SVPG Product Masterclass

“I loved every minute of this incredible opportunity to learn from the very best. Thank you for your generosity, insights and candor.” – Chelsea H.

Our newest offering is our latest attempt at providing the very best learning experience available.  It is what the SVPG partners wish we had early in our careers, and it reflects what we’ve learned by working for and with the best tech-powered product companies in the world.

One aspect that is different from our earlier offerings is that we no longer distinguish between teaching product leaders versus individual contributors. This is because we have found that a product leader that is not also deeply knowledgeable about product discovery and product delivery will not be an effective product leader.  And similarly, for an individual contributor such as a product manager to be successful on an empowered product team, she needs to understand the elements of the strategic context: especially product vision, product strategy, and team topology.

This new workshop covers the principles and concepts described in our three books: INSPIRED, EMPOWERED and the upcoming TRANSFORMED.  Our interactive workshops are intended to complement the theory covered in the books with relevant case studies, examples, and insider stories from product teams and product companies that have dealt with, and overcome, many of the same challenges you face.

At SVPG, we have each witnessed first-hand the impact that even a single strong product person can have on the success of a company.  Which is why we are all about coaching and developing the best product people in the world.  We focus on both leaders and individual contributors in product management, product design and engineering.

Our goal with this new session is for everyone that attends to leave with a deep understanding of the principles underlying the product operating model, and to gain the knowledge to succeed in transforming to this way of working.

Topics

The Product Operating Model

• What is the product operating model?
• What are the new competencies required to work in this model?
• What are the new concepts that constitute the product model?
• What are the product model principles and what does it mean to work that way? 
• What are examples of companies like ours – in other words, not born in the product model – that have successfully moved to this way of working?
• What can a company do once they’ve transformed that they couldn’t do before?
• What are the common objections to working this way, and how are they best addressed?

Product Teams and Product Culture

• What are the necessary roles and responsibilities for a strong product team?
• What is the difference between a feature team and an empowered product team?
• How to create teams of missionaries rather than mercenaries?
• How to recruit the people for your cross-functional product teams that you need to succeed?
• How to coach and develop your product people?
• How do strong product teams move from projects and dates to products and outcomes?

Product Leadership and the Strategic Context

• How to create a compelling and inspiring product vision?
• How to develop an effective team topology?
• How to determine the most important problems to solve?
• How to build an intentional, insight-driven product strategy?
• How to work effectively with stakeholders from across the organization?

Product Discovery and Product Delivery

• How to assign problems to solve to product teams?
• How strong product teams discover effective solutions to these problems?
• What are the different types of product risks and how are they each addressed?
• How to rapidly test product ideas to see if they address the needs of both customers and our business?
• What are the critical qualitative and quantitative techniques?
• How do strong product teams build, test and deliver effective products?

Workshop Format

Please note that our sessions are designed for those product people that truly want to level up their abilities, and become exceptional at their job. They are not easy, and they will challenge your thinking.  If your company is not committed to transforming to this model, then not everything in the session will be applicable. 

Moreover, be aware that our workshops are not the European style of workshops where you spend most of the time on exercises to try to solve problems for your company, with a little help from facilitators.  While we do have several breakouts, and ongoing intense interactive discussions, if your main goal is to interact with the other attendees, and/or work on solving some of your current challenges during the session, this might not be the right format for you.

Why choose SVPG?

We hold these workshops in order to share the lessons we’ve learned from our many years leading product organizations at top product companies. This is why SVPG does not employ “instructors.” Instead, each of our sessions is delivered personally by one of the SVPG Partners. We use our decades of experience to share what works, and what doesn’t, and we go out of our way to expose the tough issues. Invariably, we get many questions because how the best teams work is generally quite different from how most teams work.

What motivates the SVPG Partners are all the people that have told us that these sessions have literally changed the course of their career. Our intention is to provide the single best learning opportunity in the world for product people.

FAQ

If I have previously taken INSPIRED or EMPOWERED, should I also take this new workshop?   

If you have taken both of these workshops in the past two years, we would instead recommend you sign up for one of the one-day TRANSFORMED Workshops.

I am currently signed up for the SVPG workshop in December, 2023. How different is this new workshop and should I transfer to it? 

Since much of the content is consistent, the only people that might consider switching are those responsible for leading a transformation.

I would like to take just the INSPIRED or EMPOWERED workshop, will you continue to offer those? 

We expect to continue to offer these workshops for our private engagements as part of larger Enterprise rollouts, but for our public workshops, while we may occasionally deliver these as individual workshops, the majority of our sessions will move to this new format to ensure you have everything necessary to succeed.