THE situation, public workshops & new Miroverse template

About feelings in the industry and seeing a way forward

It has been more than two years since the end of the zero-rate-interest policy (ZIRP) and about the same time since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. In parallel, we see new wars, inflation spikes, and many other topics spoiling our mood. In short, the environment has changed a lot in the last few years.

Surprise! As a result, the atmosphere in the product industry is strange. Many people feel like everything is a grind, and feeling powerless is a theme. At the same time, we have an overflow of content about single success stories and frameworks to solve it all. Most of them sound romanticized or tales from another time.

From what I hear and see, many people in the industry currently fall into one of these two categories:

The first group is out of a job, looking for a new role, going through days of reading (often silly) job descriptions, playing a numbers game with applications, and going through interview processes from hell. So, if you think you are crazy — no, the market is crazy. Consider joining a support group and following a proven method (It’s free. It’s not perfect. *I’m a volunteer and try to support). However, I’m not a specialist in the employment game, so my insights here are limited.

The other group consists of people in a job, but boy, many of them are frustrated. The pressure is up to 11. Everybody got their guard up, and suddenly, it’s again all about planning and prediction. Many think about quitting or are in the middle of total disillusionment about their field (and dreaming about starting an alpaca farm).

They felt a different vibe a few years ago. They saw work could be fun and fulfilling, but now, much seems out of their control, and they feel powerless. Everybody would love to work in a better environment, but the forces against them feel unbeatable. These feelings are widespread not only among individual contributors but also among senior management. Again, the environment and mood changed.

I see two patterns going on

First, there is an unawareness of the actual situation. Too much noise bleeds into every conversation. Many product teams (and their leaders) are not great at understanding what they are doing well and what they should improve. As a result, they are having a tough time communicating their situation and discussing a realistic way forward fitting their unique environment.

The second pattern is the unawareness of what is in their immediate control and what is out of reach for whatever reason. I see people running against walls and getting even more frustrated.

After seeing these patterns repeatedly, I created a free workshop template (more below) to address these two fallacies and find actionable steps for product teams. It starts with acknowledging the current situation and leads to identifying an actionable step within control.

Of course, this is not a gate to dreamland, but doing nothing and bathing in frustration also never helped. Even if, in some places, a revolution might be the correct answer, taking small steps might evoke the appetite to try something new (and more fruitful).

My goal is to help at least a few people see a new path forward because I know (from first-hand experience) that our job can be fun and, at the same time, create great business. It is not a contradiction.

See it in action

To help more product people, I decided to run a couple of sessions going deep into this workshop method. I want to give people a simple tool to identify a new perspective towards a product operating model, or whatever you want to call “working together to create great products.”

Product Circle Talk

Thu, Nov 21, 2024
I will do a deep dive into the method and discuss an example.
There is a $10 fee to enable Irene to run this format.

👉 Sign up

Orchestra Mini Workshop

Thu, Dec 12, 2024

Together with Orchestra, I will run a smaller version of the workshop format in a 90-minute hands-on session.

👉 Sign up

Miroverse Template

The workshop is also available as a free Miroverse Template (incl. instructions and an example)

Talk to me

If you are in a mode where you are motivated to improve together with your team but don’t see how you might be able to change course for the better:
I’m always happy to talk about your situation