Stupid Matters

Nothing beats going into people’s homes or offices, and following them as they go about their days. While quantitative and marketing methods such as usage analytics and surveys provide data as to where things aren’t working, findings from such efforts focus on optimizations and point solutions. Good user research, particularly out in the field, reveals a richness of understanding that you simply cannot get anywhere else. It is this work that ends up revealing a customer’s journey, and inevitably, the experiential breakdowns that happen when people try to accomplish things that require them to unknowingly cross siloed departments in an organization.

– Peter Merholz & Kristin Skinner, Org Design for Design Orgs

1. Articulate a compelling vision
2. Identify measures of success
3. Build an effective team
4. Cultivate a culture where that team thrives
5. Make sure things are funded

many entry-level product management jobs request heavily technical degrees. however, product management is much more like writing an essay than it is like completing a problem set. perhaps the concrete details are technical, but the context of those details is wrought with narrative and persuasion.

moving fast in the wrong direction isn’t moving fast at all.

If good product people get rid of the crap and take hits to protect their team, doesn’t Butt of Product make more sense than Head of Product? Still working on this one with my team. Will keep you posted.

Product managers – myself included – often fall into the trap of thinking that our own experience of the product will match how everyone experiences it.

Emi Tabb, from Mixpanel’s blog in To thrive, product teams need diverse talent – a former Uber product leader explains why

Optimizing is not impossible, but often leads to opportunistic decisions for short-term gains. By focusing on learning about the product you set yourself up for better future decisions and more effective tests.

Jan Overgoor, From Experiments at Airbnb