Product Thinking

Creating great products at scale means widening your lens beyond roadmaps and features and learning how to run the business around the product. In this compilation episode, Melissa Perri pulls together three perspectives on what it takes for product leaders to operate at the next level: stepping into broader executive responsibility, building real ownership in teams, and making product decisions like disciplined investments.
You’ll hear from Mercedes Chatfield Taylor on the most common paths to the CEO seat and what product leaders need to build that credibility, from board communication to revenue leadership and a more holistic operational view. Mercedes emphasizes succession planning and proactively taking on cross-functional responsibilities as the fastest way to expand scope and readiness.
Sean Kim shares what true product empowerment looks like from environments like Amazon and TikTok, where PMs are given a metric to move and expected to negotiate resources, set plans, and own outcomes without being told what to build. Fabrice des Mazery closes by reframing product leadership as investment decision-making, focusing teams and stakeholders on risk, ROI, payback, and treating partners across the business as co-investors with skin in the game.

You’ll hear us talk about:
The product leader path to CEO
Mercedes Chatfield Taylor breaks down three common CEO trajectories and what tends to hold product leaders back. The conversation focuses on closing gaps like board-level communication, leading across revenue and finance, and proving you can operate beyond product by taking more off peers’ plates and building succession behind you.

What empowerment actually means in practice
Sean Kim describes a model where product teams are held accountable to clear business metrics and given autonomy to define the problem set, craft the plan, and execute. He explains how negotiation around headcount, timelines, and trade-offs becomes part of the job, and why learning from bets that do not work is expected rather than punished.

Running product like an investment portfolio
Fabrice des Mazery argues that product leaders should translate work into investment language stakeholders already understand: risk, cost, margin, ROI, and payback. He connects time to money, pushes for proving causation, and outlines portfolio thinking that balances strategic investments, low-risk returns, micro-optimizations, and a small set of higher-uncertainty bets.

Turning stakeholders into co-investors
Instead of debating features, Fabrice recommends surfacing risk transparently and asking stakeholders to commit resources and go-to-market support alongside product delivery. The goal is shared accountability, clearer trade-offs, and decision-making that feels like investing together rather than placing orders with a delivery team.

Episode resources:
Try Granola today: http://granola.ai/productinstitute
Check our courses: https://productinstitute.com/
Episode 194: From Product Leader to CEO with Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor:https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/2024/10/23/episode-194-from-product-leader-to-ceo-with-mercedes-chatfield-taylor
Episode 193: Navigating Hyper-Growth with Sean Solme Kim (Former Head of Product at TikTok and Amazon Prime):https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/2024/10/16/episode-193-navigating-hyper-growth-with-sean-solme-kim-former-head-of-product-at-tiktok-and-amazon-prime
Episode 202: Transforming Product Teams into Investment Partners with Fabrice des Mazery:https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/2024/12/18/episode-202-transforming-product-teams-into-investment-partners-with-fabrice-des-mazery
Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mchatfieldtaylor/
Sean Solme Kim on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/seankim/
Fabrice des Mazery on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/productroi/

Creating strong product organizations means aligning teams around outcomes, not outputs, and designing systems that enable learning at speed. In this episode, Melissa Perri brings together insights from multiple product leaders to explore what it takes to anchor on business outcomes, structure teams around value, and build the psychological safety required to learn through experimentation.
You’ll hear from Jose Quesada, VP of Product Management for Mobile and Web at American Express, on why timing matters in transformation, how starting with outcomes changes decision making, and how experimentation only works when teams feel safe to fail. Melissa then expands on how organizing teams around value streams rather than architecture creates better incentives and clearer ownership as organizations scale.
The episode also features Matthew Skelton, co-author of Team Topologies, who connects product thinking with team design, product operations, and enabling teams. Together, these perspectives highlight how structure, governance, and capability building must evolve together if product organizations want to move faster without sacrificing quality or trust.

You’ll hear us talk about:
Starting with outcomes instead of solutionsThe discussion explores why leading with vision and desired outcomes creates better alignment than jumping straight to features or roadmaps, and how focusing on what not to do is just as important as deciding what to build.
Psychological safety and learning through experimentsJose Quesada explains why teams need permission to run experiments that fail, how mistakes build product intuition, and why softer skills matter more than perfect execution in uncertain environments.
Organizing teams around value streamsMelissa Perri breaks down how value streams become the foundation for product team design, covering ownership, reporting lines, and why organizing around architecture often leads to busy work instead of customer impact.
Enabling teams and product operations at scaleMatthew Skelton and Melissa discuss how enabling teams, product operations, and Team Topologies help large organizations manage cognitive load, place expertise effectively, and support long-term product strategy.

Episode resources:
Episode 230: Structuring Product Teams Around Outcomes with Jose Quesada: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-230-amex-product-outcomes-jose-quesada
Episode 260: Avoiding Common Mistakes in Org Design: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-260-org-design
Episode 211: The Power of Team Topologies with Matthew Skelton: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-211-matthew-skelton-team-topologies
Jose Quesada on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josequesadamedina/
Matthew Skelton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewskelton/
Check our courses: https://productinstitute.com/

AI is moving quickly from experimentation into real products, but in regulated and high-trust environments the stakes are much higher. In this compilation episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, host Melissa Perri brings together perspectives from multiple product leaders to explore what it really takes to ship AI responsibly when accuracy, trust, and risk management matter.
You will hear from Maryam Ashoori, who works at IBM and was involved in building Watsonx. She explains what AI agents actually are, why large language models hallucinate, and how guardrails and human oversight help teams manage calculated risk as systems become more autonomous.
The episode also features Magda Armbruster, Head of Product at Natural Cycles, and Jessica Hall, Chief Product Officer at Just Eat Takeaway. Together they share how embedding regulation, prioritizing data privacy, and being honest about cost, governance, and capability building can turn compliance and trust into enablers rather than blockers for AI-driven products.

You’ll hear us talk about:
What AI agents can and cannot do
Maryam breaks down how agents reason, plan, and take action, and why their probabilistic nature leads to hallucinations. She explains why this behavior is acceptable in low-risk contexts but dangerous in high-stakes domains without proper safeguards.
Managing risk with guardrails and humans in the loop
The conversation explores how teams can design agentic guardrails and decision flows that keep AI systems close to verified truth, while escalating sensitive or high-risk situations to humans for review.
Embedding regulation and privacy into product development
Magda shares how Natural Cycles integrates quality assurance, regulatory, and compliance partners directly into day-to-day product work, and why strong privacy practices and user control are core product strategy rather than afterthoughts.
The real cost of AI and long-term responsibility
Jessica discusses the often underestimated costs of building and running AI systems, from unit economics to team capability, and why product leaders must balance simplicity, governance, bias mitigation, and customer trust instead of chasing hype.

Episode resources:
Check our courses: https://productinstitute.com/
Maryam Ashoori LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mashoori/
Magda Armbruster LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magda-armbruster-326692a/
Jessica Hall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-hall-4223b0/
Product Thinking Podcast Episode 241: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-241-ai-strategy
Product Thinking Podcast Episode 251: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-251-femtech-innovation
Product Thinking Podcast Episode 199: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/2024/11/27/episode-199-the-true-cost-of-ai-beyond-the-hype-and-into-reality-with-jessica-hall

In this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri delves into the intricate world of organizational design for product management teams. She explores how to structure teams effectively around value streams, rather than falling into the trap of organizing by architecture.
Melissa emphasizes the critical role of platform teams and the importance of starting with a solid product strategy before diving into organizational design.
Melissa sheds light on the necessity for product managers to have a clear roadmap ownership and the challenges of maintaining short layers of control in large organizations to enable quick decision-making. She also discusses the benefits of platform teams in scaling services across an organization, stressing the need for high collaboration and alignment with customer-facing teams.
Want to understand how to build a product management organization that maximizes business and customer value? Listen to this insightful episode for practical advice and strategic insights from Melissa Perri.

You’ll hear us talk about:
01:33 - Organizing Around Value Streams
Melissa discusses the importance of structuring product management teams around value streams, ensuring clear ownership of roadmaps and effective delivery of customer value.
02:32 - Avoiding Organizational Bottlenecks
Melissa explains the drawbacks of having too many layers in decision-making processes within large organizations, advocating for shorter control layers to enhance efficiency and decision speed.
06:38 - The Role of Platform Teams
The episode highlights the strategic importance of platform teams in scaling services organization-wide, emphasizing the need for these teams to align closely with customer-facing value streams.

Episode resources:
Check our courses: https://productinstitute.com/

Srini Raghavan, Chief Product Officer at FreshWorks, joins Melissa Perri to discuss the evolving role of product management in the age of AI. He explores how product managers are transforming into "product builders" with AI as a catalyst for more integrated roles, collapsing traditional processes, and enabling rapid prototyping.
Srini dives into the impact of AI on enhancing customer and employee experiences at FreshWorks. He shares insights on how AI agents are handling repetitive tasks, improving satisfaction, and delivering real outcomes through a relentless focus on customer needs.
Curious about how AI is reshaping product management and the role of product managers? Tune in to hear Srini's insights on leveraging AI for creating uncomplicated user experiences and driving outcome-focused innovation.

You’ll hear us talk about:
05:15 - Transforming Product Managers into Product Builders
Srini discusses the shift towards product managers becoming more involved in design and prototyping phases, with AI reducing the need for separate UX and engineering inputs early on.
18:45 - Enhancing Experiences with AI Agents
Learn about FreshWorks' approach to using AI agents to handle repetitive tasks and improve user satisfaction, providing a more human-like experience.
28:30 - Delivering Uncomplicated User Experiences
Srini explains the importance of simplicity in product setup and management, aiming to serve a diverse range of customers with straightforward user experiences.

Episode resources:
Srini on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinivasan28/
Freshworks website: https://www.freshworks.com/
Check our courses: https://productinstitute.com/