Product Management
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, really does save time, reduce friction, and end up building trust.
“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 is going to strike. The best we can do is prepare for each possible hit by testing the possibilities.”
-Warren Ellis
#Quotes
Always have a well-understood rubric for determining the difference between urgent and important things when you’re prioritizing your backlog.
This adds transparency and helps communicate your thinking in any planning discussions.
Bonus points if you socialize it well in advance too.
Are your clients repeatedly working outside of normal hours? Are they regularly adopting new features or still slogging along in older workflows? How is the time they spend within your application changing over time?
Meaningful product metrics should reveal user behavior patterns.
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.
Remember, however, that sometimes you can end up being a bit too clever for you and your clients' own good in this regard.
Elegant simplicity is hard.
Consider how the Apple Watch’s focus shifted fashion accessory into a heavy emphasis on providing fitness and health tracking metrics.
You should always start by solving a small - yet meaningful - problem exceptionally well. Then build upwards and outwards from that essential kernel.
Remember to consider the cost of NOT building something whenever you’re prioritizing features in your backlog.
What happens if you wait?
Something terrible? Nothing at all?
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 important - who it’s not for.
BONUS: This will also help you figure out how to talk with them about the value you’re creating.
You focus on building understanding first and foremost. Then go build new features.
Your product’s biggest cheerleader should be you.
If you’re not excited about it, why should anyone else be?
Your product team’s biggest cheerleader? Also you.
If you’re not excited about what they’re doing, who will be?
I’m constantly impressed whenever a product introduces changes that address the micro-frictions in my daily work that I’ve barely registered.
Good product design makes your clients say “Wow!”
Great product design makes your clients say “Of course!”
Your product’s growth is often limited by your ability to scale your customer support and success processes.
Ignore this at your own peril.
What’s a sign of an effective product managers?
Someone who consistently turns constraints into catalysts for further creativity and innovation.
Your product’s user experience can spark joy and create emotional connections while also solving meaningful problems.
These aren’t mutually exclusive concepts.
Sometimes you receive the most valuable feedback when you lose a client.
Great features can be born from the most frustrating user experiences.
“But we’ve always done it this way!”
Some of the most frightening words to hear… but so very ripe with opportunities.
Think about it like this:
Every time you deploy, you’re really shipping new/better/different outcomes.
Yes, yes, yes - you make wonderful hammers. (Congratulations!)
But how successful are your clients at actually building with them?
Your product’s success should really only be measured by your clients' successes.
A feature without a very clear “why” just shouldn’t exist.
Listen, listen, listen to your clients - but remember: they’re experts in their problems, not your solutions.
Your job is not to build what users ask for but to understand why they’re asking for it.