About
Hi, I’m Deirdre Clarke
I love product management and am passionate about teaching it to others as it is the best job in the world. My super powers include guiding product teams to plan strategically and create order out of chaos through proven frameworks.
I liken it to organized cabinets and drawers in my kitchen. I am much more productive and creative as a cook when I know exactly where all of my cooking tools and ingredients are!
I have been in software for over 30 years. I graduated from Rutgers with a degree in Computer Science and started my career as a software engineer. I transitioned into product management and have led product teams at Motorola, Bandwidth, Ad Hoc and Broadridge. I was employee number 29 at Aha!, a company well known for being the best SaaS product management software in the market. I became their first Group Manager for the Concierge team, advising hundreds of organizations and thousands of product managers around the world.
With my various roles in engineering, product management, product marketing, customer success and product operations, I know what it takes to have a successful product.
Proven track record
Throughout my career, I've developed targeted solutions that have fundamentally reshaped product organizations:
On-demand product performance by enabling data-driven decision making
Built out self-service dashboards that provide real-time status of the product
Aligned dashboard metrics directly to organizational strategy
Transparent communication by developing frameworks for knowledge transfer
Constructed robust internal and external knowledge bases
Created a communications strategy with stakeholders for outbound and inbound
Go-to-market excellence by maximizing market impact and minimizing launch risks
Created detailed launch checklists that ensure thorough, strategic product introductions
Tool optimization by creating standards to increase team efficiency and collaboration
Led the rollout of new Product Management tools
Established clear standards and best practices for Aha! and Pendo tool utilization
Well-structured backlog by creating governance for new feature enhancements
Implemented a standardized intake and prioritization process for enhancement requests
Talent development by accelerating new team member integration and performance
Designed and implemented a new Product Manager onboarding program
Product management lifecycle toolkit by equipping teams with ready-to-use resources
Developed a comprehensive set of templates, methodologies and tools for each phase of the product development lifecycle
Standardized processes to ensure consistent, high-quality product functionality that customers love
Summarized customer research by transforming raw user data into actionable strategic insights
Built comprehensive user research databases
These solutions represent more than just processes – they're blueprints to streamline and scale your product organization for success.
Three of my favorite things in my spare time:
Playing pickleball, hiking with my dog Clove, and rooting for the Canes.
