Hi there! I am a product manager who has worked on dashboard, edtech, HR tech and permission product. I was working in commodity trading before I switched to PM.
My Mentoring Topics
- I am happy to help in whatever you need, but might be particular helpful in:
- Transitioning to PM
- Your first year as a product manager
- Be a PM at startup
- Be a wartime PM - how to lead the team in challenging time
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Continuous Discovery Habits - Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value
Teresa Torres
Key Facts and Insights Continuous Discovery: The book paints a vivid picture of the continuous discovery process, arguing that it's not a linear or one-off process but an ongoing cycle of learning, adapting, and improving. Customer-Centric Approach: The author underscores the importance of a customer-centric approach, suggesting that understanding customer needs and behaviors should be at the heart of product development. Outcome-Over-Output Mindset: Torres emphasizes the importance of focusing on outcomes rather than outputs. It's not about how many features a product has, but how it impacts customers' lives. Collaborative Discovery: The book outlines the importance of collaborative discovery, promoting the idea of involving the whole team in the product discovery process. Opportunity Solution Tree: Torres introduced a unique tool called the Opportunity Solution Tree to visualize and prioritize opportunities for product improvements. Experimentation and Validation: The author stresses the necessity of experimentation and validation throughout the product development process. Interview Techniques: The book provides insightful interview techniques and tools to gain a deep understanding of customer needs. Building Empathy: Torres highlights the importance of building empathy with customers to create products that genuinely solve their problems. Product Trio: The book suggests that the most effective discovery teams are composed of a product manager, a designer, and a software engineer - referred to as the "product trio". Discovery Cadence: The book advocates for a weekly discovery cadence, where teams engage in regular discovery activities to keep learning and adapting. In-depth Summary and Analysis "Continuous Discovery Habits" is a comprehensive guide to modern product management. Teresa Torres, an experienced product discovery coach, brings to light the importance of continuous discovery in creating valuable products. Torres starts by challenging the traditional, linear model of product development. Instead, she proposes a cycle of continuous discovery where learning, adapting, and improving are continuous processes. As a professor who's been dealing with these topics for years, I find this perspective refreshing. It aligns well with the rapid pace of change in today's digital world, where products must constantly evolve to meet changing consumer needs. The book's emphasis on a customer-centric approach is another crucial insight. Torres argues that understanding customer needs and behaviors should be the cornerstone of product development. This aligns with concepts I've taught over the years, such as "user-centered design," where the user's needs, wants, and limitations are a focus at all stages within the design process. A key theme in the book is the outcome-over-output mindset. Torres points out that product teams often get caught up in delivering features (output) and lose sight of the desired outcomes. This resonates with the "Jobs to Be Done" theory, which argues that customers don't buy products or services; they "hire" them to do a job. Another key insight from the book is the role of collaboration in discovery. Torres argues that involving the whole team in the product discovery process can lead to better solutions. This concept parallels the "cross-functional team" approach popular in agile development practices. The Opportunity Solution Tree, a unique tool introduced in the book, is an effective way to visualize and prioritize opportunities for product improvements. As an academic tool, it encourages systematic thinking and can help teams avoid jumping to solutions before thoroughly exploring the problem space. Torres' emphasis on experimentation and validation is in line with the scientific method and lean startup principles. She suggests that before investing significant resources into building a product, teams should validate their assumptions through small, quick experiments. The book is also a valuable resource for learning interview techniques to gain a deep understanding of customer needs. Torres provides practical advice on how to ask effective questions and listen empathetically. Building on the idea of empathy, Torres underscores the importance of building empathy with customers. She argues that deep empathy leads to products that genuinely solve customer problems, a concept that aligns with the empathize stage in the Design Thinking process. The product trio concept proposed in the book is also noteworthy. Torres suggests that the most effective discovery teams are composed of a product manager, a designer, and a software engineer. This trio ensures a balance of business, design, and technical perspectives in the discovery process. Finally, Torres advocates for a weekly discovery cadence, where teams engage in regular discovery activities. This routine allows teams to continuously learn, adapt, and improve, keeping the spirit of continuous discovery alive. In conclusion, "Continuous Discovery Habits" provides a comprehensive framework for modern product discovery. It echoes many concepts I've taught over the years while introducing new tools and perspectives. By internalizing the book's key insights, teams can create products that create real value for customers and businesses alike.
ViewEscaping the Build Trap - How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value
Melissa Perri
Before diving into a comprehensive analysis of "Escaping the Build Trap," let's first outline some of the most important key facts or insights that the book offers: The significance of understanding the difference between building products and creating value. How to identify and escape the 'build trap' - a cycle of endless product development without strategic value. The role of effective product management in creating real value. The importance of aligning product strategy with business strategy. The necessity of building cross-functional teams for successful product management. The need for an outcome-oriented approach as opposed to an output-oriented approach. The critical role of feedback loops and learning in product management. The importance of product discovery in mitigating risks and maximising value. The concept of 'Product Kata' as a framework for continuous learning and improvement. The need for a cultural shift in organizations for successful product management. The role of leadership in fostering an environment for effective product management. An In-Depth Analysis and Summary "Escaping the Build Trap" by Melissa Perri is a seminal book that delves into the intricacies of product management while underscoring the importance of creating real value. In the realm of product development, organizations often fall into the 'build trap,' where they become incessantly obsessed with building features without understanding if they bring any strategic value to the business. This is the first lesson that Perri expounds on, highlighting the significance of understanding the difference between building products and creating value. The book then moves on to educate readers on how to identify if they are in the 'build trap' and offers a roadmap on how to escape it. This is a critical insight as it helps organizations identify a pervasive issue that can significantly hamper their growth and success. By aligning product strategy with business strategy, organizations can ensure that every product development effort contributes to overarching business goals. Another crucial facet that Perri discusses is the role of effective product management in creating real value. She emphasizes the need for product managers to transition from being 'feature brokers' to 'value creators.' This transition can be facilitated by building cross-functional teams that work collaboratively towards common objectives. Perri also highlights the need for an outcome-oriented approach as opposed to an output-oriented approach. While the latter focuses on the quantity of products or features developed, the former emphasizes the impact or value these products create for the customers and the business. This shift in perspective is essential for organizations to escape the 'build trap.' The book also underscores the critical role of feedback loops and learning in product management. By integrating feedback loops into the product development process, organizations can continuously learn and adapt based on user feedback and market trends. This is closely linked to the concept of 'Product Kata,' which Perri introduces as a framework for continuous learning and improvement. Furthermore, Perri emphasizes the importance of product discovery in mitigating risks and maximizing value. This involves validating ideas and assumptions before investing heavily in product development, thereby reducing the chances of failure. Finally, the book asserts that escaping the 'build trap' requires a cultural shift in organizations. This involves fostering a culture of learning, experimentation, and customer-centricity. The role of leadership is crucial in this regard as they need to create an environment that encourages these values. In conclusion, "Escaping the Build Trap" provides a comprehensive guide for organizations to break free from the cycle of endless product development and shift towards creating real value. By intertwining practical insights with theoretical concepts, Melissa Perri provides a valuable resource for anyone involved in product management.
ViewLean UX
Jeff Gothelf, Josh Seiden
Key Facts or Insights from "Lean UX" Lean UX is an approach to user experience design that is rooted in principles of Lean Start-up, Agile development, and Design Thinking. The book redefines the role of a designer in a Lean UX team as a problem solver rather than a deliverables creator. The core concept is to minimize waste in the design process through continuous experimentation and learning. One of the book's main points is the value of collaboration. It encourages collaboration between team members in different roles and departments. The authors emphasize the importance of validating assumptions through user research and feedback. Iterative design is another fundamental principle in Lean UX. It involves designing, testing, learning, and iterating on a product until it meets user needs. Lean UX discourages the use of heavy documentation and encourages working with a minimum viable product (MVP) to learn quickly and iterate based on feedback. Adopting Lean UX requires a cultural shift in organizations, which involves embracing failure as a learning opportunity. Lean UX involves measuring outcomes rather than outputs. This means focusing on the impact of design decisions on users rather than the number of features or updates released. The book provides practical strategies and techniques for implementing Lean UX in real-world projects, including design studios, collaboration, MVPs, and A/B testing. An In-depth Summary and Analysis of "Lean UX" "Lean UX" by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden is a compelling read for anyone interested in modern product design principles and practices. The authors merge the principles of Lean Start-up, Agile development, and Design Thinking to form a user-centric design methodology that encourages rapid experimentation and learning. The book asserts that the role of a designer in a Lean UX team is not just to create deliverables but also to solve problems. This role shift requires designers to think more about the impact of their design decisions on users and less about deliverables such as wireframes, mockups, or specifications. Minimizing waste in the design process is central to Lean UX. The methodology encourages the reduction of everything that doesn't provide value to users or the business, such as unnecessary documentation or features. Instead, it advocates for continuous experimentation and learning through iterative design and testing. A key insight from the book is the importance of collaboration. Lean UX encourages cross-functional collaboration, where team members in different roles and departments work closely together in the design process. This promotes diversity of thought and can lead to innovative solutions. The authors stress the need for validating assumptions, reminding readers that assumptions are merely educated guesses. They recommend validating these assumptions through user research and feedback, which can prevent wasteful investment in features or solutions that users don't want or need. Iterative design is another fundamental principle in Lean UX. The authors propose a "build-measure-learn" cycle, where a product is designed, tested, adjusted based on feedback, and then re-designed. This iterative process continues until the product meets user needs. The concept of working with a minimum viable product (MVP) is also central to Lean UX. An MVP is a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development. The authors advocate for MVPs because they allow teams to learn quickly and iterate based on feedback. Adopting Lean UX requires a cultural shift within organizations. This culture embraces failure as a learning opportunity and values team collaboration, user feedback, and continuous improvement. Measuring outcomes, not outputs, is another crucial aspect of Lean UX. This means focusing on how design decisions impact users instead of the number of features or updates released. This outcome-driven approach ensures that design efforts are aligned with user needs and business goals. Finally, the book provides practical strategies and techniques for implementing Lean UX in real-world projects. These include design studios, where teams collaboratively sketch and discuss design solutions; collaboration, which involves working together in cross-functional teams; MVPs, or minimum viable products, which allow teams to test and learn quickly; and A/B testing, a method of comparing two versions of a product or feature to see which performs better. In summary, "Lean UX" offers a comprehensive guide to a modern, user-centric design methodology that promotes rapid experimentation, continuous learning, and collaboration. By adopting Lean UX, teams can create products that truly meet user needs, minimize waste, and drive business success.
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