🍟4 best links of 2021 / PM Snacks #51

Revisit the best links of 2021: good PRD documents, prioritization, why people hate product managers & more...

Hey 👋

This is the holidays' special newsletter featuring the best links of the year (by number of clicks). The normal schedule will resume in January (hopefully with more regularity).

1️⃣  Anatomy of a good PRD (shared in PM Snacks #43)
Jul 2020 • 4 min read • #execution #shaping #delivery
I like the exhaustiveness of Square's template but prefer Figma's shorter version. You can also have a look at the template I crafted for comet and discover some by other companies. In any case, good product requirement documents should: 
1/ Be centralised and easily accessible outside the product team
2/ Align people on the problem, the solution & launch criteria
3/ Stay short & show more than they tell (mockups, flows, ...)
4/ Serve as a hub (the one place that links to everything related to the theme)

2️⃣  Prioritization Beyond Algorithms (shared in PM Snacks #49)
Apr 2021 • 3 min read • #execution #strategy #roadmap
Stop blindly using RICE or any other "magical" formula to prioritise items in spreadsheets. Sure, these frameworks facilitate better conversation with stakeholders & make it a bit more "unbiased", but they lack context. Do read Rich Mironov's take on this, to find out why. Spoiler: 
1/ Strategy comes before scores (company to product strategy, OKRs)
2/ Acknowledge your team context (product's stage, different kinds of work) 
3/ Think like an investor: allocate fractions of your budget to various kinds of work & bets

3️⃣  Why do people hate product managers? (shared in PM Snacks #44)
Aug 2021 • 4 min read • #selfimprovement
If you are lucky, you might have just enjoyed a vacation and you're well-rested... Keep calm for this breaking news: 1/ some people hate us, 2/ for good reasons. Learn more about our sins and what to do to avoid them. I've been an overstepper at times until I learned to empower the team (this article from PM Snacks #35 might help) & can still be a complexifier (when I'm passionate about a product). What about you?

4️⃣  OUTCOME BASED ROADMAPS (shared in PM Snacks #34)
Sept 2019 • 10 min read • #strategy #execution #mustread
This is a very good piece connecting the content shared in the last few weeks around product strategy. It starts with the company's objectives, down to the "outcome" roadmap, giving specific advice & prompts to start. Bonus: a good piece on the differences between a feature & an outcome roadmap by Gibson Biddle & a recommended deep dive in how Malt & Jobteaser do it by Le Ticket (FR)

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A warm welcome to the 27 new subscribers, we are now 1751 readers strong!

Thank you for reading me.
Have a great week!

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