The assorted notes and observations of Janna Bastow. Canadian living in London. Everything product, and then some.

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What Makes a Good Product Manager?

Feb 4th, 2025 Product Janna Bastow 32 min read

What makes a good Product Manager? I see this question a lot: It pops up on online forums, at events, in webinar talks, and even in casual conversations in person.…

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Prompt Engineering for Product Managers: How to Get Things Right With Generative AI

Jan 30th, 2025 Product Janna Bastow 49 min read

I’ll get straight to the point – if used well, generative AI can transform the way you work, what you’re able to achieve, and the progress you make in your…

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Prompt Engineering for Product Managers: How to Get Things Right With Generative AI

Jan 30th, 2025 Product Janna Bastow 49 min read

I’ll get straight to the point – if used well, generative AI can transform the way you work, what you’re able to achieve, and the progress you make in your…

The post Prompt Engineering for Product Managers: How to Get Things Right With Generative AI appeared first on ProdPad.

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Announcing CoPilot: The Product Management AI Set to Transform the Lives of Product Managers 🚀

Jan 7th, 2025 Product Janna Bastow 12 min read

When Simon Cast and I founded ProdPad and invented the Now-Next-Later roadmap all those years ago, it was with the express purpose of saving the precious time of Product Managers…

The post Announcing CoPilot: The Product Management AI Set to Transform the Lives of Product Managers 🚀 appeared first on ProdPad.

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How to Become a Freelance Product Manager

Jan 2nd, 2025 Product Janna Bastow 21 min read

Freelancing has become a staple across many industries, allowing companies to bring in experts for short-term projects or specific focuses. But when it comes to Product Management, the concept of…

The post How to Become a Freelance Product Manager appeared first on ProdPad.

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Product Manager Portfolio: A Secret Weapon To Progress Your Career

Dec 17th, 2024 Product Janna Bastow 26 min read

When hiring for Product Manager positions, one of the most important things hiring managers and founders like me are looking for is proof that you’ve handled similar situations that the…

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Founder Mode: Protecting Yourself From this New Form of Micromanagement

Dec 10th, 2024 Product Janna Bastow 23 min read

Founder mode. The phrase on the tip of everyone’s tongue in Product Management. Bring it up in conversation, and you’ll get a similar reaction to declaring that you love pineapple…

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The Product Manager Career Path is Not a Straight Line

Nov 26th, 2024 Product Janna Bastow 28 min read

Spoiler alert: the Product Manager career path is not linear. It’s not a ladder you climb rung by rung, nor is it a neatly paved golden road leading straight to…

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Product Benchmarking: How to Do It Right to Improve Your Product Performance

Nov 21st, 2024 Product Janna Bastow 22 min read

They say comparison is the thief of joy. Well, if you do your product benchmarking wrong, that’s definitely true. Now, there’s nothing wrong with seeing how you measure up against…

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Hiring Product Managers: How to Get the Best Talent

Oct 17th, 2024 Product Janna Bastow 27 min read

 So you want to get a new PM? Firstly, congratulations, you’ve made a great decision – Product Managers can be seriously effective people to have in your organization. However,  Hiring…

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