Podcast
One Knight in Product
Hosted by One Knight in Product · EN
I’m your host, Jason Knight, and One Knight in Product is your chance to go deep into the wonderful world of product management, product marketing, startups, leadership, diversity & inclusion and much more!
My goal with One Knight in Product has always been to bring real chat to the over-idealised world of product management and mix thought leader interviews with day-to-day practitioners from around the world. I want to ask hard, but fair, questions and bring some personality and good, old-fashioned dry British humour to building products.
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21episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
April Dunford - Obviously Awesome 2.0 : What's New With Product Positioning? (with April Dunford, Author “Obviously Awesome“ and “Sales Pitch“)
4w ago01:13:43Tap to summarizeOn this episode, I am joined for a third (and probably final!) time by April Dunford, renowned positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. We explore what's changed in her updated edition of Obviously Awesome, what she's learned through delivering hundreds of positioning workshops and how she's honed her approach to reposition positioning to make it clearer for the next generation of product people. Episode highlights Positioning is how you win - Positioning is the answer to "why pick us now?", grounding your product in real value for a clearly defined customer segment. Positioning vs strategy - Strategy defines where you're going, while positioning reflects where you are today and must evolve as your product and market change. AI isn't a position - Simply adding AI is no longer meaningful; if everyone has it, the focus shifts to what tangible value you deliver right now. From unique to distinct - Capabilities don't need to be truly unique, just meaningfully different in the context of your real competitors. Trends matter less than clarity - The industry's baseline understanding of positioning has improved, making abstract ideas like "trends" less useful than clear market definitions. Readiness before action - Teams need to decide what they're positioning, whether they have real customers, and how product structure (single vs multi-product) affects the work. Positioning as hypothesis - Without customers, positioning is a best guess that must be tested and refined rather than treated as fact. Sell to the champion - Positioning should resonate with the internal champion, while objections from other stakeholders are handled separately. Test through sales, not copy - The real validation of positioning happens in sales conversations, not by endlessly tweaking website copy. AI is a tool, not a shortcut - AI can support positioning work, but it can't replace the thinking, collaboration and deep company context required to define real differentiation. ... and much more. Buy the new version of Obviously Awesome Look for the yellow "updated" sticker! Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers-dp-1999023056/dp/1999023056/ April's website: https://www.aprildunford.com/books Contact April LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ Website: https://www.aprildunford.com
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The State of B2B Product Management (with me, Saeed Khan and guest host Janna Bastow)
Apr 201:06:37Tap to summarizeOn this episode, we try something a little different. ProdPad and Mind the Product co-founder Janna Bastow joins as guest host to interview me and Saeed Khan about our recently released research report "The State of B2B Product Management". We go deep on the key findings of the report and what to do about them. Episode highlights The sales-led roadmap reality - In many B2B organisations, roadmap ownership effectively sits with sales, driven by short-term revenue pressures rather than long-term strategy Customers vs markets tension - Product teams often fail to shift from building for individual customers to designing for scalable market opportunities The leadership perception gap - A stark ~50-point disconnect exists between how leaders assess themselves and how their teams experience them, pointing to either deluded leaders, poor communication or unreasonable IC expectations Lack of strategic foundations - Weak or absent vision and objectives create a vacuum where every deal feels equally valid Product leaders as system designers - Leaders must take responsibility for shaping environments where good product work is actually possible Discovery isn't just external - Product teams neglect internal discovery, failing to understand stakeholders, sales processes, and organisational dynamics The cost of short-term thinking - Chasing large deals often creates hidden long-term costs that outweigh immediate revenue gains AI as efficiency, not transformation - Current AI usage is reported as largely tactical (summarisation, documentation), not fundamentally changing product outcomes Optimism despite dysfunction - Even with systemic issues, many product managers remain positive about the future of the discipline ... and much more. Check out "The State of B2B Product Management" report You can check the full report here - no email address required: https://b2bproduct.io/?okip Check out ProdPad Janna is the co-founder of ProdPad, a roadmap, idea management and feedback platform that brings clarity to your organisation. She was kind enough to step in as a guest host for the episode, so why not check what the platform can do for you? https://www.prodpad.com/ Find us all on LinkedIn Janna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jannabastow/ Saeed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saeedwkhan/ Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-knight/
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CPO Stories: Nick Kenn - Winmau
Mar 2600:55:12Tap to summarizeOn this episode, I speak with Nick Kenn, interim Chief Product Officer at Winmau, the world's leading darts brand. Nick's career spans companies such as Betfair and Redbubble, and he now operates in interim and advisory product leadership roles across private equity and venture-backed businesses. He's now on a mission to hit the bullseye and revolutionise a traditional sport with a new, fully digital experience. We cover a lot, including: Digitising a traditional sport – Building a connected darts experience requires blending physical play with digital layers like tracking, stats, and online competition without losing the tactile essence of the game Balancing heritage and innovation – Introducing new product experiences in a 100-year-old brand demands careful alignment between modern features and long-standing identity AI as a pragmatic tool – Rather than chasing trends, AI is applied where it adds clear value, such as computer vision for scoring and an AI referee for dispute resolution Focus over experimentation – In a high-pressure delivery environment, prioritisation matters more than exploring every new technology or idea Building inside a non-digital organisation – Establishing product thinking in a manufacturing business requires translation, education, and patience on both sides Hardware and software alignment – Unlike pure software, product timelines are constrained by manufacturing cycles, creating hard deadlines and forcing disciplined execution Hiring for passion and proximity – Teams perform better when they have genuine interest in the product domain, especially in consumer experiences tied to physical interaction Differentiation through awareness – Deep competitor understanding is essential not for copying, but for identifying where to stand apart and create unique value Private equity vs venture dynamics – Product strategy shifts significantly depending on ownership model, with PE favouring speed and certainty, and VC allowing more exploration Book smarts and street smarts – The most effective product leaders combine formal knowledge with real-world experience, adapting frameworks to context rather than following them rigidly ... and much more. Find our more about fractional product leadership Nick mentioned an article I wrote about fractional product leadership - you can check it out here: https://oneknightinproduct.substack.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-fractional Check out Winmau Winmau: https://winmau.com Winmau careers: https://winmau.com/pages/careers-with-winmau Contact Nick LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-kenn/
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Dan Olsen - Vibe Coding: The New Product Team Superpower? (with Dan Olsen, Product Management Trainer and Author “The Lean Product Playbook“)
Mar 501:08:04Tap to summarizeIn this episode, I speak with returning guest Dan Olsen, product management trainer, consultant, speaker, and author of The Lean Product Playbook. We go deep into the rise of "vibe coding" and what it means for product teams. Dan has gone deep into vibe coding, is offering training courses in it, and believes it firmly sits within his existing Lean Product Playbook process and supports the Product/Market Fit Pyramid. Episode highlights AI shifts the product bottleneck – As AI tools make engineers more productive, the limiting factor increasingly becomes product discovery and decision-making rather than development capacity. Product management isn't going away – AI can automate some tasks, but judgement, prioritisation, and making decisions under uncertainty remain core human responsibilities. The rise of the product builder mindset – New AI tools allow product managers to prototype ideas directly, giving them a more hands-on way to explore solutions. The vibe coding spectrum – AI development tools exist on a spectrum from simple browser-based tools through to full developer IDE integrations, letting teams adopt them at different levels of technical depth. Vibe prototyping vs vibe coding – For most product managers, the real opportunity isn't replacing engineers, but quickly generating interactive prototypes that help teams explore ideas before committing to production code. Divergent thinking still matters – AI tools often generate a single solution, so teams need to deliberately explore multiple directions and alternatives rather than blindly optimising the first result. Prototypes have four key audiences – Early prototypes help clarify ideas for the creator, align the product team, communicate concepts to stakeholders, and gather feedback from real users. Context beats clever prompting – The quality of AI-generated output depends far more on the context, requirements, and constraints you provide than on the prompt itself. Iteration beats one-shot builds – The real power of these tools comes from rapid experimentation and refinement rather than expecting a perfect result from a single prompt. ... and much more. Dan's stuff LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danolsen98/ Dan's Website: https://dan-olsen.com/ Dan's Vibe Coding Template: https://dan-olsen.com/vibe-coding/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/danolsen Lean Product Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/lean-product/ The Lean Product Playbook: https://amzn.to/1EYCUdP
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Hugo Alves - Let's Get Real About Synthetic Users (with Hugo Alves, Co-founder @ Synthetic Users)
Feb 2101:04:19Tap to summarizeOn this episode, I speak to Hugo Alves, co-founder of Synthetic Users, about one of the most controversial topics in modern product development: using generative AI to simulate users for research and decision-making. Hugo has a background in clinical psychology and product, and has spent the past three years building a platform that generates synthetic qualitative interviews to help teams reduce risk and make better decisions. Episode highlights: What Synthetic Users actually is - generating in-depth qualitative interviews with AI-powered "synthetic" participants to help teams reduce risk and accelerate discovery Most companies don't do enough, or any, research in the first place, and they need as many tools in their locker to help with the ultimate goal: making great products. The pragmatist's view of AI - why Hugo doesn't care whether LLMs are "conscious", only whether they produce useful outputs The agentic "swarm" approach - using specialised sub-agents (planners, interviewers, critics) instead of one giant prompt to improve quality and reduce drift B2B vs B2C - why synthetic research works well in B2B contexts, and the harder (future) problem of modelling organisational dynamics Bias, sycophancy and realism - the technical concerns around LLMs and how to validate responses with pilots and human comparison studies How to use synthetic research in practice - filtering ideas, informing human interviews, and treating it as an accelerant rather than a replacement "It shouldn't exist" - the moral argument against synthetic users, reacting to UX thought leaders and their objections, and why some of those objections aren't really about evidence ... and much more. Contact Hugo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugomanuelalves/ Website: https://www.syntheticusers.com/ Twitter/"X": https://twitter.com/Ugo_alves
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CPO Stories: Jessica Hall - Just Eat Takeaway
Jan 2700:48:09Tap to summarizeIn this episode, I speak with Jessica Hall. Jess is the Chief Product Officer at Just Eat Takeaway, a global leader in the on-demand delivery space. With a professional pedigree that includes leadership roles at UK retail giants like Tesco, Argos, and Sainsbury's, Jess brings a wealth of experience in navigating complex, high-stakes consumer environments. Our conversation delves into the "big idea" of managing a massive three-sided marketplace, balancing the needs of consumers, partners, and couriers while transitioning from a food-centric brand to an "everything delivered" platform. We cover a lot, including: Navigating the Three-Sided Marketplace - Jess describes the Just Eat Takeaway product as a complex ecosystem connecting 60 million active customers with nearly 400,000 partners and a vast network of couriers. The core insight here is that the "product" isn't just an app; it is the seamless orchestration of these three distinct groups, where a failure in one branch inevitably disrupts the value for the others. Scaling Global Platforms with Local Nuance - Despite operating a global tech platform, Jess emphasises the importance of "optionality" to respect regional differences, from currency formatting to cultural preferences like cash usage. This approach allows the company to maintain a unified technical infrastructure while remaining flexible enough to adapt when a specific market, like the UK or Canada, leads the way in new category demands like grocery delivery. The Power of Customer Closeness - Moving beyond data and reports, Jess advocates for getting "on the ground" to talk to couriers and visit partner restaurants. By understanding the physical realities, such as a busy kitchen staff finding a feature too cumbersome to use during peak hours, product leaders can solve real-world friction that data trends alone might overlook. Cultivating Dual-Track Career Paths - Recognising that not every brilliant product mind wants to manage people, Jess champions the value of senior Individual Contributor roles. She highlights that technical and strategic mastery is just as vital as people management, and providing high-level growth opportunities for ICs ensures the organisation retains its most creative and experienced problem solvers. Leading Through Influence and Commerciality - Jess argues that the best product leaders act as "first-rate business partners" rather than just a bridge between engineering and the business. By focusing on "win-win" outcomes and deeply understanding commercial metrics like order volumes and market trends, product teams earn the credibility needed to influence strategy at the highest levels. Check out Just Eat Takeaway Check out Just Eat Takeaway's website: https://justeattakeaway.com, or their careers page: https://careers.justeattakeaway.com. Connect with Jess You can connect with Jess on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalrhall.
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Michele Hansen - Standing up for User Research in the Age of AI (with Michele Hansen, Founder @ Geocodio & Author “Deploy Empathy“)
Dec 3000:56:58Tap to summarizeIn this episode, I'm joined by the returning Michele Hansen, co-founder and CEO of Geocodio and author of Deploy Empathy, now out with a second edition. Michele brings deep experience as a former product manager turned founder, and has spent over a decade helping teams understand customers through rigorous, human-centred research. We explore what customer research looks like in an AI-accelerated world: where AI genuinely helps, where it falls short, and why talking to real people remains irreplaceable. Along the way, we dig into interviewing craft, curiosity, synthetic users, and some enduring myths that still undermine product discovery. Episode highlights: We cover a lot, including: Why customer interviews still matter in the age of AI - why large language models can accelerate research workflows but cannot replace the insight, judgement, and transformation that comes from engaging directly with customers. AI as a research intern, not a strategist - AI performs well in certain tasks - transcription, tagging, and basic analysis - but prioritisation, interpretation, and strategy must remain human responsibilities. The neuroscience of listening and curiosity - both interviewees and interviewers experience genuine pleasure when curiosity is satisfied, reframing interviews as a mutually rewarding process rather than a chore. What AI misses in real customer conversations - considering the "spiky", unexpected insights that emerge in interviews - and why these often get lost when teams rely too heavily on automated summaries. Synthetic users, digital twins, and their limits - breaking down different types of simulated users, where they can be useful, and why they depend on high-quality human research to be credible at all. The problem with the "faster horses" myth - dismantling the misattributed Henry Ford quote and exploring how it's often used to avoid engaging with customers rather than to encourage innovation. Research as a way to change teams, not just products - how involving teams directly in research builds shared understanding, alignment, and better decision-making across organisations. Why AI accelerates confusion without product clarity - AI only compounds impact when a clear product vision and customer understanding already exist - otherwise, teams simply move faster in the wrong direction. Connect with Michele Learn more about Michele's company, Geocodio: https://www.geocod.io/ Check out the new edition of "Deploy Empathy": https://deployempathy.com/. Connect with Michele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjwhansen/ Meet Michele at the pub in London! We'll be there on Jan 15th 2026: https://luma.com/xyqi9e2z
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Tim Herbig - Stop Making Alibi Progress & Start Making REAL Progress (with Tim Herbig, Product Management Coach & Author of “Real Progress“)
Dec 500:55:54Tap to summarizeOn this episode, I speak to Tim Herbig, long-time product management coach, speaker, and author of the new book "Real Progress". Tim has worked with companies like StepStone, Chrono24, Deutsche Telekom and Specsavers, and has spent years helping product managers stop hiding behind frameworks and start making a meaningful impact. His work focuses on helping teams connect product strategy, OKRs and discovery without falling into the trap of rigid process correctness. Episode highlights: Alibi Progress vs Real Progress - how teams hide behind "the right way" of doing things, obsessing over methods and templates instead of asking whether any of it actually works The Progress Wheel - Tim's diagnostic loop that ties strategy, OKRs and discovery together so teams can see where they're actually stuck and what to do next The three attributes of good product strategy: Decisiveness, Layering and Executability How to handle OKRs when leadership gives you metrics you can’t influence using zones of control and contribution How to sell discovery to sceptical stakeholders - by framing it as "protecting the company's investment", not a fluffy UX ritual Reverse-mapping discovery when you're handed a solution - even if you have to build it, work backwards to define the outcome Why frameworks should be starting points, not destinations - and why Tim would be disappointed if anyone adopted his wheel dogmatically ... And much more. Buy the book You can grab a copy of Real Progress here: Tim's site: https://herbig.co/real-progress-book/ Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/398275190X Contact Tim Website: https://herbig.co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herbigt/
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CPO Stories: Sean O'Neill - Syncron
Nov 1000:50:35Tap to summarizeOn this episode, I speak to Sean O'Neill. Sean is the Chief Product & Technology Officer at Syncron, and an executive product leader with a storied career spanning companies like Amazon, Tesco, and GfK. We bond over our shared history at GfK, speak about how Amazon has influenced his product thinking, how it's developed since he moved on, and his approach to portfolio management and right-sizing investments across the product portfolio. We cover a lot, including: There's no greater crime than building something the universe doesn't need: Sean's ten key product principles that he lists on LinkedIn - first developed at Tesco - all matter, but building pointless stuff tops his list of product sins. Use the right tool for the job: Amazon shaped Sean's product DNA, but he's clear that context is king - you can't simply transplant Big Tech practices into legacy environments and expect them to work wholesale. Most companies under-invest in their strategy: When progress stalls, it's usually because teams are spread too thin across BAU work and one-off feature requests. The best product firms align time and capacity to strategic bets (or admit that they're a professional services company). Adopt a portfolio mindset: Sean's capital allocation framework helps leaders size and re-balance investments, ensuring resources go where they'll have the biggest impact - and revisiting regularly (but not too regularly) to stay honest. Learn the language of money: Too many product leaders avoid finance. Sean argues that financial literacy isn't optional if you want credibility with the board and real influence on business outcomes. Learn the numbers! Connect with Sean You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanon/. There you'll find a number of articles, including the one we discuss in this interview: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-dont-need-more-engineers-better-strategic-bets-sean-o-neill-s0vze/ Connect with Sean's "mystery caller" You can connect with special guest interviewer Sterling O'Neill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterlingoneill/.
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CPO Stories: Georgie Smallwood - Moonpig
Oct 2200:53:06Tap to summarizeOn this episode, I speak to Georgie Smallwood. Georgie is Chief Product, Technology & Data Officer at Moonpig - the UK's best-known online gifting and greeting card platform. Georgie has built a global career leading product and technology teams at companies like N26, Xero, and Tier Mobility, before joining Moonpig to help transform a 25-year-old household brand into a modern, tech-driven organisation. In this interview, she talks about what it means to create "moments that matter", how Moonpig balances emotional connection with innovation, and how to lead when you're responsible for product, tech and data all at once. We cover a lot, including: Making technology more human: Georgie believes technology should make the world smaller, not bigger - by connecting people, not distancing them. At Moonpig, the goal isn't just to sell cards or gifts, but to help people express love and connection through meaningful gestures. Product with purpose: Moonpig's mission is to be “the world's greatest gifting companion.” Every card printed represents a moment of love, humour, or memory between people. Georgie sees product management at Moonpig as building moments that matter, not just features. Balancing connection and innovation: Moonpig has embraced AI and personalisation, but Georgie cautions against rushing ahead for technology's sake. Instead, the team focuses on introducing innovation in a way that feels natural and accessible to mass-market users. Leading product, technology, and data together: As CPTDO, Georgie bridges three major domains. She admits she's not a data scientist or engineer, but focuses on seeking to understand - asking open questions, learning continuously, and leading through consistency rather than control. On empowerment and leadership: While she values empowered teams, Georgie is pragmatic about balancing autonomy with business realities. She also believes true innovation needs governance, not chaos. Check out Moonpig Check out Moonpig's website: http://moonpig.com/, or their careers page: https://www.moonpig.group/careers/. Connect with Georgie You can connect with Georgie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georginasmallwood/.
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