🎰 Thinking in bets and giving yourself the permission to fail / PM Snacks 68

Learn how to operate in bets, to communicate with "extreme clarity." Focus on what matters in a pre-PMF company and give yourself the permission to fail (= it should be liberating).

Today’s email → How to think about Bets, Success Metrics, and Roadmapping • Product Management in pre-PMF companies • Communicating with Extreme Clarity • Permission To Fail • A Bad Product Decision

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1️⃣  How to think about Bets, Success Metrics, and Roadmapping
Dec 2022 • +15 min read • #product
Thanks to his former position at Amplitude, John Cutler was lucky enough to work with, and closely observe hundreds of product teams in the world. Good news, he just assembled a book about bets, filled with his usual gems. I highly recommend reading it a few times, especially if you have run into one of these pbs 👇

2️⃣  Product Management in pre-PMF companies
Dec 2022 • 2 min read • #execution
Not only is Enzo building the simplest analytics solution ever, he is also finding time to document his journey. Across multiple posts, he has been building a playbook for 0-to-1 product management. You should definitely go give him a follow!

In the mean time, if you are in this situation, avoid building roadmaps, writing EPICs or any kind of abstraction. Instead, do everything in your power to talk daily to your users and execute faster (= delivery is another form of discovery, the only one that matters).

3️⃣  Communicating with Extreme Clarity
Nov 2022 • 8 min read • #communication
This article highlights the importance of "Extreme Clarity" in communicating progress and explains how to eliminate ambiguity for all readers. It takes more time but it’s a skill worth building as your team grows and people are separated by time or space. In a nutshell:

Shorter is generally (but not always) better. Avoid acronyms. Use numbered lists. Deep link. Use absolute numbers along with percentages. Qualify your units. Highlight changes in state. Anticipate questions and work backwards. Give context. Proof read before sending.

4️⃣  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 thing I read on giving yourself the permission to fail.

⏳ A Bad Product Decision
Aug 2016 • 9 min read • #manageyourself #execution
Most clicked link, shared one year ago in PM Snacks 53.
Here is an article to remind ourselves that being product people involves making a ton of decisions every day. And among them, a lot of bad ones of course! Even when you perfectly execute your discovery & delivery phases, every decision will still be a bet. So be kind with yourself when you fail. And remember that the real fight should be to ship faster. Anyway, in PM Snacks 29, you’ll find another article by Brandon Chu on how to make good decisions. I highly recommend reading his whole series on Medium.

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About → Productver.se 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.

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