Jenna Gaudio’s Sprint Planning Process at Vydia
A veteran interim CPO explains how leading 13+ product teams on short timelines shaped his people-first approach to product management.https://tpgblog.com/2026/06/11/jenna-gaudios-sprint-planning-process-at-vydia/
Most teams want to work on something useful for customers. In the same vein, most product leaders also want to offer something useful for customers. That's how products fulfill the organization's strategy. Yet, I see so many product leaders outsource their product thinking to LLMs. Why? Because it's hard to discover what customers want. You […]
In many organisations, status dictates behaviour more than value. Performative "busyness" often replaces genuine impact when quality is hard to measure. We must shift the status economy toward learning and candour to build real psychological safety.
Dive in: https://psychsafety.com/st-r-e-a-m-status-rules-everything-around-me/
ST.R.E.A.M: Status Rules Everything Around Me In the classic hip hop track C.R.E.A.M., the great Wu-Tang tell us “Cash Rules Everything Around Me”. Whilst it might sound like the song is glorifying money, it’s actually a commentary on how economic […]
Too many 1:1s feel like status updates, but true leadership is about ownership. I’ve always believed that when the direct report leads the agenda, we uncover the real blockers. Shift the focus to their growth and watch the team thrive.
See how to fix your flow:
https://productify.substack.com/p/most-11s-are-run-the-wrong-way
Too many 1:1s feel like status updates, but true leadership is about ownership. I’ve always believed that when the direct report leads the agenda, we uncover the real blockers. Shift the focus to their growth and watch the team thrive.
See how to fix your flow:
https://productify.substack.com/p/most-11s-are-run-the-wrong-way
Stalled AI initiatives have a very similar story.
The board wants a strategy. The CEO wants ROI. Somewhere in the middle, a working group explains why they can't move yet.
Governance isn't blocking these organisations. Leaders are.
The sequencing matters. Governance-first is a strategy for never shipping.
Three months in, the question isn't whether your data is clean enough — it's whether anyone is accountable for a result.
Confidence is dangerous when it feels like clarity. Experienced leaders often stop looking for disconfirming evidence once a strategy "looks right". We must move from cultural aspirations to procedural safeguards. Build systems where skepticism isn't optional.
The Product Guy
Roberto Hortal
Johanna Rothman
