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Malleable Software: when everyone can build, what makes a great product?

Build your own software factory around the way you actually work. Out-hunt the market, bend the system to fit how you work, and prove impact with real usage — no coding background required.

Your instructor

Dave KilleenField CPO, Pendo

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Modules

6

Lessons

29

Estimated

~1 hr

On completion

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Meet your instructor

 

Dave Killeen

Field CPO, Pendo

Dave Killeen is Field CPO at Pendo. He built and open-sourced Dex, a personal AI operating system, without considering himself an engineer — and this course is the playbook he worked out along the way.

  • Field CPO at Pendo
  • Creator of Dex, an open-source personal AI operating system
  • Delivered "Malleable Software" at #mtpcon London 2026

What you'll learn

By the end, you'll be able to do these things.

1

Explain why the product operating model is shifting from PM as head chef to truffle hunter — and why speed of the loop is the metric that now matters

2

Out-hunt: use open-source repos and agent skills as an early-warning radar on your market, and automate the scan so it runs while you sleep

3

Reach anything: know what to do when the tool or data you need has no API, and how a CLI can be generated for it

4

Bend the system: build small tools around your daily friction, host them somewhere you can actually reach, and wire skills around your AI so it works the way you work

5

Explain in plain terms what localhost, a repo, a skill, and a ledger are — and set up a shared ledger so multiple agents don't trip over each other

6

Prove impact: recognise when you're flying blind, and instrument what you build so you can see whether it lands

7

Apply the full playbook to one real piece of friction from your own working week

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Malleable Software: when everyone can build, what makes a great product?

Issued by

Pendo
Learning Lab

Date completed

8/12/2026

Instructor

Dave Killeen

Dave Killeen

Field CPO, Pendo

How it works

Bite-size lessons. Real reps. Earn it.

Step 01

Learn

Short reading, video, and reflection prompts. 5–10 minutes per lesson.

Step 02

Practice

Hands-on quizzes, match-pairs, and fill-in-the-blank. Instant feedback.

Step 03

Get certified

Pass the module quizzes and earn a shareable, verifiable certificate.

The curriculum

6 modules · 29 lessons

Get started — it's free
1

From head chef to truffle hunter

0/6

Why the operating model changed, and what "speed of the loop" means for you.

  1. Video

    The tuk-tuk and the side project — with Dave Killeen

    4 min

  2. Lesson

    From head chef to truffle hunter

    2 min

  3. Lesson

    Build it yourself: spot your own bottleneck

    1 min

  4. Reading

    Reading: Driving product decisions with AI as your copilot

    3 min

  5. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  6. Exercise

    Exercise 1: Cooking vs. hunting

    2 min
2

Out-hunt: scan the market, reach anything

0/6

Turn the open-source ecosystem into your early-warning radar — and learn what to do when the thing you need has no front door.

  1. Lesson

    Where markets actually start

    4 min

  2. Video

    The nightly hunt, and the ocean dashboard — with Dave Killeen

    4 min

  3. Lesson

    Build it yourself: install your first skill and run a hunt

    2 min

  4. Lesson

    Toolkit: Out-hunt

    2 min

  5. Exercise

    Exercise 2: run a real hunt

    3 min

  6. Exercise

    Going further: build a competitor gap map

    10 min
3

Bend the system: build your own factory

0/7

When the tools don't fit how you work, stop waiting for someone else's roadmap.

  1. Lesson

    The three layers of bending the system

    5 min

  2. Lesson

    Explainer: where does this live? (localhost, and the honest options)

    2 min

  3. Video

    My factory, and how to build a smaller one — with Dave Killeen

    4 min

  4. Lesson

    Build it yourself: your first mini-tool

    1 min

  5. Lesson

    Toolkit: Bend the system

    2 min

  6. Exercise

    Exercise 3: bend one thing

    2 min

  7. Exercise

    Going further: find your five best automations

    5 min
4

Prove impact: light up the dark half of the loop

0/6

When building gets cheap, the question stops being "can we build it?" and becomes "should this exist — and is it working?"

  1. Lesson

    Love is not data

    3 min

  2. Video

    Twenty years of flying blind, fixed in ten minutes — with Dave Killeen

    3 min

  3. Lesson

    Build it yourself: define "working" before you look

    2 min

  4. Reading

    Reading: Deep dive on product engagement

    3 min

  5. Reflect

    Focus question

    2 min

  6. Exercise

    Exercise 4: find your dark half

    2 min
5

Putting it all together: build around any friction

0/3

Run one real idea through the whole loop — and see that this reaches every kind of friction, not just code.

  1. Lesson

    The playbook, and who it's really for

    2 min

  2. Video

    The virtual studio, and your turn — with Dave Killeen

    2 min

  3. Exercise

    Final exercise: your malleable-software plan

    3 min
6

Final assessment

0/1

Scenario questions test whether you can apply the ideas, not just recall them.

  1. Quiz

    Final assessment

    7 min

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