Product Collective - ⁉ Product known unknowns

Product Discovery for New Products

A big part of Product Management is dealing with unknowns. When you work on an existing product, those unknowns seem somewhat manageable because you have information on how customers and users currently react to your product. When you work on a new product, those unknowns grow considerably because you don’t have history to rely on. Fortunately, the product discovery techniques that work on existing products can also help you uncover unknowns for new products.

How to conduct product discovery in 4 Steps. You’ve got an idea for a new project or would like to make improvements to an existing solution. How can you be sure your ideas are worth the effort? While nothing can guarantee 100% success, product discovery maximizes your chances of producing a commercially successful product. No guessing or underestimating risks: align every decision with customer demand. The folks at RubyGarage explain the product discovery process and how they run product discovery to get their clients development-ready.
(via @rubygarage)

How does continuous discovery come together for a new product? Incremental continuous discovery makes total sense for established products. But how do you map the opportunity space and do continuous discovery for a new product that’s still being conceptualized? Andrew Skotzko explains how to think about executing on a continuous discovery mindset when you’re at the 0-1 stage of a product.
(via @askotzko)

Continues below...

Product Management Communities

One of the best aspects of the wider product management world is that practitioners are generally willing to share their experiences and answer each other’s questions.

To support that knowledge sharing, several product management communities have sprung up to provide a platform on which product people can meet, share ideas, ask questions, and even find their next job.

Return to the office... or else?

There are a lot of new trends that have taken place over the last 2+ years of these COVID-times. Video dating, nomadic lifestyles, and a reconnection with nature through hiking and biking are a few that come to mind. But one other trend – the acceptance of a remote-first work culture – is one that Elon Musk seems to take issue with. His directive to Tesla employees? Return to the office – or else you’re out. 

Musk emailed all Tesla employees letting them know that it’s now a requirement for them to be physically in the office at least 40 hours each week. So if you want to work remotely, it has to be on your own time. This – coupled with Musk’s “super bad feeling” about the economy – may mean that there will be a lot of turnover coming up at Tesla. 

But is this really where we’re at? Have we learned anything over the last couple of years? For many, the thought that work only happens at the office is an antiquated one. That was Atlassian boss Scott Farquhar’s take, anyway. Brian Chesky contended that the past two years of Airbnb’s most remote work-life have been the most productive ones in the history of the company.

So which of these tech leaders are right?

Can great work only happen in the office? Or is it possible to be incredibly productive with a remote-first work culture?

And what would you do if your company gave you this ultimatum? Would you dust off your business casual attire and make your return? Or would you start looking elsewhere?

I guess in Tesla’s case, they’re about to find out what their workforce thinks. 

Would you like to join us (for free!) at INDUSTRY Virtual, the premier online Product Management conference, on October 18th? Andrew Chen (Author of The Cold Start Problem and Partner at Andreesen Horowitz), Justin Bauer (SVP, Product at Amplitude), Michelle Parsons (Chief Product Officer at Hinge), and many others will be speaking.

There will also be plenty of time for learning and networking with 1000s of other product people from around the world.

There's a completely free ticket available to you, but these are limited to the first 500 registrants - so make sure you register today (it will take less than 2 minutes).

INDUSTRY: The Product Conference is back with a bang! The in-person edition returns on September 19-21 in Cleveland, Ohio, reviving the top independent product conference anywhere. Build your network and find inspiration as you'll learn from some of the best -- like David Cancel (CEO at Drift), Sarah Butterfass (CPO at FanDuel), and even Mark Duplass (award-winning filmmaker and co-star of Apple TV's The Morning Show).

How continuous discovery works (and doesn’t) in early stage startups. Teresa Torres frequently gets asked, “I get that the continuous discovery habits framework works well for mature products, but does it work for early stage startups?” Teresa used continuous discovery habits at early stage startups and explains how to use continuous discovery to figure out what to build.
(via @ttorres)

Product discovery using the 3W3 Framework. Product Managers must spend most of their time evaluating which problems are valuable to solve, then framing the problems well, and validating if the product solutions to these problems are usable, useful, and viable. Sandeep Potdar introduces the 3W3 Product Discovery Framework as a way to answer the 3W’s — Why, Who, & What of the Problem Space, 3 levels deep. The framework creates structure, logically organizes and frames the problem space so you can mitigate value risks and business viability risks — thus reducing the likelihood of our product solution being a failure.
(via @SandeepPotdar)

Product discovery interviews. Understanding a user’s problems and delivering a valuable solution is what Product Management and User Experience are all about. Kyle Evans explains that product discovery interviews help you understand your users and their problems. These types of interviews are broader, more open-ended. They help you understand users, define problems, and generate (or dispel) ideas. 
(via @kylelarryevans)

Bridging the Gap Between Your Product and Customers

You have an awesome idea to build for your product, but how are you communicating that to your customers? And do your users even like that idea? Join us to learn why you should engage with your users, and how you can do it *strategically*. In this session, Lisa and Peer will specifically be discussing the following topics:

• Building a product your users actually want by validating your ideas
• Gaining valuable insights from engaged customers
• Closing the feedback loop
• How you can do all that in the most effective way

Plus, you'll have a chance to ask questions of your own!

Radical Candor

Since you learned to talk you’ve likely been told some version of, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Then you become the boss and the very thing you’ve been taught not to do since you were 18 months old is suddenly your job. But in order to succeed, you have to Challenge Directly. Challenging people is often the best way to show you care. It does not mean that whatever you think is the truth; it means you share your (humble) opinions directly.

In this discussion, we'll dig into this conundrum — and you'll be able to ask questions of your own as well.

1. A newsletter each and every Friday centered around an important product topic, like roadmapping, strategy, and analytics.
2. Access to a thriving Slack group with thousands of others to share advice, tips and get feedback on your work.
3. Plus, invitations to exclusive video chats, special member privileges at the conferences we hold in the United States and Europe, and more!