Product Habits - Quieting the inner critic

Quieting the Inner Critic

My FYI co-founder Marie recently joined WooCommerce and Conversio founder Adii Pienaar for an episode of his podcast, Life Profitability. Marie has had a wild career journey, and has taught me so much ever since we started working together. One of my favorite snippets from this podcast is when she talks about the challenges of making a big career or life change. She says, "The key thing is to almost go through and decide what's a story and what's reality...most of the things that slow us down or stop us are in fact stories that our minds are creating to protect us." I couldn't agree more. Listen to the full episode for more gems on enacting change, taking risks, and quieting your inner critic. 

Lessons from Jeff Bezos on Product Development

I really enjoyed this tweetstorm from Dan Rose, who worked closely with Jeff Bezos on the Kindle launch back in 2004. I think the reminders to cannibalize yourself and set "unrealistic" expectations are incredibly important for anyone looking to grow a sustainable, innovative business in today's ever-changing world. The big takeaway here: If you have a clear vision, trust yourself and ignore the naysayers and doubters (...even if some of them are educated people you respect and admire!). Great innovation comes from following strong instincts backed by thoughtful research. Don't let anyone talk you out of your vision. 

How Instagram Secretly Started Competing With Pinterest

In late 2016, Instagram quietly launched a new feature: the ability to save posts. Within four months, almost half of all users saved at least one post. Collections have become a wildly popular feature on the app ever since, and it's hard to imagine Instagram without it now. I think many founders would benefit from taking a page out of Instagram's playbook and testing new features with what I like to call "Step One." Big feature and product changes take time and multiple iterations, so don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to build the whole thing out right away. Instead, take the best "Step One" you can, and see where it leads you. 

The Best List of PM Templates and Frameworks

One of my favorite newsletters comes from Lenny Rachitsky. Paid subscribers get some juicy content, but he also does a free edition each month. In his latest one, he's sharing his list of favorite templates and frameworks for PMs. This is a link you'll want to bookmark and come back to over and over again if you work in a product management or engineering role. 

The Complete Guide to Cold Calling

Most SaaS startups have to do cold calling at some point. While it's not always the most fun or comfortable thing in the world, there are things you and your team can do to make the cold calling process more easeful and effective. This is a great guide packed with specific, genuinely useful advice from people who make a living off of high quality cold calling—from how to find phone numbers of your prospects, to how to consistently improve your performance and overcome the fear of rejection. Check out the full guide here. 

The Rogue Wave of Enterprise SaaS

Around $5-20 million ARR, high-growth enterprise SaaS companies inevitably hit a wall emotionally and operationally. A lot of small things that worked early on start to pile up and become roadblocks for continued growth. Only a small percentage of companies get big enough to experience this milestone. But, if big growth is your ultimate goal, this is worth reading so you can be prepared for the "rogue wave" that is coming down the road.

Chat Bubble Blindness

This is the kind of accidental testing that often leads us to some of our most successful experiments. Custom Google Map company Atlist shares how removing a live chat bubble led to more conversations with users. Here is the small tweak the team made that led to a 62% increase in new chat conversations. This is a good reminder that we should always be experimenting with even small aspects of our UX—the little things can sometimes lead to big changes in user behavior. 

Your Calendar Should Be an Allow List, Not a Block List

Almost everyone I know uses their calendars as a "block list," giving them the ability to request time that isn't already spoken for. I agree wholeheartedly that our calendars should be an "allow list" instead. In other words, they should reflect when we want to make ourselves available for meetings. This would allow people to devote more time to deep work and keep meetings to a minimum so they aren't sucking up the whole day. Do you agree?