Episode 151: Reflections and Revelations: Best of 2023

In this special episode of Product Thinking, host Melissa Perri takes a look back at what we have learned from some of our top guests across product management, operations, and leadership, featuring:

Blake Samic speaks about setting up product operations during his time at Uber and Stripe.
Hubert Palan shares the Standardization of Product Management and how the Product Operations Function creates consistency.
Jason Fried of 37 Signals outlines how they ensure product teams remain fresh and relevant without getting stuck in the details.
Glen Stoffel and Caryn Fried unveil how tough skills are important when creating great product managers.
Stephanie Leue dives into the necessity of prioritizing people, purpose, process, and performance in Product Management.
Tom Eisenmann, Professor at Harvard Business School, provides a deep dive into why startups fail.

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You’ll hear them talk about:

Blake Samic - Initially skeptical about the relevance of product operations at Stripe, based on his experience at Uber, Blake's perspective changed upon deeper engagement with the company. He recognized numerous parallels in the challenges both companies faced, especially in scaling tech operations. Both were rapidly expanding, not just geographically, but in their product offerings and market strategies. Also, both companies shared a deep ambition in product engineering, with a relentless focus on shipping high-quality products. Stripe, in particular, set an exceptionally high bar for quality.
Hubert Palan - The evolution of product management is on the horizon, with a change towards greater standardization similar to practices seen in sales, customer success, and engineering. Historically, product teams have enjoyed a degree of autonomy, embracing individualized methods and tools, which fostered innovation but often led to inconsistencies and challenges in decision-making and portfolio management at a larger scale. The emergence of a product operations function signals a change in this landscape and the need for a more uniform approach to product management. Such standardization is crucial for enhancing predictability and effective leadership within the product organization, ensuring a balance between innovative autonomy and strategic alignment.
Jason Fried - Jason's approach to project management prioritizes flexibility and efficiency, as shown by the six-week work cycle. By limiting any task or feature to a maximum of six weeks for completion, Jason and his team relieve the stress and rigidity that comes from long-term planning, such as two-year roadmaps. This timeframe is not only manageable but also adaptable, allowing us to respond to changes and prioritize different tasks without being overly committed to pre-set plans.
Glen Stoffel and Caryn Fried - As product managers evolve towards CPO roles, a critical skill often overlooked for success is facilitation. While strong product professionals typically excel in vision and strategy, understanding the complex connections between different aspects of the customer and employee experience, they risk falling into the trap of control rather than collaboration.
Stephanie Leue - Recognizing the need for a shift towards a product-led approach, Stephanie decided to avoid past mistakes by ensuring data-driven and customer-feedback-oriented product releases and deprecations. Her strategy focused on four pivotal areas: people, purpose, process, and performance. She highlights to her teams that performance is a result of excellence in the first three areas.

Tom Eisenmann - Tom's book identifies six common failure patterns that startups encounter, divided into early and late stages. Early-stage challenges, occurring before a startup achieves product-market fit, include False Starts, Bad Bedfellows, and False Positives. In the later stage, post-product market fit, startups face Speed Trap, Help Wanted, and Cascading Miracles.

Episode Resources: