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Paul Brown

@paulisthrivving.xyz
546 followers 265 following 211 posts

Data-informed but evidence-led Product & Flow Practitioner • ProKanban trainer • Data geek • Lifelong learner and a big believer in people. He/him 🇮🇪 paulisthrivving.com/bluesky

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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 18/04/2026
I watched a leader untrain 200 people in 30 seconds. One slide did it. He had no idea. I've come to call it The Untraining Moment - and most leaders I work with have one every week. medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
The Untraining Moment: Why Your Training Never Survives Monday
For years, I thought my job as a trainer and coach was to change teams.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 03/04/2026
The practice didn't fail. It stopped. And it stopped because it had been built into the calm, not designed into the chaos. New piece on what happens when a flow check-in collapses under pressure, and what needs to be different. medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
The Practice Didn’t Fail. The System Did.
She was one of the best delivery managers I’d worked with; both consistent and curious in equal measure. She’d taken the flow check-in and…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 28/03/2026
My new blog post it up - I’d love to hear your thoughts on it #productmanagement medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
You Can’t Plan Your Way to Discovery
Most planning doesn’t reduce uncertainty. It just dresses it up in confidence.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 22/03/2026
The Machine Doesn’t Coach. But It Might Make You a Better Coach. open.substack.com/pub/paulisth...
open.substack.com
The Machine Doesn’t Coach. But It Might Make You a Better Coach.
There are three questions every coach should be able to answer about any team they’re working with.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 01/01/2026
Happy New Year 🎊 🍾
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Thomas Much @thmuch.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Most relevant IT books 2025, IMHO: 📕 "Architecture for Flow" by @suksr.bsky.social 📗 "User Needs Mapping" by @richallen.info 📘 "Frictionless" by @nicolefv.bsky.social and Abi Noda 📙 "Code Health Guardian" by Artie Shevchenko Thank you for sharing your experience 🙏
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 30/11/2025
Curiosity gets mislabelled all the time: “Too many questions.” “Overthinking.” “Negative.” “Always poking holes.” I wrote about why curiosity is a strategic advantage and why most people don’t use it: I'd love to hear your take below... medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Curiosity Is a Strategy (And Why Most People Don’t Use It)
Curiosity isn’t a trait. It’s a tactical advantage…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 16/11/2025
I’ve spent 25 years getting things wrong in product. This week, I finally wrote down the lessons I wish I’d learned sooner. No hero stories. No “guru” voice. Just the stuff that would’ve saved me a lot of pain. Do you recognise any of these? It's here: medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Everything I Got Wrong About Product (So You Don’t Have To)
25 years of mistakes distilled into 9 lessons that actually matter…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 07/11/2025
It’s easy to mistake confidence for cognition when working with AI, but it doesn’t reason; it reacts. The real skill is knowing when to hand over ambiguity and when to take it back. Post here: When Pattern Recognition Pretends to Think (and How to Work with It) medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
When Pattern Recognition Pretends to Think (and How to Work with It)
AI doesn’t think like us, but it can help us think better.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 01/11/2025
AI is starting to think outside us. I call it System 0 - where machines anticipate what we’ll need before we know we need it. The challenge isn’t speed anymore. It’s staying human inside it. medium.com/thrivve-part... #AI #FutureOfWork #Flow #Thrivve #TechAndHumanity
medium.com
System 0: Humanity’s Next Superpower
It doesn’t replace us, it reveals us. The future of intelligence is human + machine, thinking together at the speed of context…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 26/10/2025
Stop setting bigger goals. Fix your system. My latest post digs into why teams keep confusing ambition with progress, and how flow metrics, feedback, and system design make the difference. paulisthrivving.medium.com/you-dont-ris...
paulisthrivving.medium.com
You Don’t Rise to the Level of Your Goals, You Flow to the Level of Your Systems
Why great teams don’t chase bigger goals, but build better systems that make ambition sustainable.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 19/10/2025
“Can we just squeeze this one in?” That’s how it starts. Expedites feel good in the moment, but they’re a loan you’ll pay back with interest. How does your team price urgency? paulisthrivving.medium.com/every-expedi... #ProductManagement #Flow #Leadership #Kanban #Delivery
paulisthrivving.medium.com
Every Expedite Is a Loan Against Tomorrow’s Flow
Urgency feels good in the moment, but it leaves behind debt, distortion, and downstream effects. Learn how to price it before it prices…
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Mark Dalgarno @markdalgarno.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Reminder: The Call for sessions for next year's Agile Manchester is open: agilemanchester.net/call-for-ses... The event will take place from 13-14 May...
agilemanchester.net
Call for Sessions
Our Agile Manchester 2026 Call for Sessions is open
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 10/10/2025
45 pages in to ‘User Needs Mapping’, and already, I find myself nodding along with every paragraph in @richallen.info new book - love it already! Grab your copy here: userneedsmapping.com/book-orders/
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 08/10/2025
Retros. Interviews. Experiments. Six months later: same roadmap. Because reflection isn’t learning. Learning’s what changes afterward. medium.com/thrivve-part... #ProductManagement #LearningCulture #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement
medium.com
Why Teams Don’t Learn (And How to Fix It)
Teams don’t fail because they don’t know, they fail because they don’t act on what they do know…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 20/09/2025
Your dashboard has 19 widgets, but if your charts don’t change today’s choices, they’re not delivering insight; they’re just noise dressed as wisdom. You need four flow metrics and just two charts to actually steer delivery; convince me I am wrong... paulisthrivving.medium.com/stop-admirin...
paulisthrivving.medium.com
Stop Admiring the Data. Start Steering With It.
Forget averages, vanity charts, and cockpit dashboards. Two charts and four flow metrics are all you need to actually manage delivery.
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International Association of Facilitators (IAF) @iafacilitators.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
The wait is over — the IAF Europe & Middle East Conference program is live! Special thanks to SessionLab for sponsoring this year’s conference agenda! Review our agenda and secure your ticket today: ilovefacilitation.ro #Facilitation #IAFEME #Leadership
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 14/09/2025
We keep pretending roadmaps are strategy. They’re not. They’re shopping lists dressed up as certainty. New blog post: medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
A Roadmap is a Contract for Failure
Why product roadmaps create broken promises, and what to do instead.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 01/09/2025
Most strategies don’t die in the boardroom. They die in Jira. Lists coordinate. Loops adapt. Here’s how to keep your strategy alive: medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Loop vs List: Why Most Strategies Die in Delivery
Why most strategies suffocate in delivery, and how to keep them alive
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 11/08/2025
I’ve seen beautiful dashboards hide bad decisions. Precision feels safe, but without meaning, it’s just data theatre. Numbers should drive insight, not decorate slides. Here’s why I’m challenging pretty data without purpose: paulisthrivving.medium.com/beautiful-ba...
paulisthrivving.medium.com
Beautiful Bad Data: How Precision Tricks Us Into Thinking We Understand
Why we keep falling for the prettiest lies in our dashboards.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 02/08/2025
My new post is for every team still pointing stories and wondering why it’s not working. From Story Points to Flow: A Migration Guide → How to spot the rot, escape the theatre, and build a system that actually delivers. medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
From Story Points to Flow: A Migration Guide
Why teams keep playing planning poker while their systems rot, and how to stop
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 19/07/2025
Everyone says, “Talk to users.” Few know how to translate what they hear. I have written about how the best features weren’t requested; they were understood - I'd love to hear what you think! medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
The Feedback Mirage
What to do when the features customers ask for deliver 50% less impact.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 11/07/2025
“I’m 70% confident this will work.” That’s what I told the CEO. Not a bluff. Not fake certainty. Just honesty. She leaned in and said: “Tell me about the other 30%.” New post: Why “I don’t know” is a leadership superpower medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Certainty Theatre Is Killing Your Team
Why great leaders stop performing, and start designing for uncertainty.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 06/07/2025
Think your team is outcome-driven? Don’t show me your roadmap, show me what you didn’t ship, and tell me why. medium.com/thrivve-part... #productmgmt
medium.com
You’re Not Outcome-Driven. You’re Output-Justified.
If You Can’t Kill a Feature at 90%, You’re Not Outcome-Driven.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 29/06/2025
Most teams don’t fail because they break the rules. They fail because they only follow them. I wrote about the quiet evolution of high-performing teams and why it causes so many organisations to panic. medium.com/thrivve-part... #Leadership #TeamCulture #ProductThinking
medium.com
From Rules to Judgment: The Uncomfortable Evolution of High-Performing Teams
From process to principles, from permission to autonomy; how great teams evolve beyond the playbook…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 22/06/2025
You’ve seen it. You’ve felt it. The roadmap’s full, the metrics look green, and nobody’s quite sure what changed for the customer. A story about motion, meaning, and the return of the Feature Factory 2.0. medium.com/thrivve-part... #prodmgmt
medium.com
The Feature Factory Strikes Back: How Output Masquerades as Progress
How well-meaning product teams end up shipping noise instead of impact.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 14/06/2025
I’m rather excited - coming soon 😍 #gamestorming2.0
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 08/06/2025
Ever watched a team review a dashboard and… do nothing? No swarm. No pause. No fix. Just charts and silence. Visibility ≠ Control. Dashboards don’t drive delivery. Flow doesn’t fail from lack of data but from lack of permission. New post: The Visibility Trap medium.com/thrivve-part... #flow
medium.com
The Visibility Trap
Why dashboards don’t drive delivery, and what to do instead
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 31/05/2025
Not all leadership is loud. Some of it happens quietly, in the gaps, holding the system together. This post is for the ones doing the product work behind the product work. medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
The product work behind the product work
The invisible labour of product leadership: shaping teams, protecting thinking space, and making good work possible, quietly.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 30/05/2025
I have been training all month for the MacMillan ‘Swim the Chanel’ event which kicks of on Sunday - I’ll be swimming the 21 miles in the month of June (in the pool 🏊‍♂️), so if you can donate even a few pounds, I and they would very much appreciate it! swimit.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/...
My Apple Fitness app swims over the last few days
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 28/05/2025
The illusion of certainty is comforting. But it doesn’t ship value. Flow doesn’t make false promises; it reflects the system you’ve built. I'm trying Substack again. If you find this useful, I'd love a follow and to hear your thoughts! open.substack.com/pub/paulisth... #honestdelivery #product
open.substack.com
The Forecast Isn’t Broken, Your Illusion of Control Is
“Why can’t Flow do what Scrum does?” Because Flow won’t pretend. It shows you the system you actually have, not the one you wish for.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 25/05/2025
The updated @prokanban.bsky.social Kanban Guide removed the explicit requirement for WIP limits, and a lot of people panicked. I didn’t. I built a system to show what real WIP control looks like without rigid limits. Full post here → medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
WIP Without Limits? Actually, That's the Point
Why flow maturity means reading signals, not just following rules…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 21/05/2025
WIP isn’t dead. But it is misunderstood. Too many teams treat Work in Progress like a checkbox or a board column. But it’s not just about limits — it’s about learning. My latest post, and a first with @prokanban.bsky.social www.prokanban.org/blog/wip-wha...
prokanban.org
WIP: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Why It Still Matters - ProKanban Community Blog
Discover the latest insights, tips, and success stories from the world of Kanban. Our community-driven blog features expert advice, case studies, and practical guides to help teams enhance their produ...
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 15/05/2025
I got some tough feedback this week. “I don’t care about what you did. I want to know what’s next.” It stung. But it got me thinking. Are you creating clarity? Or just contributing to the noise? medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Clarity by Subtraction: Why the Smartest Move Might Be Saying Less
Most people are drowning in updates and starving for direction. Here’s the underrated leadership move that actually changes things.
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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Me: Stop doing 3 questions during daily meetings. Scrum people: It was never part of Scrum Guide! And a bad practice all along! Me (genuinely curious, looks up an older version of the Scrum Guide):
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 02/05/2025
I asked a room of leaders to forecast with dice. No tools. No slides. Just pages read, a 12-sided die, and a shift in mindset. New post: I Asked a Room Full of Leaders to Predict the Future, With Dice medium.com/thrivve-part... #Flow #MonteCarlo #Forecasting #Throughput #Uncertainty
medium.com
I Asked a Room Full of Leaders to Predict the Future, With Dice
What a book, a die, and some sticky notes taught a room of leaders about forecasting, risk, and why Monte Carlo isn’t just magic numbers…
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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Founder: But they said they loved the idea! Me: You literally asked them whether they like your idea?! Founder: Sure! What's wrong with that? Me: Well, our interns during their first month know better than that. Also, do yourself a favor and read Mom's Test (www.momtestbook.com)
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 26/04/2025
We spend hours ranking maybes. We call it backlog refinement. But most backlog management isn’t about moving forward — it’s about feeling like we might, someday. Here’s why your backlog might be slowing you down instead of speeding you up: medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Most Backlog Management Is Just Organised Procrastination
Backlogs don’t steer strategy — they stall it. Here’s how to break free.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 12/04/2025
“Trust the team” sounds noble. But if your system is broken, trust becomes a burden. I wrote about what real trust looks like — and how to design for it, not just declare it. medium.com/thrivve-part... #agile #product #teams #delivery #trust
medium.com
“Trust the Team” Is Not a Strategy
Why is your delivery system breaking trust, and what should you do instead of just “trusting harder?”
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 07/04/2025
My two decades of experience tell me this: most delivery problems aren’t caused by bad Agile — they’re caused by invisible flow dysfunction. If you’re not managing how work moves, you’re not managing delivery — you’re just organising chaos. medium.com/thrivve-part... #prodmgmt #agiledelivery
medium.com
The Dirty Secret Behind Agile Failure
You don’t need better rituals. You need to manage the movement of work. This is what your delivery process is missing.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 28/03/2025
RICE made my roadmap look smart. BRICE made it make money. New blog post: medium.com/thrivve-part... #product #prodmgmt I'd love to hear about your experiences with prioritisation frameworks...
medium.com
Avoid the RICE Trap: How Smart PMs Win Customer and Business Impact
RICE keeps teams busy. BRICE helps make product managers credible.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 17/03/2025
May your troubles be as few and as far apart as my grandmother’s teeth! Sláinte! Enjoy the celebrations! 🍀🍀Happy St Patrick’s day🍀🍀
A St Patrick’s Day pint of Guinness
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 15/03/2025
Success isn’t what holds teams back—it’s what keeps them stuck. I call it The Success Trap—when teams stop questioning, stop adapting, and start optimizing for yesterday’s wins instead of tomorrow’s. I break it all down here: medium.com/thrivve-part... Let me know what you think!
medium.com
The Success Trap: How Winning Teams Get Stuck (and What to Do About It)
Success isn’t the advantage you think — it’s a trap. Teams optimise for past wins, stop adapting, and lose when the game changes. Escape…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 08/03/2025
Some teams commit to ideas too soon and pay the price. Others test, validate, and invest wisely. I call them Deciders and Seekers. Which one is your team? medium.com/thrivve-part... #productmgmt
medium.com
The Success Tax: Why Teams Overpay for Bad Ideas (And How to Stop)
Teams waste millions — not on bad ideas, but by committing too soon. The Success Tax is real. Here’s how to stop overpaying it.
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 01/03/2025
I have moved my blog to Substack - I am still committed to creating helpful and free content :) This week, I have written about the success delusion - I'd love to hear what you think. open.substack.com/pub/paulisth...
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 22/02/2025
I started working with a new set of teams this week, and one of the first conversations we had was on adoption; I have written about my thoughts on it - Why ‘Better’ Products Fail: The Hidden Forces That Drive (or Kill) Adoption medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
Why ‘Better’ Products Fail: The Hidden Forces That Drive (or Kill) Adoption
“Better” doesn’t drive adoption — ease, safety, and familiarity do. Reduce friction, make switching inevitable, and adoption follows…
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Paul Brown @paulisthrivving.xyz · 16/02/2025
If like me, you spend a lot of time with clients supporting either product or with flow work, you likely talk about (potential) value - hat tip @prokanban.bsky.social - I have written about the common mistakes I see when thinking about defining, measuring and managing it medium.com/thrivve-part...
medium.com
You’re Measuring Value Wrong — And It’s Costing You
Most businesses think they deliver value — yet they think in costs. Here’s how to measure & deliver real value where it truly matters…
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Hustle Badger @hustlebadger.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
• You don’t lead a group of PMs for the benefit of the product org. • You're the product representative for a section the business • Be as close as possible to your peers Templates to set expectations with your team: www.hustlebadger.com/what-do-prod... 8/8 #product #productmanagement
hustlebadger.com
Product Management Resources - Hustle Badger
Product Management Resources | How to guides, templates and practical advice for Product Managers | Including free guides and templates
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Jason Knight @oneknightinproduct.com · 12/02/2025
When Steve Jobs changed everything by unveiling the world's first product manager back in 2007
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