All Things Product with Teresa and Petra

Is "taste" the must-have skill of the AI era — or just the latest tech buzzword? In this episode, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack the growing hype around taste as a differentiating human trait in a world where AI is eating through design, delivery, and discovery. Teresa pushes back hard: taste is rarely defined, can't be easily taught, and risks becoming a cover story for "my preference trumps yours." Petra adds nuance, acknowledging the real pattern-recognition that comes from years of product experience — while questioning whether it's actually worth investing in. Together they trace the idea back to its roots: product sense, founder mode, and the enduring myth of the lone visionary. What they land on instead? Discovery skills, customer understanding, and learning to collaborate with AI — because taste without evidence is just opinion.

When things feel uncertain, many companies default to command-and-control leadership. It feels faster, safer, and more decisive. But is it actually effective? In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack the real role of command and control in modern product organizations. They explore why it keeps resurfacing, where it might work (if ever), and why it often breaks down at scale. Through practical examples—from burning house analogies to real-world product teams—they challenge the idea that strong leadership means centralized decision-making. Instead, they make the case for a more nuanced approach: setting direction, building trust, and enabling teams to contribute their expertise. If you’ve ever wondered how to balance speed, alignment, and autonomy in your team, this episode will help you rethink where you sit on the spectrum.

AI headlines are everywhere—and many claim they know exactly what’s coming next. In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille push back on that certainty. They explain why people are bad at predicting the future and why betting on a single outcome can be risky. Instead, they share a more useful approach: scenario planning. Explore multiple possible futures, extract what matters, and use it to make better decisions today. If you’re navigating AI-driven change, this episode will help you stay grounded without ignoring what’s coming.

As AI makes it easier than ever to generate ideas and build products, some people are asking: Do we still need product managers? In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres argue that the real work of product management isn’t going away anytime soon. While AI can help build things faster, it can’t replace the relationship work required to align stakeholders, navigate competing priorities, and create shared understanding across teams. They explore why many product teams become overly transactional, how curiosity unlocks better collaboration, and why investing in relationships actually helps teams move faster in the long run.

In the AI era, new tools seem to appear every week. It’s exciting—but it can also feel overwhelming. How do you keep up without burning out? In this episode, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres talk about how they deal with FOMO when it comes to new technology—especially in the fast-moving world of AI. They share how they decide which tools are worth exploring, why they don’t try everything that trends on social media, and how focusing on real problems helps them go deeper instead of chasing every shiny new thing. Teresa explains why she starts with opportunities and friction rather than solutions, while Petra shares how she time-boxes learning and experiments with new tools during dedicated learning time. Together they explore practical ways to stay curious about new technology while staying focused on what actually matters. If you’ve ever felt like you’re falling behind because you haven’t tried the latest AI tool yet, this conversation will help you rethink how you approach learning and experimentation. In This Episode The pace of innovation—especially in AI—can make it feel like you need to try every new tool the moment it launches. Petra and Teresa discuss how they manage that pressure and stay focused on meaningful experimentation rather than constant tool-chasing. They explore why starting with a problem is more valuable than starting with a tool, how social media amplifies technology FOMO, and why going deeper with fewer tools can lead to better learning.

Is product management dead? Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack the big question making the rounds at conferences: Is PM disappearing—or evolving? Their take: product management isn’t dead. But the traditional product trio (PM, design, engineering) is collapsing into something new. AI is raising the baseline. More of the repeatable 80% can now be built by anyone with the right tools. The future belongs to “product builders” — people with a shared foundation across disciplines and deep expertise in one area. If you work in product, design, or engineering, this episode is your signal to start upskilling.

What happens when AI starts giving advice in your voice — advice you’d never actually give? In this episode, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack the rise of AI “clones” built from podcast transcripts and public content. They explore where experimentation is exciting, where it crosses ethical lines, and what happens when mediocre AI outputs get attributed to real people. They discuss IP, open-sourced transcripts, pirated books in LLMs, inference costs, and the uncomfortable question: if anyone can prompt “act like Teresa,” how do creators make a living? This isn’t anti-AI. It’s a nuanced conversation about quality, consent, and remembering there are real humans behind the ideas.

When the world feels like it’s spinning out, it can be hard to stay grounded—especially if you’re someone who cares deeply and pays attention. In this episode, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres talk about what it looks like to stay sane (and still be helpful) when everything feels “bonkers.” They share practical ways to cope without checking out: living your values in small, daily decisions; choosing where you invest your attention, time, and platform; and building bridges instead of feeding polarization. Along the way, they explore the idea of “under-complexity” (how oversimplified narratives make anxiety worse), how to seek more nuanced information, and why local community connection can be surprisingly empowering. If you’ve been feeling heavy lately, this conversation offers grounded, human ways to keep showing up—without losing yourself.

In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille tackle one of the hardest decisions in product and business: when—and how—to kill your darlings. They dig into the uncomfortable middle ground between obvious failure and runaway success: products that are profitable, loved by customers, but fundamentally flatlining. Teresa shares candid stories from her own business about sunsetting products that were bringing in real revenue, including a decision that cut 40% of her income—on purpose. Together, Petra and Teresa explore why mediocre success can be more dangerous than failure, how team structure and org design make sunsetting harder, and what product leaders can do to normalize product lifecycles without traumatizing teams. If you’re leading a product portfolio, running discovery, or struggling to let go of something that’s “working… kind of,” this episode is for you.

Ever feel like your product team is “lost in the woods”? Petra Wille and Teresa Torres borrow a set of “lost person” patterns (what people tend to do when they realize they’re lost) and map them to how teams behave when strategy gets fuzzy, outcomes drift, or constraints aren’t clear. They unpack five common moves—freezing, chasing shortcuts, following the first visible path, relying too heavily on intuition, and retracing your steps—and translate them into practical actions: when to stop and escalate, how to pressure-test a “shortcut” strategy, how to make more paths visible, and how to use principles and discovery loops to reorient.

Where exactly is the boundary between product and engineering—and what happens when it gets blurry? In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille dig into a tension many product teams quietly struggle with: product managers taking on responsibility for bugs, tech debt, and even system architecture. What starts as “being helpful” often turns into burnout for PMs and lower-quality outcomes for everyone. They unpack why this pattern shows up so often, how legacy IT mindsets and the “CEO of the product” myth contribute to the problem, and what healthy product–engineering collaboration actually looks like in modern product teams. If you’ve ever felt like the middleman for bug status, or like you’re expected to own engineering decisions you don’t have the expertise to make—this episode is for you.

Product leaders are overwhelmed — and it’s not just you. Between shrinking headcount, constant AI disruption, economic uncertainty, and nonstop context switching, many product leaders are trying to do more with less while still protecting their teams. In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack what real support for product leaders actually looks like. They explore why product leaders often underinvest in themselves, how to think about delegation without guilt, and what kinds of support systems actually scale your impact — from executive assistants and research support to coaches and communities of practice. If you’re feeling stretched thin and wondering how to focus on the work only you can do, this episode is for you.

Petra finally carved out time to try Claude Code—and immediately ran into the “this tool thinks everything is a code repo” reality. In this episode, Petra and Teresa unpack what it’s like to move from Claude-in-the-browser to Claude on your machine, where it can actually work with your files, folders, and workflows. They dig into practical setup choices (like using /init, Claude MD rules, and “walled garden” access), why task management becomes the surprising on-ramp for testing Claude Code, and how to use it for content retrieval across your own archives (blog posts, book drafts, transcripts, notes). Teresa also shares how she’s turning Claude Code into a repeatable publishing engine—from podcast metadata generation to fact-checking and even building a Zettelkasten-style research system for rigorous thinking. If you’re a non-engineer curious about Claude Code, or you’re trying to make it feel less like “throwing a stick into the woods,” this is a candid, tactical walkthrough of what helps, what breaks, and how to debug your way to workflows that actually stick.

Is hiring broken—or just badly designed? In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack what’s really going wrong in modern hiring processes. From AI-fueled application overload to endless interview loops and “casual” team lunches that derail months of work, they explore how groupthink, bias, and poorly defined criteria are quietly sabotaging good hiring decisions. They discuss why involving too many people with veto power often leads to no decision at all, how “culture fit” becomes a proxy for bias, and what product teams can learn from product discovery when designing hiring processes. Plus, they share practical advice for candidates navigating today’s brutal job market—and resources to help you avoid going it alone. Whether you’re a product leader hiring your next PM or a product practitioner stuck in interview limbo, this episode offers clarity, empathy, and concrete ways forward.

Build vs. buy is one of those product decisions that never goes away — and AI is changing how teams think about it (but maybe not in the way you expect). In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack the build vs. buy conversation through real examples, personal stories, and practical decision-making frameworks. Teresa shares why she would never build her own blogging platform — but did build her own task management system — and what that reveals about core value, data ownership, and long-term maintenance. Together, Petra and Teresa explore how AI, vibe coding, and cheaper prototyping are shifting the economics of building software, why data portability has become a first-class concern, and how product teams can de-risk build vs. buy decisions using discovery practices — not gut feel. If you’re navigating vendor lock-in, debating whether your team should “just build it,” or rethinking these decisions in an AI-first world, this episode will help you ask better questions before you commit.

In this episode, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres sit down to talk about what’s coming to Product at Heart 2026—from the speaker lineup to the workshops to the big structural shifts shaping next year’s conference. They unpack why curating a single-track event in the age of fast-moving AI is harder than ever, what kinds of conversations they want to elevate on stage, and how the team is thinking about creating deeper connections and hands-on learning opportunities for product people. You’ll also get a behind-the-scenes look at Teresa’s Maker Studio workshop, updates on returning favorites like Rich Mironov and Büşra’s metrics workshop, and a first peek at the expanded product leadership retreat. If you’re planning your 2026 calendar—or just curious how conferences evolve alongside the craft—this is a fun and thoughtful walkthrough of what to expect.

We’re kicking off 2026 with a look behind the scenes at what’s changing in our work, what we’re experimenting with, and what we’re genuinely excited about this year. In this conversation, Petra and Teresa swap notes on everything from shifting business models to AI-powered teaching tools to big community events and personal projects. If you’re navigating your own mix of coaching, team development, content creation, and figuring out how AI fits into your practice, this one will resonate.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dig into their end-of-year reflection practices — the ones they've refined over decades of product work, personal growth, and plenty of nerdy experimentation. They compare how their processes started, how they’ve evolved, and why both of them have moved away from rigid annual goal-setting in favor of something more flexible, values-driven, and joyful. From “what went well” lists to 100-wish exercises to decade-level themes, they share practical ways to close out a year with clarity and set up the next one with intention. If you’re looking for inspiration to design your own reflection ritual — or you’re simply curious how two product veterans think about continuous improvement in their personal and professional lives — this one’s worth a listen. We’d love to hear how you approach end-of-year reflection. What habits or questions help you close out the year and set up the next one? Share your process with us.

In this conversation, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack a pattern they’re seeing again and again in product transformations: teams get trained in continuous discovery, but nothing sticks because leaders haven’t changed how they work. They dig into why “train your leaders first” isn’t just a catchy mantra — it’s a prerequisite for shifting from projects to true product thinking. They share concrete examples from interview training gone sideways, the hidden organizational dynamics that stall discovery habits, the role product leadership actually plays (and why most orgs underestimate it), and the empathy we all need for leaders who are learning this way of working for the first time. If your teams are struggling to adopt discovery, or if your transformation feels stuck, this episode will give you a clearer picture of where the real blockers live — and what leaders can do differently to unlock meaningful change.

In this episode, Petra and Teresa revisit a topic they once strongly pushed back on: using AI to analyze (and maybe even synthesize) customer interviews. Six months and several experiments later, Teresa’s perspective has evolved — and the conversation opens up a nuanced look at where AI can genuinely help and where it can quietly erode your team’s customer understanding. They dig into recent studies on how AI affects junior vs. expert performance at work, the difference between analysis and synthesis, and why your unpolished interview skills matter more than any shiny new AI workflow. Along the way, they share personal stories (including an unexpected gaming-PC detour) that illustrate how expertise shapes the usefulness of AI tools. This is a candid, practical conversation for product teams wrestling with the real-world tradeoffs of integrating AI into continuous discovery.

In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille explore how product people can intentionally design their own communities of practice—and why it matters for long-term learning and growth. Teresa shares her introvert-friendly approach to continuous learning: curating a personal learning network (PLN) filled with people she wants to learn from. Petra contrasts that with her more collaborative style of learning with others through small peer groups, hackathons, and local meetups. Together, they unpack how each approach supports curiosity-driven development, how to find your “definition of good” when starting something new, and the habits that make learning a deliberate practice. Whether you’re an independent product coach or part of a product org shifting toward continuous discovery, this episode will help you rethink how you learn—and who you learn with.

In this heartfelt episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres talk about something we all experience but rarely discuss openly — setbacks. Teresa shares a deeply personal story about her long recovery from an injury and how it unexpectedly mirrors the ups and downs of product work. Together, they explore what it means to face professional setbacks — when your product fails to move a single KPI, when a launch falls flat, or when you just feel stuck — and how teams can respond with curiosity, emotional honesty, and resilience. Whether you’re a PM, designer, or researcher, this episode is a reminder that recovery and reflection are just as important as velocity and success.

Ever launch a new product feature that seemed solid—until a small, overlooked detail broke everything? In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille share their real-world experiences wrangling global invoicing and taxes while running small, international businesses. What starts as a rant about EU tax compliance turns into a sharp product lesson: how failing to map the entire path to customer value—down to the tiniest regulatory requirement—can kill your product’s usefulness. Whether you’re shipping code or selling courses, this conversation will remind you that sweating the details isn’t about perfectionism—it’s about ensuring your product actually delivers value at the moment that matters.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres explore how experimenting with AI in our personal lives can help us become more confident, capable, and thoughtful product builders at work. Teresa shares stories from her “AI at Home” and “AI at Work” series — from using ChatGPT to analyze school budgets, plan meals, and even evaluate real estate, to leveraging AI as a work partner for writing, research, and contract review. She and Petra unpack the real learning that comes from everyday experimentation — managing context, spotting bias, and keeping a human in the loop — the same skills we’ll need when building AI-powered products. Whether you’re an AI beginner or already experimenting at work, this episode will leave you inspired to approach AI with curiosity and intentionality.

AI can be a powerful teammate, but only if we give it the right context. In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack why “context is king” when it comes to using AI in product work. They share practical ways product leaders can start preparing today—from keeping decision logs to designing machine-readable context—so their teams are ready to collaborate effectively with AI tomorrow.

In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille swap the stories that shaped their careers. From navigating the fallout of the 2008 recession as a startup CEO, to realizing the company won’t love you back no matter how loyal you are, to the first user interviews that cracked open a new way of seeing product work—these are the pivotal (and sometimes funny) moments that changed everything.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive into a big end-of-year reflection question: What do you want to be known for in your work? They unpack the nuances of impact, craft, personal brand, and values—exploring how those ideas shape the footprints we leave behind in our teams, organizations, and the broader product community. Along the way, Petra and Teresa share personal stories, surprising insights, and a few lessons learned the hard way. Whether you’re thinking about your own growth, preparing for career transitions, or just curious about how others reflect on their product practice, this episode offers both inspiration and pragmatic takeaways.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille sits down with Teresa Torres to explore a big shift in how Product Talk Academy is approaching learning: moving from purely instructor-led cohort courses to offering on-demand options. Teresa shares why she resisted on-demand for so long, how deliberate practice has always been at the heart of her teaching, and what finally changed her mind. From AI-powered interview coaches to microlearning formats, we dig into how technology can support behavior change, skill building, and the craft of continuous discovery without losing the human element. If you’ve ever wondered how to balance flexibility, structure, and deliberate practice in product learning—or you’re just curious how AI might reshape how we build skills—this conversation is for you.

Teresa Torres and Petra Wille dive into how they’re using AI as strategic thought partners across writing, coding, and product work. Petra shares how she relies on voice input and bilingual transcription to brainstorm and surface her past writing. Teresa explains why Claude Code in the terminal completely changed her workflow—from planning mode for coding projects to using reviewer “sub-agents” when drafting blog posts. Together, they reflect on how tools like ChatGPT and Claude complement each other, why they still write every word themselves, and what it means when English becomes the interface for everything we do.

Building AI products isn’t just about clever prompts and orchestration—it’s about knowing if what you’ve built actually works. In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille dive deep into AI evals: how they’re defined, why they’re essential, and how teams can implement them to ensure product quality. Teresa shares her journey building her Interview Coach tool and the hard lessons she learned about evals along the way. From golden datasets and synthetic data to error analysis, code-based checks, and LLM-as-judge methods, you’ll walk away with a clearer picture of how to measure and improve AI products over time.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille flips the script and asks Teresa Torres a big, timely question: How do product teams learn to build AI-powered products—beyond just dabbling with ChatGPT? Teresa shares fresh insights from her own experience building a real AI product over the past several months, breaking down the unique skills, workflows, and cross-functional collaboration patterns required for success. You’ll hear why building AI features is more like orchestrating a team of interns than just writing a killer prompt, and how practices like observability, evals, and ongoing maintenance need to evolve for the LLM era. If you’re a product person figuring out where AI fits in your org, this conversation will give you a clear, practical starting point.

So many of us chase promotions as if they’re the ultimate career milestone—but are they really the best goal? In this conversation, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack why promotions can be a tricky (and sometimes misleading) target, what to focus on instead, and how to reframe career growth around skills, influence, and personal fulfillment. In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dig into the obsession with promotions and why they might not be the best north star for your career. Instead, they explore what it looks like to invest in personal growth, craftsmanship, and influence—and how those things can open doors far beyond a title change.

We’re back from our summer break! In this first episode of the new season, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres catch up on Product at Heart and dive into the conference’s 2025 theme: curation. From backlogs and customer segments to product experiences and your own workload, curation is everywhere in product work. Petra and Teresa explore why this skill is more critical than ever—especially in a world where AI is making it faster and cheaper to build. You’ll hear how to avoid the “Homer Simpson car” trap, why saying “no” is part of the job, and how to define your own curation criteria so you can make sharper, more intentional choices. Whether you’re easing back into work post-summer or staring down a mountain of priorities, this episode will help you put on your curator’s hat and focus on what matters most.

In this quick update, Teresa and Petra share their plans for a summer break. With August just around the corner—and in true European fashion—they’re hitting pause to rest, recharge, and enjoy some time outdoors. Expect a return to regularly scheduled programming on September 2nd. Until then, enjoy your summer, whether you’re wing foiling and hiking South Tyrol like Petra, building cool stuff like Teresa, or just soaking up the sun.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack one of their favorite guiding principles: "Go find the source." With the rise of social media hot takes and oversimplified content, it’s easy to misunderstand product frameworks and best practices. Petra and Teresa share real-life examples—from OKRs to Opportunity Solution Trees—to show why it's so important to dig deeper, trace ideas back to credible origins, and seek out diverse perspectives. Whether you're tired of shallow takes on LinkedIn or just want to sharpen your product thinking, this episode will help you build a more thoughtful, informed, and intentional product practice.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dig into one of the most common — and tricky — questions they get: How do I choose the right product coach? If you’ve ever scrolled past 7,500 “product coaches” on LinkedIn and wondered who’s actually worth your time and money, this one’s for you. Teresa and Petra share red flags to watch out for, green flags that signal quality, and practical tips for vetting coaches across product discovery, leadership, and more. Whether you’re looking for your first coach or want to sanity-check your current shortlist, you’ll walk away with a clear framework to help you make an informed choice.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive deep into a question from a listener: What’s the real difference between organizations that fund projects and those that fund teams? It’s a deceptively simple question that touches the core of shifting from a project-based mindset to a product operating model. Teresa and Petra unpack what it actually takes to move toward team-based funding—especially when continuous discovery is involved. From annual planning and ROI modeling to bridging the communication gap with finance, they talk through the practical, messy, and often political nature of this transformation. If you’re a product leader, product manager, or work closely with finance, this episode is packed with insights on how to drive outcomes, not just output—and why it matters.

In this episode, Petra Wille gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her newest framework—the Product Leadership Wheel. Building on the success of her PM Wheel, Petra shares how she’s tackling the complexity of product leadership by helping leaders self-assess across 12 core responsibilities. From directional clarity to cultural advocacy and process oversight, we dig into what it really takes to grow as a product leader (and why it’s okay if you’re not amazing at everything). Whether you’re a CPO, Head of Product, or aspiring product leader, this episode will help you reflect on where you’re thriving, where you can grow, and how to build support across your org.

AI prototyping tools are mushrooming—Replit, V0, Bolt, WindSurf, and more—but do they actually help with discovery work? In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres discuss how AI-powered tools can supercharge assumption testing, where they still fall short, and what that means for product teams today. From building chat interfaces with custom data to testing leadership self-assessment tools, both Petra and Teresa share their hands-on experiences—what worked, what was frustrating, and how these tools can fit into continuous discovery habits. Whether you're a product manager, designer, or engineer wondering if these tools are a game-changer or just hype, this conversation breaks it down with real talk and real use cases.

In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack one of the most ambiguous roles in product organizations: Product Operations. What is product ops, really? Is it strategy alignment? BI and analytics? Coaching? Stakeholder management? All of the above—or none? Drawing from real-world examples, Teresa and Petra dig into the evolving definition of product ops, where it overlaps with other functions (like HR, Agile coaching, or the CPO role), and when it actually adds value. If you’ve ever wondered whether your org needs a product ops team—or what to do with the one you have—this one’s for you.

In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille tackle a classic product question with a twist: Should all outcomes be measurable? Teresa revisits a long-held belief—that outcomes should be metrics—and explains why she’s starting to shift her thinking. Drawing from hands-on product work (like rethinking outcomes at a recruiting platform), Teresa shows how focusing on value creation moments can sometimes matter more than tracking clean metrics. Petra adds her perspective with the Google HEART framework, highlighting how starting with signals instead of goals can lead to smarter product decisions. Whether you’re early in discovery or leading a seasoned product team, this episode helps you rethink how to frame success—even when it’s hard to measure.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive deep into an increasingly relevant (and occasionally frustrating) topic: how people show up in communities—and whether they’re showing up to give or to take. From in-person meetups and Slack groups to book signings and LinkedIn interactions, Petra and Teresa explore the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between authentic contribution and self-serving behavior. They share personal stories, real-world examples, and some tough love about what it really means to engage meaningfully. If you've ever wondered how to grow your network, become a sought-after speaker, or simply be a better community member—this one’s for you.

Can an organization operate with both a product and a project mindset—at the same time? In this episode, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack one of the most common operating model questions in product organizations today. They dive deep into the differences between project and product operating models, when each one makes the most sense, and why the answer to “either/or” is usually “yes, and.” From legacy software roots to modern product teams juggling compliance work and customer outcomes, Petra and Teresa explore real-world examples, practical frameworks, and the importance of staying flexible. Whether you’re deep in continuous discovery or trying to modernize legacy workflows, this episode offers clarity and nuance around how we frame the work—without getting dogmatic.

Saying no is hard — but it’s essential to great product management. In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive deep into the art (and science) of saying no as a product manager. They explore why learning to say no isn’t just a skill — it’s core to the job — and how to do it thoughtfully without losing trust or momentum. From frameworks for filtering ideas, to the magic of “not yet” vs. “hard no,” to when it’s okay (and even encouraged) to just say yes — Petra and Teresa unpack real-world tips you can apply with your team today.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive deep into the often-overlooked topic of professional development for product leaders. Drawing from their own experiences and coaching practices, they explore why leaders struggle to invest in themselves, what the real blockers are (spoiler: it’s not just budget), and how to navigate growth despite uncertainty and overwhelm. From frameworks like the Learning Menu to the uncomfortable truth about leading during downturns, this episode is both a rallying cry and a practical guide for any product leader ready to take their development seriously. Vulnerability, coaching, reflective practices, and skill-building—all on the table. Whether you're a head of product, a seasoned CPO, or simply a product leader feeling stuck—this one's for you.

Drowning in Jira tickets? Wondering how to prioritize when every stakeholder has a “brilliant” idea and your roadmap is already bursting at the seams? In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille tackle one of the most common pain points in product management: the giant, messy, unmanageable backlog. From auto-closing ancient tickets to reframing prioritization as filtering for impact, they share battle-tested tactics to bring order to chaos—without spinning your wheels ranking 400 items. Whether you're inheriting a legacy product, working in a feature factory, or just trying to make smarter decisions faster, this episode offers practical, real-world advice you can apply today.

What happens when your product strategy doesn’t match what your teams are learning in discovery? In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack how to spot when your strategy needs a refresh—and how to evolve it based on real customer insights. They challenge the assumption that most organizations even have a clear product strategy, explore what makes a strategy actionable (and durable), and offer practical guidance for product leaders and teams navigating discovery-driven change. You’ll walk away with tools to: ✅ Identify implicit vs. explicit strategy ✅ Use discovery insights to evolve strategic direction ✅ Create feedback loops between product teams and leadership ✅ Measure if your strategy is actually working ✅ Whether you're in a startup juggling shifting priorities or a mature org trying to keep strategy aligned across teams, this conversation brings clarity to a complex topic.

Public speaking can be daunting—especially when you're aiming for a big stage. In this episode of All Things Product, Petra and Teresa pull back the curtain on how they craft their conference talks from scratch. Whether you're eyeing your first local meetup or preparing for a keynote at a major conference, they walk you through their real-world processes, share personal stories (and stumbles), and offer practical tips to help you step onto any stage with confidence. From finding your unique take on a topic to rehearsing like a pro (yes, 30+ times is a thing!), this conversation is packed with honest insights and encouragement for anyone wanting to grow their public speaking game.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres tackle a big question: How does capacity planning fit in an outcome-driven, discovery-first organization? Spoiler alert—it usually doesn’t. Teresa shares why traditional capacity planning breaks her heart, while Petra offers a nuanced take on how her past teams used it for internal alignment (not control). Together, they explore the clash between rigid planning rituals and the reality of continuous discovery work. Expect some honest rants, practical reframes, and a few metaphors (yes, rocks, pebbles, and sand make an appearance). If you’ve ever sat through a multi-hour spreadsheet meeting only to fall behind on your roadmap—this one’s for you.

In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive deep into the world of product coaching—from why there are so many different types, to how to know what kind of coach (if any) you might need. Whether you're a product manager, designer, or product leader, this convo helps you understand the coaching landscape and how to make the most of coaching if you choose to invest in it. They break down the different coaching settings (individual, group, team) and types of coaching (product, discovery, career, and leadership), plus share real stories from their own coaching journeys. If you’ve ever wondered “Is coaching worth it?” or “How do I get my company to pay for it?”, this one’s for you.