Inside 'Product Driven': Why This New Book is Every Engineering Leader's Must-Read

Product Driven: Building Software Teams That Ship Value 🚀 In this special book launch episode, we dive deep into the intersection of engineering leadership, product thinking, and the transformative impact of AI on software development. Join Matt Watson and Craig Ferril as they explore the revolutionary "Product Driven Model" and why traditional development approaches are becoming obsolete. 🔗 Essential Resources: Get the Book: https://a.co/d/100RmwC Newsletter: productdriven.com Connect with Matt: https://linkedin.com/in/mattwatson Full Scale Ventures: https://fullscaleventures.com Get the Offshore Hiring Guide: https://hirefullscale.com/offshore-hiring-guide Key Discussion Highlights:🎯 The Product Driven Model (Five Core Components)Vision: Understanding the "why" behind every decisionFocus: Keeping customer outcomes at the centerClarity: Providing just enough context without overwhelmingShared Ownership: Distributing responsibility across teamsCourage: Creating psychological safety for innovation 🤖 AI's Leadership ChallengeEngineering bottlenecks are shifting from throughput to directionTeams going "2x faster in the wrong direction" create bigger problemsLeadership must evolve from requirement-feeders to vision-communicatorsThe rise of "low-code thinking" in traditional development 🎯 From Individual Contributors to LeadersThe transition from "doing" to "enabling others to do"Four types of engineering leadership: Strategic, Operational, Technical, and ProductWhy most leaders aren't good at all four (and shouldn't try to be) Chapter Timestamps: 00:00 - Book Launch Introduction & "Find Your Craig" 08:16 - Why AI Makes Product Thinking Critical 15:03 - The Death Spiral of Internal Focus 18:07 - Creating Cultures of Courage vs. Fear 23:14 - The Five Components of Product Driven Model 32:40 - Future of Engineering Leadership 37:22 - Closing the Feedback Loop with Introverted Teams 💡 Key Takeaways: For Engineering Leaders:Stop being the bottleneck - build teams that don't need youCreate environments where "calling the baby ugly" is celebratedFocus on making other people more productive For Product Teams:Shift from feature factories to outcome-driven developmentEmbrace the "win or learn" mentalityConnect every technical decision to customer value For Organizations:AI won't solve leadership problems - it will expose themCulture and strategy must work in tandemThe future belongs to teams that think like product owners The conversation reveals a fundamental shift happening in software development. As AI democratizes code creation, the competitive advantage moves from "how fast can we build" to "what should we build and why." Teams that master this transition will thrive; those that don't will...