Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In this episode of ProductCamp Conversations, Allison Herbert and Dave Mathias sit down with Twin Cities product leader Andrew Mogendorff, founder of the Twin Cities Product Leaders meetup and now leading digital transformation at Portico Benefit Services, to explore why the best product people act as the guide, not the hero. Drawing on years at Target, his time leading product and UX at Northmarq, and his ProductCamp Twin Cities talk "Product Thinking for Non-Product People," Andrew shares how plain language, patience, and "show and tell" help an organization mature its product practice one step at a time.

📌 Topics Covered:

• From "really terrible developer" to tester to product leader, and helping Target move from project and waterfall to product and agile

• Learning a new domain (commercial real estate, then benefits) by asking the dumb questions out loud, because someone else in the room has the same question

• ProductCamp Twin Cities "Product Thinking for Non-Product People" (co-presented with Mike Lindberg): a step-by-step roadmap, meeting people where they are, and being the guide instead of the hero

• "Here's what we heard, here's what we're planning to do, and here's why": plain-language quarterly planning and outcome scorecards built on efficiency, effectiveness, user happiness, and tech efficiency

• Bringing engineers closer to customers through developer-led demos and on-site story mapping, including the ColdFusion rewrite where one developer saved two months with "that's one story"

• AI pilot teams at Portico that pair a technical person with a business person, small teams with "role softness," and why to start with retros (and act on what you hear)

• How a lunch with a mentor became the Twin Cities Product Leaders meetup: no agenda, no sales pitches, nearly 160 people in Slack, and first Wednesdays at Bear Cave Brewing

• Rapid fire: why "anything waterfall is bad" no longer holds, and the best feedback he got from Andy Cerio: "stop, draw the story map"

📚 Referenced:

• The Phoenix Project — Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford: https://itrevolution.com/product/the-phoenix-project/

--------------------------------------------------

🔗 CONNECT WITH GUEST ANDREW MOGENDORFF:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmogendorff/

--------------------------------------------------

🎙️ CONNECT WITH THE HOSTS:

• Allison Herbert:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aherbert42

- Website: https://allisonherbert.com

• Dave Mathias:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemathias1

- X / Twitter: https://x.com/davemathias

- Website: https://gobeyondthedata.com

--------------------------------------------------

📩 GET IN TOUCH:

Have thoughts on this episode or want to suggest a topic/guest?

Drop a comment below or reach out at productcampconversations@gmail.com!

👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more conversations on the human side of product management.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In this episode of ProductCamp Conversations, Allison Herbert and Dave Mathias sit down with ProductCamp Atlanta founder and Product Coffee host Jason Brett to trace how one tweet drafted him into running an unconference he had never attended, and what has kept that community going through a pandemic, a shifting sponsor landscape, and the AI era.

📌 Topics Covered:

• From computer sales trainer to self-taught developer to SaaS founder, and discovering at BellSouth that the work he loved had a name: product management

• "You dance with the one that brung ya": how loyalty to early clients turned a web agency into a product

• Getting voluntold into ProductCamp Atlanta, the first-morning crowd of 40 volunteers at the door, and why Paul Young is the godfather of ProductCamp

• How Product Coffee started on Zoom during lockdown and grew from "whenever I got around to it" to weekly

• Measuring a free community event: dropping NPS in favor of return rate, early session proposals, and leftover food

• Sponsorship shifts, Friends of ProductCamp and Scholars tickets, and this year's experiment: camp is free, lunch is not

• Why case studies make the best sessions, and why the day of the non-technical PM may be over

--------------------------------------------------

🔗 CONNECT WITH GUEST JASON BRETT:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ijasonbrett

• Product Coffee: https://productcoffee.com

• ProductCamp Atlanta: https://pcampatl.com

--------------------------------------------------

🎙️ CONNECT WITH THE HOSTS:

• Allison Herbert:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aherbert42

- Website: https://allisonherbert.com

• Dave Mathias:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemathias1

- X / Twitter: https://x.com/davemathias

- Website: https://gobeyondthedata.com

--------------------------------------------------

📩 GET IN TOUCH:

Have thoughts on this episode or want to suggest a topic/guest?

Drop a comment below or reach out at productcampconversations@gmail.com!

👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more conversations on the human side of product management.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In this episode of ProductCamp Conversations, Allison Herbert and Dave Mathias sit down with Atlanta product consultant, coach, and recruiter Jackie Flake to talk about showing up as a whole person in a market that keeps flattening people into resumes, from the stage, to LinkedIn, to the hiring pipeline.

📌 Topics Covered:

• Learning product "the hard way" and her first ProductCamp Atlanta talk on five mistakes to avoid in your product career

• Why she pitches with a story instead of a bio, and how that changed the way her sessions land

• Her talk on faith and layoffs, and why your identity doesn't have to be wrapped up in your career

• Trading "am I doing the most?" for "am I learning?" when AI FOMO says the finish line keeps moving

• Going fractional: why sales is the hard part, and consultants have to add value from day one

• Posting for the next person who hires you instead of the algorithm, and the 60 to 90 second voice memo as a modern cover letter

• Why ProductCamp Atlanta's morning pitch format is worth the nerves, and what The War of Art taught her about getting unstuck

📚 Referenced:

• The War of Art — Steven Pressfield: https://stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/

• Principles — Ray Dalio: https://www.principles.com/

--------------------------------------------------

🔗 CONNECT WITH GUEST JACKIE FLAKE:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackieflake/

• Website: https://option1partners.com/ (Option1Partners)

--------------------------------------------------

🎙️ CONNECT WITH THE HOSTS:

• Allison Herbert:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aherbert42

- Website: https://allisonherbert.com

• Dave Mathias:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemathias1

- X / Twitter: https://x.com/davemathias

- Website: https://gobeyondthedata.com

--------------------------------------------------

📩 GET IN TOUCH:

Have thoughts on this episode or want to suggest a topic/guest?

Drop a comment below or reach out at productcampconversations@gmail.com!

👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more conversations on the human side of product management.