Saeed Khan’s Articles, Talks & Interviews

9 min readFeb 6, 2025

An ever-growing, categorized collection of my online articles, interviews and other content related to Product Management. I will update this regularly as new articles, podcasts, interviews or talks I give are available.

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✅ — designates a recent addition to this list

▶️ — indicates a podcast or video

✅ Recently Added

Moving from Projects to Products (23 minute read)
A breakdown to *some* of the key differences of working on digital projects vs. working on digital products. The differences are stark and important to understand.
Creating Strategic Roadmaps — An audio summary of my Strategic Roadmapping articles created using NotebookLM (16 min podcast) ▶️
Driving Alignment with Business and Product Objectives — An audio summary of my article on the same topic. Created via NotebookLM (12 min podcast) ▶️
Product Management is Business Management — Why Does Everyone Forget That? (14 min. read)
Where I make the case that, as the title reads — Product Management is Business Management — i.e. it’s not simply about building things.
How to Create a Real (Strategic) Roadmap — Part 1 (16 min. read)
A deep dive into what roadmaps are and are not, and a 9-step process to create strategic roadmaps.
How to Create a Real (Strategic) Roadmap — Part 2 (15 min. read)
A detailed working example illustrating the process outlined in Part 1.

🏭 B2B Specific

How to deal with B2B Sales-Driven Feature Requests (20 min. read)
A simple framework to use when discussing and evaluating sales-driven feature requests with sales teams and executives
Addressing the Challenges of B2B Product Management (4 min. read)
Some of the most common problems encountered by B2B Product Managers.
B2B Product Managers — What Value are You Adding? (8 min. read)
There are a small number of acts that PMs can perform that add significant value to a company. This articles dives into them.

📚 Books

Books for Product Managers #1 — Moneyball (8 min. read)
How do you consistently win against competitors with more money and resources? Understand how to really complete and do it consistently based on data. A great product management book.
Books for Product Managers #2 — Invisible Women (6 min. read)
Subtitled “Data bias in a world designed for men” this eye opening book has lots of lesson for Product people to learn.

🔎 Discovery

Behind the Scenes on a B2B Product Discovery Effort (18 min. read)
I dig into a large discovery effort I lead many years ago, share what we did and what I learned.
Addressing the Challenges of Product Discovery (13 min. read)
Overview of product discovery, what makes it difficult and how to overcome those difficulties.
Addressing the Challenges of Product Discovery (podcast) ▶️
This is a podcast episode with Cyrus Eslamian of Product Management Hub.
The Problem with “Find a Problem Worth Solving” (6 min. read)
Finding problems to solve is important, but that’s only half of what Product Managers need to think about.
Addressing the Challenges of Product Discovery Q&A Edition (9 min read)
I received some questions on my original article so I answered them here.

🛠 Frameworks

A Framework for Understanding Value (8 min. read)
Value is often spoken of but rarely understood. This article provides an explanation of value and a framework to use to better understand what your customers truly value.
A Framework for Understanding Market Problems (9 min. read)
Problems come in all shapes and forms. But how do you know you’ve found one worth solving. This article explains how to do that.
How to deal with B2B Sales-Driven Feature Requests (20 min. read)
A simple framework to use when discussing and evaluating sales-driven feature requests with sales teams and executives

🧐 General

Moving from Projects to Products (23 minute read)
A breakdown to *some* of the key differences of working on digital projects vs. working on digital products. The differences are stark and important to understand.
Product Management Axioms (12 min. read)
Fundamental rules to understand when working in Product Management
So, What Exactly is Product Management? (15 min. read)
A detailed explainer for those looking to better understand Product Management
Product AMA — July 14, 2023 (15 min. read)
A compilation of 16 questions and answers from an online AMA I did on LinkedIn.
Product Management: It’s a System for Business Success, not Product Features (13 min. read)
Discusses the strong connection product management has with business and describes a company that implemented that connect model.
Product Management is Business Management — Why Does Everyone Forget That? (14 min. read) ✅
Where I make the case that, as the title reads — Product Management is Business Management — i.e. it’s not simply about building things.
Product has a Language Problem and We Need to Fix it (11 min. read)
We need clear and standard definitions of terminology in Product. We don’t currently and that causes problems across many companies.
Product Management has Always been “Agile” (7 min. read)
Developers acted as if “Agile”was something new, that they created. I argue, that Product Management has ALWAYS been agile, and I bring receipts.
Product Management: The Good, the Bad and the Venn (3 minute read)
We all love our Venn diagrams. This article explores and explains Product Management via Venn’s eponymous creation.
Have we (finally/thankfully) Reached Peak Agile/Lean? (14 min. read)
Where I try to cut through all the Agile/Lean hype and dogma that pervades the Product space.

😆 Humour

The Product Manager’s Song (3 min. read)
A modern Product parody on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Major General’s Song.
Devil’s Dictionary for High-Tech (6 min. read)
I created my own high-tech related humorous definitions in a similar form to Ambrose Bierce’s definition in his Devil’s Dictonary.
Seven Pieces of Product Advice from Yoda (4 min. read)
I bet you didn’t know that Yoda’s wisdom could be applied to product. Well it can. Read, or read not, there is no “I’ll bookmark it”.

🎩 Leadership

5 Principles for Leaders to Live By During Uncertain Times (8 min. read)
Amid all the uncertainty we live in, I wrote this piece to help leaders shift their thinking to enable their employees to thrive.
The Five Dysfunctions of Product Management Teams (14 min. read)
The five most common problems that severely impact the performance of Product Management organizations. Be aware of them and work to address them.
5 Dysfunctions of Product Management Teams (podcast) ▶️
My discussion with Jason Knight on One Knight in Product about the 5 dysfunctions.
5 Dysfunctions of Product Management Teams (podcast) ▶️
I spoke with JJ Rorie on her Product Voices podcast about the 5 dysfunctions.
Product Managers — Don’t Fake It ’Til You Make It (18 min. read)
Onboarding new product management hires is done poorly in most companies. This article lays out a plan for leaders to effectively onboard PMs.

📈 Metrics

Metrics and Successful Product Management (podcast) ▶️
My discussion with Chad McCallister on his Product Mastery Now podcast. We dig into a metrics model to drive product success.

🎯 Objectives

Driving Clarity and Alignment via Business and Product Objectives (22 min. read)
Drive business outcomes by clearly aligning what your product teams are focusing on.
Driving Clarity and Alignment with Business and Product Objectives — (12 min podcast ) ▶️
️An audio summary of my article on the same topic. Created via NotebookLM

👥 Personas

How to Get Real Value from Personas (Part 1) (12 min. read)
A detailed explanation of personas, what they are, how they can be used for benefit by Product teams.
How to Get Real Value from Personas (Part 2) (10 min. read)
This article includes explanation of the 5 steps to create a persona, and some detail on an actual person I created, which we named “Karl”.

🔝 Prioritization

Why you should avoid Prioritization Frameworks and How to do it Right (6 min. read)
Prioritize based on objectives and strategy, not spreadsheets and formulas
Prioritization. You’re doing it wrong, or possibly not at all (9 min. read)
Preliminary results from a survey I conducted about release planning and prioritization.
Prioritization — The Right Way — ▶️ (video)
A talk I gave to the Silicon Valley Product Management Association on prioritization. I discuss why frameworks like RICE/WSJF should be avoided and how to use objectives and strategy to define what is important.

🎆 Product Marketing

The Definitive Guide to Product Marketing Optimization (16 min. read)
A primer on Product Marketing and how to implement it in a company.
The Role of Product Marketing and why Startups Need to Define it (8 min. read) A detailed article explaining the value of Product Marketing and how to optimize it.
How to Launch Products in a World of Continuous Delivery/ Deployment (8 min read)
The distinction between internal (Engineering) releases and external (Marketing) launches is critical. Here I show how to manage this process in a company that has a continuous delivery model in Engineering.

🗺 Roadmaps

Product Roadmaps vs. Product Plans (12 min. read)
Roadmaps are NOT Plans, and vice versa. But both are important. Here I contrast the two and show how to use them together to communicate product direction and delivery.
How to Create a Real (Strategic) Roadmap — Part 1 (16 min. read) ✅
A deep dive into what roadmaps are and are not, and a 9-step process to create strategic roadmaps.
How to Create a Real (Strategic) Roadmap — Part 2 (15 min. read) ✅
A detailed working example illustrating the process outlined in Part 1.
Creating Strategic Roadmaps — An audio summary of my Strategic Roadmapping articles created using NotebookLM (16 min podcast) ▶️ ✅
Creating Strategic Roadmaps — ▶️ (video)
A deep dive presentation into creating strategic roadmaps with the ProductSoch community.
Roadmaps. What are they and Why are they tricky? ▶️ (podcast)
I speak about roadmaps with Tom Leung on his Product Management Fireside Chat podcast.
Can a Roadmap look like a Gantt chart? ▶️ (podcast and video)
I speak with Justin Woods, cohost of Talking Roadmaps, about roadmaps and the difference between roadmaps and plans.

📂 Role and Responsibilities

Product Managers: You Have Responsibility and Authority (5 min. read)
Understanding the authority PMs have is important. Use it properly or lose it.
Product Management is NOT a Gap Filler (3 min. read)
Many people think PMs fill gaps between other functions. This is false. Understanding why PMs don’t fill gaps and what they actually do is critical.
How to be a Great Product Manager (22 min. read)
A detailed drill-down into Product Management. This article outlines 6 principles PMs should follow to excel in Product Management.
Make Evidence-Based Decsisions not “Data-Based” Decisions (8 min. read).
There is a distinction between “data” and “evidence”. The words imply different things. A small change in terminology can have a large impact in results.
Should Product Managers also be Project Managers? (8 min. read)
Answering the age old question. Why do so many Product Managers get put into Project Manager work environments. Let’s stop it.
Why are Product Processes so Poorly Executed? (6 min read)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If most Sales orgs were run as poorly as most Product orgs, many companies would go quickly bankrupt. Let’s start putting more rigour into Product work.

♜ Strategy

How to Say “No” as a Product Manager (6 min. read)
How to create a structure to have meaningful conversations about product decisions. It’s about understanding the “Why” and not just about saying “No”.
How to Stop Your Strategy from Turning into a Fantasy (14 min. read)
I provide a framework to use when thinking about strategy, and use Blackberry (RIM) as an example, illustrating why their strategy against the iPhone failed.
Why Trying to Achieve Feature Parity with Competitors is a Bad Idea (11 min. read) ✅
Far too many companies overfocus on their competition’s “features” and not on what the market really needs. Don fall into this trap.

👓 Vision

How to Create a Product Vision (20 min. read)
A detailed how-to that explains the purpose and process in creating a meaningful Product Vision that inspires teams.
Product Management, Vision, Strategy and Roadmaps ▶️ (podcast)
My discussion with Adam Hawkins, host of Small Batches about Vision, Strategy, Objectives and Roadmaps and how they are connected.
Product Vision ▶️ (Podcast)
My discussion with Denny Klisch on his Product Management Stories podcast. We dig deep into what a vision is, what it is not and how to create one.

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