PM Snacks #14 / Airpods are the future, why most standups suck & who is Tony?
I'm Olivier Courtois, Head of Product @ comet & Startup Advisor. You are receiving this email because you signed up to productverse, a weekly newsletter about Product Management. Thank you for being here. If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe here
1️⃣ Have you met Tony Fadell? • Oct 2020 • 4 min read
A thread about the father of the iPod, founder of Nest & first intern at General Magic. You'll learn why he remains off caffeine until today, but most importantly how they launched the iPod in less than a year and some important lessons. Btw, if you have never seen the General Magic documentary, I can only encourage you to do so during the lockdown #bio
2️⃣ Product Manager Interview: The Failure Question • Aug 2020 • 9 min read
This is the last article I share from the "Product Manager Interview" series by Clement Kao (co-founder of ProductManagerHQ). In this one you'll learn why you are often asked to speak about one of your failures during interviews. Spoiler: it's not a trap. Product managers fail all the time, it's just part of your job. Through this question, we are looking for people who can reflect, learn & get stronger with every failure #interviewprep #antifragility
3️⃣ Why “Standups” are Useless and How to Run Great Product Team Meetings • Oct 2029 • 11 min read
I agree, most standups suck. We spend more time talking about the past (what has been done) than unblocking situations & learning (=the only important things to progress). The format is usually too rigid: daily by default. You should factor in the amount of decisions required and change the frequency accordingly. In my experience, varying the frequency creates more value than a monotonous cycles #efficiency
4️⃣ 5 Steps to Planning and Running Fast & Efficient Meetings • Mar 2018 • 12 min read
Apart from standups, as a product manager I'm sure you spend way too much time in meetings. My most important advice would be: when invited, ask the organiser: "would you postpone this meeting if I'm out of the office coz I'm sick?". Only attend the postponed ones. For more advice, the article has a good list of best practices. But remember that nothing beats attending fewer meetings #bettermeetings
5️⃣ Introducing Marsbot for AirPods • Oct 2020 • 8 min read
I've been using for a few days this experiment by the Foursquare Labs: content is not good in Paris yet but the UX is stellar. Marsbot is an app that runs in the background of your iPhone, whispering things that may interest you based on your location. Another way to see it: it's one of the first convincing augmented reality use case (according to me 😅). It leverages the "AirPods platform" (or not?). Can't wait to see what else can be created in this field. Be sure to read the UX section of the article #futureisnow #audio
Olivier
PS: thanks everyone for your kind replies to the last edition 😄
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