Austin VOP #99: Christine Luo of OJO Labs | The Tools Don't Matter
Austin Voice of Product - Inspiring The Next Generation of Product leaders
Austin Voice of Product
I met Christine when she spoke on a Product League panel discussion earlier this year. It was great reconnecting with her to hear her journey and insights. I am inspired by her tenacity and drive to grow as a product leader. She shares her insights about decisiveness, leading through context and how not every problem needs to be solved with a product.
As I move into a product leadership role, the biggest thing that I am trying to keep in mind is that product is not the end all be all. That might be counter-intuitive for a product person to say, but there are so many levers for a business to succeed and it does not always have to be technology driven.
Read more: Product Managers are Decisive
What I’m Reading
Product thought leader Ken Norton writes in his Bring The Donuts newsletter that as PMs we can incorrectly focus on tools instead of honing the fuzzy craft we practice: The Tools Don’t Matter. I made this mistake earlier in my career 😬
If tools can’t make us better PMs, how can we learn from others? Try asking different questions.
“What tools do you recommend for roadmaps?” → “How do you communicate what’s coming in the future to internal and external audiences?”
“What tool do you use for product visions?” → “How do you motivate your team around a shared future vision?”
“What’s the best tool for tracking OKRs?” → “How do you decide and communicate what’s important to the company and what’s not?”
“Which do you recommend, Scrum or Kanban?” → “How do you decide what to build and what not to build?”
“Can you recommend a wireframing tool for sharing concepts?” → “How do you communicate early product ideas?”
Austin Product Events
April 22 — The Product League & Product Job Club
Fireside Chat with Matt LeMay, author of Product Management In PracticeApril 19–23 — General Assembly
Hit Play — Product Management WeekMay 3 — The Product League & Women in Product
Understanding and Addressing Imposter Syndrome
More events on the Austin Product Events page.
In The Community
Dante Clemons started a new Senior Product Manager role at Twitter. 🙌 Read her Austin VOP interview: Product Managers Never Stop Growing
Dan Katz has a new role as Director of Product at UKG. 👏 Read his Austin VOP interview: Product Managers Balance Empathy and Data
The Austin chapter of Women in Product just published a great interview with a local product leader Cassidy Edstrom: “Good PMs look beyond the software to the halo of complementary experiences”
Austin Product Positions
I share product positions posted by product leaders I know. Feel free to reach out to me for an intro or share with others.
BigCommerce is hiring a Product Manager for Web Onboarding.
Molecula is hiring a Senior Product Manager to build their Cloud product.
Cox Automotive is hiring a Lead Product Manager for their ISS team.
TFORM is looking for a Senior Product Manager for their Hybrid Digital Infrastructure Management Product
My friends Andrew and Jenny at BravePath (product consulting and talent recruiting) are working with some leading companies to hire the following positions. Happy to make an intro if you or someone you know is a good fit.
Yours in product,
Reza