What's on your roadmap right now that no customer asked for? Tell us, we read everything, and the best stories end up in future episodes. New episode every month. Follow the show so you don't miss the next one. Hosted by Anamarija Ledic and Jeff Callan.

  4. Jul 21

    Episode 11- THE ONE THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST

    THE ONE THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST  Is the "AI PM" role actually going to exist in 5 years? And more importantly, why are so many companies completely broken when it comes to hiring?  In this episode, Jeff and Anamarija have an unfiltered conversation about the future of product management, the hiring paradox that's plaguing tech companies, and how to actually build teams that perform. Spoiler: it's not about finding someone with 50 skills. This was supposed to be a bonus segment recorded after another podcast ended, but it turned out to be so much better that we're making it the full episode. You're listening to the conversation that almost didn't happen.  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN  Why "AI PM" is just corporate hype and will eventually disappear into the general PM skill set. Anamarija breaks down how companies are confusing a job title with actual strategy.  The real dysfunction in product manager hiring: why companies post job requirements with 50+ skills, run 10+ interview stages, and still can't find the right person. (Hint: they don't actually know what they need.)  Jeff's 4-step framework for building high-performing organizations from his upcoming book "Culture of Speed": hire right, define roles clearly, provide resources to execute, and then get out of the way.  Why company vision and alignment matter more than you think. Without a clear direction from the top, everything else falls apart - including your hiring process.  The uncomfortable truth: people don't leave their jobs because of skill mismatches. They leave because of culture, bad leadership, and toxic environments.  How many skills does a PM actually need? Spoiler: about 3-5 core competencies, not 50. Most roles need three key skills and maybe one or two important experiences. That's it. A fresh perspective on hiring: what if candidates got to choose companies instead of the other way around?  ABOUT THE HOSTS  Jeff is a product leadership expert and author of "Culture of Speed." He focuses on helping organizations build the right structures and teams to actually execute.  Anamarija is a product manager with deep experience in hiring processes and team building. She brings a no-nonsense perspective on what's broken in tech recruitment.  PERFECT FOR  Product managers interviewing or job hunting Founders and hiring managers building their teams Tech leaders struggling with organizational alignment Anyone confused about whether they should add AI skills to their toolkit  New episodes drop monthly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. If you have a product management challenge, hiring question, or topic you want us to cover, find us on LinkedIn at The Product Huddle.  Leave a review if this episode helped you. Your feedback drives what we create next.  ---  Keywords: Product Management, AI PM, Hiring, Tech Careers, Leadership, Team Building, Organizational Culture, Job Search, Product Strategy

  5. Jul 21

    Episode 10 - “Launching Without Burning Out:Fast, Lean, and Smart GTMs”

    You've got a 47-page GTM doc, a Miro board full of positioning options, and a launch date that keeps slipping. Sound familiar?In this episode, Anamarija and Jeff strip the go-to-market down to three things - and argue that everything else is a "nice to have" that's probably burning out your team before the product even hits the market.Jeff shares a real conversation with a startup founder who couldn't explain what problem she was solving - and the simple question that unlocked her messaging in minutes. Anamarija introduces the "stranger test," a brutal filter most teams are too scared to run. And together they break down why picking one channel with an unfair advantage beats spreading yourself across seven at 15% effort.They also get into the growth loop trap - why bolting on a referral program because Dropbox did it is one of the most common mistakes in early-stage GTM - and what a successful lean launch actually looks like week by week: from the pre-launch conversations nobody sees to the one signal that tells you whether to keep going or pivot.If you've ever delayed a launch because the positioning "wasn't ready" or watched a Product Hunt spike disappear into flat retention, this one's for you.Connect with us:Anamarija Ledic -   / anamarijaledic  Jeff Callan -   / jeffcallan  Jeff's book "What Makes Great Products Great" - https://whatmakesgreatproductsgreat.comTIMESTAMPS:0:00 - The 47-page GTM plan that killed the launch0:30 - Three things: message, channel, signal - everything else can wait2:15 - Why your messaging is doing too much (and the stranger test)4:30 - "Completeness vs. readiness" - clear enough beats perfect5:45 - The one metric that actually matters at launch7:00 - Spray and pray: why seven channels at 15% effort doesn't work9:00 - How to pick your one channel (unfair advantage over scale)11:00 - Growth loops: why copying Dropbox might be the worst move13:00 - What a lean launch looks like week by week15:00 - The signal that tells you it's working (hint: it's not press coverage)16:30 - The loud launch trap: when a spike gives you false confidenceWhat's your GTM horror story? A launch that died by overplanning - or one you stripped down and it actually worked? Drop it in the comments. Some of our best episodes start here.#ProductManagement #GoToMarket #GTM #ProductLaunch #StartupStrategy #ProductManager #LeanStartup #TheProductHuddle

  6. May 19

    EP 09: The Invisible Work of Product Management

    The work that actually makes you a great PM never shows up in Jira. Here's what nobody tells you about the job. Anamarija and Jeff break down the invisible work of product management, the relationship building, pre-alignment, context gathering, and room-reading that never gets tracked but determines whether everything else succeeds or fails. They share real stories: the PM who had perfect data and still got destroyed in a meeting, how a tight jaw and a glance at a notebook caught a disaster before it shipped, and the PM whose superpower was making every hard decision look effortless, because he'd already had 20 conversations nobody saw. If you've ever felt guilty about a week where you didn't ship a feature but you built alignment and got ahead of a crisis, this episode is your permission slip. That was the work. Timestamps:00:00 Your performance review is missing the most important work02:35 Five categories of invisible work07:03 The PM who "didn't do politics"13:00 How a tight jaw saved an accessibility disaster15:35 Why invisible work isn't soft skills, it's your highest leverage22:00 The efficiency trap: "I don't have time for coffee chats"27:12 How to protect time for invisible work34:42 Your permission slip Connect with us:Anamarija Ledic - linkedin.com/in/anamarijaledicJeff Callan - linkedin.com/in/jeffcallanJeff's book "What Makes Great Products Great" - whatmakesgreatproductsgreat.com Got a story? Find us on LinkedIn, some of our best episodes come straight from your experiences.

  7. Mar 19

    Ep 08: Why 75% of Products Fail with Anthony Argenziano (Velociti)

    Why is $4 trillion spent annually on software that nobody actually uses? In our first-ever guest episode, Ana and Jeff sit down with Anthony Argenziano, founder of Velociti. With 25 years of experience at giants like Intel, eBay, and Amazon, Anthony has seen firsthand why great products die in the "execution gap", and how AI is changing the rules of the game. We’re moving past the AI hype to discuss the "The Product huddle stuff": the gritty, unglamorous reality of product management. In this episode, we cover: The Discovery Death Spiral: Why PMs spend all their time on "reactive work" and how to break the cycle. The "Vibe Coding" Trap: Why building faster with AI can actually lead to failing faster if you skip the strategy. Building Trust in AI: The psychological shift PMs need to make to stop building their own stacks and start leveraging agents. The "Human Moat": Why "bedside manner," stakeholder politics, and analog context are the only things AI can't replace. The End of the 10-Person Team? How the "Pizza Team" is evolving into high-leverage trios of PMs, Designers, and AI. Guest Bio:Anthony Argenziano is a career-long product leader and founder. After leading tech teams at some of the world's biggest firms, he founded Velociti to solve the end-to-end product development problem using generative AI. Connect with us: Check out Velocity: https://www.velocitipm.com/ Follow ProductHuddle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-product-huddle Subscribe for more "No-BS" Product Talks. “Good product managers don’t skip discovery,they just finally have a faster way to do it.”

  8. Feb 19

    Episode 7 - “3 Silent Killers of Startup Growth (Most Teams Miss #2)”

    Most startups don’t have a feature problem, they have a growth problem caused by patterns that quietly stall momentum. In this episode of The Product Huddle, Anamarija and Jeff break down the three silent killers of startup growth they keep seeing across companies: shipping without direction, using AI as a shortcut instead of solving real problems, and product teams not owning the revenue story. If your team is moving fast but results aren’t improving, this conversation will help you diagnose what’s really going on and where strong product leadership makes the difference.

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Product Huddle is a podcast for product managers, product leaders, and founders who want to level up their impact. Hosted by Anamarija and Jeff Callan, the show dives into real-world product strategy, leadership, decision-making, and growth. Topics include: product culture, roadmap strategy, stakeholder management, leadership, AI in product, and how to build trust while scaling fast. New episodes monthly. Follow to get practical, no-fluff insights that make you a sharper product leader.

Information

  • Creator
    The Product Huddle
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Product Huddle
  • Show Website
    The Product Huddle