Featured Articles
Mobile is not a neutral platform!
Benedict Evans works at Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital juggernaut that is bankrolling many of the product unicorns emerging from Silicon Valley.
In Summary: The mobile homescreen, not the browser homepage, is now the gateway to our digital identity. This is why Apple, Google and now Facebook are locked in an epic struggle to control it. Notifications, search and fingerprint recognition are the next battleground and the stakes couldn't be higher.
What will happen in Product and Tech in 2016
Michael Wolf, Yahoo board member and leading technology strategist, brings us a truly epic deck on what we can expect to go down in digital over the next 12 months.
In Summary: WSJD Live conference this week yielded some great interviews and thought leadership. This presentation from Michael Wolf was a high point. There are far too many insights to mention them all but the awesome rise of mobile messaging, the future of streaming audio and who is actually making money in the appstore(s) spring to mind. Jump to slide 3 if you just want the headlines.
Making Product
11 things every Mobile Product Manager should know
An excellent breakdown from Kendrick Wang of Apptmise of the considerations specific to mobile product management.
In Summary: Many companies think simply having a mobile product is enough to make them mobile first. But this is just the beginning. There's a great deal of knowledge and craft necessary to achieve excellence in this channel. A deep understanding of the pros & cons of iOS vs Android, design patterns for mobile UX, feature flagging and appstore optimisation are just some of them.
Product Discovery vs. Delivery
Marty Cagan from SVPG has some advice for Product Managers on how to move fast without breaking anything in terms of code quality.
In Summary: Product discovery and delivery require Product Managers to prioritise different things. If you want to discover great products, it's essential that you get your ideas in front of real users early and often via Customer Beta and 'Opt-in' programmes. If you want to deliver great products, you should use engineering best practices, and not try to override engineers' concerns.
The software bits we release are not the Product!
Part 3 of Rich Mironov's series on the Laws of Software Economics.
In Summary: Customers don't buy your product, they buy why it will make their lives better. This is the story sales and marketing tell. Software itself is just part of a larger 'product story'. Good product strategy rests on clear, crisp descriptions of who you are building for, what problems you choose to address, and how you solve problem better than the alternatives.
Why 'About' pages should matter to Product Managers
Ryan Angilly from Ramen.is says 'About' pages are part of the product and shouldn't be viewed as the domain of marketing or HR.
In Summary: Ryan outlines in detail why you should care about your 'About' page, refutes common justifications for not having one and explores some best practices that companies with existing 'About' pages can use to improve them. He also expands on how larger companies with many products can use 'About' pages at scale.
The 6 forces of Product Development
Part 4 of Kenneth Berger's series on what he learnt as the first Product Manager at Slack.
In Summary: Instead of the typical Project Management triangle of Time, Cost and Quality, Kenneth believes there are six fundamental forces which drive product development; with clear decision-making at the centre as a tie-breaker. Growing companies are in constant transition — in terms of team and the business they’re building - and should constantly analyse who is advocating for each fundamental force to ensure the correct balance.
Growing Product
5 myths about Product growth
First Round Capital supply some of the highest quality content on digital product management around. This interview with Expensify's Founder & CEO is no exception.
In Summary: David Barratt founded expense management startup Expensify in 2009 and it's now the fastest scaling software of its kind, having grown 130% in 2014 alone. David is an outspoken critic of standard ideas about product growth and gleefully rubbishes the notion that 'big data' has all the answers. Gut instinct and luck play a big role as does a close alliance between product, sales and marketing. Hilarious, counter-intuitive stuff.
Talking Product
The Role of a Product Manager
Google's Michael Siliski reflects on Ben Horowitz's landmark essay on what differentiates a Good PM from a Bad PM.
In Summary: Most of the shortfalls Siliski has witnessed during his career arose from a failure by management to set clear expectations. In response he summarises what he believes are the key aspects of the Product Manager role. These are Vision & Strategy, Execution & Impact, Communication & Visibility, Honesty and Culture and Ownership.
