About me
Building products is only part of the story.
I started my career building websites and software. Back then, I was mostly concerned with whether we could build something and make it work.
Over time, the questions got bigger. Were we solving the right problem? Was this worth investing in? Why did capable teams struggle to make progress? And why did the way organizations made decisions so often get in the way of the work?
Those questions eventually took me from development and UX into product management, executive leadership, and advisory work.
I've spent more than 25 years working in startups, growing businesses, and large enterprises. I've helped bring new products to market, scale existing businesses, build product organizations, and lead teams through periods of significant change.
And I've learned that building great products is rarely just about the product.
I’ve been on the hook for results.
I’ve led product and technology organizations, helped bring enterprise software to market, and worked with businesses at very different stages of growth.
My experience spans early-stage companies finding their footing, growing businesses figuring out how to scale, and large enterprises where decisions affect customers, employees, and operations across multiple business lines.
I’ve been responsible for setting direction, making investment decisions, building teams, and delivering results. And I’ve learned that the hardest part often isn’t knowing what good looks like. It’s figuring out how to get there when the priorities compete, the resources are finite, and people don’t always agree.
That experience shapes how I approach the work today.
The work is as much about people as it is about products.
The longer I’ve worked in product, the more interested I’ve become in what happens around the work.
How decisions get made. How leaders set direction. How product, design, and technology teams work together. What happens when the strategy isn’t clear, or when everyone agrees in a meeting but leaves with a different understanding of what comes next.
I’ve seen talented teams struggle because of the environment they’re working in. I’ve also seen what happens when people have the context, trust, and authority to do their best work.
That’s where much of my attention goes today.
What I’m doing now
I’m a co-founder of Ready Steady, a product and technology consultancy I started with Chris Kincanon. We work alongside founders and leadership teams to figure out what to build, where to invest, and how to turn ambitious ideas into successful products and businesses. Sometimes that means helping set direction; other times, we're in the thick of making it happen.
I’m also Co-President of the Boston Product Management Association, helping bring together product professionals to learn from one another, challenge their thinking, and build connections.
Teaching and coaching have been part of my career for years, and they’re still some of the work I find most rewarding.
These days, I split my attention between building, advising, coaching, writing, and speaking. I’m particularly interested in the decisions and organizational dynamics that determine whether good ideas become meaningful results.
A few things I believe
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Good strategy requires choices.
If everything is a priority, the hard decisions probably haven’t been made.
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A new operating model won’t fix a leadership problem.
Changing roles, processes, and reporting structures only gets you so far if the underlying decisions and behaviors don’t change.
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Product, design, and technology are better together.
The best work happens when these disciplines share responsibility for solving problems rather than negotiating ownership of tasks.
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Context matters more than frameworks.
There’s no universal playbook that works for every organization. Understanding the business, its people, and its constraints matters more than following a prescribed process.
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You don’t need perfect conditions to make progress.
Sometimes the most valuable leadership work happens when the strategy is unclear, resources are limited, or the organization isn’t set up the way you’d like.
I write about these ideas, speak about them, and work with people who are navigating them in practice.