Strategy vs. Execution Is a Lie You Tell Yourself
Product leaders do not need a handoff between strategy and execution. They need a faster loop from intent to evidence, and AI can help create room for it.
Product leadership. Coaching. AI building.
Get the product leadership you need. Strengthen your team. Put AI to work.
Dave steps in as the product leader small companies need, coaches teams and leaders already in place, and builds AI into how the work gets done. He spent the last five years accountable inside product organizations, leading product, design, and AI at Shipwell and leading product at Cargill's AI Hub. The work leaves behind stronger decisions, useful systems, and capability the organization can keep.
Fractional product leadershipProduct coachingAI buildingData-informed
When to call Dave
You may not need another strategy. You may need a better way to move.
- Product decisions are being made by people whose main job is something else.
- Your product teams have processes, but decisions still take too long.
- AI experiments are multiplying without becoming repeatable ways of working.
- Product, design, engineering, analytics, and business leaders are working from different assumptions.
- You need senior product support, from coaching your existing leaders to stepping in to lead product.
- Internal teams see opportunities to build with AI but lack the tools, guardrails, or confidence to begin.
Ways to work together
Product leadership sized to the situation.
Bring in the product leadership your company needs, strengthen the leaders and teams already in place, or explore shorter engagements and custom work.
Lead the Work
Fractional CPO
Lead the product organization while you build toward the permanent hire.
Best for: Small companies and startups with no product leader, or those that need interim leadership while one is hired.
Typical paceTypically 10 to 20 hours per week, with a minimum three-month commitment, reviewed quarterly.View engagement detailsHide engagement details
What happens
- Take accountability for product strategy and prioritization
- Establish a product operating rhythm the company can run without Dave
- Set direction with engineering, design, sales, and the executive team
- Build AI into how product work happens
- Develop the product people who are already there
- Prepare the company to hire and onboard a permanent product leader
What you receive
- A named, accountable product leader
- A product strategy and roadmap with explicit reasoning
- A functioning decision and prioritization rhythm
- Coaching and development for existing product staff
- A hiring profile and onboarding plan for the permanent role
- Documented decisions and context for the next leader
Who participates
The CEO or general manager, the executive team, the product and engineering organization, and the board or sponsor where relevant.
Your team’s commitment
Inclusion in leadership meetings and planning, an executive sponsor, and the authority to make product decisions within agreed boundaries.
By the end
The company has product direction, a working decision rhythm, and either a permanent leader in place or a clear plan to hire one. Nothing critical leaves when the engagement does.
Strengthen Your Teams
Embedded Product Coaching
Improve the team while the roadmap keeps moving.
Best for: Organizations with multiple product teams that want those teams and their existing leaders to get better.
Typical paceAn initial three-month engagement, with the option to continue based on the team’s needs.View engagement detailsHide engagement details
What happens
- Observe how work and decisions currently happen
- Identify the few practices creating the most friction
- Coach product leaders and managers through live situations
- Facilitate targeted working sessions where needed
- Introduce practical AI-enabled workflows
- Build reusable habits into the team’s operating rhythm
What you receive
- A focused assessment of current operating practices
- Coaching tied to current priorities and decisions
- Targeted working sessions and direct feedback on work in progress
- Practical templates, decision practices, and AI workflows
- Periodic progress summaries and a plan for sustaining the practices
Who participates
One product team or a small group of product leaders and managers. Design, engineering, analytics, and business partners participate when their work is relevant.
Your team’s commitment
Most coaching happens through existing work and meetings. Primary participants should expect biweekly coaching sessions, with a short sponsor check-in every three to four weeks.
By the end
The team makes stronger decisions, uses AI more effectively, and relies less on outside support to sustain better product practices.
What happens after
Teams that want continued support can move to an optional, lighter ongoing advisory cadence after the initial three months. The goal remains to reduce reliance on outside support, not create it.
Shorter engagements and custom work
More ways to get started
Install an AI-enabled way of working, build something useful this month, or focus on a specific problem.
Explore the Product AI Operating System Install, AI Building Jumpstart, decision sprints, validation, internal tools enablement, workshops, and talks.
Explore all services →Experience across Cargill, Shipwell, U.S. Bank, Mayo Clinic, Medtronic, Ecolab, TigerRisk, and the Carlson School of Management.
A challenge worth asking
Are you happy with the status quo?
Making great products, insights, and experiences is tough. Developing repeatable processes and teams that can make them is tough, too. Beyond the Data helps your organization question assumptions, connect people with evidence, and turn better thinking into better outcomes.
Author
Bridge the gap between numbers and narratives.
Dave is the author of Data Storytelling and Translation, a practical guide to helping data, business, and product people create shared understanding and make better decisions together.
New weekly podcast
The product conversations that don’t fit on a roadmap.
Dave Mathias and Allison Herbert host ProductCamp Conversations, a weekly podcast for curious product people. Join them and occasional guests as they think out loud about community, the human side of product, and what practitioners learn from one another.
Latest ideas
See all ideas →Writing on AI, products, empathy, and better ways of working.
Stop Hiring Coaches Like You're Hiring References
The right coach is not the one with the best credentials or the warmest first call. It is the one whose strengths fit the problem you actually need solved.
A Score Is Not a Strategy
How product teams can make better tradeoffs, choose the right prioritization framework, and use AI without outsourcing judgment.
AI Should Not Do Your Thinking. It Should Make Your Thinking Better.
The hardest AI skill is not prompting. It is knowing when the answer deserves your trust, and using AI to strengthen rather than replace human judgment.
ProductCamp Conversations: Making Room for the Parts of Product That Don't Fit on a Roadmap
Allison Herbert and Dave Mathias are taking the spirit of ProductCamp into a new weekly podcast about community, the human side of product, and what practitioners learn when they compare notes.
The Amnesia Tax: What Forgetting Costs Your Organization
Organizations pay a hidden tax every time they relitigate a decision they already made. Here's what the amnesia tax is, why it compounds, and how to stop paying it.
Your AI Pilot Didn't Fail. Your Decision Process Did.
Most stalled enterprise AI pilots weren't killed by the technology. They were killed by decisions nobody made. Here's the diagnosis and what to do differently.
Vibe Coding Has Two Jobs. Most Companies Give It Neither.
Vibe coding earns its keep in two places: de-risking product bets before engineering gets expensive, and solving the long tail of internal problems engineering will never touch. Here's how to run both.
Ready to move beyond the status quo?
Let’s talk about your organization, audience, or next challenge.