In this episode, Petra and Teresa revisit a topic they once strongly pushed back on: using AI to analyze (and maybe even synthesize) customer interviews. Six months and several experiments later, Teresa’s perspective has evolved — and the conversation opens up a nuanced look at where AI can genuinely help and where it can quietly erode your team’s customer understanding. They dig into recent studies on how AI affects junior vs. expert performance at work, the difference between analysis and synthesis, and why your unpolished interview skills matter more than any shiny new AI workflow. Along the way, they share personal stories (including an unexpected gaming-PC detour) that illustrate how expertise shapes the usefulness of AI tools. This is a candid, practical conversation for product teams wrestling with the real-world tradeoffs of integrating AI into continuous discovery.
In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille explore how product people can intentionally design their own communities of practice—and why it matters for long-term learning and growth. Teresa shares her introvert-friendly approach to continuous learning: curating a personal learning network (PLN) filled with people she wants to learn from. Petra contrasts that with her more collaborative style of learning with others through small peer groups, hackathons, and local meetups. Together, they unpack how each approach supports curiosity-driven development, how to find your “definition of good” when starting something new, and the habits that make learning a deliberate practice. Whether you’re an independent product coach or part of a product org shifting toward continuous discovery, this episode will help you rethink how you learn—and who you learn with.
In this heartfelt episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres talk about something we all experience but rarely discuss openly — setbacks. Teresa shares a deeply personal story about her long recovery from an injury and how it unexpectedly mirrors the ups and downs of product work. Together, they explore what it means to face professional setbacks — when your product fails to move a single KPI, when a launch falls flat, or when you just feel stuck — and how teams can respond with curiosity, emotional honesty, and resilience. Whether you’re a PM, designer, or researcher, this episode is a reminder that recovery and reflection are just as important as velocity and success.
Ever launch a new product feature that seemed solid—until a small, overlooked detail broke everything? In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille share their real-world experiences wrangling global invoicing and taxes while running small, international businesses. What starts as a rant about EU tax compliance turns into a sharp product lesson: how failing to map the entire path to customer value—down to the tiniest regulatory requirement—can kill your product’s usefulness. Whether you’re shipping code or selling courses, this conversation will remind you that sweating the details isn’t about perfectionism—it’s about ensuring your product actually delivers value at the moment that matters.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres explore how experimenting with AI in our personal lives can help us become more confident, capable, and thoughtful product builders at work. Teresa shares stories from her “AI at Home” and “AI at Work” series — from using ChatGPT to analyze school budgets, plan meals, and even evaluate real estate, to leveraging AI as a work partner for writing, research, and contract review. She and Petra unpack the real learning that comes from everyday experimentation — managing context, spotting bias, and keeping a human in the loop — the same skills we’ll need when building AI-powered products. Whether you’re an AI beginner or already experimenting at work, this episode will leave you inspired to approach AI with curiosity and intentionality.
AI can be a powerful teammate, but only if we give it the right context. In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille unpack why “context is king” when it comes to using AI in product work. They share practical ways product leaders can start preparing today—from keeping decision logs to designing machine-readable context—so their teams are ready to collaborate effectively with AI tomorrow.
In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille swap the stories that shaped their careers. From navigating the fallout of the 2008 recession as a startup CEO, to realizing the company won’t love you back no matter how loyal you are, to the first user interviews that cracked open a new way of seeing product work—these are the pivotal (and sometimes funny) moments that changed everything.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive into a big end-of-year reflection question: What do you want to be known for in your work? They unpack the nuances of impact, craft, personal brand, and values—exploring how those ideas shape the footprints we leave behind in our teams, organizations, and the broader product community. Along the way, Petra and Teresa share personal stories, surprising insights, and a few lessons learned the hard way. Whether you’re thinking about your own growth, preparing for career transitions, or just curious about how others reflect on their product practice, this episode offers both inspiration and pragmatic takeaways.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille sits down with Teresa Torres to explore a big shift in how Product Talk Academy is approaching learning: moving from purely instructor-led cohort courses to offering on-demand options. Teresa shares why she resisted on-demand for so long, how deliberate practice has always been at the heart of her teaching, and what finally changed her mind. From AI-powered interview coaches to microlearning formats, we dig into how technology can support behavior change, skill building, and the craft of continuous discovery without losing the human element. If you’ve ever wondered how to balance flexibility, structure, and deliberate practice in product learning—or you’re just curious how AI might reshape how we build skills—this conversation is for you.
Teresa Torres and Petra Wille dive into how they’re using AI as strategic thought partners across writing, coding, and product work. Petra shares how she relies on voice input and bilingual transcription to brainstorm and surface her past writing. Teresa explains why Claude Code in the terminal completely changed her workflow—from planning mode for coding projects to using reviewer “sub-agents” when drafting blog posts. Together, they reflect on how tools like ChatGPT and Claude complement each other, why they still write every word themselves, and what it means when English becomes the interface for everything we do.
Building AI products isn’t just about clever prompts and orchestration—it’s about knowing if what you’ve built actually works. In this episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille dive deep into AI evals: how they’re defined, why they’re essential, and how teams can implement them to ensure product quality. Teresa shares her journey building her Interview Coach tool and the hard lessons she learned about evals along the way. From golden datasets and synthetic data to error analysis, code-based checks, and LLM-as-judge methods, you’ll walk away with a clearer picture of how to measure and improve AI products over time.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille flips the script and asks Teresa Torres a big, timely question: How do product teams learn to build AI-powered products—beyond just dabbling with ChatGPT? Teresa shares fresh insights from her own experience building a real AI product over the past several months, breaking down the unique skills, workflows, and cross-functional collaboration patterns required for success. You’ll hear why building AI features is more like orchestrating a team of interns than just writing a killer prompt, and how practices like observability, evals, and ongoing maintenance need to evolve for the LLM era. If you’re a product person figuring out where AI fits in your org, this conversation will give you a clear, practical starting point.
So many of us chase promotions as if they’re the ultimate career milestone—but are they really the best goal? In this conversation, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack why promotions can be a tricky (and sometimes misleading) target, what to focus on instead, and how to reframe career growth around skills, influence, and personal fulfillment. In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dig into the obsession with promotions and why they might not be the best north star for your career. Instead, they explore what it looks like to invest in personal growth, craftsmanship, and influence—and how those things can open doors far beyond a title change.
We’re back from our summer break! In this first episode of the new season, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres catch up on Product at Heart and dive into the conference’s 2025 theme: curation. From backlogs and customer segments to product experiences and your own workload, curation is everywhere in product work. Petra and Teresa explore why this skill is more critical than ever—especially in a world where AI is making it faster and cheaper to build. You’ll hear how to avoid the “Homer Simpson car” trap, why saying “no” is part of the job, and how to define your own curation criteria so you can make sharper, more intentional choices. Whether you’re easing back into work post-summer or staring down a mountain of priorities, this episode will help you put on your curator’s hat and focus on what matters most.
In this quick update, Teresa and Petra share their plans for a summer break. With August just around the corner—and in true European fashion—they’re hitting pause to rest, recharge, and enjoy some time outdoors. Expect a return to regularly scheduled programming on September 2nd. Until then, enjoy your summer, whether you’re wing foiling and hiking South Tyrol like Petra, building cool stuff like Teresa, or just soaking up the sun.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack one of their favorite guiding principles: "Go find the source." With the rise of social media hot takes and oversimplified content, it’s easy to misunderstand product frameworks and best practices. Petra and Teresa share real-life examples—from OKRs to Opportunity Solution Trees—to show why it's so important to dig deeper, trace ideas back to credible origins, and seek out diverse perspectives. Whether you're tired of shallow takes on LinkedIn or just want to sharpen your product thinking, this episode will help you build a more thoughtful, informed, and intentional product practice.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dig into one of the most common — and tricky — questions they get: How do I choose the right product coach? If you’ve ever scrolled past 7,500 “product coaches” on LinkedIn and wondered who’s actually worth your time and money, this one’s for you. Teresa and Petra share red flags to watch out for, green flags that signal quality, and practical tips for vetting coaches across product discovery, leadership, and more. Whether you’re looking for your first coach or want to sanity-check your current shortlist, you’ll walk away with a clear framework to help you make an informed choice.
In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres dive deep into a question from a listener: What’s the real difference between organizations that fund projects and those that fund teams? It’s a deceptively simple question that touches the core of shifting from a project-based mindset to a product operating model. Teresa and Petra unpack what it actually takes to move toward team-based funding—especially when continuous discovery is involved. From annual planning and ROI modeling to bridging the communication gap with finance, they talk through the practical, messy, and often political nature of this transformation. If you’re a product leader, product manager, or work closely with finance, this episode is packed with insights on how to drive outcomes, not just output—and why it matters.
In this episode, Petra Wille gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her newest framework—the Product Leadership Wheel. Building on the success of her PM Wheel, Petra shares how she’s tackling the complexity of product leadership by helping leaders self-assess across 12 core responsibilities. From directional clarity to cultural advocacy and process oversight, we dig into what it really takes to grow as a product leader (and why it’s okay if you’re not amazing at everything). Whether you’re a CPO, Head of Product, or aspiring product leader, this episode will help you reflect on where you’re thriving, where you can grow, and how to build support across your org.
AI prototyping tools are mushrooming—Replit, V0, Bolt, WindSurf, and more—but do they actually help with discovery work? In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres discuss how AI-powered tools can supercharge assumption testing, where they still fall short, and what that means for product teams today. From building chat interfaces with custom data to testing leadership self-assessment tools, both Petra and Teresa share their hands-on experiences—what worked, what was frustrating, and how these tools can fit into continuous discovery habits. Whether you're a product manager, designer, or engineer wondering if these tools are a game-changer or just hype, this conversation breaks it down with real talk and real use cases.