Blog
Published writing on product management, decisions, teams, startups, and building useful systems.
David Hariri on co-founding Ada, the pivot that created a unicorn, and what product-market fit… In this episode I speak with David Hariri, co-founder of Ada, an AI powered customer support platform that raised at a 1.2B valuation in… Craig Miller on being Shopify’s CPO, Marketing by an Engineer, Leadership, and Scale Black box of PM Podcast: Season 01, Episode 01 Product Management Mental Models for Everyone Mental models are simple expressions of complex processes or relationships. These models are accumulated over time by an individual and… Managing and Developing Product Managers If the craft of Product Management is often mired in ambiguity, managing product managers is ambiguity². The First Principles of Product Management Some of the best PMs I know make their decisions based on first principles. A first principle is a “basic, foundational proposition or… Making Good Decisions as a Product Manager While product managers may not build the actual product, they do produce something very tangible for a team: decisions. Deadlines For as long as I’ve been working in tech I’ve heard this oscillating debate about the use of deadlines in projects, with particularly… Ruthless Prioritization All high functioning teams must prioritize. Not once a month, not once a week — but rigorously, and ruthlessly. Applying Leverage as a Product Manager I get every new PM I manage to read (or re-read) High Output Management by Andy Grove within the first month of joining my team. It’s a… Scaling Conversational Commerce We just enabled 325,000 merchants to sell in messaging, without building a bot. Why Hey and Thanks still matter Hey, A Bad Product Decision I often wonder if I should have been fired for it MVPM: Minimum Viable Product Manager You’ve probably seen this diagram before. It elegantly shows that product management is the intersection of a diverse skill set. Product Partnerships (pt. 2/2) — Executing a Partnership as a PM This is a continuation of Part 1: The Making of a Partnership Product Partnerships (pt. 1/2)— The Making of a Partnership I realized the other day that I’ve spent a lot of the last few years building products in partnership with other companies. I’ve led teams… The Black Box of Product Management PMs get sad when you ask them why they exist 7 Heuristics for being a Product Director I’m a big believer in developing heuristics over the course of your life. These are rules of thumb you internalize so that you don’t have… Canadian Startup People: you might want to exercise those options early Short post here. What stories have you never finished? That’s it, I’m shipping these unfinished thoughts. Start with Lunch The simplest, most delicious way to become a great team The #1 cold email I get “How can I get into product management?” Product Managers are Forged in the Crucibles of Launches Come spend a day in the fire The Time Value of Shipping Unpacking “Shipping as a Feature” PMs, you don’t need that technical degree In defense of “non-technical” product managers Why I Quit my Startup A 100-days later, from the other side Product Management is a lot like Playing Poker Some lessons from the felt