“The Lean Product Playbook” by Dan Olsen is a practical guide to applying lean startup principles to product development.
Process
How to prioritise Product Backlog
Product Backlog is a listing of what the team wants to put in their release which includes: new features to develop, new ideas the team working on, bugs or technical debt.
TBM 205: “Process” vs. Systems & Habits
Team A writes a 1-pager as part of a heavyweight annual planning process. No 1-pager, no budget. Hurry! Hurry! The leadership team has a hundred…
Not Trusting the Process is Product Management
Anna Marie Clifton explains how often process is seen as a hindrance, whereas it should instead be considered as an accelerant to getting things done.
Why Creating Tech Debt Is a Necessary Evil
Tech debt is something that used to drive me nuts. Developers pressured me to give them room to handle tech debt. They claimed everything could collapse if I wouldn’t listen to them. Meanwhile, demanding stakeholders wanted more output and didn’t understand why dealing with tech debt mattered, and unfortunately, I didn’t understand it either.
WIP, Multi-Tasking, Context Switching (Video)
Saying “we need to lower work in progress” is like saying “we should do less” (to people who aren’t versed in the underlying theory). It doesn’t go over well! Instead, it is better to talk about multi-tasking, context switching, plans going stale, and delaying delivering valuable things.
Creativity and strategy vs analysis and planning
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode we are joined by Mike Goitein, an Enterprise OKR, Agile, and Product coach at KeyBank, a top-20 US bank. Mike, who has a background in IT consulting, now supports KeyBank’s ongoing Agile transformation.
Product planning — How to go from Opportunity to User stories?
The vocabulary in the product world can be confusing. The product team communicates regularly with business and development teams, so we borrow terms from both.
Understanding the role of product ops | Christine Itwaru (Pendo)
Christine Itwaru is a longtime product operations leader at Pendo and more recently has taken on the larger role of Principal Strategist there. Before leading product ops, Christine spent 12 years in product management. In this episode, we delve into the rapidly growing field of product ops and discover how Christine is part of shaping the role industry-wide. She helps us define the role of product operations, what kind of person would be a good fit for the product ops role, when your company would benefit from product ops, and what red flags to look for if you decide to go down this path.
The Product Development Process: 6 Stages
The product development process refers to the full spectrum of activities that starts with the seed of an idea and turns that innovative thought into a market-viable product.
Forget Scrum Masters. Focus on Outcomes.
The year was 1995, and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction wasn’t the only chaotic thing shaking up the world. Javascript had just hit the scene and everyone in the software development industry was frantically trying to build things as quickly as possible, mostly leaving process to happenstance. At best, any attempt to build faster was ineffective. At worst, it was counterproductive.
A Map from Goals, Around Assumptions, Through Tasks, Towards Results
TBM 11/52: Scaffolding & Skepticism
Scaffolds are helpful and sometimes necessary. Example: To understand and eliminate costly dependencies, you’ll need to observe those dependencies. To accomplish that, you might set up an intricate system to specify and view dependencies across the organization.
How to Write a PRD That Actually Helps You Build Products
How to know that you’re on the right track with your team
Product Managers are ultimately responsible for figuring out what to build and ensuring it is impactful.
Simple in theory, but not easy.
PMs have to source and process ideas from every direction, rationalize and advocate for which investments make sense, and hold steady in conviction about their roadmap while staying flexible for things to change as they learn.
Challenges With The Lean Startup Methodology
By Sachin Rekhi
How to foster innovation and big thinking | Eeke de Milliano (Retool, Stripe)
Eeke de Milliano is the Head of Product at Retool and a former product lead at Stripe. In this episode, we discuss how any team can become an innovation machine. We talk about how a culture of writing led to a team of rigorous thinkers at Stripe.
Why Product Teams Keep Roadmaps and Processes Consistent
Discover why enterprise organizations thrive when product leaders utilize consistent roadmaps and processes.
Principles over process
Stage Gate Process: The Complete Practice Guide
Stage Gate process: How to prevent project risk
The Secret to Building a Customer-Centric Culture
Data shows that customer-centered businesses outperform their competition.
According to a survey from California Review Management, companies who said their customer focus was “very mature” experienced 2.5X the revenue growth of companies with a “very immature” focus.