Product Collective - 🏆Best product posts of the year

Favorite Posts of the Year - Part 1

As we wrap up another year, we wanted to share some posts that resonated with us this year. These posts may have come out after we covered that particular topic, or didn’t fit neatly in a topic but we thought you’d still be interested. So please enjoy this end-of-year post potpourri.

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Getting developers’ buy-in on build vs. buy with Rich Mironov
When we’re building software products, we’re faced with “build versus buy” decisions. Should we license a commercial product or platform to handle part of our own application, or build a capability ourselves? Product managers and developers can have dramatically different points of view. Check out this on-demand webinar with Rich Mironov, author of The Art of Product Management, as he digs into the different viewpoints of a PM and developer on build vs. buy and suggests a strategic approach to find some middle ground.

Selling problems (and then solutions) instead of philosophy. Internal company issues can be just as complex or misunderstood as external customer problems. Getting agreement about solutions usually requires us to agree first on underlying problems. Rich Mironov explains that when framing up core product/development issues for less-technical audiences, we need to focus first on root causes and then on tangible business outcomes.

(via @RichMironov)

It’s time to fight for a dual product management career path. Ken Norton points out that product management has matured and is long overdue for the same treatment that our technical colleagues have received for decades. Most importantly, one’s base compensation, bonus, and equity should be comparable no matter which path one follows. Nobody should have to sacrifice earning potential if they forgo the people management track to focus on product leadership. And most importantly, no one should ever feel like they have to give up doing what they love in order to advance in their career.

(via @kennethn)

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If you’ve been paying attention to the tech world lately -- you’re probably already sick about hearing about DAO’s, ICO’s, Crypto, and Web3. Buttttt… in the off-chance that you’ve not been paying much attention (because you’re heads-down on your work and enjoy spending time with your family like a normal person, for instance)... well, things have gotten really weird. 

You probably already heard murmurs that there was a group of people that formed last month to form a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) and buy a copy of the US Constitution. They crowdfunded $47 Million in just a couple of weeks. And then they missed out -- losing in a bidding war to “the bad guy” from the Gamestop / Robinhood stock stoppage that happened earlier this year. No, this isn’t an episode of Billions. This is real life.

But did you know that after the group lost out -- the $PEOPLE coin that they formed actually exploded in value? If you contributed, say $100, to the effort to buy the constitution and forgot to get your refund… no worries! In the secondary market, the $PEOPLE coins that your contribution was converted into would have been worth as much as $4,000 because you now own one of America’s newest and hottest memecoins. 

There’s something amazing about these DAO’s, isn’t there?

Of course… another DAO-based project, BadgerDAO, did just have $120 Million hacked out of their accounts. It seems like some of these Web3 projects are still living in Web1 worlds when it comes to security. 

Want to dig into all of this stuff more? We just released a two-part episode on Rocketship.FM on DAO’s and Web3 -- and then specifically on the ConstitutionDAO story. You can listen to those while you’re putting on your virtual reality goggles and stepping into the metaverse.

Okay, my 2021 tech bingo card is filled up now. You can enjoy your weekend!

Discovery hand-offs kill momentum: Here’s what to do instead.  Good discovery establishes a direct communication line between the team who is building the product and the customer. There’s only one problem. Products aren’t built by trios. We typically have additional engineers, sometimes a second designer, maybe a product owner, a scrum master, and any number of additional roles depending on the organizational context. Teresa Torres explains how to avoid hands-offs between the product trio who is leading discovery and the rest of the team.

(via @ttorres)

Big disrupted enterprises vs. "The Best".  John Cutler is tired of people putting Silicon Valley on a pedestal. There’s a lot to learn from Silicon Valley AND a lot to avoid. John suggests we need more empathy. Less blame and shame. And more appreciation for the hard work people are doing … especially in government, healthcare, and at disrupted mission-driven companies.

(via @johncutlefish)

2021 Financial and operating benchmarks report. OpenView Venture Partners recently released their 2021 Financial & Operating Benchmarks Report. This report was designed specifically to enable operators to compare themselves against their direct peers across the metrics that matter most in a SaaS business.

(via @OpenViewVenture)

Business intelligence tools, analytics, and other dashboard-driven products are meant to make us, as product people — as well as our end users — smarter. But when the UX is more of an afterthought, just how "intelligent" is business intelligence? Are you certain that you've invested in your product's analytics to keep up with customer demand?

In this session, you'll learn from Laura Klein, acclaimed Author (Build Better Products, Lean UX for Startups), Consultant, and UX Manager for Indeed.com. Product Collective's very own Mike Belsito will interview Laura to answer questions like:

• Why should the UX of our dashboards and reporting tools even matter to product people?
• How can we understand what works — and what doesn't?
• What are steps we can take to ensure that we "futureproof" the UX of our Dashboards and Business Intelligence tools that we're using or are having our end-users experience?

You'll have an opportunity to ask questions of your own, so register today for this free, interactive live webinar experience.

Product people aren't perfect. Even the best of the best are bound to make mistakes. Throughout 2021, the Co-Founders of Product Collective have interviewed dozens of product leaders through its video chat series, podcast, conferences, and more. In every session — no matter what the topic of the interview is — the most common question asked is, "What mistakes have you seen?"

In this session, we'll dive into some of the mistakes that Product Leaders have noticed happening time and time again — and what we can do to prevent them from happening in the first place.

• Fullscript
• Anywhere

• The Home Depot
• Atlanta, GA, USA

• The Home Depot
• Atlanta, GA, USA

• The Home Depot
• Anywhere

• The Home Depot
• Anywhere

• The Home Depot
• Anywhere