Product Habits - 68 bits of unsolicited advice

68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice

I'm a big fan of Kevin Kelly, and appreciated this wisdom-filled list of 68 lessons he's learned in his 68 years of life so far. There are so many gems in here—these are a few of my favorites: 

• Gratitude will unlock all other virtues.
• The more interested you are in others, the more interesting they will find you. To be interesting, be interested.
• 99% of success is just showing up.
• You are what you do. Not what you say, not what you believe, not how you vote, but what you spend your time on.

Are We Too Busy to Enjoy Life?

Anne-Laure Le Cunff makes an important point—especially for the moment we're all currently living in: Being busy is often a defense mechanism. When was the last time you paused to evaluate what "time well spent" means to you? When you look at your calendar from the past few weeks, does it reflect what and who matters most to you? It's a beautiful thing to be busy, so long as what you're doing is moving you in a direction you're proud of. Check in with yourself this week—there is no better time to make some changes if you ultimately decide you need to. 

The Barriers to Remote Work Are Falling Fast

Using the We Work Remotely community database, the FYI team analyzed over 11,000 job postings over the past six years to understand the ever-changing landscape of remote work. This is a fascinating look at what kinds of companies and roles are most likely to be remote, as well as best practices and tips for recruiting great remote workers. 

Communication in a Post COVID-19 World

There are three main types of conversations: goal-oriented, novelty, and serendipitous. We're able to have some of these well remotely, but we've still got some work to do on solutions that enable novel and serendipitous conversations. This is an interesting take on the "Zoom tax" we're all paying, along with some alternatives to make it easier to hang out and have the latter two types of conversations online. 

My Thoughts on Content Marketing

I just had a conversation for an episode on the Best in SaaS podcast. We covered a lot, from how to identify and write content that is aligned with your target audience, to how to approach blog content as a long-term initiative with the understanding that you'll need to put in a lot of time and effort before you see big results. You can listen to the full episode here.

The Nag Metric

I loved this read. It identifies a challenge I think a lot of us face: How do make your call-to-actions prominent and effective without nagging potential users? How do you find the balance between making your product value clear without regurgitating your agenda when people have already heard it but didn't make it a priority to sign up for what you have to offer? Here are some concrete steps you can take to quantify "naginess" and make better CTA tradeoffs.  

Twitter Is Hard in 2020

It's a weird time to think about how best to use social media these days, and I've certainly been feeling that way myself. One of the platforms I'm most active on is Twitter, but it can be difficult to know exactly how to grow an audience and have meaningful engagement on that platform. If you're wondering how to better utilize Twitter, this thread offers some helpful advice. 

Good Writing Is a Business Advantage

"Bad writing is bad thinking." I couldn't have said it better myself. In a country where business and growth are changing rapidly, it's more important than ever to find ways to differentiate what you're selling. Sometimes, it all comes down to how you tell your brand story. Do you consider writing a business advantage?