Insights and advice from the deeper layers of product leadership
Product leadership is about finding the right business opportunities to accomplish with the right product. When looking for the next one, how can you tell if it’s right? And what if there is another, better one, just around the corner? It might be hard to decide, but this quick guide will help you move forward.
Product-market fit in many ways is like the holy grail for startups. It’s hard to find, and the promise is that once you do your (startup’s) life will change forever. One of the key contributors to finding it is focus. You need to keep your eyes on the ball. But how to do that when there are a dozen pairs of eyes? This method will help you make sure everyone is working against the same goal.
Measuring the performance of product managers is a real challenge for a number of reasons. When planning the product managers’ goals, this challenge can translate into taking the wrong direction altogether. Here is a new way to look at product management goals, and make them a useful tool for both you and your team.
Every roadmap is a plan, but a plan is worth nothing if not executed upon. Once the essence of your roadmap is ready, it’s time to put timelines on it. But how can you commit to results that would happen in the future? Honestly, you can’t. But there is still a lot you can do to help everyone understand where you are going and how.
As product leaders we work with so many stakeholders, and we strive to include them in the product definition processes. While generally this is the right thing to do, there is one line that you don’t want to cross: letting them do the product work instead of you, or expecting them to contribute more than they can. Here is a quick guide to finding the right balance.
Setting goals is hard. You always need to balance between what you really (really) want, or even need, and what reality can support. And being super ambitious isn’t always the answer. Here is a fresh approach to setting goals that will keep you rooted both in reality and in vision.
Defining the right product metrics is a common challenge for product leaders. There are many things to consider at the strategic level, but the details also matter a lot. Here is a quick method to make sure what you measure truly answers the important questions.
Trust, as in almost anything in relationships, is built with honest communication. Unfortunately, many times it’s not as easy as it sounds, and it’s hard to be honest even with ourselves. Here are a few simple guidelines to boost your courage and help you make these not always easy conversations.
As product leaders, we are entirely dependent on others to be able to deliver results. We need them to follow our guidance, and that cannot happen without trust. Here are a few guidelines to help you re-establish trust when you feel you are in a constant uphill battle.
Have you ever had the feeling that your product managers are fully aligned with your priorities, but then life happened? Even when all the priorities are well understood, following them strictly is not easy. Here are a few ways to help your product managers succeed in this tricky area, for everyone’s sake.
The fact that your potential customers have a problem, doesn’t mean that they are willing to do what it takes to solve it. Here are three reasons why this happens, and what you can do to overcome each of them.
Roadmap discussions often become about features and timelines. While this is an important step in the process, it shouldn’t be the first. As a product leader, you need to make sure you facilitate the right discussions – both with your product managers and with your management team. Here is the interim level that many product leaders miss.
