📈 The data edition: required mindsets, metrics & cautionary tales / PM Snacks #24
1️⃣ Running a Data Driven Product Organization
Jul 2018 • 16 min read • #datasense
Reading this paper you will learn why the very best product managers at Google are wrong 67% of the time, and why it’s not a big issue. Notably, some very good lines on these topics:
1/ Numbers are often wrong, but it’s okay if they are wrong in a consistent way. You want to spot trends, not to be precise
2/ You’ll understand probabilities and how it affects multivariate tests
3/ Discover main machine learning algorithms and why you should pay attention to overfitting
2️⃣ Are You Data-driven, Data-informed or Data-inspired?
Mar 2019 • 7 min read • #mindset
I usually promote the data informed mindset (like in edition 7). But thanks to this article I could finally overcome this false dichotomy… Depending on the question you want to answer, you can navigate between data driven, informed & inspired mindset.
3️⃣ Data Scientists and Feature Teams: a brother-sister-like relationship
Feb 2019 • 8 min read • #process
Every company I know struggled with this but Etienne shared a great metaphor to help us: siblings may meet on a regular basis to discuss life, eat bananas or to go skiing… But they would not share the same room anymore for a year. Meaning, embedding data scientists in feature teams should not be your go-to solution to foster collaboration:
1/ The temporality of data science is mostly different from delivering features
2/ Alternating between intense synchronous periods & async distant-ish ones is better
On top of modelling, the author is also a Productverse reader 😉👋
4️⃣ SaaS Metrics for Customer Success and Product Management
Nov 2017 • 15 min read • #datainformed
I’ve been using this article since a while (notably at comet) to brainstorm the most important metrics my team & I could follow. It is an exhaustive overview and explanation of the usual suspects, pick only the ones that are required for your business. I would maybe add one more important indicator to understand your most engaged users: the Power Users Curve. If you are looking for a very minimalist take on analytics, I would definitely keep an eye on june.so (I love their manifesto, metrics selection & design but I have not tested it — yet).
5️⃣ Tobi Lütke
Dec 2020 • 40 min read • #longform #learning
Changing the topic, I would recommend one of my favorite literature genre (learning wise): biography. You get to understand people perspectives, frameworks and wisdoms. The Observer offers condensed versions. This one is on Shopify’s CEO (133B$ market cap), an original thinker. Some of my key takeaways are:
1/ the non binary concept of trust battery (such an accurate way to frame it)
2/ the importance of coaching & vulnerability (seeking a coach? Let’s chat 👋)
3/ games as a condensed learning practice
4/ jazz teaching you the open mindset to build great products (on the same topic may I recommend Soul, the last Pixar? If you want to listen to a review, I happen to have a podcast in french on tv shows & movies. Just sayin’)
I’m Olivier Courtois, a product maker for 10y+, currently freelance, coach & Startup advisor, former VP Product comet & Product Director ManoMano.
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