» Focus your prototyping on the moments that matter most to users
» Prototypes range in fidelity, but remain throwaway
» Prototyping brings tangibility to intangible experiences
» Be clear about what you want to learn, and what assumptions you want to test
» Design simply to deliver early and learn quickly
When you start out as a head of product, you’ll probably need to create a community of product people. In this article I share my advice to help you get the ball rolling with your own community of practice.
» Don’t be driven by metrics — be informed by them
» The mental tendency to replace strategy with metrics can destroy company value
» Onboard your users all the way to becoming your best users
» 3 kinds of innovation: method, market and product
» Your products will reflect your organisational structure (Conway’s Law)
» You can structure your teams around a central function, or as self-contained business units
» Periodically re-evaluate the right mix of innovation and optimisation for your organisation
» Firing someone is a task you will always perform with some anxiety, but you still need to be able to do it well
» At Netflix, it’s not enough to be a hard worker achieving only B-grade results
» Founder of AngelList Naval Ravikant seeks happiness by trying to live in the here-and-now, neither obsessing about the past nor fantasising about the future
» If your team’s cultural norms cause you to feel uncomfortable, ask yourself why you think it’s not ok
» 5 useful canvases to help you frame your product ideas
There’s an ongoing debate about generalist product managers versus emerging product manager specialisms (such as ‘growth product manager’). I think there is room in our profession for both. Let me explain.
» Growth product managers are expected to focus primarily on revenue growth
» Growth hacking failed in part because it produced unsustainable growth
» Some companies stimulate growth by “infiltrating” offline communities
» With infrequent use products, market penetration is a better measure of product-market fit than retention
» Ways to extend a product’s life cycle: frequent usage; varied usage; new users; new uses
» Sometimes removing features is more effective than adding them
» You can’t change the customer, but you can change your company’s process, strategy and culture
» Give your team time and permission to check you’re moving the right metrics
» Data is not a silver bullet and won’t solve your company’s trust issues
» Make small changes and embrace experimentation
» People may have a sincere commitment to change, while also unwittingly applying productive energy toward a hidden competing commitment.
» Extreme situations can build extreme understanding and can also push people apart
» Does our current worldview limit the way we think about organisations?
