How I lead

The principles I’ve run product teams and a company on, at Microsoft and at ProdLoop.ai. If you’re thinking of working with me, this is what to expect.

Operating principles

  1. Customer truth is the only truth. Opinions in the room, including mine, lose to what customers actually do. I’d rather watch ten calls than read one summary deck.
  2. Question the problem before solving it. The most valuable product work is often deciding that the brief is wrong.
  3. Usage, stickiness and value are the north star. Shipping is an input. People coming back because the product helps them is the outcome.
  4. Outcomes over effort. Hard work that doesn’t move the outcome isn’t the goal. I measure teams, and myself, on results.
  5. Speed with acceptable quality. Most decisions are reversible; make them fast. The few that aren’t deserve the time.
  6. Action over endless discussion. When we disagree, we test. A small experiment usually settles what a long meeting can’t.
  7. Build the system, not just the feature. Shared platforms, signals and evals compound. I look for the work that makes every other team faster.

How I work with people

Care and candor, together. People do their best work when they know you’re on their side and that you’ll tell them the truth. I’ve written about this in From Care to Candor and Care: The Currency for Managers.

Respect everyone, and do the right thing unseen. Integrity is what you do when nobody is checking.

Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder. I encourage people to move sideways into whatever builds their strengths, and I’d rather help someone grow out of my team than keep them in a role they’ve outgrown.

Room for deep work. I protect focus time for my team and myself; good product thinking needs long uninterrupted stretches.

Teams and businesses I’ve led