Thu Jun 23
Going remote-first isn’t just giving our engineers the freedom to do their best work. It’s challenging them to define what and how they’ll achieve it, forcing them to work together more deliberately - in pairs and across projects. And that’s an excellent thing.
Wed Jun 15
As a product leader, what would you do with the power of - an expert product, technology, and engagement team that seamlessly integrates, enables, and advises? a fast and immediate increase in team bandwidth? complete confidence in the execution and delivery of your vision? Kevin has been known to say that Connected gives product leaders superpowers. Now, you can find out how for yourself in Part Two of How to Scale Engineering Teams, Not Slow Down & Still Have an Amazing Product.
Tue Jun 7
Great product companies don’t start with a revolutionary idea for a new experience or value proposition that will change the world. In fact, great product companies don’t have much to start with. Most are still searching for the elusive Product-Market Fit (PMF), and while doing so, they have little at their disposal. So, how much does the product even matter in the pre-PMF phase of a startup? Great question, and Manish, our Product Leader in Residence, answers in this edition of Behind the Grind: Lessons from a Product Leader.
Thu May 19
When you think of product development, words that may come to mind are prototypes, market research, and user testing. Other words that probably surfaced are agile development, UX design, and innovation. But one that may not have made the short-list is likely: creativity. Product teams may not realize it, but they engage in creativity every single day from the approaches they take for building prototypes to figuring out ways to collect feedback accurately from users. Paul Sobocinski, our Director of Engineering, Practice shares how software product teams and creativity are better together than apart, and how to leverage the power of imagination (an aspect of creativity) during a retrospective.
Tue May 10
The Product Practice Forum (PPF) is an in-house ritual where product practitioners can seek peer-to-peer guidance, advice, and feedback on projects and problems. So I decided to utilize this resource and ask for feedback on my task tracking setup for a recent high-stakes project. Our team had to build a functioning prototype using new processes and technologies - all in 2-months.
Mon May 2
As a 0->1 product builder, you have strong conviction at the 100,00-foot level. But, at the 1,000-foot day-to-day level, you probably find yourself wondering what exactly you should be doing today to advance your goals for tomorrow. You may be getting frustrated over why friends, colleagues, investors and the media can’t see the opportunity or your vision for the product as clearly as you. And while it’s never easy to admit, you may also be “mistaking motion for progress,” a proven death blow for 0->1 teams.
Mon Apr 25
Whether you’re designing a product for an intended target audience or trying to select a place for dinner, having the correct data is vital and a big step towards ensuring that you can sidestep Selection Biases. But what exactly are Selection Biases, and how can their impact be mitigated? That’s the topic of this edition of You’re Wrong & Don’t Know It