Net Promoter Score – Helpful or Harmful? (part 1)
NPS has gained a status of one-metric-that-matters that it likely doesn’t deserve. Here’s some of the untold story of NPS.
From Outputs to Outcomes: Bridging the Four Gaps
It’s no secret that many companies struggle with Objectives and Key Results. As I wrote before, a very common problem is setting goals for outputs — work to do — rather than for outcomes — positive changes to achieve. This turns OKR into an expensive work planning process, and may lead to nasty side-effects such …
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Feature Factories vs. Value Generators
Like it or not, many of us are working in feature factories . We’re churning out feature after feature, trying to deliver on a roadmap. To some that’s just how it’s supposed to be, but for others Feature Factory became the banner term for all that’s wrong with traditional product development. Why are we …
The Problem of False Predictability
I recently met a product team, let’s call it Team Red, who is developing a new product in an established, traditional industry. On the surface Team Red has it all: it is cross-functional, fully-staffed, well-funded, working towards clear business goals, and is empowered to make decisions. And yet as we sat down to talk, I …
Three Common PM Role Antipatterns
Product Management has been around for a good 40 years, but many companies are still figuring out the basics, including the role of PMs, their reporting line, and relationship with other disciplines. Getting these things wrong can waste a lot of your product management resources and frustrate both the PMs and the people working with them. In …
The Build-Measure-LooksGood! Loop
Experimentation is becoming more commonplace, but this positive development is often hampered by a common problem. I see company after company testing product ideas with users and customers, collecting the results, but then failing to take meaningful action — no parking of ideas or pivoting. I call this the Build-Measure-LooksGood! loop. Why is this happening? …
Dealing with Top-Down Projects
Q: My manager keeps instructing me to build certain features that were decided on by management without my input. I’m not happy not to be consulted, and I disagree with many of these ideas, but my manager always presents them as a “must” and is not willing to challenge the decisions. What can I do? …
How To Learn From FAANG
There’s a popular notion that we should copy the playbooks of the most successful tech companies, aka Big Tech. The most obvious sources of inspiration are the FAANG companies: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. So you may be told to Work Backwards like Amazon, use OKRs and 20% projects like Google, or organize according to …
How Much Product Discovery Is Enough?
A common question I get is when it is ok to stop validating a product idea and switch to delivery. It’s a natural question given the pressure product teams face to execute and launch. It’s also an important question. If we stop too early we may end up launching a bad idea (we’ve all been …
Working Better with Stakeholders — Three Key Techniques
Working with stakeholders can be tough. Whether it’s sales, marketing, PR, legal, or finance, these folks tend to have strong opinions about the product, and they are often more senior or more influential than you. They certainly are better at negotiation, escalation, and corporate politics. Your company is probably not offering good tools to deal with …
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