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THE MOST UPVOTED LIFE ADVICE FROM REGULAR PRODUCT PEOPLE ON REDDIT

This thread shares a compilation of the 8 most upvoted life advice posts from product folks on Reddit's r/ProductManagement.

PRODUCT STRATEGY LAYERS

“Vision”, “strategy”, and “product initiatives” are all terms that can often get mixed up. This post clearly defines the different product strategy layers and the time horizon each layer typically focuses on.

EXPLAINING PRODUCT MANAGEMENT TO A 5 YEAR OLD

It is like being the captain of a ship.

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THE THOUGHTFUL HIPPO

Good decisions are most needed when things are slowly deteriorating, but that’s when people tend to get stuck in analysis paralysis. For leaders in these situations, the most important thing to do is to help the team reduce cognitive load through top-down decision-making to establish clear priorities and constraints.

GOOGLE’S TRUE MOONSHOT

This post reflects on Google's historical approach to technology and its potential future direction. It covers Google's transition from being a services company to a hardware-oriented one, delves into the challenges and legal issues it faces, and explores its latest advancements in artificial intelligence.

HOW TO GET CLARITY INSTEAD OF CONSENSUS

This article shares tips on how to get to a decision in executive reviews. Understanding alignment before the conversation through pre-briefs, structuring an effective meeting, and listening to understand can increase your chances of reaching clarity.

HOW TO WIN ON THE INTERNET

The key to succeeding on the internet in 2024 is to fully engage with a niche, utilize meme culture for product promotion, prioritize education over entertainment, and build genuine connections within the industry.

THE “FIRSTS PROBLEM”: ACTIVATION

Activation is a crucial metric as it addresses "The Firsts Problem," where user engagement typically declines after their initial interactions with a product. Effective activation strategies are essential for capitalizing on the first visit, session, day, and month of product usage. By prioritizing activation, businesses can significantly improve user retention, making a strong first impression that lasts.

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MANAGING UP AS A PRODUCT MANAGER

Effective upward management involves mutual leverage, where both manager and report benefit from each other's work. Key practices include understanding mutual goals, fulfilling commitments, actively owning project direction, openly discussing challenges, efficient communication, and maximizing one-on-one meetings for high-impact discussions. This approach fosters a productive manager-report relationship.

10 HOTTEST TECH TOOLS: NOVEMBER’S STANDOUT APPS ON PRODUCT HUNT

The November 2023 edition of the Product Hunt roundup highlights the top 10 apps selected based on the most upvotes. The apps showcase a range of solutions, from AI-powered sales tools to advanced email campaign strategies and efficient remote job searches. The roundup serves as a guide for tech enthusiasts to explore the latest in digital innovation and AI integration, ensuring their toolkits are future-ready.

6 TIPS TO BUILD A STRONG PM-EM RELATIONSHIP

Building a strong relationship between Product Managers and Engineering Managers is critical for product success. Key strategies include clarifying responsibilities, improving collaboration processes, driving alignment by sharing the 'why' behind decisions, treating EMs as equal partners, trusting their expertise, and fostering a genuine, personal connection. This approach ensures cohesive teamwork, effective communication, and a shared commitment to the product's vision.

RECOGNIZING A BAD MANAGER, HOW TO DESIGN YOUR WAY OUT

This article helps people identify situations where the manager is the root issue. Its goal is not to endorse a culture of blaming managers, but to help people recognize what they can’t change and become confident in their decision to either tolerate the situation or change positions.

HOW DO WE BREAK FREE AND BUILD PRODUCTS THAT GENUINELY SOLVE PROBLEMS?

A “build trap” is when PMs get too caught up in shipping features instead of focusing on the real value these features bring to users. Getting everyone on the same mindset, tweaking how they do things, and putting customers first are some ways to get out of the build trap.

ACHIEVING TRUE VIRAL GROWTH

True viral growth occurs when users organically share an app's content frequently to other networks, demonstrating the importance of creating inherently shareable content rather than relying on temporary boosts or growth hacks.

HOW SHOULD A PRODUCT MANAGER DEAL WITH CONFLICTS?

Conflicts are inevitable in the field of product management. Transparent communication, an iterative problem-solving approach, and a commitment to collaborative decision-making are some of the ways to transform conflicts into opportunities for innovation.

BLIND SPOTS

When we are zoomed in on one specific thing, we often end up completely missing the holistic picture. The challenge with blind spots is that, unless you are aware of them, they are not visible. To identify blind spots, we can start by asking the hard questions, seeking missing information, getting outside opinions, and developing a trusted support network.

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HOW TO TAKE BIGGER, BOLDER PRODUCT BETS — LESSONS FROM SLACK’S CPO

Slack's Chief Product Officer Noah Weiss spearheaded Project Day One, an overhaul of Slack’s first-day UX, reviving growth. Weiss advocates a nuanced approach to decision-making, emphasizing the limitations of data reliance, promoting shared context, trust-building, and strategic risk assessment. In this article, he introduces the 1-way vs. 2-way door decision framework and recommends the 70:20:10 model for a balanced product roadmap. Weiss underscores the role of organizational culture, values, and humility in fostering innovation and enabling bold decision-making.

WHO SHOULD RULE THE PRODUCT?

Airbnb's decision to replace product managers with product marketing managers ignited a debate on effective product governance. Models like the Trio (PM + Dev lead + UX designer) and Leading with Context, with their cross-disciplinary collaboration and evidence-guided decision-making, are potential solutions.

BEN EVANS’ 2024 PRESENTATION (30 MINUTE PRESENTATION)

Ben Evans covers AI in this presentation: the boom, the science, the rush to regulate, the platform shift, and more. Most relevantly to this newsletter, he thinks through bundling and unbundling and raises a product paradox - does 'general purpose' AI mean general-purpose tools, or must it be wrapped into a single-purpose product?

ASKING BETTER USER INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

This guide delves into structuring and designing user interviews for maximum impact. It discusses the '5 Act Interview' structure, focusing on easing participants into the interview with contextual questions before diving into core questions or prototypes. The guide emphasizes asking powerful, evidence-based questions to uncover deeper user needs and behaviors, highlighting the importance of high-quality data collection for insightful product development.

LESSONS FROM FAILURES (60 MINUTE PODCAST)

This episode compiles stories of failure from over 100 episodes, showcasing how mishaps like freezing onstage, workplace interventions, and significant product investment losses contribute to growth. It reframes failure as an essential detour towards personal and professional development, offering insights on the value of learning from setbacks.

HOW MERGING PURPOSE WITH PROFIT REDEFINES PRODUCT ROADMAPS AND PRODUCT SUCCESS

The link between purpose and value is really important for product success. Purpose without value creation will lead to product failure. Value creation without purpose will lead to a demotivated team and “metrics over user” culture. This article gives a few strategies to build the link between purpose and value.

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SIMPLIFYING WHAT KILLS PRODUCT TEAMS: ROADMAP

An empowering roadmap is the glue between vision, strategy, audience, and outcomes. This article provides a template to create an effective roadmap.

HOW TO BUILD THE RIGHT PRODUCT

Picking the right problems to solve is essential to a product’s success. Here is a 4-step guide to make sure you can start with the right problem: writing an interview guide, interviewing people, mapping the interview results, and picking a group to start building.

HOW TO TALK TO CUSTOMERS TO GATHER USEFUL INSIGHTS

Focusing on customers' experiences, challenges, and their attempts at finding solutions will give you the best user insights. This approach aims to understand the real problems and frequency of issues, enabling better product development insights.

THE UNSPOKEN POWER DYNAMICS OF CALENDLY

When using tools like Calendly to schedule meetings, it is important to be aware of the power dynamics and avoid coming across as entitled. This article shares some actionable tips for drafting polite meeting requests that balance efficiency and consideration for the recipient’s convenience.

BENDING OVER BACKWARDS AND EMBRACING DEMANDS

In common PM thinking, there is a tendency to resist accommodating many customer demands as it conflicts with the idea of discipline and learning to say ‘no’. While small startups thrive on responding to customer demands, larger teams with layers and processes often lose this responsiveness, potentially leading to a disconnect with customers and a decline in innovation and adaptability.

WHY PMS CAN’T WIN AGAINST COMPETITION SOMETIMES

There is a tradeoff between catching up on competitors’ features and focusing on original features. A PM’s job is to decide which battle to focus on instead of trying to win against all the competition.

PRODUCT IN PRACTICE: ITERATING ON OUTCOMES WITH LIMITED DATA

This case study goes into detail on how to gather learnings and measure product performance in a no or low information environment. Two key takeaways are (1) take small steps to keep trying things and iterating on the metrics, and (2) be open-minded and avoid assuming too much about users’ behaviors.

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RESEARCH PROJECTS VS. PRODUCT DISCOVERY

Research projects provide deep insights for strategic shifts, while product discovery is an ongoing, team-driven process addressing immediate uncertainties. Outsourcing research doesn't substitute for continuous product discovery, which requires active stakeholder collaboration and other tools for effective user interaction and decision-making.

AVOID THE NEXT PRODUCT FAILURE: RETHINKING YOUR PRODUCT STRATEGY

Great companies can face product failures when strategic, rather than tactical, issues come into play, with insufficient product strategy cited as a critical factor. In contrast, successful companies prioritize product development strategies aligned with their strengths and a bold vision, connecting brand vision with product roadmaps to guide investments effectively and achieve consistent success in new product launches. This piece presents tips on how to rethink and get to a winning product strategy.

THE PREDICTABILITY TRAP

Predictable delivery should be in service of delivering value, instead of being the end goal itself. Instead of aiming for predictable delivery, teams should aim to make the right decisions to innovate predictably.

REVENUE GOALS ARE NOT COMPANY STRATEGIES

This article critiques the traditional once-a-year planning approach, arguing that focusing solely on revenue targets without comprehensive, ongoing strategies is ineffective. Using a hypothetical coaching session example, it underscores the importance of continuous, cross-functional planning, urging for a shift from purely financial goals to holistic corporate and product strategies aligned with each department's efforts.

RADICAL CANDOR: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE WITH AUTHOR KIM SCOTT (87 MINUTE PODCAST)

Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor, discusses her framework in this podcast, covering topics such as distinguishing radical candor from obnoxious aggression, tactical advice on constructive feedback, the pitfalls of well-meaning empathy, and the significance of regular career conversations, debunking the false dichotomy of a good leader versus a kind person, and offering a preview of her upcoming book, Radical Respect.

UX + PLG: 5 PRINCIPLES TO MULTIPLY YOUR VALUE

Growth product design is not the same as growth hacking. This article outlines 5 principles of product-led growth to unlock value: start with data, fail to learn and iterate, use cognitive psychology in design explorations, optimize for velocity and learning, and have shared accountability.

USER JOURNEYS DIFFER ACROSS GTM MOTIONS

Product-led and sales-led growth strategies can coexist effectively, as demonstrated by platforms like Asana and Slack. Effective product marketing is vital for awareness in product-led models. Feedback styles differ between approaches, affecting product messaging. Moreover, a well-designed homepage is crucial for user engagement and conversion rates in product-led models.

PRODUCT STRATEGY, ROADMAP AND PRIORITIZATION - THE GL(C) MODEL

This piece emphasizes the importance of a common-sense approach to product strategy, roadmap, and prioritization, introducing the GL(c) model: Goal (G), Levers (L), and Contribution (c). The model aims to provide clarity in product management, helping prioritize features based on their direct impact on defined goals and fostering strategic conversations across the organization.

HOW MERGING PURPOSE WITH PROFIT REDEFINES PRODUCT ROADMAPS AND PRODUCT SUCCESS

This article discusses the critical need for product managers to align purpose with business value, with a case study on TOMS, which faced challenges due to a lack of synergy between its social mission and business value. The key takeaway is to create product roadmaps that cohesively reflect the product's purpose and value, ensuring long-term success and balancing social missions with profitability.

THE "COLD BURGER" PRINCIPLE

The "Cold Burger" feedback loop underscores the importance of consistently seeking feedback and taking action on it. From customer experience to product innovation, feedback is the superpower that fuels growth.

6 RISKS THAT WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR CAREER AS A PRODUCT MANAGER

Product managers face six key risks: technical understanding risk, impacting feasibility due to complex or unviable features; business acumen risk, affecting product revenue and market positioning; design insight risk, leading to poor user adoption; leadership and influence risk, challenging team morale and product vision; project management expertise risk, causing project failures due to accountability issues; and personal development risk, hindering adaptability and career progression.