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Nov 20, 2024: I am reminded (yet again!) that I always need to be clarifying, repeating, and doing what can feel like over-explaining in the moment. It really, …
Nov 19, 2024: “The future is like weather: a thousand thunderheads on the horizon, a haze of weird thunder-sleet in our eyes, and we never know where the lightning …
Nov 18, 2024: I’ve worked in an industry that prides itself on dramatic upheaval and reinvention my entire life. Spending the time early-career to learn vi …
Nov 17, 2024: “When asked how he would order his thoughts if he had one hour to save the world, Einstein sagely responded that he would spend fifty-five minutes …
Nov 16, 2024: “The future is unwritten.” -Joe Strummer #Quotes
Nov 15, 2024: Wordle and Edison I really enjoy playing Wordle each day. It’s now become a standard part of my morning routine. With a mug of hot coffee in hand, I start a new game …
Nov 14, 2024: What builds loyalty and trust? Consistently delivering on your product’s core promise again and again, from release to release and in every …
Nov 13, 2024: I’ve been learning how to setup neovim as a modern writing environment, an interface into my Obsidian vault. No, I’m not actually writing anything …
Nov 9, 2024: “The easiest way to learn directly is to simply spend a lot of time doing the thing you want to become good at.” -Scott H. Young #Quotes
Nov 5, 2024: Always have a well-understood rubric for determining the difference between urgent and important things when you’re prioritizing your backlog. …
Nov 4, 2024: I’m pretty sure that asking an AI to create complex regular expressions based upon your conversations should be a specific part of the Turing …
Nov 2, 2024: “Without gratitude what is the point of seeing, and without seeing what is the object of gratitude?” -Epictetus #Quotes
Nov 1, 2024: Are your clients repeatedly working outside of normal hours? Are they regularly adopting new features or still slogging along in older workflows? How …
Oct 31, 2024: The platonic ideal for your product’s user interface is that it’s so intuitive that it requires little to no explanation. It just works. …
Oct 30, 2024: Consider how the Apple Watch’s focus shifted fashion accessory into a heavy emphasis on providing fitness and health tracking metrics. You …
Oct 29, 2024: Remember to consider the cost of NOT building something whenever you’re prioritizing features in your backlog. What happens if you wait? …
Oct 28, 2024: We are raised on fables of ants and grasshoppers and the harsh winter that’s looming up ahead of all of us. We put things off because it seems …
Oct 27, 2024: “People who offer bad advice are trying to relive their old glories.” -Mike Maples Jr. #Quotes
Oct 26, 2024: “The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue” -Antisthenes #Quotes
Oct 25, 2024: Your product is not for everyone. This is a totally acceptable state of affairs. Define your personas. Know who the product is for and - equally …
Oct 24, 2024: You focus on building understanding first and foremost. Then go build new features.
Oct 23, 2024: Your product’s biggest cheerleader should be you. If you’re not excited about it, why should anyone else be? Your product team’s …
Oct 22, 2024: I’m constantly impressed whenever a product introduces changes that address the micro-frictions in my daily work that I’ve barely …
Oct 21, 2024: Your product’s growth is often limited by your ability to scale your customer support and success processes. Ignore this at your own peril.
Oct 20, 2024: “The disease of our time is that we live on the surface.” -Steven Pressfield #Quotes
Oct 19, 2024: ”The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change their future by merely changing their attitude." -Oprah Winfrey #Quotes
Oct 18, 2024: What’s a sign of an effective product managers? Someone who consistently turns constraints into catalysts for further creativity and innovation.
Oct 17, 2024: Your product’s user experience can spark joy and create emotional connections while also solving meaningful problems. These aren’t …
Oct 16, 2024: One of the highly science fictional bits of “When Gravity Fails” (Effinger’s early cyberpunk novel published in 1986) was the …
Oct 15, 2024: Sometimes you receive the most valuable feedback when you lose a client. Great features can be born from the most frustrating user experiences.
Oct 13, 2024: “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” -Winston Churchill #Quotes
Oct 12, 2024: ”The mind is not a vessel that needs filling but wood that needs igniting." -Plutarch #Quotes
Oct 11, 2024: “But we’ve always done it this way!” Some of the most frightening words to hear… but so very ripe with opportunities.
Oct 10, 2024: Think about it like this: Every time you deploy, you’re really shipping new/better/different outcomes.
Oct 9, 2024: Yes, yes, yes - you make wonderful hammers. (Congratulations!) But how successful are your clients at actually building with them? Your …
Oct 8, 2024: A feature without a very clear “why” just shouldn’t exist.
Oct 7, 2024: Listen, listen, listen to your clients - but remember: they’re experts in their problems, not your solutions. Your job is not to build what …
Oct 3, 2024: Don’t wait for the perfect moment to reach out - build your network consistently. Don’t just ask for favors - add value whenever you can. …
Sep 29, 2024: “What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.” -Cynthia Ozick #Quotes
Sep 28, 2024: ”Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him." -Aldous Huxley #Quotes
Sep 27, 2024: Everyone expects you to be dependable. Everyone expects you to know what you’re talking about. Exceeding expectations is hard - and it gets …
Sep 25, 2024: Great product teams shape the entire culture of problem-solving, innovation, and learning within a company.
Sep 23, 2024: As I write this, it’s early Monday morning and - reminder - now is the best time to go ahead block some uninterrupted Focus Time on your calendar for …
Sep 17, 2024: Remember: organize your product around the market it serves and not around your internal hierarchies. Said differently, roadmaps are not org-charts. …
Sep 14, 2024: “The great thing about fact-based decisions is that they can overrule the hierarchy.” -Jeff Bezos #Quotes
Sep 12, 2024: When working on a new roadmap, here are my 3 starter questions: Who’s the intended audience? What do I want them to take away from this? What …
Sep 7, 2024: “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.” -Guy Kawasaki #Quotes
Sep 6, 2024: Product-market fit is difficult to reach and it’s always in motion. ALWAYS. From moment to moment, it’s contracting or expanding in …
Sep 5, 2024: The power of externalizing your thinking As product managers - really as any sort of knowledge worker - we often find ourselves caught up in a swirling vortex of new market information, …
Sep 1, 2024: “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” -William James #Quotes
Aug 29, 2024: When plans derail (and let’s face it, they do), it can be an opportunity to reassess priorities. What’s really and truly critical for your …
Aug 28, 2024: ” Every man I meet is in some way my superior; and in that I can learn of him.” -Emerson #Quotes
Aug 25, 2024: “The fact that you “can’t do” something can be embarrassing. But if you are “learning to do” something that is admirable. There are only tiny baby …
Aug 21, 2024: Repeat after me: Words like “users” and “clients” and “customers” are describing actual human beings. Understand …
Aug 20, 2024: We should talk more about timing as product managers. Too early, and the market isn’t quite ready for you. Too late, and someone (everyone?) …
Aug 19, 2024: Delivering new features feels good because it seems like measurable progress. That’s why it’s easy to find yourself stuck in “feature …
Aug 18, 2024: “In the old days, children had to memorize many irrelevant things they didn’t understand, but they also didn’t have a concept of their future then. …
Aug 17, 2024: ”It is a happy talent to know how to play.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson #Quotes
Aug 16, 2024: Translating MVP as “the simplest thing we can get away with building” is problematic. Instead, it should always be “the simplest thing we can learn …
Aug 15, 2024: Remember: product-market fit is not a static “once-and-done” sort of thing. What worked well yesterday might never work again. You re-evaluate, …
Aug 13, 2024: Tell me without telling me about product management: “It is crucial not to teach students only how to make gloves without ever telling them to …
Aug 11, 2024: “Hope clouds observation.” -Frank Herbert (Dune) #Quotes
Aug 10, 2024: Think about the standout products and services, the game-changers, the ones that fundamentally shaped your life. How would you improve them?
Aug 9, 2024: Life happens pretty fast. You’re busy. (Everyone is busy.) It’s easy to lose touch with friends, both at work or in your personal life. But don’t …
Aug 7, 2024: “Prosperity and pessimism don’t travel together.” Quote fron the Westinghouse exhibit at the 1939 Worlds Fair #Quotes
Aug 6, 2024: Maintain transparent communication with your team, your stakeholders, and your clients. Write things down and share them. Close open loops. Meet as …
Aug 3, 2024: “We go where reason - and not the absolute truth - leads us.” -Seneca #Quotes
Aug 1, 2024: No. It’s really not your To Do app’s fault. Let’s talk about anti-patterns in productivity, shall we? I’m a semi-reformed addict of trying out new productivity apps. Do I still hear that sweet, …
Jul 28, 2024: “Let our advance worrying become our advance thinking and planning.” —Winston Churchill #Quotes
Jul 27, 2024: “If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning.” -Catherine Aird #Quotes
Jul 26, 2024: This is a generative cycle: Draw smart people together to discuss opportunities. Listen more than you speak. Take notes and share them. Review your …
Jul 24, 2024: Apple Vision Pro demo I feel so lucky to have received a few early glimpses of the future in my life. the Apple IIe - that appeared in the library of my elementary school, …
Jul 21, 2024: “I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is …
Jul 19, 2024: “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” -Muriel Rukeyser #Quotes
Jul 17, 2024: “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a …
Jul 16, 2024: The 7 Obsessions of the Successful Product Manager Sometimes people ask me what it’s like being a product manager or how to be a particularly good one. This is the advice I generally share, the 7 …
Jul 15, 2024: Consider the long tail of some product decisions. For example: early gramophone equipment could only make recordings that were no more than 4.5 …
Jul 14, 2024: “Art is science made clear.” -Jean Cocteau #Quotes
Jul 13, 2024: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when adults are afraid of the light.” -Plato #Quotes
Jul 12, 2024: Right now, this minute “There has never been a better time with more opportunities, more openings, lower barriers, higher benefit/risk ratios, better returns, greater upside …
Jul 7, 2024: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” -Steve Martin #Quotes
Jul 4, 2024: “He who is brave is free.” -Seneca #Quotes
Jul 3, 2024: “No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.” -Isaac Asimov …
Jul 2, 2024: Remember: “Mistakes” are inevitable. They’re how we discover what does or doesn’t work (albeit sometimes quite viscerally). …
Jun 30, 2024: “We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.” -Frank …
Jun 29, 2024: “Rules are made for the convenience of those who are playing. What is fair at one time or in one game may be inhibiting later on. It’s not the game …
Jun 28, 2024: “Make a mistake? Release the guilt, remember the lesson.” -James Clear #Quotes
Jun 27, 2024: Talking about the times you failed as a product manager and what you learned from them is always more interesting than talking about your successes. …
Jun 26, 2024: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." -Mark Twain #Quotes
Jun 25, 2024: “If we really care about our users, we’ll help them do what they want, not what we want.” -Kathy Sierra #Quotes #ProductManagement
Jun 24, 2024: Great products solve problems. Exceptional products anticipate them. Think about what happens to your customers when they no longer have to worry …
Jun 23, 2024: Some of the best advice I ever received from a manager: “Hope? I get to ‘hope’. You need a plan.” Make sure you always have a plan.
Jun 22, 2024: “Our world is random and messy. Collecting data does not make it more perfect or more controllable.” -Giorgia Lupi #Quotes
Jun 20, 2024: Remember: nostalgia is an expensive commodity.
Jun 19, 2024: Perhaps contrary to popular belief, you don’t just write product specs and plot roadmaps as a product manager. You’re also a storyteller. You …
Jun 17, 2024: “The opposite of courage is conforming.” -Brian Collins #Quotes
Jun 16, 2024: “You get an astronaut’s life whether you want it or not. Leave it all behind for a world you know nothing about. That’s just the deal." -Joe Hill …
Jun 13, 2024: As a product manager some of the most important time you spend is talking to users or poring over feedback to uncover their most pressing challenges. …
Jun 10, 2024: It’s about being prepared and staying agile in a fluid environment. Think about the future. Anticipate challenges. Identify potential risks …
Jun 9, 2024: “Point of view is worth 80 IQ points.” -Alan Kay #Quotes
Jun 8, 2024: “Indeed, no one can thwart the purposes of your mind - for they can’t be touched by fire, steel, tyranny, slander, or anything.” -Marcus Aurelius …
Jun 7, 2024: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” …
Jun 6, 2024: Sometimes simply writing things down and then methodically reviewing your lists can be a superpower.
Jun 5, 2024: “It is easier to judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” -Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis #Quotes
Jun 4, 2024: Remember to always ask “how will this simplify things?” For example: before you buy that retro mechanical keyboard that looks exactly like your …
Jun 4, 2024: “Listening is the engine of ingenuity. It’s difficult to understand desires and detect problems, much less develop elegant solutions, …
Jun 1, 2024: “It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower.” -Paul Graham #Quotes
Jun 1, 2024: “The most effective communicators pause before they speak and ask themselves: Why am I opening my mouth?” -Charles Duhigg #Quotes
May 31, 2024: “Users don’t evangelize to their friends because they like the product, they evangelized their friends because they like their friends.” -Kathy Sierra …
May 30, 2024: A good strategy (according to Rumelt) has 3 parts: The diagnosis - framing the challenge The guiding policy - the approach to dealing with the …
May 29, 2024: Strategy is a cohesive response to an important challenge (Richard Rumelt). This is a phenomenal distillation of the concept.
May 28, 2024: “Creativity is just problem solving” “Creativity is just problem solving. Once people see it as problem solving, it stops seeming like magic, because it’s not. Brokers are just people who …
May 27, 2024: Remember: If you compliment someone else’s dog, it really is ok if they’re not gracious about it. It shouldn’t change a thing for you - or the dog.
May 26, 2024: “Be careful not to overcomplicate your systems to the point where you can only maintain them when you are at your peak of mental clarity.” -the David …
May 25, 2024: “I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.” -Coleman Cox #Quotes
May 24, 2024: In what sort of future do you want to live? Having that small sweet with your morning coffee makes it marginally less likely you’ll eat the healthy …
May 23, 2024: Remember: Empathize with your clients. Understand their needs as thoroughly as possible before proposing any solutions. Always back your …
May 22, 2024: “Computers fail, checklists fail, everything can fail. But people can’t. We have to make decisions, and that includes deciding what deserves our …
May 21, 2024: “By far the dominant reason for not releasing sooner was a reluctance to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback.” -Kent …
May 20, 2024: There are no silver bullets “Every tool you use impacts your abilities while using that tool. It increases some capabilities while decreasing others. For example, a chimp fishing …
May 19, 2024: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.” -Mary Oliver #Quotes
May 18, 2024: “It is what you read when you dont have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” -Oscar Wilde #Quotes
May 16, 2024: “An enviroment that is not safe to disagree in is not an environment focused on growth - it’s an environment focused on control.” -Wendi Jade #Quotes
May 15, 2024: The first step with anything new is always voracious learning - which may cause some discomfort. Remember to push through this. Jot down a list of …
May 14, 2024: Concisely sharing what you know about a given topic, including the relevant context, and why it’s valuable information is an exceptionally important …
May 13, 2024: Remember what Heraclitus wrote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” …
May 12, 2024: “Motherhood: all love begins and ends there.” -Robert Browning #Quotes
May 11, 2024: “Do not internalize the industrial model. You are not one of the myriad of interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being, and if you’ve got …
May 10, 2024: There will be special moments in your career as a product manager. You will meet and collaborate with remarkable people. Working together, you will …
May 9, 2024: “Praise each other: Find something nice to say, even if it’s a stretch. The worst ideas can have silver linings if you look hard enough.” -Randy …
May 8, 2024: Your career journey as a product manager is yours to shape. (One might argue it’s really your most important product!) Knowing when it might be time …
May 6, 2024: Maya Angelou said it best: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” …
May 5, 2024: “Professionals don’t have to justify spending time training or practicing their work. It’s what they do, and practice is how they get good at it… the …
May 4, 2024: “There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.” -Seneca #Quotes
May 2, 2024: Children learn to walk by falling over and over again. Experiments fail more often than not. This is how we expand the scope of our understanding and …
May 1, 2024: “Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent …
Apr 27, 2024: “I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.” -Poul …
Apr 23, 2024: Change is the necessary ingredient for all progress. I cannot stress this enough.
Apr 19, 2024: “Storms make us stronger.” -Bear Grylls #Quotes
Apr 18, 2024: Make sure you’re working on the right things before you start working even harder at them. Want a big change in your results? Consider that you …
Apr 17, 2024: “There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.” -Tom Peters #Quotes
Apr 15, 2024: Explore different angles, challenge assumptions, and surface insights from the safety of your virtual workbench. These dedicated thinking spaces are …
Apr 14, 2024: Specialization is for insects “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, …
Apr 13, 2024: “Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.” -Louis L’Amour #Quotes
Apr 10, 2024: Change can be uncomfortable but it’s also inevitable. As a product manager you need to embrace the uncertainty. Hypothesize. Take calculated risks. …
Apr 7, 2024: “If you are to have a great kingdom, rule over yourself.” -Publilius Syrus #quotes
Apr 5, 2024: “What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.” -Lucille Clifton #Quotes
Apr 3, 2024: No one gets a gold star if you ship a product feature “on time” and it makes things worse. Don’t make things worse for your clients.
Mar 31, 2024: “If you are coasting, it means you are going downhill.” C. P. Fulford Jr. #Quotes
Mar 30, 2024: “No man was ever wise by chance.” -Seneca #Quotes
Mar 28, 2024: Your first idea probably isn’t the best one. Dont be afraid to iterate!
Mar 27, 2024: Distraction corrodes progress. Focus on what’s most important right now.
Mar 26, 2024: Whenever you can, grab a dry erase marker and start sketching out what’s in your head. Encourage others in the conversation to embroider their own …
Mar 23, 2024: “Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.” -Bruce Lee #Quotes
Mar 22, 2024: Remember: sarcasm is a actually a form of thinly veiled aggression. And how rarely is veiled aggression constructive?
Mar 21, 2024: Like Herodotus wrote, we never step in the same river twice. Everything is constantly changing. Your job as a product manager is to bring focus and …
Mar 19, 2024: Remember to prioritize interoperability over allegiance to specific tools. A tool-agnostic mindset cultivates resilience and allows your team to pivot …
Mar 17, 2024: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.“ -Albert Einstein #Quotes
Mar 16, 2024: “Ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s execution that counts.” -Frank Herbert #Quotes
Mar 14, 2024: Hoarding knowledge might be the supreme anti-pattern.
Mar 13, 2024: Remember what Marcus Aurelius wrote: “Do not expect Plato’s ideal republic; be satisfied with even the smallest step forward, and consider this no …
Mar 11, 2024: I’ve seen firsthand how well-crafted features can be utter game-changers. Clarity is essential to both captivate your users and to foster seanless …
Mar 10, 2024: “Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that’s what gets you.” -Jeremy Clarkson #Quotes
Mar 9, 2024: “If you want to know what a given society believes in, look at what its largest buildings are devoted to.” -Joseph Campbell #Quotes
Mar 6, 2024: Prioritize your product backlog. By value, feasibility, and strategic alignment. Relentlessly. Ruthlessly. Ferociously.
Mar 3, 2024: “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose." -Lyndon B Johnson #Quotes
Mar 2, 2024: “We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” -Oprah Winfrey #Quotes
Mar 1, 2024: Monday morning actually starts Friday afternoon. Wrap up the week’s remaining tasks and prioritize any outstanding items to ensure you start strong …
Feb 28, 2024: Remember: Your products and services make the world a better place - and that’s a great way to spend your focus, time, and energy.
Feb 27, 2024: You and your team can’t anticipate everything as product managers. Unexpected things will still happen. When they do, remember to move out of the …
Feb 26, 2024: Tactfully saying “no” is one of the most difficult skills to master as a product manager. Not coincidentally, it’s also one of the most important, …
Feb 24, 2024: “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” -Henry Ford #Quotes
Feb 23, 2024: Product roadmaps aren’t predictions. They’re instrumentation of your thinking about the problems to be solved and the priorities at which they might …
Feb 22, 2024: It’s difficult to convey just how useful it is to visualize your thinking in a shared space when you’re problem solving with other people. Grab …
Feb 19, 2024: Why is being a product manager such a great experience? Each day is spent solving problems that really matter - whether it’s streamlining processes or …
Feb 17, 2024: “A schedule defends from chaos and whim.” -Annie Dillard #Quotes
Feb 15, 2024: Whenever you will think other people are wrong about a given approach, check to see if you have any data available to validate your position. If not, …
Feb 14, 2024: A big part of your job is to learn how to focus on the most important thing and ignore the noise.
Feb 12, 2024: Don’t underestimate the value of sharing how you plan to solve your customer’s problems with your fellow product managers. Divergent opinions and …
Feb 11, 2024: “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” -Pablo Picasso #Quotes
Feb 10, 2024: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” -Richard Feynman #Quotes
Feb 9, 2024: Validating your hypotheses as a product manager isn’t about being right - it’s about learning. It moves you out of chaotic uncertainty and into …
Feb 5, 2024: Discovery isn’t a checklist; it’s a conversation. You listen actively, try to ask the best questions, and generally let curiosity be your guide. As a …
Feb 4, 2024: “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” -Albert Einstein #Quotes
Feb 3, 2024: “Never let the guy with the broom decide how many elephants can be in the parade.” -Merlin Mann #Quotes
Feb 2, 2024: Collaboration. Experimentation. Small chunks of work. Agility.
Jan 31, 2024: “Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.” -Raymond Chandler #Quotes
Jan 30, 2024: Draw out the product planning calendar as far into the future as you can. Dates will move and shift about as you continue to iterate but the calendar …
Jan 29, 2024: Lace up your clients’ shoes and walk the proverbial mile. Then go for a jog in them. Then do the training and run a marathon. Empathy is the key to …
Jan 28, 2024: “Whether we think we can or think we can’t, we’re right.” -Henry Ford #Quotes
Jan 27, 2024: “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” -Bruce Lee #Quotes
Jan 26, 2024: A quote to remember when listening to clients about your product: “The real secret to listening I’ve learned is that it’s not about me. …
Jan 25, 2024: Remember: Communicate clearly. Communicate clearly. Communicate clearly.
Jan 24, 2024: I asked Google Bard to tell me how to be the best possible product manager in a single sentence: “Master the art of empathy, the science of data, and …
Jan 23, 2024: I asked CoPilot: tell me how to be the best possible product manager in a single sentence: “To be the best possible product manager, you need to …
Jan 22, 2024: I asked ChatGPT (3.5) to tell me how to be the best possible product manager in a single sentence: “Anticipate user needs, communicate effectively, …
Jan 21, 2024: “We will all experience one pain or the other - the pain of discipline or the pain of regret - but the difference is that the pain of discipline …
Jan 20, 2024: “Search others for their virtue, and yourself for your vices.” -Buckminster Fuller #Quotes
Jan 18, 2024: Remember the fundamentals of good product management : hypothesize market-fit test market-fit align and focus resources
Jan 16, 2024: You review your roadmap with clients to refine and renew the shared vision for your product. Their perspectives may validate your hypotheses or serve …
Jan 15, 2024: The curse of the 21st century: Focus is absolutely essential yet we live in a time of wonders.
Jan 14, 2024: “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk." ~Doug Larson #Quotes
Jan 13, 2024: “Beware the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world.” Ben Okri #Quotes
Jan 12, 2024: User stories are more than just a list of tasks. - they’re the voice of your clients. Product managers are wise to remember that good requirements …
Jan 11, 2024: “Lost time is never found again.” -Ben Franklin Remember: being frenetically busy isn’t the goal - being impactful is. Time is a …
Jan 10, 2024: “Where facts are few, experts are many.” -Donald R. Gannon #Quotes
Jan 9, 2024: “Do you not adapt because you cannot conceptualize faster than the enemy’s adaptation?” -General James Mattis Remember: chaotic situations in product …
Jan 8, 2024: If every day is spent pingponging back and forth between raging fires as a product manager, something is broken. It’s your job to fix that. If that …
Jan 7, 2024: “Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses." -Alphonse Karr #Quotes
Jan 6, 2024: “Our plans miscarry if they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” -Seneca #Quotes
Jan 5, 2024: Each and every quarterly release plan should have clearly defined goals and success metrics. Know what success looks like for your product and how …
Jan 4, 2024: Remember: plans are not chiseled into stone. Expect challenges during planning. It’s part of the process. Stay agile and ready to adapt. Face …
Jan 3, 2024: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." Winston Churchill #Quotes
Jan 2, 2024: Today is the ideal time to review your product’s performance last year. What were the successes and challenges? Remember to include things like sales …
Jan 1, 2024: New year, new (and old) challenges in Product Management. Stay ahead of the curve by continuously learning and adapting. This takes deliberate, …
Dec 31, 2023: “The life that is worth living, and the only life that is worth living, is the life of effort, the life of effort to attain what is worth striving …
Dec 30, 2023: “Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really …
Dec 29, 2023: If you lead a team of product managers, remember that these are the two most important things you provide for them each day: psychological safety …
Dec 28, 2023: Product management is a rapidly evolving role within a competitive market environment. Stay educated. Read industry reports. Attend workshops. Take …
Dec 27, 2023: Top 5 Books that made made me a better Product Manager in 2023 Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard P. …
Dec 26, 2023: Top 5 open-source tools I discovered in 2023 Oh My Zsh - a framework for managing your ZSH configuration Powerlevel10k - an amazing theme for ZSH bonus: a great article on Using the two …
Dec 25, 2023: “A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.” -Garrison Keilor …
Dec 24, 2023: “All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.” Edward Gibbon #quotes
Dec 23, 2023: “The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong …
Dec 21, 2023: 90 Hours of Python with DataCamp: a review In which I discover DataCamp, start learning Python, hit the Wall, and remind myself that learning new things can be hard “Sucking at something is …
Dec 21, 2023: The 2nd most seductive waste of time and energy: Downloading a bunch of new task-tracking apps in hope of discovering that one EXTRA feature that will …
Dec 20, 2023: As a product manager, you sometimes connect dots from entirely different worlds. Never underestimate the power of learning from unrelated industries. …
Dec 19, 2023: Holiday breaks are crucial for recharging. But the real relaxation starts when you know everything is in place at work. A little extra effort can make …
Dec 18, 2023: There’s just no substitute for direct client discovery sessions. Client feedback turns educated assumptions into actionable insights. Leverage these …
Dec 17, 2023: “One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in.” -Francis Jourdain #Quotes
Dec 16, 2023: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” -Heraclitus #Quotes
Dec 15, 2023: “Don’t fight forces, use them.” -Buckminster Fuller #Quotes
Dec 14, 2023: Whenever you celebrate together as a product team, you foster a culture of gratitude and continuous improvement. Innovation thrives in this type of …
Dec 13, 2023: You must continually work to strike a balance between providing comprehensive information to your clients while also keeping product documentation …
Dec 12, 2023: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” -Winston Churchill #Quotes
Dec 11, 2023: Effective product management begins with listening. And client feedback isn’t just about fixing what’s broken - it’s also about amplifying what works. …
Dec 10, 2023: “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I …
Dec 9, 2023: “Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every …
Dec 8, 2023: Remember: Every feature you prioritize is a strategic choice. Prioritizing the portfolio aligns the product roadmap with the core business goals, …
Dec 7, 2023: Fail to consider launch plans and you may as well just throw your new product in the backyard and hope that someone stumbles along and miraculously …
Dec 6, 2023: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” – Samuel Johnson #Quotes
Dec 5, 2023: One of the intrinsic beauties of cost-benefit analysis is the ability to quantify trade-offs. If we do X, then Y comes next, at an estimated cost of …
Dec 4, 2023: As a product manager, you’re not just managing a backlog of features - you’re a steward of resources. Cost-benefit analysis empowers you to be a …
Dec 3, 2023: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ― Albert …
Dec 2, 2023: “Results? Why, I have gotten lots of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work." -Thomas Edison #Quotes
Dec 1, 2023: Strategic decision-making is significantly enhanced with a robust roadmap in place. In visualizing the product’s future, product managers parse market …
Nov 30, 2023: “Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely." ~Thomas P. Murphy (no relation) You might willingly subject yourself to the death of 1000 …
Nov 29, 2023: “The limits of language are the limits of your world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein #Quotes
Nov 28, 2023: Defect management isn’t just a technical task – it’s a collaboration. Finding the correct alignment between product, engineering, and client support …
Nov 27, 2023: Dependencies silently orchestrate release plans - regardless of whether you choose to acknowledge them. You ignore them at your own peril. Map out …
Nov 26, 2023: “The ultimate form of preparation is not planning for a specific scenario, but a mindset that can handle uncertainty.” -James Clear …
Nov 26, 2023: “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.” -JC …
Nov 25, 2023: Albert Einstein’s Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. …
Nov 24, 2023: Features. Requirements. Epics. Stories. All of these are abstractions intended to drive conversations about the problems to be solved, the value to be …
Nov 23, 2023: “The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery …
Nov 22, 2023: “It’s insulting to call a professional talented. She’s skilled, first and foremost. Many people have talent, but only a few care enough to show up …
Nov 21, 2023: “One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” — Henry Ford Demand …
Nov 20, 2023: Behind schedule? It’s ok. That happens in a chaotic world. Prioritize your tasks to deliver highest value first, communicate transparently, and …
Nov 19, 2023: “The past takes its meaning from whatever we do right now.” -Czeslaw Milsosz #Quotes
Nov 18, 2023: “It isn’t the mountains to climb that wear you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe.” -Muhammad Ali #Quotes
Nov 17, 2023: Remember: stay relentlessly, indefatigably focused on solving real problems for your clients. Understanding their needs, iterating based on feedback, …
Nov 16, 2023: Allocating resources for a whole year can be like playing roulette. Unexpected demands or priority changes - economic shifts, global events, industry …
Nov 15, 2023: “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land." -Gilbert …
Nov 14, 2023: Yes, product managers orchestrate. Remember: it’s the harmonious collaboration and improvisation within the team that creates the music. …
Nov 13, 2023: “Only the madman is absolutely sure.” -Robert Anton Wilson Testing isn’t a phase. it’s a mindset, a commitment to delivering value and reliability to …
Nov 12, 2023: “No matter what form the dragon may take, it is the mysterious passage past him, or into his jaws, that stories of any depth will be concerned to …
Nov 11, 2023: “Living things tend to change unrecognizably as they grow. Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from …
Nov 10, 2023: Distraction is the enemy of progress. Ruthlessly prioritize and maintain unwavering focus on what truly matters to your users. The inherent power of …
Nov 9, 2023: “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” -Publius Syrus When the pressure’s on, the calm prevail. As a product manager, your …
Nov 8, 2023: Your product should be a reflection of your clients’ needs and desires. So why not ask about them? Every conversation with a client is a step towards …
Nov 7, 2023: “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” -John Wooden Every product managers eventually (and sometimes painfully) figures out that they can’t …
Nov 6, 2023: “Have you listened to the new Beatles song?” is such a wonderfully science-fictional thing to ask someone. It’s almost like #AI will produce tools for …
Nov 5, 2023: “If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.” -Mario Andretti #Quotes
Nov 4, 2023: “To work with the nature of the future, in media and in tech and in language, is to embrace being mad scientists, and we might as well get good at …
Nov 3, 2023: Your product data is a glittering dragon’s horde of client behavior, preferences, and pain points. Carefully sift through the baubles and coins to …
Nov 2, 2023: In product management, every question you ask is a step closer to creating something truly transformative for your clients. Want to build better …
Nov 1, 2023: The sprint is ending, and you’re feeling the pressure? Remember: it’s not about perfection; it’s about progress. Break the work down into manageable …
Oct 31, 2023: When in doubt, simplify. Look for how complex features can be revised down to essentials without sacrificing their value. Don’t overwhelm your clients …
Oct 30, 2023: Wondering why you won or lost a sale? That’s what win-loss analysis is for! It uncovers the hidden factors that shaped the outcome. Share these …
Oct 29, 2023: ”If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you’re doing.” -Will …
Oct 28, 2023: “The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man …
Oct 27, 2023: Self-awareness is essential for growth. Regular retrospectives establish a cycle of continuous improvement. You gain insights into your team’s …
Oct 26, 2023: Remember: it’s not about managing ALL inputs but managing the RIGHT inputs. Set clear criteria for what gets your attention and let go of the noise. …
Oct 25, 2023: Unexpected client conversations are inevitable. My advice: Prepare well, brainstorm possible questions, and rehearse your delivery. But also be ready …
Oct 24, 2023: What’s the best way to ace unexpected client conversations? Have a deep understanding of your product, a clear vision, and a quick thinking cap. …
Oct 23, 2023: When you’re refreshed, you lead with clarity and inspiration. Being a great product manager isn’t about working 24/7. It’s about finding balance, and …
Oct 22, 2023: ”Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant." -Robert Louis Stevenson #Quotes
Oct 21, 2023: ”I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." - Thomas Jefferson #Quotes
Oct 20, 2023: Remember this: downtime isn’t a waste of time. It’s an investment in your creativity, problem-solving skills, and overall well-being. Your energy is …
Oct 19, 2023: “Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” -Margaret Lee Runbeck #Quotes
Oct 18, 2023: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are for.” -William G.T. Shedd Estimating complex work is a bit like sailing through …
Oct 17, 2023: As a product manager, I’ve learned that estimating complex work is like juggling atomic-powered chainsaws - it’s risky work, and even with practice, …
Oct 16, 2023: Remember: effective time management is an ongoing process. Regularly audit your time management practices and make adjustments as needed to optimize …
Oct 15, 2023: ”It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.” -Winston Churchill #Quotes
Oct 14, 2023: “The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius #Quotes
Oct 13, 2023: Poor time management leads to overwork and burnout. A well-managed schedule ensures a better work-life balance, ultimately contributing to a healthier …
Oct 12, 2023: Remember: collaboration isn’t just about working together. It’s about actively listening, learning, and adapting. It’s about challenging assumptions …
Oct 11, 2023: In the world of scary hard problems, the whole truly is often greater than the sum of its parts. When collaborating with your peer proruct managers, …
Oct 10, 2023: When communicating with senior execs, be concise and get to the point as quickly as possible. The first sentence is always the key message. If you …
Oct 9, 2023: Your product documentation is an asset. Well-crafted docs turn casual users into power users. It’s the bridge that transforms beginners into experts - …
Oct 8, 2023: “On matters of style, swim with the current. On matters of principle, stand like a rock.” -Thomas Jefferson. #Quotes
Oct 7, 2023: “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” -Descartes #Quotes #Books
Oct 6, 2023: When was the last time you thanked your amazing clients for all their questions and feedback? You’re there to listen, learn, and provide the answers …
Oct 5, 2023: ”In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.” -Eric Hoffer #Quotes
Oct 4, 2023: Quarterly roadmap planning is essential but comes with its fair share of challenges: Striking the right balance between short-term priorities and …
Oct 3, 2023: “When things go wrong, don’t go with them.” -Elvis Presley #Quotes
Oct 2, 2023: Your actions set the tone for the team. Demonstrate the qualities and behaviors you expect from your product managers. Be a role model in terms of …
Oct 1, 2023: ”You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” -Richard Branson #Quotes
Sep 30, 2023: “There is a piece of me that likes to fondly imagine my maverick and rebellious nature. But more accurately I like to have a nice and cosy institution …
Sep 29, 2023: “The years teach much which the days never know.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson #Quotes
Sep 28, 2023: Learn from your mistakes. Adapt quickly. Champion your team’s creativity. Innovation thrives on resilience. #ProductManagement
Sep 27, 2023: “A plan which succeeds is bold, one which fails is reckless.” - General Karl von Clausewitz #Quotes
Sep 26, 2023: Addressing hard problems is like building a puzzle. Each piece represents a new insight, a new step towards a possible solution. Embrace the puzzle. …
Sep 25, 2023: Hard conversations with customers foster a culture of continuous improvement within your team. They challenge assumptions and force #ProductManagement …
Sep 24, 2023: “People are always telling you who they are.” -Elizabeth Strout #Quotes
Sep 23, 2023: “Words are full of echoes, of memories, of associations. They have been out and about, on people’s lips, in their houses, in the streets, …
Sep 22, 2023: Hard conversations are also essential for uncovering pain points that might not be evident through other feedback channels. Customers may be …
Sep 21, 2023: Engaging in hard conversations with customers is a crucial aspect of product management. These conversations, although uncomfortable, are often …
Sep 20, 2023: “The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself; he who goes …
Sep 19, 2023: “I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” - Vincent van Gogh #Quotes
Sep 19, 2023: ”I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” -Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul A …
Sep 18, 2023: As a product manager, my mantra is simple: Hard problems are the heart of progress. They push us to think differently and collaborate deeply. As …
Sep 17, 2023: “A goal should scare you a little and excite you a lot.” -Joe Vitali #Quotes
Sep 16, 2023: “Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like." -Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb #Quotes
Sep 14, 2023: Time evaporates when you’re managing products. What’s one critical time management tool? A well-structured calendar. Remember to block time for …
Sep 13, 2023: “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” -Richard Bach #Quotes
Sep 12, 2023: Building for yourself just won’t cut it. Conduct interviews, surveys, and usability tests regularly. Understand your users’ pain points and desires. …
Sep 11, 2023: Challenges are your constant companions in product management. Don’t try to avoid them. Face them head-on - with the right mix of data-driven …
Sep 10, 2023: ”It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human, and disorder is our worst enemy.” -Hesiod #Quotes
Sep 9, 2023: “A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice.” -C. S. Lewis #quotes
Sep 8, 2023: It’s easy to get lost in a sea of competing ideas. Prioritize ruthlessly based upon impact, feasibility, and alignment with your product vision. …
Sep 7, 2023: “Why” is just as important as “What.” Dig deep into the root causes of emergent issues. Understanding the why can lead to breakthrough solutions. It …
Sep 6, 2023: “Quality is much better than quantity… One home run is much better than two doubles.” -Steve Jobs I think about this quote all the time. #quotes
Sep 5, 2023: Shipping a product without sufficient user documentation is like asking your users to open a door with no handle. Don’t leave your users stranded! …
Sep 4, 2023: Remember that your work isn’t just a means to an end. It’s an opportunity for growth, learning, and making a positive impact. Embrace …
Sep 3, 2023: ”Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature …
Sep 2, 2023: “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” -Joseph Chilton Pearce #quotes
Sep 2, 2023: Customer feedback is precious and you’re lucky to receive it. Embrace it, listen to it, and use it to iterate and improve your product. The worst case …
Sep 1, 2023: “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe”. -Abe Lincoln #quotes #preparation
Aug 31, 2023: A useful daily affirmation for Product Managers: “I will communicate transparently, foster collaboration, and always strive for excellence in every …
Aug 30, 2023: “Education is more than the information we accumulate in our heads. It’s the habits we develop as we keep revising our drafts and the skills we build …
Aug 29, 2023: Chaos happens. Setbacks abound. Find serenity in process. Your well-defined product cadences and ceremonies are like a North Star, guiding you back on …
Aug 28, 2023: Adversity is fertile soil for innovation. When faced with challenges, encourage your team to brainstorm, experiment, and prototype. Sometimes, the …
Aug 27, 2023: “Won’t you be walking in your predecessors’ footsteps? I surely will use the older path, but if I find a shorter and smoother way, I’ll blaze a trail …
Aug 26, 2023: Remember: each day you’re only competing against the person you were yesterday.
Aug 25, 2023: “Predicting rain doesn’t count. Building arks does.”-Warren Buffett #quotes
Aug 24, 2023: “Think of many things. Do one.” -Cassell’s Book Of Quotations, Proverbs And Household Words It’s easy to get caught up in the …
Aug 23, 2023: ”Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts." -John Wooden Mistakes are stepping stones to success. Analyze …
Aug 22, 2023: “Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.” -Kerichi Ohmae In turbulent times, don’t panic or blame. …
Aug 21, 2023: Celebrate wins, both big and small. Acknowledge the hard work of your team and the milestones achieved along the way. Remember: sometimes just not …
Aug 20, 2023: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” -L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between #quotes
Aug 20, 2023: ”Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things." -Steve Jobs The art of saying “no” is one of the most critical skills for a product manager. It’s …
Aug 19, 2023: Some days there is nothing quite so cathartic as investing quiet, focused time on pruning and weeding in your product backlog. Eliminate low-priority …
Aug 18, 2023: Embrace every failure as a learning opportunity. Not every product launch will be a hit and, you know, that’s okay. Learn from the setbacks, iterate, …
Aug 17, 2023: Stay curious and keep learning. The world is in constant motion and user needs are fluid and evolving. Explore new ideas, attend conferences, read as …
Aug 16, 2023: ”Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”—Aristotle Patience is a strategic virtue. Crafting a lasting impact takes time. Plant the seeds today …
Aug 15, 2023: “This is the master design pattern for applying technology: Do more. Do things that were previously unimaginable” -Tim O’Reilly #quotes
Aug 14, 2023: Data is your compass. Use data to make as informed decisions as possible, measure your successes, and identify potential areas for improvement. …
Aug 13, 2023: “I have all my life been considering distant effects and always sacrificing immediate success and applause to that of the future” -Frederick Law …
Aug 12, 2023: “They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” -Andy Warhol #quotes
Aug 11, 2023: It turns out that empathy is a superpower. Understand your clients and partners deeply, their pain points, their needs, and their desires. Once you …
Aug 10, 2023: Communication is key to effective product management. I cannot overstate the importance. Clear and effective communication with your team, …
Aug 9, 2023: Ideation is wonderful - but don’t get too attached to your ideas. As a product manager, always be open to feedback and ready to pivot if necessary. …
Aug 8, 2023: Reflecting on my journey so far, it’s clear that knowledge becomes so much more meaningful when shared. In a hyper-dynamic field like product …
Aug 7, 2023: The story of Ping The story of ping from the guy who wrote it. Modeling sonar behavior across an internetwork. So clever. ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/pin… A true …
Aug 5, 2023: “Brevity is the soul of wit” -William Shakespeare _(specifically, Polonius, in Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2) (specifically-specifically, …