Andrew Marks

Another one for the Product Managers out there: What topics do *you* want to read about? What questions are you asking your peers lately about PM work or adjacent topics? I'd love to get an idea of what would resonate with you so I can pitch new pieces and make it happen, so any thoughts are welcome!

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Rx? Plan-->Do-->Study-->Adjust/Act Structure your work into experiments that you can validate with data to determine if you're making the right bets. #systemsthinking #leadership #deming

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Check out our latest Five to Thrive™ for product engagement! Discover five actionable strategies to create captivating and habit-forming products. 1. Define clear behavioral metrics and goals to track and optimize engagement. 2. Incorporate behavioral science principles into your product design process. 3. Leverage personalization to create tailored and engaging customer experiences. 4. Foster a culture of experimentation and iteration to drive continuous improvement. 5. Collaborate with behavioral science experts to stay at the forefront of the field. Read our full article to learn how to apply these powerful strategies and create products that deeply resonate with your customers. #FiveToThrive #ProductEngagement #BehavioralScience #UserExperience #ProductDevelopment Check out the Behavioral Economics Bootcamp from Irrational Labs to integrate proven methods and frameworks to increase customer engagement and behavior change through product design. Innovate & Thrive subscribers receive a special discount: Insert code "DrJack" for $50 off!

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I had the opportunity to join a webinar today in which Teresa Torres discussed the common mistakes that product teams make when trying to construct and use Opportunity Solution Trees (OST). My biggest takeaways: -As amazing as generative AI can be, DO NOT let AI (or any automated process) do this work for you. The work IS the point, the document is not. -This is a method of using samplings of customers in order to make decisions - this is not quantitative data. Recognize the value of each and do not confuse the two! -The OST is a living document - return to it after every 3-4 customer interviews (you should be doing at least 1 customer interview per week) and adjust based on what real customers are telling you. -Oh yeah - and if you are not conducting customer interviews on a regular basis, you are not ready to start using an OST. Thank you for this webinar - it was great!

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A go-to-market strategy is a comprehensive plan to engage and acquire customers. Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/ASttr #launchlikeaboss #Productmktg #Prodmgmt #productlaunch #GoToMarketStrategy #productmanagement #prodmgmt #productmarketing

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Let’s talk about product roadmaps. 🚀 A product roadmap is a visual representation of the strategic plan for a product. It outlines the timeline, key features, and milestones for the product's development and release. Product managers use roadmaps to communicate their vision, align teams, and prioritize work. They help stakeholders understand the product's direction and make informed decisions. Roadmaps can include information about upcoming features, enhancements, bug fixes, and other initiatives. Product managers prioritize features on the roadmap based on various factors, such as customer feedback, market trends, business goals, and technical feasibility. They aim to deliver value to customers while keeping in mind resource constraints and strategic objectives. When it comes to prioritizing features on a roadmap, product managers follow several best practices: 1. Customer Focus: Prioritize features that address the most critical needs and pain points of your customers. Consider their feedback, requests, and usage data to determine what will provide the most value. 2. Strategic Alignment: Align feature prioritization with your company's strategic goals and product vision. Ensure that the chosen features support the overall direction of the product and contribute to its long-term success. 3. Impact vs. Effort: Evaluate the potential impact and effort required for each feature. Focus on high-impact features that can deliver significant value to users while considering the resources and time needed for implementation. 4. Data-Driven Decision Making: Use data and analytics to inform your prioritization decisions. Analyze metrics like user engagement, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction to identify features that can drive meaningful outcomes. 5. User Research: Conduct user research to gain insights into user behavior, preferences, and needs. This can help you prioritize features that align with user expectations and deliver a great user experience. 6. Iterative Approach: Break down larger features into smaller, manageable chunks. Prioritize iterations that provide incremental value to users and allow for faster feedback loops and learning. 7. Collaboration and Communication: Involve cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and customers in the prioritization process. Gather input and perspectives from different sources to ensure a well-rounded decision-making process. Remember, these best practices may vary depending on the specific context and needs of your product and organization. It's important to adapt and refine your prioritization approach over time. #3MTT #3MTTLEARNINGCOMMUNITY #productroadmap #productmanager #userresearch

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If you've ever been asked why a company needs Product Management 👀 . Come join this ProdPad webinar and learn from Matt LeMay how to prove the ROI of your product work, the product team and the discipline as a whole. Useful knowledge to have these days - whether you're defending your function, fighting for more resource, or just want to feel good about yourself ☺️ Register here 👉 https://hubs.ly/Q02sws6M0  #productmanagement #productmanager

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Hey LinkedIn - product pros are giving away expertise for free. But you have to know who to follow. If you’re at all interested in upleveling your product management chops, the following folks are worth a follow: John Cutler - your favorite product person’s favorite product person Leah Tharin - some of the freshest PLG takes from someone who’s walked the walk Dave Boyce - your favorite #RevOps pro’s PLG thought leader Nauras Jamal - your soon-to-be favorite product thought leader, with an emphasis on leadership I remain convinced that #ProductManagement chops are the best-kept secret for accelerating RevOps impact regardless of context. It forces rigor in business analysis and creates commercial accountability. 🤔 Who are your favorite follows in your own profession? #FollowFriday #brand30

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I am increasingly worried that instead of addressing systemic challenges we're choosing to direct our ire on personas (e.g., zero-interest PMs). I understand Casey Winters's statement (and have spoken with him about it), and I understand Ed Biden's sentiment. But... Someone hired those PMs. Someone funded those companies. Someone set expectations for those PMs. A leader benefitted (or didn't from their work). Someone had the job to mentor those PMs, and share business context and the strategy (assuming one even existed). Zero-interest rates impacted their companies, and may have in turn set expectations for their roles. This makes it about the PMs vs. the perverse incentives in companies during zero interest rates. Also creeping into these descriptions are character judgements on individuals ("Don't feel accountable"). Do we really believe there is some epidemic of people who don't feel accountable vs. environments where accountability is increasingly unsafe, unhealthy, or otherwise? These statements are giving a get-out-of-jail card to people presiding over (and shaping) these environments.

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A common mistake some product managers make is not sharing research findings widely enough. If you don't think this is a problem in your org, see if marketing has their own personas, competitive battle cards, or surveys. Odds are... with very little digging, you will find duplicated efforts. When you gather customer insights or complete any research, consider other product teams or functions that could benefit from what you've learned. By freely distributing your insights, you encourage others to do the same, creating a mutually beneficial environment where everyone can access valuable information. Be a generous PM and share your insights! Like & Follow for daily PM content every morning.

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60-second course to write a solid Product Requirements Doc (PRD) as a product manager. Start with the following sections: - Users - User Story - Concept mocks - Open Questions - Goals & Success Metrics - Roadmap & Go-to-market plan - Problem & Opportunity Statement Now, we will add more depth to the doc: - Why is this urgent now? - Why are we the best team to solve this? - What guiding principles are we following? - What user insights support our approach? - What part of the problem should we tackle? - What key decisions and trade-offs are we making? - What risks do we face, and how will we handle them? - What are our assumptions? What needs to be true for this to succeed? While you add depth, make sure you: 1. Clarify your thinking as you write. Use the process to refine your ideas and make sure everything is clear. 2. Keep it simple and easy to understand. Use diagrams, charts, and bullet points, and move details to an appendix. Highlight areas that need feedback or alignment. 3. Use the document as a central point for feedback. The goal is to do something other than hand over a perfect plan but to improve it. The value lies in the process of writing and collaborating on the document. 4. Focus on the purpose of each section rather than on finding the perfect template. Understand how each part can drive desired outcomes for your product. 5. Aim for outcomes, not just output. Don’t spend too much time perfecting the PRD. Use it to guide the team toward a concrete outcome, not just to produce a spec. – P.S What would you add here from your experience?

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By far the dumbest thing I many product teams doing is discovery with zero follow through. These are teams that know they should be doing discovery, so they speak to customers, they generate insights, the whole song and dance. And then, the team just continues to build the exact same thing, regardless of the outcome. But if you’ve done research with customers, you’ve already done the hard part. To ignore that feedback and just carry as if it didn’t matter makes the discovery process pointless. It’s not acceptance testing, it’s not just to catch bugs and see if there are any ‘critical’ problems. It’s for learning about what your customers really value, and iterating your product to help get closer and closer to that value over time. Good discovery guides product development in the right direction. Bad discovery has little to no impact on the product, and worse, it diminishing the value of discovery to everyone else in the business. What’s the dumbest behaviour you’ve come across in product?

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I'm loving this debate between John Cutler and Ed Biden - both are thinkers and leaders I deeply admire. Zero-interest PMs were hired by zero-interest Product Leaders, who were probably hired by zero-interest CEOs. It's turtling all the way up 🐢 Are they all incompetent? Nah, they are just a product of the environment. It would've been foolish to not take advantage of the zero-interest capital. The key question is whether these people - at all levels from the CEO to the PMs - are capable of adapting to the current environment where profit margin and sustainability are key. Everyone needs to 'sober up' after years of being drunk and high with cash. Zero-interest leaders focus on acquisition at all costs. Sober leaders focus on bringing solid value that leads to retention and sustainable growth. Zero-interest leaders double, triple, even quadruple the size of their team. Sober leaders realize that team size != productivity, that spending hours in alignment meetings for a small feature isn't any fun. Running lean is the way forward. Zero-interest leaders build or even acquire aggressively, trying to capture as much market as possible. Sober leaders are thoughtful in choosing just 1 or 2 things to do. Zero-interest leaders care about framework and rules "This is the only correct way to do product." Sober leaders care about results, knowing that those frameworks and rules are merely vehicles to achieve results. Ultimately, sober leaders are accountable for business performance, not just acting like consultants in suits talking big words and making pretty slides. It's not easy to sober up - but it's adapt or die.

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“If there is no clear owner, then it’s the PM that owns it.” I sat down with Esteban Contreras from #ProductState to discuss Product leadership, or Prioritization process at Productboard. We also dug into the concept of Extreme Ownership, which is a principle I firmly believe in. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eVN47mWn #productmanagement #productexcellence #ownership

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Product managers: Don't prioritize certifications and technical skills over developing emotional authority. Technical skills are important, no doubt. But they don’t compensate for the ability to connect and communicate effectively with stakeholders. Overcoming this misconception can significantly enhance your effectiveness and recognition as a leader. Prioritizing emotional authority means: * Cultivating empathy - deciphering non-verbal cues and understanding what is left unsaid. * Transforming your ability to inspire with your vision and story * Connecting with everyone at the level of their needs Perfection in technical skills can't replace the power of a leader who listens, understands, and meets his team where they are. Transform your management style. Become a leader who values emotional authority just as much as technical prowess. Your team will not just work for you; they will work with you, bringing remarkable results and growth.

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How important is industry experience for a Product Manager? PM Hive hosted a great panel discussion addressing this common question for both new and experienced PMs. Here are some key takeaways: 1. PM Fundamentals First: Focus on building a strong foundation in product management early in your career. Key areas include being comfortable talking to your customers, analysing customer feedback, prioritizing the requirements, learning the art of writing product documents, execution, etc. These skills will be valuable across industries. 2. Industry Experience vs. PM Skills: While industry experience can be beneficial in some sectors, it's not always the deciding factor. Hiring managers consider your entire profile, including your track record of success in previous roles. Strong transferable PM skills are crucial, especially for early-career PMs. 3. Passion for Industry: If you are passionate about a specific industry, pursue it! For instance, if you have a lifelong love for video games, you would be a great fit in a gaming company. For more insights, check out Kasey Fu's article on the topic: https://lnkd.in/gq8PUnzv Kudos to all the panelists, volunteers and the PM Hive team for organizing this event. It was a fantastic opportunity for networking and meeting fellow PMs!

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😂 A++++ for Ramli "RJ" John's taste in video But I ALSO love when product and marketing get together. I'll never forget working with a PM from one of my clients and after presenting our research database and the problems/opportunities we identified on the marketing-side, he was like "Asia - you're a product thinker. You're a product person. Did you know that?" Spoilers: I did NOT know that. Then he walked me through what they were scoping out on the product side and he was like "We've identified the same things, but slightly different lens. Here's how they translate into the features we're thinking about." But once I connected my process to how he did his work, it made so much sense how our teams ultimately drove towards the same goal. We just executed on different parts of it. It was so cool.

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Product managers...if designers and engineers aren't *actively* pushing back and challenging you, then you're likely doing something wrong. What? Why? You may not be sharing enough context to give people the confidence to push back. Lots of ideas seem good until you have a deep sense of the business context, etc. You may be overlooking just how busy those other roles are, and how you may need to actively foster situations where there's time for thinking and feedback. This extends to actively working with coworker managers to ease the burden a bit so your team members can think about anything other than pressing tasks. You may have replied to past pushback with frustration and impatience. People have long memories. You may make it too easy to just go along with whatever you say. This is especially true when you've built trust over a long period. People trust your judgement even in situations where they shouldn't (nor should you). Sometimes, PMs, design, and eng basically broker parallel roadmaps ("well you get your things, and then I get my things"). Making good global decisions takes back seat to "the deal". So... These people are about to invest their heart and soul in something—where's the evidence, the business case, etc.? Why this not that? Be worried if you're not hearing anything. And don't immediately assume it is because people aren't interested or motivated to bring things up.

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