4. World Class Product
⢠This all started with a conversation I had with Reid
Hoffman in 2007.
⢠Most people start or join new companies because they
think âwe can do better this time.â They come to build a
company.
⢠These are the top lessons Iâve personally gained over the
past two decades about product management for
modern consumer software.
5. Prioritization: Three Buckets
⢠Metrics Moversâ¨
These pay the bills. In the end, software that doesnât
justify itself will lose the ability to fund itself.
⢠Customer Requestsâ¨
If you donât listen to customers, they will lose faith and
eventually hate you.
⢠Delightâ¨
If you donât delight customers, you wonât inspire passion
and loyalty in your users.
6. Itâs About the Whole Product
⢠Canât we find features that have all three? No.
⢠Metrics movers are rarely requested or delightful.
⢠Customer requests rarely move metrics or delight people.
⢠Delight features rarely move metrics & by definition, are
not requested.
⢠Great products, however, combine all three.
7. Find the Heat
⢠There are two ways to boost engagement: lower friction
or increasing desire.
⢠Software teams love to focus on the first, and rarely dive
into the second.
⢠Exceptional experiences depend on capturing the real
nuances of human interaction.
8. Donât Be Afraid to Talk
About Emotion
⢠Heat is a placeholder term for emotions that drive action,
both positive and negative. Emotion. Passion. Desire.
⢠What strong emotions drive the actions in your products?
⢠Look for âMagic Moments.â
9. Simple is Hard
⢠Itâs true in design, metrics, prioritization, and strategy.
⢠We all fear the fate of Microsoft Office.
⢠Whatâs the one thing you want the user to do?
⢠Whatâs the job your customers are hiring you to do?
⢠The great gift of mobile-first design.
14. ⢠Software teams tend to focus
extensively on their users.
⢠They spend increasingly little time
on people who donât use their
products.
Obsess About
Your Non-Users
15. ⢠You have more non-users than
users.
⢠Your brand is often determined by
the way your product touches
non-users.
Growth Comes
from Your
Non-Users
16. ⢠Common Product Questions:
⢠Should we build this?
⢠When should we build this?
⢠How should should we build this?
Solve the
Product Maze
Backwards
⢠Teams will debate âshouldâ when
the question really is âwhen.â
17. ⢠Thinking backwards from the
future helps.
⢠Visualize success in five years. If
you have the feature at that point,
you are just debating when.â¨
⢠Debating when is critical, but it
tends to be a more objective
discussion than âif.â
Think Backwards
from the Future
18. Know Your Superpower
⢠Software is a team sport.
⢠Each function brings something critical & deserves respect.
⢠Every function has a superpower when it comes to decisions.
⢠Product - the power to frame the discussion w/ strategy & metrics.
⢠Design - the power of visualization of possible choices.
⢠Engineering - the power to show what is possible.
⢠These powers require hard work & specialization.
19. Final Thoughts
We can be our own
harshest critics.
Products are never
done.
Behavior matters. â¨
Values matter.
We are always learning,
and our customers are
always changing.