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“Wait. What?” The Spark Behind Real Innovation
We like to think of innovation as a process: structured, sequenced, neatly mapped. But more often, it begins with a glitch in the matrix....

Paul Peterson
4 days ago2 min read
15 views
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Future-Proofing is Great. Until the Future Doesn't Cooperate.
Spend enough time in strategy sessions and it comes up sooner or later: We need to future-proof this. It’s well-intentioned. Smart, even....

Paul Peterson
7 days ago2 min read
14 views
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The Myth of the Perfect Product, or Why Progress Beats Perfection
At some point, every product manager has felt it: The impossible weight of building the "perfect product." Perfect in functionality....

Paul Peterson
Apr 272 min read
17 views
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What if Fear Is the Real Reason You’re Stuck?
What if the real reason your innovation efforts stall has nothing to do with strategy? Nothing to do with budget. Nothing to do with...

Paul Peterson
Apr 242 min read
19 views
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What the Camino Taught Me About Slowing Down
It’s been just over six months since I finished walking the Camino de Santiago—a solo pilgrimage across Portugal and Spain that, frankly,...

Paul Peterson
Apr 223 min read
21 views
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“Product Owner?” That’s Cute.
Somewhere along the winding road of Agile transformation and Silicon Valley job title inflation, we decided to start calling people...

Paul Peterson
Apr 183 min read
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You’re Holding It All Together. We Haven’t Forgotten That.
There’s a particular kind of tired we see on the faces of so many product managers. It’s not just from late nights or back-to-back...

Paul Peterson
Apr 182 min read
21 views
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Be Bold or Be Boring
We work with product teams every day who want to build what’s next. They want to stand out, be different. They want to grow. But too...

Paul Peterson
Apr 83 min read
24 views
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Tariffs, Turbulence, and the Value of Customer Proximity
The announcement of new tariffs has sent ripples through global supply chains and boardroom discussions alike. For many businesses,...

Paul Peterson
Apr 52 min read
23 views
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Creating a Culture of Innovation—with Catalytic Customers at the Core
A few years ago, we sat across the table from a product executive at a fast-scaling SaaS company. Their roadmap was...

Paul Peterson
Apr 24 min read
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How to Develop More Effective User Stories
In Agile product development, User Stories are a cornerstone for delivering features that delight users and drive business growth. But...

Paul Peterson
Mar 283 min read
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Leveraging Catalytic Customers to Reach the Mainstream
When a product team talks about “the mainstream,” it’s usually in vague terms: a future state where growth is steady, retention is high,...

Paul Peterson
Mar 264 min read
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The Research Bottleneck Is Slowing Your Best Ideas
In fast-moving product organizations, timely decision-making is often the difference between momentum and missed opportunity. Too...

Paul Peterson
Mar 243 min read
24 views
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Designing for Real People in a Synthetic Age
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in product development—powering everything from personalization engines to...

Paul Peterson
Mar 233 min read
22 views
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How Insights Teams Can Become the Innovation Engine Product Teams Need
Innovation is often seen as the domain of product teams whose charter is to develop, refine, and launch offerings that drive competitive...

Paul Peterson
Mar 193 min read
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Why the best ideas often fail in testing (and how to change that).
Many product managers and their research colleagues have a love-hate relationship with concept testing. When done well, it can flag weak...

Paul Peterson
Mar 163 min read
18 views
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The Collapse of Traditional Market Research—and What Comes Next
Market research is in crisis. Response rates are plummeting. Fraud is rampant. AI-generated survey responses are muddying data. Consumers...

Paul Peterson
Mar 44 min read
65 views
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Ten Ways to Kill Innovation
Whether it’s a new product, a reinvigorated marketing plan or a concept for more efficient operations, innovation is the cornerstone of...

Paul Peterson
Mar 34 min read
17 views
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Integrating Catalytic Customer Insights into Segmentation and Persona Development
For seasoned insights professionals, segmentation and persona development are foundational tools—part of the baseline repertoire we draw...

Paul Peterson
Mar 33 min read
16 views
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Hey, Insights Folks: Getting a Seat at the Table Isn't Enough
We get it. As insights professionals ourselves, we understand the challenges you face every day. You’re not just battling data overload,...

Paul Peterson
Mar 13 min read
16 views
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