Backlog of One: My origin story

Hi I'm Mike.

I build products, lead teams, and occasionally geek out. (Okay, often geek out.)

I’ve been officially in Product Management for 15+ years, but unofficially wrangling products, features, and the occasional roadmap tantrum for well over 25. I’ve led 0→1 and 1→N initiatives at global scale, managing and mentoring product and engineering teams spread across time zones (and snack preferences).

Currently, I’m the Senior Director of Product Management at Bloomerang, where we help nonprofits deliver better giving experiences so they can raise more, do more, and change the world. It’s meaningful work, and I’m incredibly proud to be part of it.

What I've built (besides a tower of sticky notes):

Over the years, I’ve worked on a wide range of products, including:

• Data & analytics platforms
• AI & ML technologies
• Marketing automation tools
• Retail systems, ERPs & CRMs
• Investment management software
• Developer tools (think IDEs, database replication, integration frameworks… the good stuff)
   

I also spent nearly a decade consulting for 150+ organizations across industries like healthcare, retail, finance, education, government, manufacturing, and nonprofits. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the “did you really mean to deploy that to prod?”, and honestly, I’ve loved every minute of it.

From Code to Conversation:

I started my career as a software engineer, which gave me the rare (and often dangerous) ability to speak fluently in both Executive and Tech. People tell me I’m a good blend of geek and business, though the geek usually wins if there’s a whiteboard nearby.

Even as a Product Exec, I still find myself deep-diving into architectures or testing out new AI tools just for fun. Once a geek, always a geek I suppose.

My Product Philosophy:

I don’t believe in “Build it and they will come.” That only works in baseball movies. I’m more of a “Understand what they need, then build something worth showing up for” kind of guy. Great products don’t emerge from guesses. They come from solving real problems for real people.

Where I Show Up:

I speak often on topics like:

• Product Management
• Artificial Intelligence
• Data architecture and integration
• Business intelligence
• And, of course, advocating for the incredible products built by my teams
   

Thanks for swinging by the blog and taking time to read my bio. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve earned a cookie, or at least my sincere appreciation.

Wishing you the very best,

Mike