Pivot Product Hits | 16th September 2016
A roundup of the week’s best Product Management content: Why the Product business model is broken, signs your backlog is a Black Hole and do we even need Product Managers?
Do we even need Product Managers?
Basically yes, says Pablo Stanley.
In Summary: Pablo is a designer at Carbon Health and his illustrated post definitely ruffled a few feathers last week.
Taken at face value, it comes across as a familiar rant against interfering Product Managers who serve only to aggravate the hard-working engineers and designers who do the real work of developing product.
But, at the end, we discover that Pablo has a change of heart, realising the extent of the peripheral work necessary — organisational, administrative, managerial — to get the right product shipped at the right time.
Even the most self-organising Product Team acknowledges that magic doesn’t just happen; it requires someone sweating the small stuff. This is work that most practitioners hate and which most are happy to let Product Managers take on.
Facebook’s Chief Product Officer on the launch of Newsfeed
From zero to hero, says BackChannel’s Jessi Hempel.
In Summary: Chris Cox, Facebook’s CPO, maintains a low profile most of the time. Like Jonny Ive, he doesn’t need to explain himself so he rarely does. But in this rare(ish) interview he provides fascinating insight into what life was like for the Product Manager who launched one of the most famous features in history.
From shipping updates in the middle of the night (to manage server loads) and sleeping next to his computer to check error logs, Chris discusses the launch of Newsfeed, the rationale for doing so, why it flopped initially and how, by listening to customers and iterating fast, it was eventually embraced by what was then ‘only’ 10 million users.
Chris also sheds light on the role ‘weak ties’ play in the Newsfeed content — something not possible in the pre-FB era.
16 quick Product Management tips
Context is key, says Pendo.io’s John Cutler.
In Summary: Publishing almost exclusively to Medium, John is one of the most prolific writers of original Product Management content right now.
Experience is knowing what happens when theory meets practice and understanding what does and doesn’t work. This post ( a summary of an email conversation John had with his team) encapsulates great insight borne from experience.
John highlights why considering your product’s context is vital when evaluating advice and why experienced PMs understand the importance of co-ordinating different types of work in order to maintain the team’s productivity.
What makes sense on paper doesn’t always play out in real life — this is what makes an experienced PM such an asset to the team.
5 signs your Product Backlog is a Black Hole
Quantum theory from ProductPlan’s Andre Theus.
In Summary: In an ideal world, every item on your backlog would be easy to understand, would have earned its place and would be prioritised correctly. But, more often than not, backlogs are ever-expanding, disorganised lists that capture every thought anyone has ever had about your product.
Are you embarrassed if anyone sees your backlog? Do you avoid putting your best ideas on your backlog in case they disappear? Do some items have labels like ‘Super-mega-hyper urgent?’ Andre calls out 5 common signals that your backlog has become unmanageable and advises on the best ways to fix the small problems before they become big, black holes.
Effectively pruning and purging your backlog means you will be more productive, your backlog reviews will be more efficient and (ultimately) your product will be more successful.
The Product business model is broken!
It’s a platform smackdown, says Marshall van Alstyne.
In Summary: Platforms, says Marshall, beat products everytime. Products have features, platforms have communities. The biggest winners right now in tech (Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook) are all platforms.
Citing the examples of Microsoft vs (old) Apple, then Sony vs (new) Apple, then Facebook vs MySpace, Marshall outlines how outsourcing your supply chain to a network of developers can turbocharge your product’s reach in a way that a single team can’t compete with.
With decks like this one and books like this, the case for building platforms rather than ‘pipeline’ products has never been stronger.
5 signs you should be a Product Manager
Marks of awesome, by Aha!’s Donna Sawyer.
In Summary: Most Product Managers didn’t start as one, they found their calling by learning about themselves and understanding what their company needed. Often they have been part of a product process in another department and wanted to contribute more meaningfully.
By speaking to 5 ex-PMs at Aha!, Donna identifies the key signs you too should or should be a Product Manager.
Product Managers are dedicated to customers and are haunted until great solutions arise. We’ve all seen the amusing memes about what the business wants versus what the engineers build; a great Product Manager acts as the link in that translation process, with a patient understanding of both customer and engineering perspectives.
Above all, great Product Managers know how to influence without being able to command directly. The best PMs never impose their views on others, they convince them their opinions are one and the same.
7 ways data can drive your Product off a cliff
Yes to the mess, says Yanir Seroussi.
In Summary: Dealing with data is hard, every organisation is different and it takes time and commitment to get value out of data. Those who do know what they’re doing tend to talk a lot about uncertainty and how there are many things that are simply unknowable.
Accepting inaccuracy, incompleteness and your own ignorance is one of the most reliable ways to ensure you get real value working with data.
The worst thing you can do is hire an expensive expert to help you, then ignore their advice when their findings are hard to digest.
What shape is Traction?
Rob Go on recognising Product/Market fit.
In Summary: The search for Product/Market Fit may be challenging, but it’s not usually constrained to one curve. It’s more a series of pivots or restarts that occur on different curves, until you find yourself on the right one.
Founders and Product Managers tend to overestimate how good a product needs to be before you see meaningful traction. Bare bones products that do unique things can get adoption very quickly.
PMs also tend of underestimate how well things work when real traction occurs. It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking you’ve hit P/MF when you haven’t.
The most accurate visualisation is the S curve. Initially, the improvements in a product yield positive results, but the return on product quality start to increase exponentially when you actually reach P/MF.
Originally published at Pivot Product Hits.
