What I’ve Been Up To (…a Book)

Apologies for slowing down my writing output! I’ve been busy the last couple months co-writing, editing, and producing a book on the North Star Framework for Amplitude Analytics (my day job). Luckily the book heavily overlaps most of my interests, and I was even able to include some prior drawings and explainer videos. I wouldn’t say it is the penultimate “John Book”, but it was a huge learning experience and I loved working with a team on something (not to mention a big group of 50+ reviewers).

What is the North Star Framework? Nothing groundbreaking…but surprisingly effective (especially at triggering the right conversations).

The North Star Framework is a model for managing products by identifying a single, crucial metric (the North Star Metric) that, according to Sean Ellis, “best captures the core value that your product delivers to [its] customers.”

You might be interested if you want:

• A greater sense of impact and coherence in your work.
• A more focused, less reactive way to work.
• To address customer problems and opportunities without just churning out more features.
• Context and inspiration to improve your current tools and metrics, like OKRs, roadmaps, and KPIs.
• More autonomy, with more flexibility to solve problems, while ensuring your work aligns with the bigger picture.
• To be data-informed instead of letting the data drive you in circles.
• Shared language and common understanding about vision, strategy, and value.

Let me know what you think, and I hope to be back writing shorter blog posts soon!