This Week in Product – Feb. 22, 2019

People, Not Products

Eventually, you realise the hardest part of your job isn’t the work, but negotiating meaning & understanding the complexity of human beings.

— 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐀𝐌✌🏼 (@MaryZai) February 21, 2019

Sure, you got a lot going on. With the million things that PMs are responsible for, it can feel like that roadmap or that feature is the hardest part. But, in reality, it’s understanding why users are completely ignoring the really cool thing you built. Not to mention the need to make engineers and designers work together. This is a good reminder to shift our perspective the next time things get hard – focus on the people, as they ultimately make your product. Yes, it will be hard, but it will be rewarding.

150%

Product Management is 50% influence, 50% perspiration and 50% technical/quick decisions/prioritization

— Alex Bowen (@ArizonaAlex) February 22, 2019

We may be biased, but this math does add up for us. Product management is a 150% job. We built ProductCraft to help you with at least 100% of this. The perspiration you’ll have to figure out on your own.

Alphabet Soup

I came across this Medium piece from an engineer-MBA-PM about the value of going to business school. This is a hotly-debated question, and Harshita Maheshwari does a good job of outlining whether you should shell out all that money and time on an MBA. This is a great even-keeled analysis — I clapped for it. 👏🏽

WWJGD?

This is the crux of Product Management!#prodmgmt #ProductManagement pic.twitter.com/oREjHiVIBl

— Mittul Desai (@mittuled) February 19, 2019

I’m a sucker for a Jeff Goldblum meme, especially if it reminds you to think twice about building a feature you don’t really need. Or more accurately, that your users don’t really need. Sure, the challenge of puzzle solving is thrilling, but ask yourself: WWJGD? No, actually, don’t. Jeff Goldblum doesn’t know anything about product management, but you should ask yourself: what should I do?

Looker Here

Looker’s product is evolving way past its original mandate as a simple BI tool. I know because I recently spoke to their CPO (Nick Caldwell, who’s speaking at the ProductCraft Conference), and he’s a real visionary product thinker. So, if you’re looking for something new, this is an awesome opportunity to help position a pivoting product in a new space.