Teams fail for lack of rhythm

In two weeks I start as Industry Leader at Hyper Island. Genuinely one of those things I said yes to before I fully talked myself out of it. My 2026 mantra is to try new things, and this is very much that.

I'll be teaching a course on collaborative product management as part of the Product Management programme in Stockholm. Five weeks with a group of product students, working through something I care deeply about: how teams actually communicate in product, and why getting that wrong costs you more than any bad feature decision ever will.

I've believed for a long time that teams don't fail because of lack of talent. They fail because of lack of rhythm. And rhythm breaks when people stop listening to each other. When pressure replaces intention. When everyone is moving but no one is really aligned.

Stakeholder communication isn't a soft skill or a nice-to-have. It's what determines whether a team can make good decisions under uncertainty. Whether the right information gets to the right people at the right time. Whether trust holds when things get complicated.

That's what I want students to walk away with. Not frameworks to memorise, but a real, felt sense of what it means to build alignment, not just assume it.

I'm excited. And a little nervous. Which is usually a good sign.