Backlog of One: My origin story

Hi, I'm Mike.

I'm a product executive, former software engineer, entrepreneur, and lifelong builder with more than 30 years of experience creating software products, leading teams, and helping organizations navigate change.

Throughout my career, I've worked across startups, growth-stage companies, and enterprise organizations, leading product, data, analytics, machine learning, AI, and platform initiatives. I've built products from concept to market, scaled existing product portfolios, founded and operated software businesses, and helped organizations rethink how products are conceived, developed, and delivered.

Today, much of my focus is on the intersection of Product Management, Artificial Intelligence, platform strategy, and organizational transformation.

We're entering a period of unprecedented change in our industry. AI isn't simply changing the products we build, it's changing how products are built. Traditional product development cycles measured in weeks and months are rapidly evolving into learning loops measured in days and even hours. Product teams are becoming more experimental, more technical, and more outcome-focused than ever before.

That shift fascinates me.

This site is where I explore those ideas.

You'll find articles on Product Management, AI, product strategy, leadership, platform thinking, analytics, experimentation, and the evolving role of product professionals in an AI-assisted world. Some posts are tactical. Others are strategic. A few are simply observations from lessons learned over decades of building products and leading teams.

More than anything, I believe great products start with understanding people. Technology matters. Strategy matters. Data matters. But the best products solve real problems, create meaningful value, and improve the lives of the people who use them.

When I'm not leading product organizations, you'll usually find me experimenting with new technologies, building side projects, writing, mentoring product professionals, or helping others navigate their own product and leadership journeys.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something here that challenges your thinking, helps you solve a problem, or simply gives you a new perspective on the future of product development.

— Mike