Tell Better Stories – Donna Lichaw on The Product Experience "Product people - Product managers, product designers, UX designers, UX researchers, Business analysts, developers, makers & entrepreneurs 6 September 2021 False podcast, product coaching, Product Management, Product Management Skills, The Product Experience, Mind the Product Mind the Product Ltd 585 Donna Lichaw Product Management 2.34

Tell Better Stories – Donna Lichaw on The Product Experience

Donna Lichaw

Over the course of her career, Donna Lichaw has moved from Design and UX to Product – consulting with teams, giving keynotes and working with leadership groups – but what she’s always focused on is storytelling.  Now an executive coach  – “I just won’t help people build products, I help them build themselves,” she says – Lichaw joined us to talk about her own journey, what to look for in an executive coach, and how to tell a better story.

Quotes of the Episode

Once I realised that the company was going to go out of business, I threw caution to the wind and decided I’m going to be an @ssh0!e, and just tell people that I don’t understand what our product is supposed to be doing.

You bring your whole self to work, and the only way that you can properly move forward is if you have complete understanding of what’s going on.

Anything you believe to be true is a hypothesis until you go test it.

Listen if you’d like to learn more about

  • Executive Coaching – what to look for and what to expect
  • Storytelling – when to use it and how to do it
  • How to treat your career as a product – testing things out in short increments

Links mentioned in this episode

Hosts

The Product Experience is hosted by Lily Smith and Randy Silver.

Lily enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. Lily has spent 13 years in the tech industry working mainly with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She has worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank in Bristol, the Product Managers’ meetup with regular events and talks on Product now with 800+ members and growing. This year Lily will be launching ProductCamp in Bristol and she joins the MTP team as co-host of The Product Experience podcast.

A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy has been working as an interactive producer and product manager across the US and UK for nearly 20 years. After launching Amazon’s music stores in the US and UK, Randy has worked with museums and arts groups, online education, media & entertainment, retail and financial services. He’s held Head of Product roles at HSBC and Sainsbury’s, where he also directed their 100+-person product community. He’s spoken at Mind the Product Engage (Hamburg and Manchester), at a number of ProductTanks (London, Zurich, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford,  & Brighton… so far!) and at conferences across the US and Europe.

The Product Experience logo

Music

Our theme music is from Hamburg-based Pau, featuring ProductTank Hamburg’s own Arne Kittler on bass. Listen to more on their Facebook page

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About the author

[buzzsprout episode='8711897' player='true'] Donna Lichaw Over the course of her career, Donna Lichaw has moved from Design and UX to Product - consulting with teams, giving keynotes and working with leadership groups - but what she's always focused on is storytelling.  Now an executive coach  - "I just won't help people build products, I help them build themselves," she says - Lichaw joined us to talk about her own journey, what to look for in an executive coach, and how to tell a better story.

Quotes of the Episode

Once I realised that the company was going to go out of business, I threw caution to the wind and decided I'm going to be an @ssh0!e, and just tell people that I don't understand what our product is supposed to be doing.
You bring your whole self to work, and the only way that you can properly move forward is if you have complete understanding of what's going on.
Anything you believe to be true is a hypothesis until you go test it.

Listen if you'd like to learn more about

  • Executive Coaching - what to look for and what to expect
  • Storytelling - when to use it and how to do it
  • How to treat your career as a product - testing things out in short increments

Links mentioned in this episode

Hosts

The Product Experience is hosted by Lily Smith and Randy Silver. Lily enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. Lily has spent 13 years in the tech industry working mainly with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She has worked on a diverse range of products - leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank in Bristol, the Product Managers' meetup with regular events and talks on Product now with 800+ members and growing. This year Lily will be launching ProductCamp in Bristol and she joins the MTP team as co-host of The Product Experience podcast. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy has been working as an interactive producer and product manager across the US and UK for nearly 20 years. After launching Amazon’s music stores in the US and UK, Randy has worked with museums and arts groups, online education, media & entertainment, retail and financial services. He’s held Head of Product roles at HSBC and Sainsbury’s, where he also directed their 100+-person product community. He's spoken at Mind the Product Engage (Hamburg and Manchester), at a number of ProductTanks (London, Zurich, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Oxford,  & Brighton... so far!) and at conferences across the US and Europe. The Product Experience logo

Music

Our theme music is from Hamburg-based Pau, featuring ProductTank Hamburg’s own Arne Kittler on bass. Listen to more on their Facebook page

Suggest a guest

Have you seen someone give a great talk? Suggest a guest to us here

Talk to us