Product portfolio management is the ultimate balancing act for product leaders. Guiding multiple products toward a shared vision while empowering teams to innovate and adapt is challenging enough, and staying strategically aligned without drowning in the details adds another layer of complexity
This week, we’re diving into frameworks, strategies, templates, and success stories to help you tackle these challenges clearly and confidently.
🙌 Product Portfolio Excellence: Templates and Best Practices from Petra Wille - Nouran El-Behairy
Petra Wille’s framework for portfolio management tackles challenges like leadership buy-in and cross-functional collaboration. The article also highlights how airfocus’s Product Portfolio Excellence Template fosters transparency, strategic alignment, and a healthy mix of innovation and maintenance projects.
🤓 Everything You Need to Know about Product Portfolio Strategy - Roman Pichler
Roman Pichler outlines the critical role of a product portfolio strategy in aligning multiple products to maximize value. He shares actionable insights on managing strategy, fostering alignment, and building collaborative processes to drive success.
🔎 Product Portfolio Management: Fuel Innovation and Growth - Carlos González De Villaumbrosia
Carlos highlights strategies for optimizing resources, aligning products with business goals, and driving growth through real-world examples from companies like Apple, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft.
🤖 Using AI to Enhance Product Portfolio Management - John Carter
John Carter delves into how AI is revolutionizing product portfolio management by enabling smarter decision-making, enhancing risk management, and optimizing operations. The article also explores challenges, future trends, and how AI helps organizations maintain a competitive edge.
Malte Scholz on LinkedIn.💡
The relationship between PMs and Devs can feel like crossing a bridge over troubled waters; it could be smooth, but it often is bumpy. Different priorities, communication gaps, and clashing perspectives can make things tough. This week, we're exploring how to turn friction into teamwork by building respect, improving workflows, and really understanding each other, because when PMs and Devs connect, great products happen.
🙌 How Engineers Can Use airfocus to Collaborate Effectively with PMs - airfocus
Let's start on a hopeful note: this relationship can improve. The piece shows how airfocus, designed for PMs, can also flexibly support engineers, managing bugs, streamlining daily standups, and boosting collaboration with PMs and designers.
💔 Why Developers Hate PMs and How To Get Them to Like You - Grace Patterson
While we could agree hate is a strong word, the piece offers actionable tips for PMs to build trust with developers by improving project scoping, setting realistic timelines, reducing unnecessary meetings, and taking full ownership, all while emphasizing mutual respect and shared goals.
👀 How Developers, Designers, and PMs See Each Other - Jessica Lascar
Here, the author humorously highlights common stereotypes and communication gaps among PMs, Devs, and designers, such as developers being perceived as coding obsessives or designers being misunderstood by other team members.
🤓 What Developers Wish Product Managers Know - Ahana Roy Choudhury
Ahana shares her "P2C2" framework (proximity, prioritization, clarity, and celebration) that emphasizes mutual respect between PMs and Devs, clear communication, and an understanding of technical and business constraints.
Nouran El-Behairy on LinkedIn.💡
This Halloween, we’re unearthing the “ghosts” that haunt product management and sharing insights to banish them for good. From outdated tools and rigid roadmaps to forgotten feedback, here are our top reads to help you exorcise these common PM horrors and keep your product on a fearless path forward.
👻 1. The Ghost of Outdated Tools Why Are PMs Still Working Out of Spreadsheets in 2024? - Nouran El-Behairy
Still relying on spreadsheets? Outdated tools might be the ghost haunting your productivity! Discover how ditching them can free your workflow and bring your product management into the modern age.
👻 2. The Ghost of Competitor Obsession Recipes For Product Failure: Obsess Over Competitors - Den Delimarsky
Are competitors casting a shadow over your strategy? Learn how breaking free from competitor obsession can help you focus on what truly matters, your users!
👻 3. The Ghost of Rigid Roadmaps Why Sticking to a Rigid Product Roadmap Might be Killing Your Product, and How to Escape? - Sapnil Bhatnagar
Feeling trapped by a rigid roadmap? Discover why flexibility is key to keeping your product alive, and how to escape the curse of ‘set-in-stone’ plans!
👻 4. The Ghost of The Mighty Backlog Your Guide to Effective Backlog Management (Insights from David Pereira) - airfocus
If your backlog is a bottomless pit, don't be scared! In this article, you will learn how to tame the endless tasks and prioritize what really matters for a roadmap that’s far less frightening!
👻 5. The Ghost of Forgotten Feedback 7 Customer Feedback Nightmares Product Managers Can Avoid - UserVoice
Never ignore customer feedback! It might come back to haunt you! Uncover how listening to even the most difficult feedback from users can turn these nightmares into product success.
Malte Scholz on LinkedIn.🎃
In product management, feature bloat occurs when products accumulate unnecessary features over time, often leading to a decrease in usability and customer satisfaction. This happens because adding features is easier and more celebrated than removing them, which is perceived as risky and less rewarding. As product leaders, it's crucial to recognize the hidden costs of this bloat, such as complexity and maintenance, before it harms your product. This newsletter explores practical insights and strategies to combat feature bloat and keep your product lean and focused on delivering true value to users.
❓The 5 Whys Of Feature Bloat - Dharmesh Shah
The author uses a 5 Whys analysis to understand why product teams consistently add new features but rarely remove old ones, highlighting how hard it is to justify removing features due to internal and external pressures.
🤓 How To Avoid Feature Bloat - Andrea Saez
Andrea discusses the causes of feature bloat and how product teams can prevent it. She focuses on the importance of focusing on solving problems rather than constantly adding new features, using outcome-based planning, and adhering to the product vision.
➕ Addicted to Addition: The Hidden Costs of Feature Bloat in Tech - Aakash Gupta
As companies grow, the pressure from teams like sales, marketing, and engineering to develop niche or stakeholder-driven features increases, making it harder to kill features even when necessary. This paradox leads to products becoming cluttered with features that may no longer serve their purpose.
🤔 What Great Products Have Degraded Over Time Due to Feature Overload? - Quora
In this thread, users share examples of once-great products that became less user-friendly or overly complicated as more features were added. They also suggest which features should be removed to streamline and improve these products.
Emilia Korczynska on LinkedIn.💡
Leadership in product management isn't a one-size-fits-all; it's a dynamic skill set that evolves with experience and insight. Today’s PMs are expected not only to oversee the product lifecycle but also to inspire teams, build trust, and navigate complex startup ecosystems. In this edition, we’re uncovering the secrets to effective product leadership, from adopting hands-on approaches to developing empathetic, empowering leadership styles. These insights will equip you to lead with confidence and impact.
💼 Founder Mode: Takeaways for Product Managers - Rohit Verma
The article explores "founder mode," a leadership style for PMs that emphasizes hands-on involvement and direct engagement to foster innovation and collaboration. It suggests that adopting this mindset can help PMs better address user needs and drive product success.
🤓 Decoding Product Leadership - Roman Pichler
Roman discusses that effective leadership is not limited to formal management roles but can also be practiced by PMs and owners through emergent leadership. It highlights the importance of trust, empathy, and communication in guiding teams towards successful product outcomes.
🤝 Practical Advice for Product Managers Working With Startup Founders - Shaw Li
The article provides practical advice for product managers collaborating with startup founders, emphasizing the importance of understanding the founder's vision and aligning product strategies accordingly. It offers strategies for managing expectations, fostering effective communication, and building strong relationships to navigate the challenges of a startup environment.
☯️ Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager - Andrea Saez
Andrea argues that poor leadership is often the root cause of ineffective product management practices. She argues that empowering leadership, characterized by trust and autonomy, fosters a productive environment for product managers, while restrictive leadership stifles innovation.
Malte Scholz on LinkedIn.💡
As businesses scale, operational efficiency becomes increasingly crucial. Product operations bridge the gap between strategy and flawless execution. This newsletter highlights key resources to help you understand why product ops are becoming the backbone of top-performing product teams and how they can transform your own operations.
🛠️ What Is Product Operations? (And Do You Need It?) - Hubspot
This article explores how as companies scale, product operations make product teams more efficient by handling tasks like data management, research, and tool selection.
🤓 The Ultimate Guide to Product Operations - airfocus
The guide explains the role of product operations, when and why businesses should introduce a product operations role, the responsibilities involved, and how it helps product teams scale effectively.
This book explores how product operations function in modern businesses, highlighting its role in improving product management processes, scaling operations, and driving overall product success.
🔢 The Impact of Product Operations, Quantified - Sofia Karabasevic
The article quantifies the impact of Product Operations through a survey, revealing improvements in time spent on "Discovery & Planning" and reductions in "Delivery & Runwork" activities.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Malte Scholz on LinkedIn.💡
Risk is an inevitable part of every product's journey. Whether you're launching a new feature or entering a new market, the ability to identify, assess, and mitigate risks can be the difference between success and failure. This week's Digest offers essential strategies, from AI tools to decision-making frameworks, to help you navigate these challenges. Plus, join us in Berlin on August 21st as we dive deeper into risk management with fellow product leaders.
⚠️ What is risk management? - IBM
Let's start with the basics. This article provides an overview of risk management, focusing on identifying, assessing, and controlling various types of risks that can impact an organization's capital and earnings.
🧮 A guide to performing risk assessments for product managers - Matt Hicks
Here, Matt details a step-by-step approach to risk assessment, including brainstorming potential risks, assessing their likelihood and impact, prioritizing them based on severity, and developing targeted mitigation strategies.
🔨 When you have a hammer: Where to leverage AI in your product manager toolbox - Adam Hecht
Adam explains how AI can help PMs mitigate risks by forecasting potential challenges associated with various decisions and analyzing past product releases, user feedback, and market reactions.
⚖️ Weighted decision matrix: A tool for pro-level prioritization - Malte Scholz
Here, Malte highlights the importance of considering risk as a key criterion in decision-making using a weighted decision matrix. This approach helps PMs make more informed decisions by systematically evaluating and prioritizing risks alongside other factors.
💬 Social Post of the Week
A LinkedIn poll by Malte Scholz revealed that stakeholder expectations and aligning different teams represent the biggest challenges for PMs when mitigating risks!
This week, we're shining a spotlight on something that often doesn't get the glory it deserves but is absolutely essential: Product documentation. Imagine where we'd be without it, clarity, alignment, and efficiency would be lost. Well-crafted documentation keeps everyone (from developers to stakeholders) on the same page and moving forward smoothly. In this digest, we've packed in tips, insights, and several templates to help you master the art of documentation.
✍🏼 The Power of Thorough Product Documentation: Why It Matters - Freddy Mercado
This article highlights how well-documented products can increase customer satisfaction and operational efficiency through 3 key benefits: promoting customer self-reliance, ensuring consistency and clarity, and reducing support overhead and costs.
💫 Product Requirements Document (PRD) Template - airfocus
Finally an easy-to-use PRD template that streamlines product development with a clear, structured format! It covers all the essentials: executive summary, key metrics, problem/solution alignment, features, milestones, launch plan, stakeholders, and risks. Perfect for PMs, dev teams, and stakeholders, and works with agile and waterfall methods.
📄 What Is A Product Spec? 10 Components Of A Great Product Spec - Sachin Rekhi
Sachin explains the critical role of product specifications in the development process. A well-crafted product spec outlines what, why, and how a product or feature should be built, empowering teams to make informed decisions.
🚶🏽How to Write Perfect User Stories (With Templates): A Step-By-Step Guide - Tomas Prochazka
The guide aims to help PMs and teams write clear, concise, and impactful user stories for product success. It covers essential frameworks like the 3 C's and INVEST, offers various templates, and shares tips for aligning user stories with business goals.
🧑🏼🎨 A PM's Guide to Wireframes - Aakash Gupta
Another part of documentation is wireframing. Aakash argues that PMs should actively create wireframes to align stakeholders, test assumptions, and minimize unnecessary work for engineers and designers.
Yogesh Bhatt via LinkedIn💡
With the EURO 2024 final this Sunday, there are striking parallels to be drawn between the tournament and product management. Just as top teams prioritize players and strategies, and make real-time adjustments to win, PMs prioritize opportunities and tasks to build successful products. PMs also stay agile and ready to pivot based on new data, allocate resources wisely to avoid burnout, study the market and competitors to stay ahead and ensure every task aligns with their product’s goals. Enjoy the game and happy prioritizing!
⚽️ A Product Manager is a Coach - Matthias Dyckerhoff
Just like coaches, PMs must balance strategic planning with allowing their teams to focus on execution, take responsibility for failures, and credit their teams for successes. By understanding and adopting these coaching principles, PMs can lead their development teams more effectively.
🤝 Product Management is a Team Sport - Martin Eriksson
Martin's evergreen article discusses how success in product management comes from collective effort and creativity, where everyone in the company owns the product and its outcomes.
🏃🏻 Winning Moves: The Intersection of Sports and Product Management - Ritesh Jain
Jain argues that teamwork and collaboration in team sports mirror the dynamics of product teams, while the leadership and quick decision-making required of team captains are equally vital for product managers.
1️⃣ The 13 Best Prioritization Software Tools in 2024 - Malte Scholz
Here, Malte provides an extensive review of the top prioritization software tools available in 2024. He highlights the importance of using prioritization tools to streamline product management processes, improve team alignment, and enhance decision-making, to score the goal of product success.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Malte Scholz via LinkedIn💡
AI is changing product management with better data use, personalization, and innovation. But how much has really changed? It's important to see past the hype and balance AI insights with human judgment. Future advances promise more, but the true value comes from combining AI with human expertise to ensure it’s not just another overhyped trend. Join us with Dr. Bart Jaworsky on 18 July to discuss this. Book your spot now!
🔮 The Impact of AI On Product Management - airfocus
In this report, we surveyed over 120 PM professionals from 6 continents and diverse organizational sizes and stages, to offer global insights and practical guidance on AI's current status, predicted impact, integration opportunities, potential risks, and strategic implementation in product management.
🤳🏼 Beyond the Hype: Realities of AI Product Management - Ansham Kaushal
In this article, the author discusses the practical realities of AI product management beyond all the hype. He focuses on the challenges and strategies for effectively integrating AI into product management workflows.
🔨 When You Have a Hammer: Where to Leverage AI in your Product Manager Toolbox - Adam Hecht
This article discusses how AI can enhance product management by improving product strategy, decision-making, and prioritization. In it, Adam also emphasizes the need for high-quality data to ensure effective outcomes.
🧑🏻💼 I Tried To Replace Our Product Manager With ChatGPT - Finn Lobsien
Can GPT-4 replace product managers? The article underscores AI's current constraints, noting that while AI can aid in tasks, it cannot entirely replace human PMs because of their contextual comprehension and empathy.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia on LinkedIn.💡
Ever pitched a great product idea only to get blank stares and hesitant nods from your stakeholders? You're not alone. Getting stakeholder buy-in can feel like walking through a minefield, but it's crucial for bringing your product to market. Without the right support, even the best ideas can fail. Explore the resources below, and join us on Wednesday when Craig Unsworth will share his storytelling model that will help you secure that buy-in.
❓What Is a Buy-In in Product Management? - airfocus
Starting with the basics, this article clarifies what buy-in is and explains how crucial it is for obtaining both financial backing and team commitment, which are essential for successfully bringing a product to market and unlocking its full potential.
🎯 6 Product Manager Essentials For Securing Stakeholder Buy-In - Chris Freeman
This article provides practical strategies for product managers to effectively secure stakeholder support. It addresses common challenges in managing stakeholder expectations and offers six key tactics to overcome them.
😉 How To Manage Your Stakeholders as a Product Manager - Valentin Firak
Our very own Valentin emphasizes the critical role of stakeholder management in determining a product's outcome. And how by developing empathy and understanding stakeholders' needs, product managers can secure long-term buy-in and drive their product's success.
📕 The Power of Storytelling in Product Management - Julien Brionne
Julien explores how effective storytelling can significantly enhance product management efforts and the importance of crafting compelling narratives to bridge the gap between product ideas and stakeholder buy-in.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Jeff Gothelf on LinkedIn 💡
"Silos" is a common term in product management, often used to describe how cross-functional teams should NOT operate. However, it also applies to the profession as a whole. Building a strong PM network is crucial, it opens doors to new opportunities and provides valuable insights, support, and collaboration. To help you connect with the PM community and break down these silos, we've curated a selection of insights, opportunities, and tips just for you.
🙌🏼 9 Upcoming Product Management Conferences in 2024 - Ala Yosma
Here's an overview of 9 upcoming product management conferences in 2024, highlighting their dates, locations, and key features, and offering practical tips for making the most out of your attendance.
👷🏻♀️ How to Build a Network: A Guide for Product Managers - Bijan Shahrokhi
This is a comprehensive guide for product managers on building a strong and genuine professional network. It emphasizes the importance of networking not merely as a means of collecting contacts but as a way of cultivating meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships.
🛠️ Top 10 Product Manager Skills To Boost Your Resume In 2024 - Ben Aston
Ben outlines the top 10 essential skills for product managers to boost their resumes in 2024. He highlights the importance of both hard and soft skills and provides practical tips for both current and aspiring product managers.
💬 12 Slack Groups and Communities for Product Managers + Why You Should Join Them - Blake Thorne
Slack groups are very important for product managers to gain access to different PM communities. Blake addresses common frustrations with ineffective communities and offers a curated list of tried-and-tested groups that deliver real value.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Malte Scholz on LinkedIn 💡
"You know what would be cool?" Jeff Gothelf says this is the worst question to hear during product development. He’s right, without data and evidence-driven processes, you risk chasing every "cool" idea and missing out on solving real problems. In this week's Digest, we focus on enhancing product development efficiency and aligning teams around data-driven decisions. Join us on June 6th with Itamar Gilad to learn more.
🤔 What is the Product Development Process? - airfocus
Here's a quick overview of the product development process. It covers the steps from concept to market, emphasizing the PM's pivotal role and the importance of departmental cooperation. This guide also discusses key stages and frameworks used in product development.
📊 Data-Driven Product Management: Using Analytics to Make Better Product Decisions - Stefan Jovanovic
The article explains how frameworks like Build-Measure-Learn help refine products based on customer feedback. Ultimately, the goal is to leverage data for better product development outcomes and strategic decisions.
🔢 Product Development KPIs Every Product Manager Must Know - Ginny Lobel
This article explains how product development metrics help companies assess the efficiency and effectiveness of their product development processes. It distinguishes between strategic and tactical metrics, emphasizing the importance of both.
🗺️ Adopting Evidence-Guided Development in Your Org - Itamar Gilad
Here, Itamar, the creator of the GIST framework, provides practical advice on gradually implementing evidence-guided practices, setting realistic goals, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement through incremental changes.
Jeff Gothelf on LinkedIn 💡
June 6th: 5 PM CEST/ 10 AM EDT/ 4 PM BST Webinar: Unlocking Product Potential: 4 Keys for Evidence-Guided Development.
As spring cleaning kicks off, it's the perfect time for product managers to reassess their tools. Ask yourself: Do spreadsheets truly spark joy, or is it time to ditch Excel for good?Today we explore how traditional tools like Google Sheets and Excel could be limiting your team’s potential, and why specialized product management platforms are crucial, not just convenient. You can also join our upcoming webinar featuring a live case study on transitioning from sheets to airfocus with Extra Space Storage on May 7th.
Here Quadri discusses the limitations of using Google Sheets and Slides for product roadmapping, and how they lack critical functionalities for effective product management, such as integration with other tools, real-time collaboration, and customization options.
📊 Ten Reasons to stop using Excel for product development - Manufacturing.net
While Excel may be accessible and flexible, it fails to support critical aspects of product development like version control, integration with customer data, and efficient change approvals.
💸 The (hidden) costs of using a spreadsheet as a product management tool - Producty
This article focuses on how the structure and functionality of Excel can create inefficiencies in a growing business. It details problems such as maintaining hierarchy, handling images, project management challenges, and collaboration difficulties within spreadsheets.
🛠️ Why Every Industry Should Consider Using a Product Management Tool - Sami Rehman
Here, Sami discusses the inception of Kanban within Toyota's post-WWII manufacturing struggles and uses this historical example to illustrate the broader applicability of product management tools across various industries today.
No wonder this Halloween post by Malte Scholz via LinkedIn resonated with many PMs 👏🏼
May 7th: 5 PM CEST/ 10 AM EDT/ 4 PM BST Webinar: From Sheets to airfocus: A Live Case Study with Extra Space Storage Register here.
How do big ideas turn into real results? That's the power of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) in product management. This time, we're looking into how OKRs and strategy work together, helping everyone stay on the same path. Want to learn more? Don't miss our upcoming webinar with Tim Herbig on 10 April.
📕 The Ultimate Guide to Product OKRs - airfocus
Want to learn about OKRs? Start here with this comprehensive guide where you will be introduced to what OKRs are, how to set them, track them, achieve them, and the tools that can help you master them.
💡 How Product Teams can move on from OKR Theater - Tim Herbig
OKR expert Tim Herbig addresses the issue of "OKR Theater" in product management, where superficial use of OKRs leads to focusing on vanity metrics rather than real value creation. He offers strategies to recognize and avoid this issue.
🔗 How to connect strategy with OKRs - Nacho Bassino
The author here emphasizes the importance of aligning OKRs with the company's strategy and selecting relevant problems and opportunities, thus minimizing the friction and tension commonly associated with OKR cycles.
🧭 Is There a Perfect Way To Set OKRs? Insights From airfocus’ Own Journey - Malte Scholz
Our CEO shares airfocus's journey and insights into implementing OKRs within our product management processes. He highlights the challenges of setting and adapting OKRs in a fast-paced tech environment, emphasizing the need for flexibility, innovation, and the right tools for effective goal setting.
Malte Scholz via LinkedIn💡
April 10th: 11 AM CET/ 10 AM GMT Webinar: From Product Strategy to Quarterly OKRs Register here.
This week, we're zeroing in on intentional innovation with Jobs To Be Done (JTBD), Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI), and outcome-based roadmaps. Learn how aligning with customer needs can transform your approach to innovation. Have questions? Join our webinar with Tony Ulwick on 28 Feb and ask him directly.
🤓 What are Jobs To Be Done (JBTD) - airfocus
Starting with the basics, we introduce the framework developed by Tony Ulwick in 1991 that had a huge role in the success of many innovations. JBTD is the secret behind understanding customer motivations deeply.
💡 What innovation really means for product managers - Kent J. McDonald
In this article, Kent distinguishes between genuine innovation and innovation for its own sake, especially in the realm of parity products. He shares a blend of personal anecdotes, industry insights, and practical advice.
💼 Outcome-Driven Innovation: JTBD Theory in Practice - Tony Ulwick
Let's hear it from the man himself. This enlightening article unveils how ODI's customer-centric approach, focusing on the customer's job-to-be-done, leads to the creation of winning products and services.
🗺️ Should I Use an Outcome-Based Roadmap? - Adam Hecht
Whether you're using the top-down or bottom-up approach to define your outcomes, this guide offers a clear, actionable framework for making your roadmaps more strategic, measurable, and aligned with your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Tony Ulwick via LinkedIn💡
Feb 28th: 5 PM CET/ 4 PM GMT/ 11 AM ET Webinar: Put Jobs-To-Be-Done Theory Into Practice With Outcome-Driven Innovation Register here.
How can your team's goals align with what your customers want? We've picked some great reads to help you answer this question, all leading up to our exciting webinar with Jeff Gothelf on "Building Customer-Centric Products With OKRs." Join us this Thursday to learn more.
🤓 The Connection Between Goals and Customer Centricity - Jeff Gothelf
This piece sets the stage for our webinar discussion with Jeff on building customer-centric products with OKRs, showcasing how the right goals can lead to exceptional design and research practices.
💡 How To Be a Customer-centric Product Organization - Adam Thomas
Discover the essential shift from saying to doing in becoming a truly customer-centric product organization. In this article, Adam outlines practical steps for integrating customer feedback into your product strategy.
Explore how OKRs can transform enterprise success through a focused approach on customer satisfaction and retention. The author outlines how setting ambitious objectives paired with measurable key results can align efforts toward growth.
🤓 How To Implement an OKR Strategy for Your Organization - Sami Rehman
Uncover how Adobe, Amazon, and Netflix achieved significant growth by focusing on core objectives with OKRs. This article provides a step-by-step guide on implementing OKRs to align teams, innovate, and enhance customer-centricity.
Malte Scholz via LinkedIn💡(Click here to vote.)
Feb 15th: 2.30 PM CET/ 1.30 PM GMT/ 8.30 AM ET Webinar: Building Customer-Centric Products With OKRs - Jeff Gothelf Register here.
They say that backlog management is the art of turning chaos into clarity, a challenge familiar to many PMs and product leaders. To guide you towards this clarity, we've selected some articles full of useful tools and strategies. For more insights, join our webinar this Wednesday with David Pereira.
🛠️ 5 Tools for Managing Your Product Backlog - Quadri Oshibotu
Before you start managing your backlog, you need to make sure you have the right tool for the job. In this article, Quadri presents 5 key tools for handling your product backlog, along with an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses.
💡 Overcoming Common Product Backlog Management Traps - Stefan Wolpers
This article discusses David Pereira's insights from the 54th Hands-on Agile meetup, focusing on strategic backlog management. Discover how to maximize value and steer clear of the 'feature factory' trap with these expert practices.
🦸🏼♂️ 10 Tips for Product Owners on Product Backlog Management - Robbin Schuurman
Product owners play a crucial role in managing backlogs within organizations. The author highlights key strategies they use such as maintaining a manageable backlog size, adhering to a single backlog for greater clarity, and actively involving development teams in the process.
🤓 Your Guide to Backlog: Product vs. Sprint Backlog - Vishal Chaudhary
Learn about the differences between Product and Sprint Backlogs in Agile methodologies, their unique roles, and how they contribute to successful Agile projects. A must-read for anyone looking to master backlog management and drive efficient workflows.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Jeff Gothelf via LinkedIn💡
2024 is predicted to be a great year for product management with lots of new chances for growth and innovation. At airfocus, we're excited to be part of this, with our latest funding success 🚀. Discover what's changing in product management in 2024. Explore the big trends, developments, and important events.
🤩 We Raised $7.5M to Transform Enterprise Product Management Globally - Malte Scholz
Explore the journey of airfocus and our recent $7.5M funding success, a key milestone in enhancing our AI-assisted Product Operating System used by leading global companies. Discover how this funding will propel our mission to redefine enterprise product management.
💡 3 Ways Product Management Is Shaping The Future Of Innovation And Market Success - Rhett Power
Explore the 3 ways PM is driving innovation and market success. This article highlights the impact of customer-centric approaches, trend forecasting, and tech adoption in shaping successful product strategies.
🔮 5 Product Management Trends and Predictions for 2024 - Nouran El-Behairy
Will AI revolutionize the way we work? Are PMs facing new demands? How will data reshape strategy? Find out 5 trends on the horizon for PMs in 2024.
🙌🏼 The best product management conferences in 2024 - Bart Krawczyk
Maximize your product management growth with Bart Krawczyk's guide to 2024's top conferences. This essential list spotlights premier events for unparalleled learning, innovation, and networking opportunities in the dynamic world of product management.
Malte Scholz via LinkedIn💡
Preparing for the future today can ensure your product's success for years ahead. We've curated a selection of articles that shine a light on critical areas you need to focus on to keep your product management approach relevant and dynamic.
💻 Does Your Organization Need Digital Transformation? - Kent McDonald
Staying ahead means leveraging modern tools. Kent McDonald emphasizes the crucial role of digital technologies in business, advocating for a product-centric strategy to enable successful digital transformation and maintain competitiveness.
👷🏼 What are Product Operations? A Beginner’s Guide for Product Managers - Kinzal Jalan
Product Operations is becoming a pivotal aspect of PM. The article breaks down the role of product ops in streamlining development processes and enhancing cross-functional collaboration.
🤖 The future of product management in the age of AI - Ravi Jadhav
AI's integration in PM has marked a significant shift, revolutionizing how products are developed and managed, a trend that is set to continue and expand in the coming years.
🚀 6 Ways to Identify if You Need to Modernize Your PM Approach - airfocus
Time to upgrade your PM approach? This checklist offers vital strategies for systematic prioritization, optimizing team workflows, and ensuring cross-functional alignment.
💬 Social Post of the Week
George Nurijanian via LinkedIn💡
Success is more than just planning; it's about quickly adapting to changing market trends. In this edition, we've curated content that aims to equip you with the insights and tools necessary to keep your products in step with market predictions for 2024.
🎯 2024 Enterprise OKRs: A Strategic Guide for Effective Planning - Vishal Chaudhary
This article provides a comprehensive guide for enterprises on planning and implementing OKRs for 2024, emphasizing their role in building resilient product roadmaps and fostering team alignment.
🔮 Product Management in 2024: Trends and Innovations - Miko Lehman
What does 2024 have in store for product management? Miko forecasts the rise of AI, IoT, and personalized user experiences, marking a shift towards a more technologically advanced yet human-centered approach in product management.
🔍 Market Research Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide for Product Managers - Maven
Relying on market research to make product decisions is a sure way to enhance your strategy. Maven's guide on market research demonstrates how these techniques can lead to better product insights and informed strategy decisions.
🤸🏼♀️ Adapting Product Vision and Strategy to Changing Marketing Conditions - Jillian Kaplan
What happens when things don't go as planned? In this article, Jillian discusses practical strategies for adapting product vision and strategy in response to unforeseen market shifts.
💬 Social Post of the Week
Anthony Murphy via LinkedIn💡
📆 Upcoming events
Join us on Dec 7: 5 PM CEST/4 PM BST/11 AM ET Webinar: Planning a Roadmap to Propel Product-Market Fit
As 2023 winds down, we've reached that pressing yet exciting time for PMs to roll up their sleeves for annual planning. It might feel overwhelming but fear not!
We've gathered some resources to help you step into 2024 with crystal-clear, actionable, and strategically aligned OKRs and roadmaps to set you up for a stellar 2024.
The airfocus Objectives app is an ideal tool for planning, monitoring, and achieving your goals. It offers a comprehensive, integrated, and flexible approach to managing OKRs and aligning them with your strategy.
7️⃣ Create An Effective Annual Product Plan With These 7 Steps - Sid Arora
From defining broad focus areas to finalizing initiatives according to available resources, Sid's process ensures alignment with the company's mission, promoting a culture focused on results and responsibility.
✨ How to Shine as a Product Leader during Annual Planning- Tami Reiss
Tami advises starting the planning process by balancing data and vision and considering the company's stage in its growth strategy and metric tracking. She argues that compelling product vision and strategy involve participation from various company levels.
📕 Product Management. Annual Planning: Instruction for Use - Michael Karpov
Karpov presents the annual plan as a dynamic roadmap, focusing on business metrics, resource allocation, and process improvements, guiding product managers toward achieving key objectives aligned with the company's future goals.
Sondra Orozco via LinkedIn.
As a product manager, you have the challenging task of balancing hard data and the invaluable insights gained from experience. Your ultimate goal is to transform this data into products that genuinely resonate with people, utilizing the power of tools and insights to create products that are both grounded in solid data and deeply human.
🚀 Data-Driven vs. Data-Informed: Finding the Right Balance for Your Product Team
The article discusses the differences between data-driven and data-informed approaches to product management, the advantages and limitations of each, and how to effectively blend data with human insights for better decision-making.
🔢 Data-Driven Product Management: Leveraging Analytics to Optimize Product Performance - Ankita Saraf
Here we delve into the essence of data-driven product management, detailing the systematic approach that relies on analyzing real-world data to make informed decisions in product development.
🧭 Creating a Data-Driven Product Management Strategy - Santiago Pampillo
Using customer feedback, market trends, and user behavior data in the product development lifecycle can change your PM game. The author encourages product managers to adopt data analytics to create competitive, efficient, and customer-centric products.
🗺️ How to Build a Product Roadmap No One Can Argue With - David Geffen
David argues against impulsive and ill-informed decision-making in the product development process, advocating instead for a roadmap that is informed by customer data and aligned with the company's strategic business objectives.
Ant Murphy via LinkedIn 💡
Product-led growth is often seen as the contemporary successor to sales-led growth. However, as the boundaries blur and businesses adapt, it's clear that these strategies can coexist. In fact, many thriving companies are discovering the magic of combining the strengths of both approaches.
🚀 Introduction To Product-led Growth and the Role Product Managers Play - Kerstin Exner
The article discusses the role that PMs play in the transition from traditional sales-driven SaaS models to product-led growth, focusing on collaboration, communication across teams, and emphasizing core functionality for a coherent user experience.
🪴 Sales-Led + PLG = Product-Led Sales - Aakash Gupta
What do you get when you combine the efficiency of product-led growth with sales-led expertise? PLS. Companies like HubSpot, Adobe, and Oracle exemplify this approach, showcasing its potential.
❓ Overcoming Common Obstacles to Product-Led Growth - Helena Ebert
What are the key barriers to PLG? The list includes lack of product-market fit, insufficient customer focus, inadequate data management, and absence of viral growth mechanisms.
🔢 Product-Led Growth Metrics: A Definitive Guide for SaaS Businesses - Eric Keating
Use PLG metrics to aid in understanding and optimizing the user journey, focusing on activation, adoption, adoration, and advocation stages to retain and expand the user base.
🦄 The Myth Of "No Sales" at Product-Led Growth Companies - Alexa Grabell
Contrary to popular belief, PLG companies' products don't "sell themselves" through user-friendly, self-serve experiences. Integrating a sales team is essential for continued growth and to address more complex customer needs.
Elena Verna via LinkedIn 💡
The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) framework can be a game-changer for product teams, steering them toward alignment and purposeful actions. We're thrilled to introduce our latest 📘 eBook: OKRs for High-Performing Product Teams: A Practical Guide, packed with insights on how to master and utilize OKRs for optimal team performance. Grab your copy now!
📘 eBook: OKRs for High-Performing Product Teams: A Practical Guide - airfocus
Gain the key skills and insights for successful OKR execution. Uncover the distinctions between good and bad OKRs, supported by real-world examples and case studies, and the tools that can help you seamlessly align your team to set, track, and attain your goals.
🔍 OKRs vs KPIs: What’s the Difference? - Anthony Murphy
Here, Anthony explains the origins of OKRs and KPIs and provides an analogy to differentiate them. He argues that OKRs aim to achieve specific outcomes aligned with organizational strategy, while KPIs continuously monitor essential health metrics of the business or product.
🤔 What are the benefits and challenges of using OKRs as a product metrics framework? - LinkedIn community Contributors weigh in on the dual aspects of OKRs, underscoring their pivotal role in steering product strategies toward significant outcomes and organizational alignment, while also cautioning against common challenges like crafting unclear OKRs.
🩺 Goal-driven Product Management: How we use OKRs at Oscar - Duncan Greenberg
Instead of theoretical examples, here you can see OKRs in action within a real-world business. Greenberg offers practical guidelines, real examples, pro tips, and solutions to common pitfalls in implementing effective Key Results.
👀 Unlocking the Power of OKR Retrospectives - Andrea Saez
Achieving your goals is not the end of the journey. Andrea highlights the importance of holding regular OKR retrospectives to assess outcomes, celebrate wins, learn from misses, and fine-tune future strategies.
Jeff Gothelf via LinkedIn 👏🏼
Oct 19: 10 am CET/ 4 am EST
Webinar: Collecting User Insights for Roadmap Success
Oct 11-12: Lisbon, Portugal
As we step into the final quarter of 2023, we are faced with exciting opportunities and unique challenges, making it a crucial period for product managers to shine. In this edition of our digest, we've curated a selection of articles to help you prepare, strategize, and thrive in the coming months.
🚀 4 Tips for Product Managers: Make the Most of Your Q4 - Andrew Melville
This article provides valuable insights and practical advice for product managers to navigate the challenges that can arise in Q4. Emphasizing the importance of flexibility, adaptability, and strategic decision-making in managing product development and priorities effectively.
📆 Why Quarterly Planning is the Perfect Event to Create a Product Goal - Edward Lowe
Here, the author explores the role of quarterly planning in Scrum as a means to define and work toward the product goal. He discusses the benefits and challenges associated with this approach and provides insights into how to conduct effective quarterly planning sessions.
🛠️ Best Practices for Tracking OKRs With the Right Tools - Quadri Oshibotu
In this article, Quadri provides us with insights into how leading companies like Google leverage OKRs. He offers recommendations for successful OKR implementation, emphasizing the importance of transparency, regular reviews, and using the right tools to manage the process effectively.
🗺️ Everything You Need to Know About Quarterly Roadmaps - airfocus
Here we provide a step-by-step guide to working with quarterly roadmaps, including defining OKRs, prioritizing initiatives, estimating resourcing needs, and communicating with stakeholders.
💼 Product Team Hiring in Q4 - Christine Norrander
In addition to planning and OKRs, hiring poses challenges for product teams in Q4 of 2023. The article explores how layoffs, funding constraints, and market uncertainties have resulted in smaller teams, increased workloads, lower morale, resource allocation issues, and retention concerns.
Aakash Gupta via LinkedIn 👏🏼
Mastering the art of communication is a cornerstone skill sought after by employers in any product professional. It's not just another skill; it can be your secret weapon for driving success. Effective communication serves as the thread that knits together product ideas, execution, and collaborative efforts, fostering connections with both internal teams and external stakeholders.
🎤 How to Improve Your Communication Skills as a Product Manager - Hilary Johnson
Hilary emphasizes the 3 reasons behind the crucial role of communication skills for product managers. She also provides practical tips for improving yours, such as getting to know team members, understanding different audiences, and practicing clear communication, among other helpful insights.
🗣️ The Importance of Communication in Product Management - Michael Hayes
Learn why communication is key for product managers aiming to succeed in various aspects of the product lifecycle, from ideation to development and launch, as well as in building relationships with internal stakeholders (e.g., engineers, designers, marketing, sales) and external parties (e.g., customers, prospects, partners).
📖 Effective Communication Strategies for Product Managers - Luis Jurado
In this article, the author shares 7 communication strategies that can help product managers build strong teams and create successful products. From defining vision and goals to listening, storytelling, and using data, these strategies have the power to elevate your communication game to new heights.
🤝 How do you effectively communicate with stakeholders? - LinkedIn Community
With the help of AI, product experts on LinkedIn share their tips on how to best communicate with stakeholders. They stress the importance of clear, concise, and consistent communication to build trust, credibility, and collaboration while avoiding misunderstandings and conflicts.
🚀 The Ultimate Guide to Internal Product Management - airfocus
This comprehensive guide on internal product management will help you supercharge your internal communication skills. Throughout this guide, you will gain insights into internal product management, its associated challenges, advantages, optimal strategies, and what to communicate and when.
Ant Murphy via LinkedIn 👏🏼
Crafting a successful product strategy involves aligning your vision with customer needs and business goals. But how do you know if your strategy is effective? Our selection of featured articles explores key metrics and indicators that can help you evaluate and enhance your product strategy's impact and value.
📐 How to Align OKRs with Product Strategy and Business Objectives - Adam Thomas
Aligning OKRs with product strategy and business objectives ensures efforts contribute to broader goals. In this article, Adam highlights how effective alignment enhances organizational success and competitiveness with real-life examples from Google and Airbnb.
Judging the effectiveness of your product strategy might pose a challenge. How can you assess the impact and value of your product decisions? In this compilation of tips and opinions, experts share essential metrics and indicators to assess, enhance, and refine your product strategy.
⚖️ What metrics are the most important for your product?- Nick Odlum and Kevin Mcnally
Intercom's Analytics Manager and Senior Machine Learning Engineer highlight the challenge of translating product metrics into actionable insights. The solution lies in asking the right questions, collaborating between analysts and product teams, and defining metrics based on product goals.
🙌🏼 Measuring Product Success: Three Tiers of Product Success Metrics -Robbin Schuurman
The article discusses the challenges of measuring and maximizing product value. It emphasizes the importance of moving beyond vanity metrics (Tier 3) and proxy metrics (Tier 2) to focus on business and customer metrics (Tier 1).
🚀 How To Implement an OKR Strategy for Your Organization - Sami Rehman
This article highlights how major companies like Adobe, Amazon, and Netflix benefited from implementing OKRs. Sami explains the prerequisites for successful OKR implementation, the importance of a clear strategic direction, and how to set, cascade, and communicate OKRs across the organization.
Tim Herbig via LinkedIn
Product management is NOT limited to software alone. The truth is, whether tangible or intangible, products thrive under the guidance of effective product management skills. These skills are now a driving force cutting across diverse industries, igniting collaboration, innovation, and triumphant product outcomes. The below collection of articles showcases this universal potential and the dynamic product tools that make this possible.
🛠️ Why Every Industry Should Consider Using a Product Management Tool - Sami Rehman
Product management tools are revolutionizing industries beyond software. Learn how they can align goals, improve collaboration, gather feedback, and drive data-driven decisions across diverse sectors.
🤔 Becoming an Industry-Agnostic Product Manager - Becky Yelland
Explore the power of industry-agnostic product management. Uncover why your skills and adaptability are key assets when navigating different sectors, regardless of prior industry experience.
🎁 A Product is a Product: Product Management Is Not Just Software! - João Craveiro
Challenge the misconception that product management is limited to software. Dive into the universal principles that underscore product management's applicability across various industries.
💼 In-Demand, Tech-Adjacent Industries that Need Product Managers - Kyle
Why are different sectors seeking product managers? and why is your expertise as a PM essential? Explore the PM roles and responsibilities within eCommerce, retail, food delivery, ridesharing, and healthcare.
🚀 How To Select and Leverage Customer vs. Enterprise Product Management Tools - Quadri Oshibotu
Navigate the world of product management tools with insights into the distinction between customer-centric and enterprise-focused solutions. Discover the criteria for choosing the right tool and the top solutions that can enhance your product management journey.
Lisa Zane via X (formerly Twitter) commenting on Product management trends in 2023 💡.
In today's dynamic environment, a well-structured roadmap serves as the guiding compass for product teams, aligning their efforts with business goals and customer needs. It empowers them to make data-driven decisions, fostering innovation and maximizing product value. Here is a curated list of articles to inspire you to create exceptional product roadmaps that lead your company to new heights of success.
👍 Roadmapping Best Practices With Real-World Case Studies - Sami Rehman
Our journey begins with real-world case studies from industry giants Airbnb and Netflix. Discover roadmapping best practices that have enabled these successful tech companies to adapt, thrive in a rapidly changing market, and embrace customer-centricity. Learn the art of balancing short-term needs with long-term growth strategies, setting your product roadmap on a trajectory of excellence.
✔ 10 Tips for Creating an Agile Product Roadmap - Roman Pichler
Agility is the key to staying ahead in the ever-evolving tech landscape. Roman Pichler brings you ten invaluable tips to create an agile product roadmap that can gracefully adapt to frequent changes and unexpected developments. From goal-oriented focus to securing stakeholder buy-in, these tips will equip you to make informed decisions while ensuring simplicity and measurability.
📢Why SaaS Companies Should Embrace Public-Facing Roadmaps - Andrea Saez
Transparency, engagement, and trust - the pillars of successful SaaS companies! Andrea Saez unveils the power of public-facing roadmaps, providing an opportunity to showcase your product strategy and elevate customer engagement. Learn from real-life case studies of successful public-facing roadmaps, and unlock the potential to build stronger connections with your audience.
💣 Top 7 Tips To Avoid Destructive Product Roadmaps - Dave Martin
Steer clear of roadmap disasters with Dave Martin's top 7 tips. Learn how to position your roadmap to support autonomous teams, foster innovation, and align seamlessly with your business strategy. Avoid the pitfalls that could hinder your SaaS business's growth and become a master of roadmap success.
📐 How to Build a Product Roadmap No One Can Argue With - David Geffen
Data analytics - the key to building unbeatable product roadmaps! David Geffen walks you through the steps to create data-driven roadmaps that lead to better outcomes and success. Learn how to gather actionable feedback, analyze insights, and prioritize features objectively. Empower your company with a roadmap that leaves no room for doubts.
Enzo Avigo via LinkedIn 😂
What real-world impact does AI have on product management? And how can PMs not only adapt but thrive in this exciting era? To assist PMs in navigating this process, we are delighted to present our research report, "The Impact of AI on Product Management." This comprehensive report incorporates insights and tips from over 100 product leaders, empowering you to enhance product processes and drive organizational success. Click the first link below to download the full report.
📖 The Impact of AI on Product Management - airfocus
Explore the findings of this report involving 130 product professionals, highlighting the transformative influence of AI in the field. Gain insights into various aspects, including job security, barriers to adoption, and the specific areas of product management most affected by AI. Additionally, the report offers expert tips and strategies to successfully implement AI within product organizations.
👨💼 What is an AI Product Manager? - Nick Hotz
Nick explains in detail the duties and obligations of an AI Product Manager, and why businesses of all scales are depending on skilled AI professionals. Acquire invaluable perspectives into the fundamental principles of AI product management and master the art of navigating tradeoffs with an "AI PM manifesto".
💬 The Pros and Cons of Using AI in Customer Insights - Sami Rehman
Based on our report's findings, customer feedback is among the product areas most influenced by AI. In this article, Sami delves into the immense potential of AI technologies to analyze extensive customer data, empowering product decisions, customer-centric strategies, and overall business growth.
✏️ 10 Ways AI Is Improving New Product Development - Louis Columbus
Louis lists ten key ways AI is enhancing the entire product development lifecycle, from ideation to market launch. In this area of product management, AI adoption is ultimately leading to faster innovation, improved decision-making, and increased success rates.
In this thought-provoking article, the author explores the ethical considerations and potential biases associated with AI. He also offers essential strategies to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability in AI-powered products to foster trust with customers and mitigate potential risks.
Marily Nika via Twitter 💡
In a constantly evolving field like product management, crafting your career path can be a challenging task. The recent announcement of Airbnb's product functions' shift sparked a wave of contemplation among PMs regarding their role.
Whether you are a seasoned product professional or just embarking on your journey, it is essential to reflect on what product management is, what it isn't, and where your career path fits, in order to have the vision and skills to grow and adapt.
❓30 Questions to Determine if the Product Manager Job is Right For You -Stephanie Oh
Do you have what it takes to be a successful PM? or to move on to the next step in your PM career? Answer these 30 questions to get valuable insights into the qualities and traits that are required to make it in a product-related role.
🧑💼 How To Prepare for a PM Interview - Adam Thomas
Here, Adam discusses the product management interview process, provides insights into common interview questions, and highlights mistakes to avoid when preparing for a product management role.
🔍 Decoding Job Titles: The Different Types of Product Manager - Ellen Merryweather
What is the difference between PM, technical PM, Product marketing manager, and other PM titles? (and who earns more?!) This article discusses the different types of product roles and provides insights into their responsibilities and average salaries.
5️⃣ Five Dangerous Myths about Product Management - Noah Weiss
In this article, Noah Weiss, an experienced product manager who worked at Google, Foursquare, and Slack dispels several dangerous myths associated with the position of product manager.
🔮 The Future of Product Management in 2023 and Beyond - Nouran El-Behairy
How will factors like AI, product-led growth, and product talent affect product management in the near future? This article highlights several key insights from "The Future of Product Management Report" by Product School, along with additional commentary.
Ankit Shukla via LinkedIn
It's mid-June, which means it's time to review last quarter's OKRs and set ones for the new quarter. However, it's important to remember that setting good OKRs is just the beginning; the real magic lies in effectively tracking and delivering success through them.
✍🏼 How You Should Set OKRs for Product Management - Tomas Prochazka
An excellent introduction to understanding OKRs in product management. Gain valuable insights into the meaning, history, and practical examples of OKRs, ensuring you kickstart your OKR journey on the right foot.
📐 KPIs vs. OKRs (With Examples) - Issac Kwon
While these metrics are often used interchangeably, it's crucial to understand their differences and leverage them appropriately. Discover their best practices and real-world examples from various industries to effectively measure success.
✅ Best Practices for Tracking OKRs With the Right Tools - Quadri Oshibotu
Quadri provides valuable guidance on the challenges and best practices for tracking OKRs, accompanied by real-world examples. Additionally, he shares a list of tools to help you stay on top of your OKRs and drive your team toward achieving their objectives.
🤔 Not Everyone Needs Objectives and Key Results (OKRS) - Christina Wodtke
It's important to remember that OKRs may not be suitable for every team. The author discusses common mistakes made by companies when implementing OKRs and highlights the importance of considering their effectiveness. Gain insights into a more mindful approach to OKR implementation that aligns with your team's needs.
📃 Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) Template - airfocus
This comprehensive OKR template enables product managers and their teams to set aligned objectives, track progress, and achieve product success by breaking down company objectives, assigning ownership, defining initiatives, and tracking key results.
Anthony Murphy via Twitter. 👏
Objective: Empower product managers with actionable insights and expert tips to set effective OKRs.
Key Result: Publish a comprehensive OKR resource in Q3.
Stay tuned for the amazing resources that will take your OKRs to new heights 🚀.
Successfully launching products and features in today's fast-paced environment is no small feat. It requires a great deal of careful strategy and meticulous planning. As product managers, we understand that the release plan is not just another artifact; it is a powerful tool that enables clear cross-functional communication and keeps our launches on track, aligning them with desired outcomes.
👊🏼 Avoid the Punch: How to Create an Effective Release Plan in an Outcome-Based World - Adam Hecht In this article, the writer argues that release plans are still important even if you are focused on outcomes. Having a release plan is the best way to avoid being "punched in the mouth" by delays, bugs, and team confusion. It can transform your roadmap into a blueprint for execution.
⚖️ The Product Roadmap and the Release Plan - Roman Pichler
This interesting article explains the relationship and differences between a product roadmap and a release plan. The writer stresses the importance of keeping both in sync, as changes in one can impact the other.
✅ Effective vs. Ineffective Release Plans - With Examples and Templates - Adam Thomas
Here, Adam helps us understand, with examples, what differentiates an effective from an ineffective release plan. He lists the common challenges faced by product managers when attempting to create an effective release plan and how to overcome them.
🚀 Tips for Product Owners on Release Planning - Robbin Schuurman
Setting goals, focusing on benefits and results, considering dependencies, and ensuring only "done" work is released are just some of the tips the author has for product owners to help them create a successful release strategy and plan.
📃 Release Plan Template - airfocus
Our release plan template is tailored to provide a structured approach for managing releases. This ready-to-use template can help you avoid chaos and ensure alignment and effective product/feature releases no matter how complex things are. Feel free to explore it and see its benefits firsthand
Pradip Khakhar views as presented by Victor Forest via LinkedIn. 👏
Jun 6th: 7 PM BST/ 6 PM GMT / 2 PM ET / London
Book launch and networking event: Product Rantz by User Pilot
Jun 21st: 5 PM CET / 4 PM GMT / 11 AM ET
Webinar: How to Go Beyond User Onboarding
Jun 28-30: Hamburg, Germany.
As a product manager, you've likely been mistaken for a project manager at least once. This confusion arises from the overlapping nature of these roles, despite their distinct differences. In fact, by harnessing the convergence between them and utilizing essential project management skills and tools, you can elevate your product work.
🔀 The Intersection of Product and Project Management- Victoria Inman & Jeff Hancock
What can be achieved through a partnership approach between product and project managers? This article contends that the collaboration of these roles holds significant potential to add substantial value and empower product teams.
🪄 Why Organizations Transition from Project to Product Management - Malte Scholz
One way things are moving is from project to product. In project management, success is measured by meeting predefined timelines and resource constraints. Conversely, success in product management revolves around delivering value, a defining trait of modern business.
🤓 Yes, Product Managers Should Project Manage - Victor Wu
On the other hand, product managers can wear several hats from the project management's closet to enhance their product development efforts. The author argues that acquiring fundamental project management skills can significantly boost the efficiency of your product team.
🔨 Gantt charts: The Project Management Tool You Need to Know - Andrea Saez
A prime example of project management tools that can elevate your product performance is Gantt charts. By integrating Gantt charts with product roadmaps, product managers can showcase the big picture and the finer details of the product's direction, strategy, and execution.
Purna Kaushalya via LinkedIn. 💡
A business roadmap can help product managers have a more structured plan for developing products that are in alignment with the business strategy, but how does that work? We have the answer for you!
🗺️ What Is a Business Roadmap? And How to Set It Up - Malte Scholz
A business roadmap is a long-term strategic planning document showing your company's goals and the steps required to achieve them. It differs from lengthy business plans as it focuses on the big picture, high-level goals, and objectives.
🏔️ The Fundamentals of The High Performing Business Roadmap - Rajesh Nair
How does building a business compare to climbing a mountain? Turns out they are quite similar! You need research and planning to climb a mountain and the same structures to build a successful business. Therefore, in both cases, having a roadmap can be the way to the top.
🪄6 Ways To Leverage AI in Roadmap Planning - Lisa Zane
While a roadmap acts as a guiding light for the team, building it can be an overwhelming experience, so why not leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence toward building the roadmap you need? In this article, Lisa shared 6 ways you can unlock the capabilities of AI in roadmap planning.
🤔 Entrepreneurs Confuse Product and Business Plans - Martin Zwilling
A business plan, which is more detailed than a business roadmap, is sometimes confused with a product plan and product roadmap. The product plan is an internal detailed description of the product, while a business plan is an external document that describes everything about the business to investors.
Daymond John via LinkedIn. 💡
When you start adding another product to your business, things get complicated fast. In this edition, we compile multiple articles on how to create and maintain your product portfolio strategically. Let's dive in!
📖 How To Develop a Product Portfolio Strategy - Andrea Saez
A product portfolio strategy is a strategic approach to managing a company's product portfolio. It involves evaluating the company's current and potential products to determine which products should be developed, maintained, or retired.
🖌️ Visualizing a Product Portfolio Strategy on a Wardley Map - Simone Cicero
The need to articulate a portfolio of product strategies is gaining importance as organizations are forced to deal with the increasing modularity and composability of markets in general. Visualizing the portfolio of your products is essential to evolve a strategy around the interdependencies and interactions between the building blocks.
🔱 Creating Product Strategy with Multiple Strategic Tracks (MuST) - Itamar Gilad
For most tech companies, their first big product success is also their last. Finding a second hit is very hard no matter how much we invest in vision and strategy development. But some companies are different: such as Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. Itamar digs deep into how these companies do it with the MuST principle.
📈 Maximizing Product Potential: A Guide To Building a Strong Product Portfolio - Kent McDonald
In order to add products in a way that helps you sustain and grow market share and revenue, you need to build your product portfolio intentionally. In this article, Kent shares some actionable steps to build and manage a product portfolio and how Atlassian is doing it.
❓ Should a Head of Product Make Strategic Product Decisions? - Roman Pichler
The head of product role and the product strategy are often linked. But should a head of product make strategic decisions for individual products? Or would it be better to empower the product people to own the product strategy?
📻 How to Build Your Product Strategy Stack - Ravi Mehta
In this podcast, Ravi dives deep into his product strategy stack framework and how it was used to develop a powerful strategy at Tinder. He also discusses his other popular frameworks—the frontier of understanding and exponential feedback—and how they can help you grow in your career.
Anthony Murphy via LinkedIn. 💡
Happy Easter weekend!
In this edition, we will share with you some very insightful and actionable articles on data and product metrics. Let's dive in!
☸️ Product Metrics: A Flywheel Framework For Cloud Business Leaders
Product metrics can be “leading” indicators for “lagging” financial outcomes. Which product metrics matter the most to your cloud business & how do these act as a barometer for financial performance?
🛠️ Lean Analytics: The Way To Build Better Software - Behzad Nazarbakhsh
The best way to make evidence-based decisions is to follow the data. However, the issue with using data is that you can easily become overwhelmed if you don't know what data to look at. Moreover, human flaw prevents you from fully utilizing all of the insights data has to offer.
❓ Are You Tracking The Right Product Metrics? - Eira Hayward
Metrics can be a minefield for the unwary – navigating your way to find the right metrics is one of the hardest parts of a product manager’s job. What do you need to know to make a go of it?
✅ Product Metrics That Matter - Cláudia Delgado
Before product metrics, we were relying on business metrics. Consider revenue, for example. That’s a lagging success indicator. We just understood the result of our shots at the end of the game or even the championship. Feedback and learning took too long. Since product metric is introduced, the game is changed forever.
💭 The Responsibility of AI: Who is Accountable for the Results of Predictive Models? - Inês Liberato
In this article, Inês goes deep into the data problem of predictive modeling, how that could impact your product management process, and how different stakeholders across teams should take responsibility to avoid the consequences caused by data issues.
In this podcast, Laura talks with Lenny Rachitsky about the role of experimentation and data in growth, and her big wins from her time leading growth teams. Laura also explains how customer insights helped her uplevel her career and how she (surprisingly) thinks about qualitative versus quantitative data.
Tim Herbig shares common mistakes while drafting Product OKRs.
GPT-4 has taken the tech world by storm since its release on March 14th. The first one whose job is to be replaced by it is definitely its predecessor: GPT-3.
This advanced technology opens many possibilities for product management, and we dedicate this Digest edition to its impact and include some experts' opinions on it.
Happy reading!
❓ The Promises and Pitfalls of ChatGPT - Marily Nika
Marily shares her opinions on the limitations of ChatGPT that PMs should be aware of while leveraging the technology, as well as the areas where ChatGPT can be of great assistance with practical examples.
🛠️ How AI experts are using GPT-4 - Melissa Heikkilä
Unlike ChatGPT, which is freely accessible to the general public, GPT-4 is currently accessible only to developers. It’s still early days for the tech, and it’ll take a while for it to feed through into new products and services. Still, people are already testing its capabilities out in the open.
😳 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: 'A little bit scared of this' - ABC News
The CEO behind the company that created ChatGPT believes artificial intelligence technology will reshape society as we know it. He believes it comes with real dangers, but can also be "the greatest technology humanity has yet developed" to drastically improve our lives.
☄️ ChatGPT And Why AI Makes Me Both Excited and Concerned - Lisa Zane
Lisa believes more can be done to find a happy medium to both gather the appropriate context to develop GPT as a relevant tool based on real-world data and make sure that it helps humans far more than it harms us.
📽️ How AI is Transforming The Way PMs Work - airfocus
Earlier this week, we gathered a panel of product experts to discuss their thoughts on the virality of AI usage and share their experiences of using AI in product management as well as how to best integrate AI into the product development process.
📻 Breaking Down Today's Machine Learning Technology - Christine Pawlikowski
In this podcast, Melissa Perri chatted with Christine to discuss language models, the different types of machine learning, how they can be used to solve problems, and the importance of good data and ethical considerations when using machine learning algorithms.
Shreyas Doshi via LinkedIn. 💡
Mar 30th: 5 PM CEST / 4 PM BST / 11 AM EST
Webinar: Building a Winning Product Strategy for Business Success
Apr 6th: 5:30 PM CEST / 4:30 PM BST / 11:30 AM EST
Webinar: Designing Cutting-Edge Industry Applications with ChatGPT
It's true that there are a lot of resources out there on business strategy, but it can be tough to find good ones on product strategy. That's why we're excited to share our recent favorites with you in this week's digest. If you're just starting out, we highly recommend checking out our new eBook first. It's perfect for beginners!
📘 Leveraging Product Strategy for Product and Business Growth - airfocus
In this eBook, you will learn everything you need to create your own product strategy, with examples, actionable steps, and a strategy checklist. We start from the basics of product strategy, all the way to helping you master it.
🚴 Product Strategy Choices: Pursuing Explicit Priorities as a Product Team - Tim Herbig
Does your Product Strategy tell you to “make the product better” and to “be more like Spotify”? If yes, it’s probably not that useful. That’s because effective Product Strategy is about articulating explicit choices and making sure they get translated into action.
📋 How to Define Your Product Strategy - Gibson Biddle
A classic! Gibson Biddle wrote a twelve-part series that provides a step-by-step approach to define your product strategy, sharing his learnings from his time at Netflix and suggesting practical questions that you can exercise with your team.
🔁 How Product Strategy Fails in the Real World - First Round Review
Nate Stewart - CPO of CockRoach Labs - shares the failure modes for product leaders to keep an eye out for (like focusing on customer quality over quantity), and how he’s sidestepped those mistakes in his role at Cockroach (including a new approach to design partners).
❓ How To Choose the Right Product Strategy Framework - Vishal Chaudhary
A well-proven framework can reduce the time and effort to execute a product strategy. Businesses can use many popular frameworks to develop their product strategy, and the right framework will depend on the specific product and market.
📻 Product Strategy Audits and More - Melissa Perri
In this segment, Melissa answers subscribers’ questions about how to do a product strategy audit, offering professional services to one-off clients, and how to choose whether to stay on at the company in a new capacity.
Malte Scholz via LinkedIn. 👏
Mar 22th: 5 PM CET / 4 PM GMT / 11 AM ET
Roundtable discussion: How AI Is Transforming the Way PMs Work
Mar 30th: 5 PM CET / 4 PM GMT / 11 AM ET
Webinar: Building a Winning Product Strategy for Business Success
Hello friends 👋
As a product manager, one of the most important metrics to keep track of is customer churn. In this Product Digest edition, we have picked articles and opinion pieces that provide valuable insights on how to better measure retention rate and reduce churns.
Enjoy reading!
👌 What is Good Monthly Churn? - Lenny Rachitsky
Churn is unavoidable. So what to do? Beyond constantly working to reduce churn, it’s essential that you understand what healthy monthly churn looks like for your type of business—so that you know if you’re on track for 🚀 or ☠️.
📊 Should I Be Using NPS to Measure Customer Loyalty in SaaS? - Andrea Saez
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is popularly used by SaaS companies. Still, Andrea doubts whether NPS is a meaningful metric to measure customer loyalty and identify what you can do to improve product adoption.
🔧 How PayPal Fixed a $100M Churn Problem - Matt Lerner
"After 17 years, we finally "cracked" a $100M churn problem at PayPal. Zero fancy tech, just a spreadsheet, some SQL, and a physicist named Ben." - Matt Lerner, Ex-Director at PayPal.
💌 Dear Product Managers, Churn Is Good for You - Andrei Tiburca
Churn is inherently bad; no questioning that. That said, it is also a valuable signal that can help product managers spot where they’re going wrong with their product and course-correct before the symptom blows up into a complete product failure.
❓ Are churn surveys worth it? - Angela Guedes
Angela shares her insights on why churn surveys can result in confirmation bias and three tips to make the most out of churn surveys, especially for early-stage startups (read: without a lot of resources).
📻 Good Churn vs Bad Churn - Miles Norris
In this podcast, Miles Norris, VP of Product at MagicLab (Bumble, Badoo, Lumen, Chappy), discusses whether retention is as relevant as we're told, how retention looks in healthy businesses, and the 4 phases of retention.
Leah suggests looking at churns the same way we look at revenue in order to get a depth map of negative signals we combat to fight churn.
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products.
Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior.
Happy Product Digest weekend!
Our AI edition was a hit, so we are bringing you another one! This time we will be focusing more on how you can leverage AI to support your product work with prompt suggestions and some insights on prompt engineering.
FYI, we at airfocus also just launched AI Assist - using the power of generative AI to help you with product-specific tasks like drafting problem statements or analyzing feedback sentiment. Check it out!
📋 Top 70 AI Prompts for Product Managers in Every Product Stage - airfocus
How can product managers use AI? The possibilities are endless; you just have to use the right prompts. We prepared a list of 70 prompts you can use in different stages of product management - from product discovery to product planning - to get the most help out of your new sidekick.
📚 Prompt Engineering And Why It Matters To The AI Revolution - Gennaro Cuofano
Like most processes, the quality of the inputs determines the quality of the outputs. Designing effective prompts increases the likelihood that the model will return a response that is both favorable and contextual.
🤖 How Will ChatGPT Change Product Management? - Eira Hayward
ChatGPT and the like will change what is expected from product managers when it comes to both hard skills and soft skills. PMs can use AI to automate multiple small tasks in their routines and become more efficient; and skills like product intuition, stakeholder management, and prioritization will be more valued than ever.
⛓️ 6 Ways to Leverage AI in Roadmap Planning - Lisa Zane
Before even considering plugging AI into what you’re working on, you’ve got to use your human intelligence to define your specific desired outcomes. Once you’ve adequately framed your roadmap, exploring AI in these 6 ways may help determine what and how to collect, organize, and prioritize information.
📻 AI and Product Management - Marily Nika (Meta, Google)
On this Lenny's podcast, Marily shares her insights on how AI is empowering her work, and why she believes that every Product Manager will be an AI Product Manager in the future. They also discuss why PMs should learn a bit of coding, where they can learn it, and best practices for working with data scientists.
🍲 Some food for thought from Andrej Karpathy via Twitter.
📜 Tobias Zwingmann compiles a great list of resources to make better use of ChatGPT!
Feb 16th: 5 PM CET / 4 PM GMT / 11 AM ET
Webinar: airfocus What's New What's Next
Feb 23rd: 7 PM CET / 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET
Panel Discussion: Strengthening Team Cohesion and Morale in 2023
Since it's the planning time of the year, and there's a good chance you are either using OKRs or thinking about adopting OKRs right now, we thought it would be fitting to talk about OKRs in this edition!
📊 OKR Anti-Pattern: Using Measures Of System Behavior - Jeff Gothelf
System behavior can look a lot like human behavior when you reduce both down to metrics. However, system behavior is a feature of your product. It helps you determine to what extent you’ll implement that feature. It doesn’t, however, tell you whether or not you’ve delivered value.
💬 The Roundtable Debate: How Do You Set Product OKRs? - airfocus
Last year, we held a hugely popular roundtable with Robin Zaragoza, Bernhard Hacker, and Kent McDonald on setting product OKRs. We discussed the benefits and the potential pitfalls of OKRs, when the OKRs framework does not work, and how to write good OKRs. Make sure to check out the report of the debate!
🎭 How Product Teams Can Move On From OKR Theater - Tim Herbig
By focusing on vanity metrics instead of measuring the solving of proven user problems, you jeopardize creating success for the business and your users. Let’s take a look at how to recognize OKR Theater — and how to ensure your team is focusing on the right things.
⛓️ How to Align OKRs to Roadmaps - Kent McDonald
OKRs help you put some metrics around the problem you’re trying to solve. Roadmaps help you communicate the things you’re going to use to reach your outcome. How are the two related and how can you align them?
📻 An Inside Look at How Figma Builds Product | Yuhki Yamashita (CPO of Figma)
In this episode, Lenny talks with Yuhki about operationalizing quality, the case against OKRs, and how Figma isn't just known for product-led growth, but also for building a community of empowered users. A very insightful episode overall, and interesting takes on OKRs at 40:50 if you want to skip to that part!
A helpful thread by Teresa Torres on how to differentiate OKRs and Outcomes!
Jan 19th: 5 PM CET / 4 PM GMT / 11 AM ET
Webinar: The Product-led Growth Guide - Show, Don't Tell - Leah Tharin
Feb 8th: 3 PM CET / 2 PM GMT / 9 AM ET
Webinar: Building a Product Management Talent Strategy - Anthony Murphy
We dedicate the last Digest edition of the year to the AI topic, because who is NOT talking about AI in the past couple of weeks?!
We are bringing you some opinions from the thought leaders in the scene, together with our favorite product song written by AI!
📊 Prediction on 2023 Product Trends - Emilia Korczynska
"I've never seen Product People being so unanimous about anything - but this year, when I asked top Product Managers and Marketers to share their opinion on the upcoming 2023 product trends, almost everyone mentioned AI."
🤖 Prediction on 2023 Product Trends - according to ChatGPT
Inspired by Emily's post, we at airfocus also asked ChatGPT - the hottest artificial intelligence chatbot these days - about its "thoughts" on product trends in 2023 and this is what we've got.
🎨 Exploring the Power of OpenAI ChatGPT for product designers - Edward Chechique
It is more than evident that AI technology will change how product designers work. In this article, Edward demonstrates some use cases for product design using the new ChatGPT.
📍You need an AI transformation manager, NOT an AI product manager - Kevin Dewalt
As the business landscape slopes up toward AI Abundance, we need an additional specialized role to address the unique challenges of AI transformation.
📻 The Ethics of AI in Product Management - Ammar Jawad
From one of the foremost leaders in the machine learning field, Ammar Jawad breaks down his thoughts on topics like psychology in product, machine learning in the tech industry, and the ethics of artificial intelligence.
✒️ Wise words from Saeed Khan.
🎤 A product management song by "Eminem"?? We have to share this with you.
Jan 19th: 5 PM CET / 4 PM GMT / 11 AM ET Webinar: The Product-led Growth Guide - Show, Don't Tell
Jan 27th: 6 PM CET / 12 AM ET / 9 AM PT Webinar: Developing a Strong Product & Design Sense with Bob Baxley
The human factor plays a huge role in a product's success, but is rarely talked about enough.
We are bringing you some top articles about product team empowerment this week, along with an insightful video from Marty Cagan.
💼 Why And How To Create Empowered Product Teams: An Actionable Guide - Kerstin Exner
Many companies will claim that they have a strong product management discipline, but if you look under the hood, this is not always true. The ones that do usually outperform their competitors in innovation, speed, quality, agility, and adaptability. All of these are critical in a fast-changing world.
📍 Self-similarity and Manager/Leader Accountability (for Cross-functional Teams) - John Cutler
The key point here is that having "cross-functional teams" is all well and good. But these teams are a mirror of the managers they report to (which mirrors the incentives in place). If the managers cannot collaborate, the team will have trouble collaborating.
🚧 Why Groups Struggle to Solve Problems Together - Al Pittampalli
There are five stages of problem-solving: defining the problem, generating solutions, evaluating solutions, picking a solution, and making a plan. When we solve problems on our own, we intuitively move in between these stages to generate solutions quickly.
🗝️ Open Your Product Development Process to Your Team and Stakeholders - Hilary Johnson
A well-thought-out product development process is key to creating and launching meaningful products. You’ll certainly be more effective with your process if you involve key team members and stakeholders at the right times.
⚔️ Product vs Design vs Tech: A Partnership, not a Battlefield - Anthony Murphy
In high-performing teams, each individual has a deep sense of responsibility to the team and ownership of the product. They participate and yearn to understand more about the different aspects of product development.
📽️ Achieving Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People - Marty Cagan
Marty has had the extremely good fortune to be able to work with many of the very best technology product teams in the world. What he has learned is that there is a profound difference between how the very best product companies create technology products, and the rest.
The r/productmanagement subreddit shares advice on how to deal with an underperforming team.
The Team that Managed Itself: A Story of Leadership - by Christina Wodtke
How do you build the right team and choose the goals to pull them to greatness, even if you’re dealing with a toxic environment? How do you keep your people moving in the right direction without burning out or burning it all down? Leading so well that your team learns to manage itself?
Learn how from this book by Christina Wodtke. You can order your copy here.
Dec 14th: 5pm CET / 11am ET / 8am PT Webinar: How Miro Scales Delivery and Discovery
Dec 16th: 6pm CET / 12pm ET / 9am PT Webinar: Take Back Your Power & Special Afterparty
Inspired by *gestures wildly at everything* whatever is going on at Twitter, we decided to dedicate this Product Digest edition to the topic "Product leadership".
Want to read others' opinions on the current state of product management at Twitter? We've got you too!
70 percent of the workers questioned believe they would be happier at work if they had a better relationship with their managers. In comparison, 60% feel they would be more productive.
💅 The Highest Paid Person's Opinion (HIPPO)
Many people in the position to give out HIPPOs got there by being right, a lot. They developed and delivered successful products and services and helped grow the business to where it is today. None of that matters when it comes to a new initiative.
📍 Product Leadership: The Four Pillars
Sometimes we get caught up in the “management” portion of our profession and lose track of moving toward “leadership.” Management is about execution. Leadership is about inspiring others to follow you and bring your vision to life.
📚 How to Apply Product Thinking to Your Entire Organization
Applying product thinking to your organization doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a habit and mindset. This means having an ongoing and collective effort. It can be challenging to know where to start, especially if your organization, team, or stakeholders are new to this approach.
⛰️ Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader
What got you here, won't get you there. There is a core reason why the step to Product Leader is the hardest; it's an almost completely different job requiring several new abilities like product strategy.
📻 How To Unlock Your Product Leadership Skills
Ken Norton, an executive coach and an ex-PM at Google for 14 years, shares with Lenny Rachitsky his deep experience in leadership and the lessons he most often offers his clients to unlock growth.
More than a hundred PMs shared their opinions under this thread. Don't miss the discussion!
Product managers, what's your view of how @elonmusk is leading twitter?
— JustAnotherPM (@JustAnotherPM) November 20, 2022
EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products (Silicon Valley Product Group) - by Marty Cagan and Chris Jones.
Bill Campbell - a legendary Silicon Valley coach - once said, "Leadership is about recognizing that there's a greatness in everyone, and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge." This book shows you how to become that empowering leader.
A perhaps popular but fitting choice for this week's recommendation! You can order your copy here. Tip: The Kindle version is on sale for Black Friday!
Nov 30th: 5pm CET / 11am ET
Roundtable Discussion: Setting Product Ops up for Success
Dec 7th: 3pm CET / 9am ET
Webinar: Fundamentals of Successful Product Management: The 3 Non-Negotiables
Dec 14th: 5pm CET / 11am ET
Webinar: How Miro Scales Delivery and Discovery
Happy Product Digest weekend!
This week we'd like to share a mix of insights on Product-led growth (PLG) with you, especially when it comes to a B2B environment.
📚 Introduction to PLG and The Role of the (B2B) Product Manager
The B2B product manager has a central role in collaborating, coordinating, and communicating with all teams to create a coherent and compelling product. This is very similar to how product management in B2C companies has been operating for years.
✍️ How to Win With Product-led Sales
Everyone wants the best of both worlds: low CAC with product-led (PLG) and high ACVs with sales-led (SLG) growth models. But implementing both is tricky as they utilize different channels, monetization strategies, growth loops, and even internal resources.
💬 Inside Hotjar’s Bootstrapped PLG Strategy
"The biggest misconception I see about product-led growth is people assume it's about product and that's a bit of a reduction." - Hotjar CEO Mohannad Ali shared how the company bootstrapped to $50M+ with PLG.
🎈 What Makes a Strong Product Culture?
A product-focused company will naturally create a product culture around it, resulting in an environment that delivers for the product managers, engineers, sales and marketing teams, and customers.
💻 The Importance of Data Quality For Product-led Companies
Data touches every aspect of a PLG company, from personalization to strategy. But if the success of the business depends on data, then poor data quality directly impacts the top and bottom lines.
📻 How to Unsuccessfully Launch a PLG Motion
In this podcast, Wes Bush - author of the popular book "Product-led Growth" - discusses a different approach of ideas and insights about how to be successful in building an unsuccessful launch of a product-led growth motion!
Read Elena Verna's full post here.
Mastering Product Experience (in SaaS): How to Deliver Personalized Product Experiences with a Product-led Strategy by Mickey Alon and Nick Bonfiglio.
This book points out the limitations of conventional marketing techniques for SaaS businesses and explains how a thought-through data infrastructure can help design delightful personalized product experiences to acquire and retain users.
You can order your copy here.
Welcome to the newest Product Digest issue! This time we're fastening substantially on product design. If you or your friends are trying to navigate through product design topics feel free to share this newsletter.
📚 The Art of Designing a Product
In this article, the author goes through the product design process and explains all of its stages.
📚 UX Design and Product Roadmaps: Here’s What You Need To Know
When product design and User Experience considerations come together, we get the UX roadmap. Read the article to learn more about it.
📚 Designing for "Delight" Is Dead
The ultimate goal of product design has to be well-being — not delight. One of the last articles from the pen of an innovation optimist Alex Klein.
🎥 UI/UX Design vs Product Design
In this video you will learn What is Product Design, What is UI/UX Design, How UI/UX design is different from Product Design, Product Designer Salary and a lot more!
Malte Scholz via LinkedIn
In Designer's Guide to Product Vision: Learn To Build Your Strategic Influence To Shape the Future authors (Laura Fish and Scott Kiekbusch) help you navigate fast-changing product journeys―iteratively and continuously improving experiences while staying aligned with your mission and purpose. Interesting book for every product designer.
Feel free to order your copy here.
Welcome to the next Product Digest issue! October's edition will bring you to the exciting world of product strategy. If planning is something you want to learn more about feel free to start with the video below and deep dive further into the articles.
📚 The 5 Product Innovation Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
What are the main reasons why product innovation fails? In this article, you will find the 5 reasons that the author sees as the most common and some thoughts on how to address them.
📚 Practical Guide To Defining a Product Strategy
Once you have your mission and vision statement clearly identified you can engage in defining a clear strategy to execute that vision. Check out this article to know more information.
📚 Common Product Vision Board Mistakes
The product vision board is a simple yet powerful tool to capture the product vision and the product strategy. Despite its simplicity, effectively using it can be challenging.
🎥 What Is Product Strategy (An Overview)
What is Product Strategy? What does a Product Strategist do, and how can you get started in Product Strategy? Product Strategist Jonathan Courtney gives you a basic overview of everything you need to know about it.
Itamar Gilad via Twitter
Many product managers are stuck between waterfall planning and agile execution. It’s not a great place to be. You’re working incredibly hard to satisfy everyone, but you have no time to do your real job - discover the product that creates most value.
— Itamar Gilad (@ItamarGilad) October 14, 2022
In Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age author shared practical advice and valuable examples about product strategy so that you can apply the practices directly to your products. Comprehensive and insightful, the book will enable you to make the right strategic decisions in today’s dynamic digital age.
Feel free to order your copy here.
Have you ever been confused about the product vision and company mission? You are definitely not the first one but after reading the article from Inês Liberato you will understand these two concepts much better. Feel free to pick your favourite Saturday reading from the ones below.
📚 Company Vision vs. Product Vision
Today we would like to bring you the concept of product vision and how it works within the company context sometimes also called company (vision) mission.
📚 Putting It All Together: Vision, Strategy, Roadmap, and OKRs
Set of actionable advice on vision, strategy, roadmapping and OKRs. If you are new in a product space then this article can give you a nice overview.
📚 Creating Product Strategy with Multiple Strategic Tracks (MuST)
Product Strategy is hard. For most tech companies their first big product success is also their last. Finding a second hit is very hard no matter how much we invest in vision and strategy development. The core business somehow always generates 90%+ of revenue and engagement.
🎥 Product Vision vs. Product Strategy: What's the Difference?
Differentiating Product Vision vs. Product Strategy is not just about semantics. If you understand the difference between them, you can actually use Product Vision to help drive bold choices in Product Strategy.
Itamar Gilad via LinkedIn
In Vision to Value: How to Structure Tech Companies to Deliver Great Products author shared his tips and ideas on how to guide leaders in technical operations towards setting up product development structure, customer support, developing business processes, and organizing teams, while highlighting many of the issues contributing to organizational failure, and some approaches to solving them.
Feel free to order your copy here.
This week we focus on Product Ops. Emerging role in a product management industry but not everyone knows much information about it. Feel free to watch the video with Marty Cagan and read other articles.
📚 Product Operations: The COO of the Outcome-Focused Product Org?
Are you looking to move into product ops or evaluating if your team could benefit from it? Here are some of the basics behind what product operations does, how it fits in, early wins, and more!
Product ops, referring to product operations, supports a cross-functional product team to constantly ensure and improve their efficiency. Do you want to learn more? Check this article from Clement Kao.
📚 Product Operations: From zero to one
"...in many ways, a product ops team functions as a miniature product team — the product process is my product, and the product team are my users. Therefore, my success in product ops hinges on my ability to understand the needs of my users, the product team, and align around shared goals for the improvement of my product — the product development process." This is how Joshua McLaughlin thinks about Product Ops. Do you want to learn more from him?
🎥 Marty Cagan on Straight Talk About Product Ops at Lean Product Meetup
Marty Cagan gave "Straight Talk About Product Ops" talk at Lean Product Meetup on January 20, 2022. See the video below.
In Product Management in Practice: A Practical, Tactical Guide for Your First Day and Every Day After author provides real-world guidance for current and aspiring product managers. Updated for the era of remote and hybrid work, this book provides actionable answers to product management's most persistent and confounding questions, starting with: What exactly am I supposed to do all day?
Feel free to order your copy here.
We are all in a product space so knowing the basics of how to run and work effectively in modern product teams can help us to build better products. Have fun reading the articles and tell us your experiences with managing product teams.
This article addresses the process side of running a product team. If you are in the stage of building or running one click here to learn a more structured way of doing product management.
📚 How to Level-up Your Product Team: The Three ‘Ps’
This article provides a framework to move your product team forward and ‘level-up’ your capability. It can be helpful for everyone who stays in a product some time already and need to move forward faster.