Product is hard. I’m here to help.

 
 
 
 

Product Consulting
and Business Transformation

You’re on the cusp of something big. Maybe you’ve already found product-market fit, maybe not, but either way change is coming whether you’re ready or no. Maybe you’re about to fundamentally change your offerings in a way that could rock the boat.

You want fresh eyes to help you understand what you need to do set you and your team up for success.

Are you:

  • about to make your first Product hire?

  • grappling with balance of Product vs Project management?

  • changing the way you build and deliver Products?

  • wondering whether you’re using the best tools for the job?

  • feeling stuck in your process?

  • needing help refining your roadmap?

  • wanting to improve team dynamics?

  • taking too long to ship?

  • grappling with death-by-meeting?

    • You’re a startup, scaleup, or a dedicated business unit within a larger org.

    • You’re considering a major pivot or adding a new line of business.

    • You are willing to be 100% transparent about your current state (NDAs are fine).

    • Every member of the team is willing to give it a shot.

    • You’re prepared to invest at least 2-3 weeks working together.

 
 

Fractional Product Leadership

Ready for prime time, but maybe not ready for full-time?

Does this sound familiar?

  • You’ve got limited resources but you still need someone to wear the Product hat.

  • You’re in a critical period where you just need to get the thing built but you’re not sure whether now is the time for a FT Product hire.

  • Your got some runway and your CEO has hitherto been doing all the things (especially Product), but now needs to be able to focus on sales and fundraising, instead.

  • You’ve got too many cooks in the kitchen and you just need someone to make the team’s lives easier by periodically making some choices.

  • You need help managing contractors for design and documentation and just don’t have the bandwidth.

  • You’ve got members of the team that could use some coaching.

  • You need to build relationships with key customers and they need more facetime than you’ve been able to give them so far.

    • Founders are prepared to empower someone else to either own or at least significantly guide Product development.

    • Key members of the team are in agreement that there is a real need for Product Management leadership.

    • You are willing to commit to working together for at least several months.

 
 

Staff Augmentation

Sometimes you just need an extra hand.

I can help you with:

  • Coverage while a Product person / Scrum master is on leave.

  • General Product and Process housekeeping.

  • Backlog refinement

  • Cleaning up Jira, Confluence, ProductBoard, etc.

  • Writing user stories

  • Help with migrating platforms.

  • Someone to cheer up the devs.

  • Managing your design systems.

  • A laundry list of documentation you need to get done.

  • Someone to “herd the cats” for internal and external stakeholders.

  • Running A/B tests.

  • Conducting user research.

  • Conducting usability tests.

    • You appreciate an extremely versatile Product professional who plays well with others and can just get stuff done.

 

Recent Consulting Clients:

 

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Provided comprehensive review of and recommendations for Product, process, tooling, and hiring across all departments of this NYC-based building decarbonization startup.

 
 

TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Led a group of volunteers pro bono for over six months to get a sprawling new website for this long-established community nonprofit over the finish line. Gathered requirements, created site maps and user journeys, wrote copy and gathered images, identified and interviewed design contractors, and spearheaded fundraising push with parish leadership. Built a strong and effective partnership with design firm and helped drive stakeholder engagement and product adoption.

 
 

TESTIMONIALS:

Testimonials Blog

Joe is an amazing mentor. I had the opportunity to get to know him recently and was amazed by his experiences. He taught me the importance of discovering your passions, having an agile mindset, and acting upon them. He is a great listener, and somebody that wants to help others which makes him a good mentor in my opinion. If you're interested in transitioning to Product Management, you can be confident in your choice about taking Joe's help!

-Rahul Gouni, Product Owner/ Manager | GHC'23 | Duke Master of Engineering Management

I worked with Joe on a project with both a high level of ambiguity and a high-touch client. He did a fantastic job gathering, parsing, and prioritizing business and technical requirements, and was instrumental in building a productive relationship with our stakeholders. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and I'd love to do so again in the future.

-Sam Haraway, Principal UX Researcher at Kin + Carta

I’ve watched Joe grow from fledging in the privacy space to experienced, yet he has always shown the ability to execute on product management fundamentals from the very beginning.

I saw Joe launch a B2B SaaS product from ideation, to architecture, to inception, to delivery. He did this with the ease you would expect from someone who had been doing this for a decade.

I would recommend Joe for any role in product management particularly those around privacy, data driven research, and full cycle lifecycle management.

-Ryan Tully, Product Management Executive

Joe Gaines is an excellent Product Manager who has exceptional communication skills and a genuine personality. He demonstrated strong leadership abilities in guiding the team towards success, and his dedication to delivering high-quality work made him an asset to our project. Joe's positive attitude, willingness to listen, and collaborative nature set him apart, and I highly recommend him for any Product Management position.

-Shaquille Rivera, Full Stack Developer

I had the pleasure of working side by side with Joe in his role as a Product Manager and he is one of the most talented professionals I have worked with in my career. He has a proven track record of delivering successful products that meet both business and customer needs along with excellent leadership skills. Joe is a valuable asset to any team.

-Sara Nazir, Project Manager at WireWheel, MBA

Joe is a charismatic team builder and a talented manager. He excels at building productive relationships and bringing people together to work towards shared goals. He effectively manages the details of multiple simultaneous team tasks to ensure they come together to form coherent deliverables. Joe will quickly become indispensable within any organization he joins.

-Jason Stevens, Technical leader specializing in AWS, Devops and Software Development

I had the privilege of working with Joe at WireWheel, where he was the Product Manager and I was an Engineering Manager. Joe made all communication with the product team very easy and straight forward. He made sure I had as much information as was needed for any feature development and he was willing to listen and work with any technical limitations.

Joe is great at making sure that the information flow between the customer and the engineering team was as clear and transparent as possible.

Joe is always willing to work hard, deliver the best product and never holds back information. He was a great asset on the team!

-Kate Minina, Engineering Manager at Amplify Life Insurance

I had the opportunity to work with Joe as a team of two on a data transformation project for an entertainment client at K+C. Joe was such a pleasure to work with and was extremely proactive in learning subject matter, best software practices, & product/data skills. Joe is an excellent communicator, listener, and is consistent with delivering quality work. He is an asset to any team and exudes positivity in any situation!

-Ryan Marshall, Principal Data Product Strategist at Kin + Carta

Joe was a great product partner throughout the complex and many times challenging product tool we built together. Working both part-time and on a volunteer basis as part of a remote team definitely had its challenges but Joe handled it all with little to no sweat. I would absolutely work alongside him again in any capacity. He's an asset for any team looking for excellent vision, ideas and processes.

-Michael Rubin, CSM, Digital Project Manager at The Tire Rack

 

*Icons courtesy of the kind folks over at UXWing.