From our CEO

Uncensored advice about product development and building a high-growth software company from Brian de Haaff, co-founder and CEO at Aha!

Collection886 articles
Dear Manager: When An Employee Fails It's Your Fault
July 7, 2014
Dear Manager: When An Employee Fails It's Your Fault

No matter how flat organizations are today they still have structure and with structure comes power — and often the abuse of it. I have wanted to take this topic on for…

Run, Don't Walk To Your Next Product Management Job
July 1, 2014
Run, Don't Walk To Your Next Product Management Job

If you ever spent time around a pool as a kid — someone yelled at you “walk don’t run!” I was reminded of that yesterday while on vacation in Kauai, Hawai‘i. I watched…

You're Agile — But You Still Need a Product Roadmap
June 23, 2014
You're Agile — But You Still Need a Product Roadmap

Agile software development is effective, but it is not designed for setting strategy and product direction. Learn how to be a strategy-drivien agile team.

When It’s Time to Walk Away
June 16, 2014
When It’s Time to Walk Away

If you are reading this — you probably are not the type of person to give up easily. Either am I. You are ambitious and skilled and continue to push forward regardless of…

5 Steps to Get a Product Marketing Job at a Startup
June 12, 2014
5 Steps to Get a Product Marketing Job at a Startup

I keep finding myself telling people that marketing has profoundly changed. In the last few days, I have told the same story at a fundraiser to an attorney, at a soccer…

Manage Tasks, Assign Features, and Track the Product Team's Work
June 6, 2014
Manage Tasks, Assign Features, and Track the Product Team's Work

A product manager is nothing without a strong product team and capable engineers. You may have the greatest product strategy and visual roadmap ever crafted — but if you…

Innovation Wasteland
June 3, 2014
Innovation Wasteland

Creating great products is invigorating. And employees who have a chance to be creative should be the happiest people on earth. But your company probably never fully…

Stop Calling Software "Enterprise-Grade"
May 29, 2014
Stop Calling Software "Enterprise-Grade"

The strategy-of-the-day seems to be to slap the word “enterprise-grade” on a product and then think that the product is miraculously ready for large businesses to buy.…

You Don't Want This Perfect Job
May 27, 2014
You Don't Want This Perfect Job

I have the perfect job to offer you — but you do not want it. You actually do, but cannot communicate how you could stretch to fill in the areas where you have limited…

Trust the Engineers — Do Not Put Bugs on Your Roadmap
May 23, 2014
Trust the Engineers — Do Not Put Bugs on Your Roadmap

A very bright product manager at a startup asked me this morning. “Should bugs exist on my roadmap?” This is a fascinating question and one that does come up every few…

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