In this episode of The Product Leader's Playbook, our AI hosts break down Sam Robertstad's latest article on why traditional backlog prioritization is broken and how smart teams are fixing it with portfolio thinking.

Instead of stack-ranking every feature against infrastructure refactors and stakeholder escalations, great product leaders allocate capacity across categories. Growth. Quality. Platform. Tech Health. R&D. Each gets intentional focus because strategy isn't what's in your deck, it's where your team invests time.

We unpack:

• Why stack-ranking leads to reactive roadmaps
• How to handle stakeholder resistance (especially when sales wants to jump the queue)
• What to do when estimates are unreliable and dependencies cross categories
• How startups and enterprises can both apply portfolio models at scale

If you've ever struggled with competing priorities, capacity chaos, or the politics of prioritization, this one is for you.

Listen now to shift from feature traffic cop to strategic portfolio manager.

In this episode of The Product Leader’s Playbook, two AI-generated podcasters break down Sam Robertstad’s latest article, The Strategy Stack: Vision Isn’t a Slide, It’s a System.

Many teams think they have a strategy because they’ve made a deck. But customers don’t experience your slide—they experience your backlog. This episode explores why real product strategy shows up in the decisions you make, not the documents you write.

We unpack the Strategy Stack framework - a four-layered system that connects long-term vision to the day-to-day using strategic pillars, product objectives, and consistent prioritization. You’ll learn why asymmetric advantage, clarity of choice, and embedded decision frameworks are the true markers of a working strategy.

If you’ve ever struggled to translate vision into execution, or watched priorities shift based on the loudest voice, this will resonate.

In this episode of The Product Leader’s Playbook, our AI hosts break down Sam Robertstad’s Product Leadership Stack - a framework for growing from IC to executive through the 4 C’s: Craft, Collaboration, Clarity, and Culture.

They explore how each level unlocks new leverage, while highlighting common failure modes, mindset shifts, and cues for leveling up. Whether you’re a senior PM or Head of Product, this model is your roadmap to turning product skill into organizational influence.