🍟 Best-of: product mgr portfolio, permission to fail, ship fast & more / PM Snacks 73
A best-of the most clicked links from the last 6 months cos I'm moving 🚚
✉️ Today’s email → I’m moving, so here are the popular links from the last 6 months: How to create a Product Manager Portfolio ∙ Permission To Fail ∙ How we ship fast: our framework ∙ User Research is a Waste of Time
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1️⃣ How to create a Product Manager Portfolio
Mar 2023 • 7 min read • #hiring
For some reason, it’s super common to have a portfolio among designers but not yet in the world of product management. I wish more people would do it, it’s better to be known for your ideas and achievements than your resume. If you want to stand-out, I would consider making one. Not sure how? Read on. Last piece of advice: 1/ make it sharp, 2/ don’t obsess over the design.
2️⃣ Permission To Fail
Dec 2015 • 6 min read • #manageyourself #mustread
We hear on a daily basis about budget cuts, failed fund-raising attempts, or even layoffs. Navigating through uncertain times can be frightening. So I wanted to share with you one of the most liberating things I read on giving yourself the permission to fail.
3️⃣ How we ship fast: our framework
Nov 2022 • 6 min read • #execution
In order to improve impact, Lago optimised their process to move fast. How did they manage to do it? They focus on a select set of topics and more importantly, they invest time beforehand to improve the quality:
1/ Spend time on the framing: define the usuals (problem, use cases, success measure, etc.) then go deep on the tech part (backend behaviors, graphQL features, design for each screen, etc.)
2/ Ask the engineers to dive-in and scope down accordingly
3/ Review everything: framing, scope, code and test a lot
4️⃣ User Research is a Waste of Time
Sept 2022 • 4 min read • #discovery #controversy
I’m a huge fan of discovery methods and their impact on most organisations but I’ve to concede that the author may have a point… more often than not, we try to blindly apply these methods while working on pretty basic products, with limited ability to conduct great interviews while hoping for the answers (= the right design) to emerge from a few interviews before building the product. I see this controversial opinion as a reminder of the importance of product sense, not hiding behind the research to form a vision, and iterating your way as fast as you can towards a well-functioning design.
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About → ProductVerse is curated by Olivier Courtois (10y+ in product, co-founder of ⚡ uku.wtf, coach & advisor). Each issue features handpicked links to help you become a better product maker.