『The Product Porch』のカバーアート

The Product Porch

The Product Porch

著者： Ryan Cantwell Todd Blaquiere Joe Ghali
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If you work in product management and sometimes feel like the job is way messier than people admit, pull up a chair on the porch. The Product Porch is a podcast about product management, product leadership, and career growth for product managers who want practical advice they can use. Hosted by Joe Ghali, Ryan Cantwell, and Todd Blaquiere, the show takes everyday product challenges and talks through them like experienced product people would: clearly, honestly, and without the usual buzzwords. This podcast is for product managers, product owners, associate product managers, senior product managers, group product managers, directors of product, and first-time product leaders trying to get better at the real work of the job. It is for internal product managers, hardware product managers, and software product managers doing the work outside the San Francisco Bay bubble. That includes product strategy, product discovery, roadmap decisions, stakeholder management, customer research, prioritization, product sense, executive communication, influence without authority, cross-functional leadership, and product career growth. A lot of product podcasts sound like they were made by Silicon Valley influencers for other Silicon Valley influencers. The advice is polished, the stories are tidy, and the problems somehow always seem to happen at companies with endless resources, famous logos, and teams built around the latest trend. That is not most product work. Some shows make product management sound neat and linear. It rarely is. Product work is full of tradeoffs, hard conversations, unclear authority, competing priorities, and decisions that matter. One day you are trying to validate a customer problem. The next day you are managing up, navigating product politics, translating strategy for stakeholders, or figuring out how to tie product decisions to business outcomes. That is the kind of work we cover. The Product Porch is built for people who want to become stronger product managers and better product leaders. Maybe you are trying to grow from PM to Director. Maybe you are learning how to influence executives. Maybe you are trying to improve your product discovery process, tell better stories, lead your team more effectively, or figure out how AI is changing product management and product team structure. Maybe you are job searching and trying to understand what hiring managers actually care about. Maybe you are simply trying to make smarter product decisions and have a bigger impact. Each episode explores real product management scenarios with grounded conversations, relatable examples, and actionable takeaways. We talk about how to become a better product manager, how to build trust with leadership, how to navigate stakeholder alignment, how to avoid feature factory thinking, how to shape product culture, how to connect product work to business results, and how to grow your product management career without getting trapped by empty advice or Silicon Valley theater. This is not a podcast about sounding impressive. It is a podcast about seeing product work clearly, especially if you build and lead outside the bubble. So if you are looking for a product management podcast that covers product strategy, leadership, discovery, communication, career progression, and the real-life challenges of building useful products with real teams, welcome to The Product Porch. Settle in with Joe, Ryan, and Todd for practical conversations on product management and career growth that help you think better, lead better, and do the job with more confidence.2026 The Product Porch マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ マーケティング マーケティング・セールス 出世 就職活動 経済学
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  • PM Powerskills- Communication

    PM Powerskills- Communication
    2026/08/18
    Ever leave a meeting thinking you were crystal clear, only to find out everyone walked away with a different interpretation? In this episode, Joe Ghali and Ryan Cantwell dig into why communication is one of the most important power skills in product management, and why being clear is about more than saying the right words. They talk through how to tailor your message for executives, peers, and teams, why storytelling often lands better than a wall of facts, and how preparation, listening, and simple communication frameworks can help create real stakeholder alignment. You’ll also hear the break dancer versus ballet dancer story that shows just how much the right analogy can change the way a message lands. If you want to spend less time wondering whether people understood you and more time creating clarity, trust, and action, pull up a chair on the porch and sharpen the way you communicate. Time Stamped Notes: Introduction [00:00] Episode setup - Joe and Ryan introduce communication and presentation skills as the next Product Porch power skill. Personal Stories and Communication Revelations [00:50] Coaching miscommunication - Joe shares how “be aggressive” led his softball team to hear something very different. [03:17] Understanding matters - Communication is not what you say, it is what the other person understands. Why Communication is Critical for Product Managers [04:03] Beyond presentations - Communication skills matter in formal meetings and quick everyday conversations. [05:18] Cross-functional reality - Product managers rely on communication to align teams across nearly every part of the business. Why Communication is Hard [09:27] Invisible progress - Communication can feel less satisfying because the results are harder to see than tangible deliverables. [11:13] Play it back - Ryan suggests asking people to repeat what they heard to test whether the message actually landed. Communication Tips and Strategies [12:20] Stories beat facts - Joe explains why storytelling helps ideas stick better than isolated information. [16:33] Tailor the message - Keep the vision consistent while changing how you communicate it for each audience. The Break Dancer vs Ballet Analogy Story [16:51] Wrong presentation - Ryan recalls using an ROI-heavy pitch that failed to win support. [18:42] One image lands - A break dancer and ballet dancer metaphor turns a complicated problem into something the room immediately understands. [18:59] Audience translation - The lesson is not charisma, it is knowing what your audience cares about and speaking their language. Audience-Specific Communication [19:52] Match the audience - Joe explains why different stakeholders need different levels of detail. [20:49] Executive brevity - Simple infographics and short presentations help leaders grasp the point quickly. Lightning Round: What Great Communicators Do [23:28] Storytelling over statistics - Great communicators give information emotional weight and connect it to a real problem. [23:44] Simplicity wins - Plain language makes communication easier to understand. [24:03] Create clarity - Start with the takeaway instead of overwhelming people with information. [24:32] Preparation builds confidence - Knowing the audience and doing the homework makes clear communication easier. [25:47] Listen first - Great communicators listen before they speak. Communication Frameworks [26:27] One, two, three - Ryan introduces a simple framework built around one thing, two types, and three steps. [27:54] Framework in action - Joe practices the approach live using cars as the topic. How to Practice Presentations [29:08] Practice everywhere - Everyday conversations can become low-stakes opportunities to build communication skills. [30:30] Record yourself - Ryan recommends recording presentations and reviewing how you actually come across. [31:01] AI practice partner - Voice tools can simulate an audience and give you another way to rehearse. [31:56] Be relatable - Joe shares advice about making presentations feel natural and authentic. Handling the Unexpected: Improv Skills [33:43] Prepare to improvise - Strong communicators practice how to respond when presentations get interrupted or redirected. [35:00] Listen and build - Improv techniques help communicators respond to ideas instead of shutting them down. Key Takeaways and Conclusion [36:26] Communication compounds - Better communication can improve influence, alignment, and career growth over time. [37:05] Alignment over information - Sharing information is not the same thing as creating shared understanding. [37:58] Closing thoughts - Joe and Ryan wrap the conversation and close out the episode. Help keep the Product Porch lights on by giving at https://www.patreon.com/TheProductPorchJoin our email list and never miss an episode at theproductporch.com
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    39 分
  • AI Tools Don’t Make You a Better Product Manager

    AI Tools Don’t Make You a Better Product Manager
    2026/08/04
    Does knowing how to use AI make you better at product management, or just better at using another tool? In this episode, Joe Ghali, Ryan Cantwell, and Todd Blaquiere dig into what AI competency should really look like for product managers. They talk about why completing training or knowing your way around ChatGPT, Claude, Figma, GitHub, or SQL is not the same as having sound product judgment. The real test is whether those tools help you make better decisions, create clearer outcomes, and focus on problems worth solving. The group also gets practical about how deep PMs should go with technical tools, why AI has made ideas cheap, and why leaders should measure impact instead of usage. More prompts and more tokens do not automatically mean more value. Good judgment still matters. So does knowing when to use the tool, when not to, and how to tell whether the output is any good. If your team is racing to prove it is “AI ready,” pull up a chair on the porch, rethink the scorecard, and listen for what still separates strong product work from shiny tool use. Introduction and Episode Setup [00:00] AI math - Todd argues that AI hasn’t changed how teams define and measure value. [00:31] Depth question - Joe introduces how deeply product managers should understand AI and technical tools. [01:15] Tooling debate - A conversation with a colleague sparks the episode’s central question. Tools Don’t Make the Product Manager [01:52] Jira test - Writing user stories in Jira doesn’t make someone a product owner. [02:13] Roadmap test - Knowing Aha! doesn’t automatically make someone a strong product manager. [02:40] AI extension - Joe asks whether using Claude to create product artifacts changes the answer. [04:01] Tools as enablers - Ryan explains why knowing the job matters more than owning the tool. [05:52] Stethoscope analogy - Todd shows why access to professional tools doesn’t create professional judgment. Measuring Real AI Competency [06:16] Competency challenge - Organizations want AI-literate PMs but struggle to define or measure proficiency. [06:54] Checkbox training - Course completion can create the appearance of competency without proving practical skill. [08:17] Experience matters - Todd argues that real capability comes from using tools on real work. [09:07] Learning the edges - Video editing teaches Todd how practice reveals a tool’s limits. [10:14] Two kinds of knowing - Watching training and building through experience produce very different capability. Outcomes, Discernment, and ROI [11:14] Evaluator problem - Leaders with limited AI knowledge may still be responsible for judging its use. [12:24] Vanity metrics - Counting tokens or tool activity says little about whether better work happened. [12:48] Pivot-table magic - Ryan recalls how basic Excel knowledge once looked like wizardry to executives. [13:28] Confident outputs - Polished AI answers can mislead leaders who don’t know how to challenge them. [14:31] Discernment skill - Product people must learn to evaluate AI output, not simply generate it. [15:07] Same equation - Teams should define the objective, apply AI, and measure whether results improve. [17:42] Tool business case - AI software should face the same cost and ROI questions as any other tool. AI, Strategy, and Product Focus [19:44] Product replacement debate - Ryan rejects the idea that AI can simply turn engineers into product managers. [20:13] Build everything - Todd imagines removing product oversight and letting every function create its own tools. [21:38] Strategy means focus - Ryan explains why unrestricted building is the opposite of a strategy. [22:17] Output isn’t growth - More products and features don’t guarantee revenue, adoption, or customer value. [23:18] Do less to grow - The group argues that focus often creates more growth than added activity. [24:13] Ideas are cheap - AI makes concepts and prototypes plentiful, but worthwhile problems remain scarce. [25:27] Making the diamond - Product judgment applies focus and pressure to problems worth solving. [26:29] Building isn’t enough - Successful bets still need marketing, sales, and operational support. [27:40] Roles versus titles - Todd defines the accountabilities a product organization needs regardless of job titles. Depth Check: How Deep Should PMs Go? [29:14] Depth Check begins - Joe asks how deeply PMs should understand specific technical tools and concepts. [30:04] GitHub knowledge - The hosts debate whether PMs need branching and merge-conflict experience. [31:19] Conceptual fluency - PMs should understand GitHub workflows without necessarily managing repositories themselves. [35:25] Figma prototypes - PMs can go deeper in prototyping because visuals help stakeholders react to ideas. [36:41] Design boundaries - Designers still protect design systems and consistency while PMs create early concepts. [37:19] SQL depth - AI can write queries, but PMs still need enough knowledge to assess requests ...
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    44 分
  • PM Power Skills - Emotional Intelligence

    PM Power Skills - Emotional Intelligence
    2026/07/21
    Join us on the porch for our series on Product Manager Power Skills. These are the skills that help good product managers become great ones. They stay valuable across tools, processes, and product types, and building them can help you grow your impact and your career. What happens to product managers when AI gets better at more of the work? In this episode, Joe Ghali and Ryan Cantwell dig into emotional intelligence and why it may be one of the most important power skills for product people right now. They talk through what EQ is, why it matters more as AI takes on more execution, and how product managers can get better at reading the room, managing their own reactions, and understanding what other people are really responding to. The conversation gets practical fast. Joe and Ryan share stories about stakeholder resistance, low-EQ behavior, and the trap of confusing empathy with people-pleasing. They also break down how to build emotional intelligence through curiosity, feedback, vulnerability, and simple reflection after tough moments. If you want to sharpen the human side of your product craft, handle pressure better, and bring stronger judgment to the moments that matter, pull up a chair on the porch, think about the last hard conversation you had, try one of these EQ practices in your next meeting, and see what changes. Introduction and Setting the Stage [00:00] Episode intro - Ryan opens with the EQ theme and frames it as a PM power skill. [00:51] Morning porch - Joe and Ryan joke about the unusual morning recording and Todd missing the session. [01:39] Power skills series - They connect this conversation to the broader PM Power Skills series. Why Emotional Intelligence Matters Now [02:02] Why EQ now - Joe asks why emotional intelligence matters more in product management today. [02:12] AI can’t do this - Ryan explains that AI can assist with work, but not relationships or empathy. [03:02] Suspension system analogy - EQ is framed as the system that helps you handle pressure without breaking. [04:20] Defining EQ - Ryan defines emotional intelligence as noticing and responding well to emotional dynamics. Can Emotional Intelligence Be Built? [06:22] Trainable skill - Ryan argues EQ can be developed through practice, like reps in the gym. [07:25] Running start - Joe notes some people seem to develop EQ more naturally than others. [09:57] Common misconception - Ryan shares why making everyone happy is not the same as EQ. [10:25] The jar label - They unpack why feedback matters when judging your own emotional intelligence. Reading the Room and Building EQ [08:30] Painful presentation - Joe tells a story about watching someone fail to read the room. [09:48] Notice then respond - Ryan describes EQ as the bridge between noticing and responding. [11:30] Vulnerability first - Joe says growth starts with being open to feedback and willing to improve. [12:18] Attitude over aptitude - They argue curiosity and coachability matter more than polish alone. [13:02] Empathy in practice - Ryan reframes empathy as understanding someone, not simply agreeing with them. Stakeholder Empathy in the Real World [14:06] Curiosity muscle - Ryan explains that asking simple “why” questions helps build EQ anywhere. [15:20] FinTech rollout - Joe shares how EQ helped him navigate resistance during a major product launch. [16:23] Mirroring concerns - He explains how listening and reflecting concerns changed stakeholder reactions. [17:34] Turning skeptics - The conversation shows how emotional understanding can shift resistance into support. Managing Low-EQ Stakeholders [18:33] Hardest part - Joe admits low-EQ people are often the most frustrating to work with. [19:50] Control yourself - He reflects on learning not to take stakeholder reactions so personally. [21:22] Don’t fix them - Ryan says the goal is not changing people, but staying clear and grounded. [21:59] Find alignment - He recommends centering discussions on shared problems and desired outcomes. [22:55] Don’t escalate - The key is noticing their state without mirroring it back emotionally. Empathy, Boundaries, and the Dark Side of EQ [23:04] Empathy vs EQ - They clarify that empathy is part of emotional intelligence, not the whole thing. [23:35] Business still matters - Joe explains that PMs still need to prioritize, say no, and make tradeoffs. [25:18] Not people-pleasing - Ryan draws a line between understanding people and trying to make everyone happy. [26:07] EQ for evil - They explore how emotional intelligence can also be used in self-serving ways. [29:01] Multiplier skill - Ryan argues EQ strengthens good judgment and product sense rather than replacing them. Using AI to Build EQ [30:24] AI as coach - Ryan suggests using AI to reflect on meetings and practice better responses. [31:11] Simulate reactions - He recommends asking AI to role-play stakeholders before tough conversations. [31:31] Poke holes first - Joe shares how he uses AI to pressure-test decks ...
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    36 分
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