From our CEO

Uncensored advice about product development and building a high-growth software company from Brian de Haaff, co-founder and CEO at Aha!

Collection887 articles
Imagine Every Week Was Hack Week
August 3, 2013
Imagine Every Week Was Hack Week

Creating great software is invigorating. And product managers and engineers should be the happiest people on earth. But your company probably never fully benefits from…

Kanban — Is It Hurting Your Engineers?
July 28, 2013
Kanban — Is It Hurting Your Engineers?

Kanban was designed for assembly line production, not software development. Learn how to spare your engineers and stop the Kanban insanity.

The Alpha Engineer
July 21, 2013
The Alpha Engineer

The Alpha Engineer rules Silicon Valley and all great technology ecosystems. He holds the highest rank in technical communities worldwide and is rewarded with the…

Help! — My Product Manager Lost His Mojo
July 14, 2013
Help! — My Product Manager Lost His Mojo

Brief periods of misdirection and confusion have happened to me and every product manager I have managed or worked with. When it happens, it’s everyone’s responsibility…

Why Do We Build Products That Suck?
July 7, 2013
Why Do We Build Products That Suck?

Is your product unsatisfying to customers? Worse, do you hate working on it? It’s one thing for your customers who probably only need to tolerate it for less than an hour…

Hey Engineers — Your Product Manager Needs a Hug
June 30, 2013
Hey Engineers — Your Product Manager Needs a Hug

My engineering friends, please consider the following sentences as a heartfelt plea. I know that we are taught in business to focus on the rational and ignore the…

Hey Product Managers — Stop Pissing Off The Engineers
June 23, 2013
Hey Product Managers — Stop Pissing Off The Engineers

Do you know a product manager who always makes the development team mad? Learn the 5 things all product managers should avoid saying to engineers.

All I Needed to Know I Learned at a Startup
June 16, 2013
All I Needed to Know I Learned at a Startup

I wanted to pause to consider all that I am grateful for and what — if any — advice I could pass along to my kids. And I had a revelation. My most important life lessons…

Should Your Startup Take a Moonshot?
June 10, 2013
Should Your Startup Take a Moonshot?

The moonshot is the purported antidote to incrementalism. It is about great aspirations and what happens when smart people do not worry about what’s possible today. To…

The Holy "Scrum" War
June 3, 2013
The Holy "Scrum" War

One of our generally mild-mannered beta customers caught me by surprise recently when he said, “Scrum zealots are like vegans and barefoot runners who keep trying to…

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