Forever Employable – Jeff Gothelf on The Product Experience

Working in product is a dream job for lots of people but sustaining a dream career certainly isn't without challenges. There are problems around burnout, advancement, the challenges of specialisation, and in being a generalist. Jeff Gothelf has been there. He woke up one day and realised that his path forward as a design leader might be a dead end. What he did next, to strike out in a new direction, is the subject of his new book, Forever Employable. It's a long way from his first book (Lean UX), and his personal retrospective is highly relevant for anyone trying to figure out what they want to do next.

In this episode, sponsored by Amplitude, listen to learn:

• How to be forever employable
• How everyone is a teacher
• About Lean UX v Agile
• How to take control of your career

Quote of the Episode

The shipping of the product is the beginning of the conversation with your target audience. It's not success. Success is somebody watched it, 10 people watched it, 100 people watched it and 10 people told other people to watch it. That type of thing. We're looking for those outcomes, those behaviour change metrics to tell you that you've found traction with your idea, with your audience, and with the channel as well.

Related Links

• Follow Jeff on LinkedIn and Twitter, or on his own website
• Buy Jeff's new book, Forever Employable
• Jeff's blog

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Our 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. She's currently Head of Innovation at Go Compare and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol (which now has 800+ members!) and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.

Randy has been working as an interactive producer and product manager across the US and UK for nearly 20 years. A recovering music journalist and editor, he launched Amazon’s music stores in the US and UK, and has worked across sectors including museums and arts groups, online education, media and 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. Randy's book, What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19 is out now, with all profits going to COVID-19 relief efforts.