Marty Cagan
Founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group; wrote Inspired, Empowered and Transformed on how product organisations work.
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What they believe
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The product role remains essential in the AI era, whatever the tools become.
Ben’s article serves as a great reminder of why the product role is so essential, and is likely to remain essential.
svpg.comSaid 10 Aug 2026This on korrents
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Cheap delivery turned the roadmap-of-features model into a feature factory that produces bad products faster.
Much of the product world now recognizes the project model as a turbo-charged feature factory, capable of producing more bad products, faster, than ever before.
svpg.comSaid 16 Apr 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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10 September
From one piece Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) 15 beliefs · youtube.com
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Their words
So here's the thing. Thanks to AI, the principles of the product model, the craft of product strategy and product discovery have never been more important.
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korrents.com
In no small part thanks to AI, more companies than ever understand the need for outcomes and not just output.Their words
But look, in no small part, thanks to AI today, more places than ever understand the need for outcomes and not just output.
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korrents.com
Large language models may be used as an alternative to thinking, as process already has been.Their words
And I am worried that large language models will be used as an alternative to thinking, but the truth is that's already happened with process.
+ 12 more
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korrents.com
To get people to switch, a product has to solve problems dramatically better than the competition.Their words
You actually have to solve problems in ways that are dramatically better than your competition if you're going to get people to switch.
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Their words
And of course, what so many companies have learned is that in empowered product teams, you don't just need less management, you need better management. And the role of product leadership is so critical.
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korrents.com
Good product work alone does not carry the day; politics are in the fabric of every company.Their words
I thought good product work will carry the day. That was of course naive. And the truth is politics are everywhere. They're in the fabric of every company.
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Their words
If you put a bunch of features that are somebody's idea of what might work and you put dates there, you're going to waste most of your time.
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Their words
I guarantee your road maps are not going away. We all know that the issue is not whether they are there.
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Their words
I honestly had no idea and I just didn't appreciate how powerful and deeply rooted the desire for predictability was. And that's from both product people and senior executives and how at odds that desire for predictability is with not just humility but innovation and outcomes.
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Their words
And yeah, this might sound like a personality trait to you, but it's not. I would argue this contributes directly to the root cause of so many failed products,
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korrents.com
Probably the most important question in product is why people are or are not using it, and most teams never ask it.Their words
Probably the single most important question is why are people using our product or not using our product? And the part that really gets me is that's the key to unlocking so much innovation. And yet most teams never ask that question.
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Their words
Yes, you obviously need to make sure you understand the problem, who you're solving it for, and what the definition of success is. But honestly, that's not very hard. It's not very hard. And if you spend a lot of time on that, you're not going to do the real part you're paid for, which is solution discovery.
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korrents.com
Developer tools are a simpler space for business viability than most products, and especially than AI products.Their words
It's a much simpler space for viability. But for most products, especially for AI products, that is not true.
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korrents.com
Business viability matters far more in product work than his earlier advice made it seem.Their words
There is no way for me to get around this. I completely understated the importance of business viability.
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Their words
That might give you some tooling to help you do the job, but that's not the job. The job of product is to solve problems for our customers and achieve outcomes for our business.
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17 September 2025
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 18 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Tools such as agents can help do the job of product, but the job itself is solving customer problems and achieving business outcomes.
That might give you some tooling to help you do the job, but that's not the job. The job of product is to solve problems for our customers and achieve outcomes for our business.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Business viability matters far more in product work than his earlier advice made it seem.
There is no way for me to get around this. I completely understated the importance of business viability.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Developer tools are a simpler space for business viability than most products, and especially than AI products.
It's a much simpler space for viability. But for most products, especially for AI products, that is not true.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Show 15 more
Problem discovery is not very hard, and product managers who spend a lot of time on it neglect solution discovery, the real work they are paid for.
Yes, you obviously need to make sure you understand the problem, who you're solving it for, and what the definition of success is. But honestly, that's not very hard. It's not very hard. And if you spend a lot of time on that, you're not going to do the real part you're paid for, which is solution discovery.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Probably the most important question in product is why people are or are not using it, and most teams never ask it.
Probably the single most important question is why are people using our product or not using our product? And the part that really gets me is that's the key to unlocking so much innovation. And yet most teams never ask that question.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Humility in product people is not a mere personality trait; its absence contributes directly to the root cause of many failed products.
And yeah, this might sound like a personality trait to you, but it's not. I would argue this contributes directly to the root cause of so many failed products,
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
The desire for predictability, among product people and senior executives alike, is powerful, deeply rooted and at odds with innovation and outcomes.
I honestly had no idea and I just didn't appreciate how powerful and deeply rooted the desire for predictability was. And that's from both product people and senior executives and how at odds that desire for predictability is with not just humility but innovation and outcomes.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Roadmaps are not going away; the issue is not whether they exist.
I guarantee your road maps are not going away. We all know that the issue is not whether they are there.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
A roadmap of someone's feature ideas with dates attached wastes most of a team's time.
If you put a bunch of features that are somebody's idea of what might work and you put dates there, you're going to waste most of your time.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Good product work alone does not carry the day; politics are in the fabric of every company.
I thought good product work will carry the day. That was of course naive. And the truth is politics are everywhere. They're in the fabric of every company.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Empowered product teams need not just less management but better management, and product leadership is critical to them.
And of course, what so many companies have learned is that in empowered product teams, you don't just need less management, you need better management. And the role of product leadership is so critical.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
To get people to switch, a product has to solve problems dramatically better than the competition.
You actually have to solve problems in ways that are dramatically better than your competition if you're going to get people to switch.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Large language models may be used as an alternative to thinking, as process already has been.
And I am worried that large language models will be used as an alternative to thinking, but the truth is that's already happened with process.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
In no small part thanks to AI, more companies than ever understand the need for outcomes and not just output.
But look, in no small part, thanks to AI today, more places than ever understand the need for outcomes and not just output.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
Thanks to AI, the principles of the product model, product strategy and product discovery have never been more important.
So here's the thing. Thanks to AI, the principles of the product model, the craft of product strategy and product discovery have never been more important.
Marty Cagan: Strong Opinions, loosely held (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026) Said 10 Sept 2026
The product role remains essential in the AI era, whatever the tools become.
Ben’s article serves as a great reminder of why the product role is so essential, and is likely to remain essential.
A Fresh Definition of The Product Role Said 10 Aug 2026
Cheap delivery turned the roadmap-of-features model into a feature factory that produces bad products faster.
Much of the product world now recognizes the project model as a turbo-charged feature factory, capable of producing more bad products, faster, than ever before.
Build to Learn vs Build to Earn Said 16 Apr 2026
The real bottleneck in product work is discovering a solution worth building, not building it.
Now, it’s clear that the real bottleneck is in discovering a solution that’s worth building.
Build to Learn vs Build to Earn Said 16 Apr 2026
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
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Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 11 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Recommends What's Our Problem?
he wrote a book called what's our problem that I found really provocative challenged me in a hundred different ways
youtube.com 10 Mar 2024
Loved Accelerate
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved The Joy of Agility
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Show 8 more
Loved The Making of a Manager
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved Trillion Dollar Coach
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved How Google Works
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved Creative Selection
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved No Rules Rules
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved Working Backwards
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved Build
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Loved Continuous Discovery Habits
These are our top 10 favorite books in the product space, each one talking about different aspects of the product model:
Where they publish
Blog Silicon Valley Product Group The SVPG blog. Has a feed; the card shows only his own posts.
Recent
- Experimentation, AI and the Product Model 21 Oct 2026 NOTE: This is a narrative form of a keynote for the Circus Austin Experimentation Conference. While experimentation can be found in various parts of a company, most people think of either product or marketing. This talk…
- Predictability vs Outcomes 12 Oct 2026 I was first taught about the importance of outcome over output way back when I was an engineer getting coached to become a tech lead, and I was explicitly told that it was no longer enough to just build and ship, I had…
- Experts Lead Experts 25 Sept 2026 We are still early in the journey to learn the long-term impact of AI, but one trend that continues to capture attention is that managers and other leaders will be much less important, and that all we really need are sk…
Show 11 more
- Strong Opinions, Loosely Held 11 Sept 2026 Note: This is the narrative version of a keynote talk for the Lenny & Friends Summit. Recently I was asked a question that I haven’t been able to get out of my head: “In light of all that has changed, what are the thing…
- A Fresh Definition of The Product Role 10 Aug 2026 I’m just guessing here, but I’d say over the years I’ve seen at least one hundred different definitions of the product role (i.e. product manager/product owner). I’m pretty sure that anyone reading this would have seen…
- The AI Productivity Paradox 23 Jul 2026 We’ve been writing a lot lately about product teams that are clearly leveraging AI to deliver faster, yet their outcomes are not improving. Today, this phenomenon, known as the “AI Productivity Paradox,” has been recogn…
- Great Products, Bad Companies 30 Jun 2026 I have long argued that great products are what powers great companies. And while I still believe that great products are necessary for great companies, it’s become quite clear over the years that great products are not…
- Build To Learn FAQ 27 Apr 2026 In our last article, we argued that especially in the age of AI, we are all builders, but that there is a very meaningful difference between building to learn (known as product discovery) versus building to earn (known…
- Build to Learn vs Build to Earn 16 Apr 2026 We have long argued that there have always been at least two major ways to develop product. The most common way, even today in the age of AI, is the project model, which is all about output. This is where stakeholders o…
- Commercial vs Internal Products 9 Apr 2026 Internal Products Are Hard; Commercial Products Are Harder We have spent a lot of time trying to convince product people and especially product leaders of the importance of internal products. We’re talking about service…
- Product Coaching and AI 4 Feb 2026 This article represents a significant change to what we have been advocating for the past two decades. But hopefully you will agree it is necessary, and that it also represents a substantial step forward. We have been g…
- The Product Model at Google 19 Dec 2025 By Marty Cagan and Elias Lieberich Marty’s Note: Recently I co-authored articles on The Product Model at Spotify, and The Product Model at Amazon. In this article, we hope to do the same by describing how the product mo…
- Prototypes vs Products 7 Nov 2025 Note: This is part of the product creator series of articles, based on the overview article, The Era of the Product Creator. This series is intended for anyone that wants to create a successful product, whether or not t…
- Forward Deployed Engineers 17 Sept 2025 Note: This is part of the product creator series of articles, based on the overview article, The Era of the Product Creator. This series is intended for anyone that wants to create a successful product, whether or not t…
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Bluesky @martycagan.bsky.social Their Bluesky account.
Link verified 23 Sept 2026.
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