Product Thinking

Saying "No" Effectively: 5 Ways to Say No As a Product Manager

Kyle Evans — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 09:54:25 -0600

Saying “no” is a big part of parenting and a big part of product management. We can’t do everything, whether that is buying every stuffed animal or building every feature request. But we can do more than simply say “no”.

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The End of Product Management at Airbnb

Kyle Evans — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 21:53:34 -0600

Airbnb is done with product management? Maybe, but not so fast. In this episode we explore what they did and why it very much depends on what a company wants.

Product management is always different at different companies, and often fills the void of whatever is needed. Sometimes that leans more toward discovery and user experience. Sometimes it leans toward more technical. And sometimes it leans more toward business outcomes and general management. None of these are wrong, and the role always encompasses parts of all of it.

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Winner Takes All: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 09:11:55 -0600

Winner Takes All: Case Studies in how Online Marketplaces are Creating Modern Monopolies delves into the world of online marketplaces and how they are shaping the modern economy. It gives a brief history of digital marketplaces, starting with some of the earliest (like eBay and Craigslist) and then goes through the evolution of those marketplaces. In this episode, we explore some key takeaways from the book.

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Messi, Estimating, Heatwaves, AI, and House of Suns: Monthly Wrap from June

Kyle Evans — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 20:35:32 -0600

Messi, AI, and House of Suns. What more do you need? Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Why We're So Bad At Estimating: And What We Can Do About It

Kyle Evans — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 16:58:02 -0600

We, as humans, are bad at estimating. Everyone falls victim to the planning fallacy. We consistently underestimate the time it will take to complete something.

Why do we underestimate? And what can we do about it? Listen as we explore.

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Lessons in Thinking Long Term: Understanding Consequences of Short-Term Focus

Kyle Evans — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 12:34:34 -0600

This week we explore short-term and long-term thinking with an example from Covid-19.

We’d have been much better served during the pandemic if the FDA hadn’t relaxed its rules for so long or had thought about the long-term consequences of their hand sanitizer policy. And we’d be better off as product teams and organizations if we thought more about the long term while balancing our short-term needs.

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The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values - Book Review

Kyle Evans — Wed, 31 May 2023 11:59:05 -0600

The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian was an excellent read. If you are interested in AI—including its history, its future implications, and the philosophical ramifications—then this is a book for you.

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Twitter, True Grit, and Giving Up On Your Dreams: Monthly Wrap from May

Kyle Evans — Wed, 24 May 2023 10:30:04 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Weekly newsletter: Twitter, True Grit, and Giving Up On Your Dreams: Monthly Wrap from May
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Product Failures From Twitter and Others: Learning From Past Mistakes

Kyle Evans — Wed, 17 May 2023 14:51:08 -0600

We have to understand the problems we’re solving, our users, and our business. If we don’t, we’ll create products that fail. Those products may be small feature sets, or they may be bet-the-company initiatives like Twitter Blue. Either way, we can all learn some lessons from these failures.

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Ingredients of a Roadmap: Like Cookies, You Need Some Key Elements

Kyle Evans — Thu, 11 May 2023 07:00:00 -0600

Like we love to say, a roadmap is not the project plan. It won’t include all the technical details for the next year. Nor should it. There is a time and place for those, but it is not the roadmap. Just like there is a time and place for nuts, but it is not in chocolate chip cookies.

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The Innovator's Handbook: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Thu, 04 May 2023 13:21:48 -0600

The Innovator’s Handbook provides a range of practical tools, strategies, and insights for anyone involved in the innovation process. It’s a fun read, and a well-designed book (it looks like a post-it note pad, so I love it). It’s a good one to add to our growing list of books about innovation.

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Skepticism, Martian Westerns, and Better Call Saul: Monthly Wrap from April

Kyle Evans — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 09:42:54 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Weekly newsletter: Skepticism, Martian Westerns, and Better Call Saul: Monthly Wrap from April
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A Healthy Dose of Skepticism: Finding the Signal in the Noise

Kyle Evans — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 11:04:41 -0600

Healthy skepticism is an important ingredient to work and life. It keeps us from being manipulated or from making the wrong decision—whether that’s taking a job that seems too good to be true or building a product feature simply because the CEO is passionate about it. It is the first step to truth, which should be our main goal. It’s not about doubting everything, but about being humble enough to question assumptions until we can identify the truth. And then being willing to adjust as we get more information.

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Product Management and Engineering: How to Effectively Communicate and Work Together

Kyle Evans — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 13:00:59 -0600

Product managers and engineers often come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives. We need this for great product development. But it can lead to misunderstandings. Different groups value different things. But we can work together to create the right outcomes. It starts with understanding each other better, respecting the way we work and what we each bring to the group, and building on our shared goals.

By focusing on clear expectations, a shared understanding, an iterative feedback process, and building trust, product managers and engineers can foster a strong working relationship that drives successful product development and delivery.

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Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World - Book Review

Kyle Evans — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 13:36:01 -0600

The world is awash in bullshit. Mostly the figurative kind. Which is why it is critical we’re able to discern between fact and bullshit, especially as the bullshit becomes increasing dressed in data.

Which is why this month we’re reviewing the book Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World by Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin D. West. This is a book that aims to equip us with the tools to critically evaluate data-driven claims and arguments that we encounter in various aspects of our lives. From our work to the news to the posts we see on social media.

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Decision Demons, TikTok, and Emoji Watches: March Monthly Wrap

Kyle Evans — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 10:07:24 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Curiosity, TikTok, and Free Speech

Kyle Evans — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 13:31:47 -0600

TikTok is an incredible platform for anyone to reach an audience, find their voice, and join a community. There isn’t anything else like it. Banning apps out of fear or lack of understanding is dystopian-level sci-fi. I like to think we’re better than that, but I’m not so sure. Which is why we probably can’t have nice things…

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3 Lessons from Silicon Valley Bank: What The Rest of Us Can Learn from the Failure of SVB

Kyle Evans — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 10:20:48 -0600

Hopefully SVB will hold its spot as the second-largest bank failure for a long time. We don’t need bigger ones any time soon. But for those of us not running banks or working as founders or in finance, there are still some good things to learn. We can take courage knowing that no one really knows that much. We also need to diversify in most areas of our businesses and our lives. And watch out for the unintended consequences.

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Finding Whole-Life Balance: Avoiding Myopia and Burnout, and Actively Finding Balance

Kyle Evans — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 14:03:04 -0700

Balance is an active process. We can’t wait until we’re older to play outside, because it will be too late then. We need the sun while we’re growing up. We can’t wait until mid-terms are over because there will always be some sort of mid-term in our life. We need to find balance each day and each phase of our life.

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Life is Hard: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 09:35:36 -0700

Life is incredibly hard. We can only choose to live well within the constraints we have. Which is what the book Life is Hard by Kieran Setiya explores. Often it will be less than the ideal that many would envision. But as we shift our mindset away from the idea of ourselves as failures, as projects that need completion, as people who need to be perfect, we can progress, empathize with each other, and create meaningful lives.

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Product Roadmaps, Mechanical Watches, and the Science of Fun

Kyle Evans — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 13:44:47 -0700

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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The Messiness of Doing The Work: What Some Managers Don't Understand

Kyle Evans — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0700

The creation process is always messy. We can’t avoid it. As we work to dig and uncover the right things to do, those of us doing the work are often down in the hole shoveling mud. But that is how we eventually get to the right thing.

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Product Roadmaps: What Are They Good For

Kyle Evans — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 07:00:00 -0700

A roadmap won’t fix everything (and is often the source of its own problems), but having a product vision and strategy that you can communicate, prioritize against, and ultimately deliver on through your roadmap, will make you a much better product manager and a better product organization.

So how can we create good product roadmaps? Listen in for that and more.

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Zone to Win: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 11:34:11 -0700

This month we’re reviewing the book Zone to Win by Geoffrey Moore. Last month we reviewed the book Crossing the Chasm by the same author. It offers good insight into the need for separating zones in an organization. Using the three horizons framework, it makes sense to allow different types of innovations to operate differently.

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Shower Thoughts, Inner Circles, Networks and Prioritization

Kyle Evans — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 07:00:00 -0700

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Airplane Seat Switching and The Endowment Effect: Having Empathy and Understanding Our Own Fallacies

Kyle Evans — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:55:25 -0700

Loss aversion, or the endowment effect, is a cognitive bias that describes why, for individuals, the pain of losing is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining. Once you recognize the endowment effect or loss aversion, you will begin to see it more frequently. From switching airplane seats to company changes.

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Product Prioritization: A Strategic Framework for Building the Right Thing

Kyle Evans — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 09:16:50 -0700

Working on the right thing is one of the most important aspects of product development. It is one of the key roles of product management. So understanding the right framework for getting our priorities correct is critical for all product managers and product teams. We can’t overlook the broader strategic prioritization framework while we’re considering how to prioritize within our products. So don’t miss the forest for the trees, or the strategy for the backlog.

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Crossing the Chasm: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 12:01:12 -0700

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore is a classic for good reason. The principles are as relevant today as they were 20 years ago. And while the companies continually change, the need to understand that our marketing, sales, and product development need to adapt in order to meet the needs of the right group of customers at the right time will always be constant.

It’s easy to get lost in our current customers, especially for early technology products. But by keeping the chasm in mind, and understanding we need to adapt our products (and companies) to cross the chasm and reach the mainstream, we can avoid becoming another body in the void.

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Taylor Swift, Quiet Quitting, Ninja Turtles and Books: Monthly Wrap from December

Kyle Evans — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 14:01:39 -0700

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Top Books of 2022: A Look Back at our Favorite Product and Non-Product Books

Kyle Evans — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:09:37 -0700

With 2022 coming to a close, we’re finally ready to put this rollercoaster of a year behind us. But before we do, we need to back at some of the best books we reviewed from this past year, along with a few others we’ve read and recommended for outside of the office.

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ChatGPT and Cautious Optimism: Imminent Job Killer? Probably Not.

Kyle Evans — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:21:49 -0700

While ChatGPT and the underlying AI aren’t necessarily the imminent threats that many have called them, they have the potential to reshape our industry and many industries in ways we won’t be able to predict. So hold on to your butts.

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Four Thousand Weeks: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:18:28 -0700

If you feel you're in conflict, or simply feel you are always trying to get more done that you’ll ever be able to, you should definitely pick up a copy of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. Hopefully, it will change your perspective as much as it has changed mine.

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Reggae, Holiday Gifts, Blue Checks, and Van Gogh: Monthly Wrap from November

Kyle Evans — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 16:24:17 -0700

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. From Reggae albums to holiday gifts to blue checks on Twitter. Here’s what you may have missed in November.

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10 Gift Ideas for Product Managers and Designers

Kyle Evans — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0700

The holiday season is upon us once again (I know, I’m struggling to believe it too). But that means egg nog, sugar cookies, and giving gifts. You may find yourself looking for ideas for holiday gifts for those special people in your life. Or struggling with ideas for your own gift list. And if you or anyone you know happens to be a product manager or a designer, we’ve got you covered.

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Elon, Twitter, and Blue Checks: Product Feature Critique

Kyle Evans — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 07:00:00 -0700

To create an excellent product or product feature, two things are critical:

An understanding of your users
An understanding of the problem

Without these elements, you will miss the mark most of the time.

Elon Musk has been putting on masterclass so far at Twitter (and on Twitter) in everything not to do at a company. Let’s set that aside for a moment though, and zoom in on one specific area of the recent fiasco: the blue checkmark.

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The Laws of Creativity: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 08:58:40 -0600

Creativity is a critical part of our jobs and our lives. Yet it is often misunderstood. In his new book, The Laws of Creativity, founder Joey Cofone identifies 39 laws of creativity and discusses how each law applies to different scenarios in our lives and how we can harness these laws and ideas to recognize creativity and become more creative. Let's dive into it for this month's book review.

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Underpants Gnomes, Chess Cheating, and The Laws of Creativity: Monthly Wrap from October

Kyle Evans — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Sales Commitments vs. Product Commitments: Maybe We're Not So Different After All

Kyle Evans — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 08:00:00 -0600

I initially balked at the idea that sales and product/engineering should be treated the same. Then I realized that it is exactly what we are always asking for. We want the focus to be on the impact, not on the features. Listen in for more discussion about product management and commitments.

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Mastering Future Questions: Practicing So You Can Be Prepared

Kyle Evans — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 08:20:00 -0600

The more thought we put in ahead of time, the more thoughtful and prepared we can be. I’ve long been of the opinion that no one is great at “thinking on their feet” as we like to say. Rather, some people have simply put more thought in ahead of time and can draw on that preparation more than others.

So put in the preparation now.

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Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 00:40:15 -0600

If you are like me, so much of the work you do, and the work your team does, is invisible to most outside observers. You may understand what you’re working on, and your team likely understands it as well. But as soon as you move outside of the inner circle, the work becomes opaque. Move further away, it becomes a black box that outsiders peer into, but can’t discern what is happening.

This is often the source of immense conflict and consternation. Which is why this month we review the book Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow by Dominica DeGrandis.

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Lumber Prices, Second Jobs, Floppy Disks and Pax Romana: September Monthly Wrap

Kyle Evans — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 11:14:43 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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The Art of Exploration: Taking an Idea from Abstract to Concrete

Kyle Evans — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 16:03:22 -0600

Bringing ideas from abstract concepts to reality is a critical part of product and design thinking. The better we understand how to do it, the better we can create the best experiences for our users.

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The Importance of Simplicity: Keeping It Simple Early

Kyle Evans — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 09:09:50 -0600

It is easy to complicate our work. Many of the tools we use these days make it incredibly easy to add more and more with less and less effort. Steve Jobs knew that keeping things simple was the key to a good user experience. We can add two keyboards to an iPad, but users don’t need two keyboards to type on. We need to keep our work simple too. And we explore that in this episode.

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Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products - A Book Review

Kyle Evans — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 11:46:26 -0600

This month we're reviewing Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products by Martina Lauchengco. It is the latest book from SVPG and focuses on product marketing. So how does it stack up?

Overall, I was disappointed by Loved. I had hoped for a solid book on product marketing with insights or tidbits I could use as a product manager or product leader. I didn’t feel like I got that. It felt more like a heavily corporatized book, focused on the boardroom or consultant.

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Systems, Three-Body Problems, Resurrectionists and Yellowstone: August Monthly Wrap

Kyle Evans — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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Dogs and Data and Assumptions: Bonus Week and Off Topic

Kyle Evans — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 15:17:23 -0600

It’s interesting to think about how much our pets influence us vs. how much they are a reflection of our existing preferences. I suspect it is both, though how much is an open question. We certainly can’t escape how our decisions shape our environment, which in turn shapes our decisions.

It seems like a stretch to say that dog owners take more risks and conform to their pets’ stereotypical traits without adjusting for many of the other factors at play. Which is why it is so important to look at all of these types of articles and research studies with a critical eye. And ask questions and examine sources. Which also goes for our own research for our products and our companies. It’s easy to confirm our own biases and assumptions, but we have to dig deeper and question our hypotheses rather than confirm our stereotypes.

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When the System is the Problem: Working within the system vs changing the system

Kyle Evans — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 08:44:21 -0600

The system we work in is critical for our success. We can make improvements within the system, and those are important incremental changes. A new rule or a new process can improve the system. But we need to assess the system holistically. Is it the right system? In our work and our lives, this means critically thinking about everything around us.

In this episode, we explore some classic examples of systems, as well as broken systems such as:

Our car dependence
Our current education system
Government crisis management
Religion and hierarchy
Software development

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The Forest for the Trees: Zooming out to see the real problems

Kyle Evans — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 08:00:00 -0600

When we zoom out and consider the entire system, we’re able to see that the problem may not be optimizing the existing system, but rather changing it entirely. Because we get so caught up in the water we’re swimming in that we don’t see the problems all around us. And that is at the heart of product thinking.

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The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 15:38:18 -0600

As people, we gather frequently. For meetings at work, for dinner as friends, for holidays as families. Yet so frequently, our gatherings disappoint us. But we still continue to do the same things, expecting different results (insanity, right?).

Book: The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
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Being Overconfident, Getting Stupider, and Banning NFTs: Monthly Wrap from July

Kyle Evans — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 12:30:22 -0600

Another month, another host of great articles, listens, books and other finds from Product Thinking and around the internet. Here’s what you may have missed.

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How to Be Wrong and Overconfident

Kyle Evans — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 09:56:08 -0600

Being confident is good, being overconfident is better. Right or wrong, and especially when wrong, it’s critical that you maintain that level of overconfidence you’ve carefully developed. With the steps we’ve discussed here, you can continue to work on being more and more overconfident in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And you’ll be better for it. The world will be better for it.

Remember, you’ve got the magic. The space magic.

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Camping Trips and Creating Products: Building Better Products By Learning Each Time Through

Kyle Evans — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 10:33:16 -0600

Camping trips are each a learning experience. So are each time we create a new feature or new product. We add to the tools we have in our packs and the experience we can draw on for using those tools in the field.

With each trip, it’s important to understand what’s working and what’s not, what we need for next time and what to leave behind, and how to get better. You can get lots of insight from everything you read and see, but nothing will replace getting out and doing.

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Build by Tony Fadell: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 10:07:38 -0600

Tony Fadell led the incredibly successful teams that built the iPod, the iPhone, and the Nest Thermostat. He also led or was part of other teams that failed just as big. So his new book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making is now one of my new favorites for building meaningful products. A great product management and UX book review to check out.

Book: Build by Tony Fadell
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Extreme Open-Mindedness, Free Will, and Reorgs: Monthly Wrap from June

Kyle Evans — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 11:30:31 -0600

We review the newsletters and episodes from this month, including product principles, extreme open-mindedness, and our book review on How Innovation Works. We also look at other articles on Free Will and podcasts from Product by Design (my other show) to interviews with CEOs and VCs. And a great thread on dragonflies.

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Creating Product Principles: Developing A Framework for Alignment and Decision Making

Kyle Evans — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:36:10 -0600

Moving fast is difficult. Moving fast as teams grow is even more difficult. With a million decisions to make each day, how can you ensure everyone is making the right ones? A good vision and strategy will get you part of the way there, but what about the tiny tradeoffs that happen day-to-day?

By establishing principles and tenets for your teams and products, you can ensure everyone is aligned around the right priorities and the right frameworks, without having to discuss every decision.

But what are principles? And how do we create them? And why should we? Let’s explore these ideas.

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Extreme Open-Mindedness: The Mark of Educated (and Product) Minds

Kyle Evans — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 10:31:16 -0600

Extreme open-mindedness is the mark of great thinkers, especially great product thinkers. We are never done taking inputs and creating something new. The world is ever changing, ever evolving, and we must evolve with it. Our products must evolve with it. Our thinking must evolve with it. We cannot close our minds to what is around us, to the new ideas that surround us, and the possibilities that await. So keep your mind open, and go create.

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How Innovation Works: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 09:11:16 -0600

This month we are reviewing the book How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley. Innovation is the reason why life continues to improve so incredibly fast and why we can expect and hope that our lives will continue to improve. It may not always be linear, but doing more, creating more, and making it more valuable is key to innovation. We need to ensure that we cultivate the right environments for innovation to thrive.

Book: How Innovation Works
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You Are Not Your Customer, But You Should Be

Kyle Evans — Mon, 09 May 2022 07:00:00 -0600

There is an old axiom that you are not your customer. And it’s true, you are not your customer. But you should be. Or at least be indistinguishable from your customer and potential customers because you know them so well.

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The Startup Owner's Manual: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 10:08:55 -0600

The Startup Owner’s Manual by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf is an incredibly useful guide for anyone starting a business or building a new product. Creating all the research and documents suggested in the book will be a ton of work for founders and product people. But the effort will create the foundation for a solid company and solid products.

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Understanding Product Packaging: The Key Components of Pricing and Packaging

Kyle Evans — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 09:31:37 -0600

Understanding packaging holistically is a key step in the pricing process. And something that should be revisited regularly. Our world isn’t static. Your market isn’t static. And your product (hopefully) isn’t static. So you need to constantly be thinking about the overall product packaging and pricing to ensure you’re correctly “dividing the value you’re delivering” between you and your customer.

I recently had a conversation with Dan Balcauski for my other podcast, Product by Design. Dan is the founder of Product Tranquility, a product packaging and pricing consultancy. This podcast highlights one point of our conversation and expands on a few points. You can find the full podcast interview linked below.

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Podcast Interview: Getting Product Packaging and Pricing Right
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Building A StoryBrand: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 07:00:00 -0600

This month we’re reviewing the book Building A StoryBrand by Donald Miller. It’s a relatively short book about using stories, and the elements of good storytelling, to create messages that will help our customers understand our products and services so we can help solve their problems.

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Book: Building A StoryBrand
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Processes Shouldn't Be Ends

Kyle Evans — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 11:59:01 -0600

Good processes can help us be more efficient and lead to good outcomes. But we shouldn’t be slaves to our processes. We should consistently evaluate them and ensure that they are leading us to the right outcomes.

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The Scout Mindset: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 11:13:39 -0700

The Scout Mindset was a splendid book about what it takes to see the world as it is rather than how we’d like it to be.

The scout mindset mirrors the product mindset in so many ways—being endlessly curious, constantly updating our outlook and views with the latest information, and avoiding bias.

None of us is perfect. We can all improve how we approach our work and our lives, and this book has many tips on how to do just that. And as we improve little by little, we can see more clearly, be more rational, and embrace the truth, wherever it leads.

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Optimizing for Teams Rather Than Management

Kyle Evans — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 10:17:04 -0700

It is the height of laziness for managers to think that the teams they manage exist to make the job of the manager easier. Whether you manage a single team or an entire company of teams, it is not their job to make your job easy. It is their job to solve customer and business problems, and deliver solutions. Your job is to help them make that happen.

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Arriving Today: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 07:00:00 -0700

This month we take a look at Arriving Today by Christopher Mims. It is an excellent deep-dive into our supply chain. Getting items from factories to our door is massively complex, and understanding the process feels like it is only going to get more important.

Book: Arriving Today
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Take Home Interview Assignments: 6 Tips for Managers and Interviewers To Do Them Right

Kyle Evans — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 12:06:27 -0700

As managers, take home work can be a powerful tool to understand potential candidates. As candidates, take home assignments can give you more flexibility and an opportunity to go deeper into certain skills you have.

But for take home assignments to be effective interview tools, they need to be structured correctly. Assignments should add meaningfully to the discussion and process, not detract from it or become too onerous. But with a few key tips, we can all make the most of our time, our interviews, and our skills we’d like to showcase.

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My Top 10 Books From 2021

Kyle Evans — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 12:56:03 -0700

It’s that time again — the end of the year. A time to look back on the good and the bad, and create lists. I enjoyed a variety of books this year, many of which came from lists like this one. So I try to pay it forward by giving you some of my favorite reads from the year.

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The Importance of Product Strategy: Without Vision and Strategy, Everything is Tactics

Kyle Evans — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 13:17:42 -0700

Having a good product vision and strategy is critical to building and shipping good products, and staying viable as an organization. But it is incredibly difficult to do. That’s probably why most companies and product organizations don’t have one. And why many product teams and leaders fail when creating one. But we can overcome the hurdles to create the right direction for our products.

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The Alchemy of Us: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 11:22:17 -0700

The Alchemy of Us was a fascinating read, with marvellous stories about innovation and technology, and how we’ve both created new inventions and have been shaped by those inventions. As professionals and technologists, it is our responsibility to think through the implications of what we’re creating, and to fix many of the problems that have come before.

Book: Alchemy of Us
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Long Reads: Rethinking History, Remote Work, And Teleportation

Kyle Evans — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 15:00:54 -0700

It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S. this week, which means many of us will be taking time off of work for several days to eat too much, spend time with family, or otherwise relax, myself included. Though it’s hard to believe we’re approaching the end of the year again already. So while you’re taking a break (or working, whatever the case may be), here are some interesting reads to keep you occupied. And we’ll be back next week with this month’s book review.

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Learning from Zillow - Lack of Focus and Long-Term Thinking

Kyle Evans — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 14:39:37 -0700

I personally won’t be losing any sleep over Zillow failing at house flipping. But there are several lessons we can learn from their failure. To create great businesses and great products, we have to focus, think long-term, and understand it’s as much art as science.

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Everybody Lies: Using Data to Better Understand People, Products, and Society

Kyle Evans — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 15:24:02 -0600

This month we are reviewing the book Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. In order to truly understand people, their problems, and ultimately our society, we have to use qualitative and quantitative data effectively. We have to cut through the noise and the lies we tell ourselves and each other, and get to the truth.

Book: Everybody Lies
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Product Discovery Interviews: A Guide and Framework For Effectively Talking to Users

Kyle Evans — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 23:46:22 -0600

Product discovery is critical for building excellent products. And doing good product discovery interviews is critical for good product discovery. To do that, you need to understand your goals, create a plan, talk to your customers, and share what you’ve learned in order to improve your future discussions and ultimately the solutions you offer.

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The Mom Test: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0600

Understanding our users and our customers is critical for the success of our businesses and products. The best way to do this is to actually talk to them. Not to pitch them or sell them, but to understand their problems and needs and how they are trying to solve these things. Once we develop this understanding and empathy, we can create the best products and experiences.

Book:The Mom Test
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Supply Chains, Shortages, Monopolies & More

Kyle Evans — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 15:28:00 -0600

This week I’m highlighting some interesting articles and podcasts that I’ve been reading and thinking about. A little different than our normal format, but lots of good content, including food shortages, labor shortages, wage shortages, Apple's monopoly and the paradox of choice.

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Understanding the Problem:

Kyle Evans — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 17:54:04 -0600

We have to ask questions, probe, and get to the core before we can create solutions. If we try to add water without addressing the real problem, we may create temporary fixes, but they won’t be long-term solutions. And we’ll end up spinning our wheels again and again. So rather than stopping with the superficial, get to the heart of the problems with your users and your customers. Understand why they have a problem, what they are trying to accomplish, and what outcomes they are trying to create. Then you can do something far more meaningful.

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Ultralearning: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:44:28 -0600

Ultralearning is a strategy for aggressive, self-directed learning. This book helps create a framework for learning new skills quickly and effectively. It is not only possible, but necessary for our rapidly changing world.

Book:Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career
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Ownership and Accountability

Kyle Evans — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 13:54:34 -0600

Having true ownership of products, features, metrics, and outcomes ensures that someone cares about those things, can focus the right attention on them, and can ultimately drive their success. If there isn’t ownership, there can’t be success. Watching teams, whether professional sports teams or product development teams, without ownership and accountability is always disheartening. They don’t win like they should be able to. But with real ownership, asking tough questions, and holding ourselves to a high standard, we can achieve amazing outcomes.

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Creative Selection: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 10:00:00 -0600

This month we review Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs. We take a look at some of the insights and lessons from how Apple developed Safari and the keyboards for the iPhone and the iPad. And whether to add the book to your reading list.

Book: Creative Selection
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Killing Features: The Art of Persisting Versus Ending Features

Kyle Evans — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 10:23:34 -0600

There isn’t a science behind sticking with a feature versus killing it. There isn’t a formula or definitive playbook for this. Which is why it is so difficult. Which is why product is so difficult. It is as much art as it is science. It comes down to the goal, the metrics, the timeline, and good judgement. In this episode, we look at Twitter's decision to kill Fleets and analyze the various factors.

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User Empathy: Understanding Other Perspectives for a Better Experience

Kyle Evans — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 11:59:48 -0600

Our products and experiences should focus on the user. It starts with understanding their problems and their needs. In my case, the fact that I was uncomfortable backing a trailer into a tight spot. From there, we focus on helping the user create the right outcome. Getting into the camping spot. Making simple shapes. So don’t make the mistake of getting the experience backwards. It’s not about the trailer, it’s about the driver.

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Serendipity and Invention: Creating Products and Experiences Through Luck and Skill

Kyle Evans — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 11:30:25 -0600

Often the best ideas, products, or experiences aren’t the ones we’re actively looking for. They are the ones that come together when hard work and luck meet. Serendipity. What are some examples of serendipity in invention and product creation? How can we use serendipity?

Book: Range
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The Myths of Innovation: Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 15:42:59 -0600

Innovation is messy. Because of that, there are many myths that have been built around innovation and innovators. In the book The Myths of Innovation, Scott Berkun does a great job of addressing many of those myths. It’s a great read for product people, since we are often at the forefront of innovation, creating the next generation of products and experiences for users, breaking ground on technology that hasn’t been tried. We know the myths better than most. And fall victim to many of the myths. So it’s great to look at the examples in this book and remember that the process is messy, and there is no single right way to innovate.

Book: The Myths of Innovation
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User Empathy and Outcomes: Understanding the "Why" and Getting Past Our Own Perspective

Kyle Evans — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 14:30:25 -0600

As product people (and as parents) we need to empathize with our users (and kids). It’s not about the feature, or taking one more turn, it’s about getting one more good outcome. Sometimes we have to shift our perspective to remember that.

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Ritual Cats - Stopping To Question Our Habits To Improve Our Outcomes

Kyle Evans — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 10:49:59 -0600

If you ever find yourself repeating the phrase “this is how it’s always been done” or “this is how we do it here”, that’s a good time to pause and ask yourself if you’ve got yourself a ritual cat. Good products don’t come from teams steeped in useless rituals. We use good frameworks and good processes, but we aren’t tied to them without a purpose. We use them for the outcomes they bring us to.

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5 Whys Mindset - Asking Why For Deeper Understanding And To Get To The Root Cause

Kyle Evans — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:29:06 -0600

What we need is to adopt a 5 Whys mindset to problems. Once we get past the initial problem, we can start to understand the root cause or the real need. And that’s when we can start to get to the heart of the problem and create real meaningful solutions for our teams, our businesses, and our users.

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Planting Trees - Long-Term Investments Over Short-Term Payoffs

Kyle Evans — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:15:10 -0600

Planting trees is about the long term. But it's easy to get caught up in short-term thinking. Our businesses and organizations often prioritize the short-term at expense of the long-term. Which is why we never get the trees, but always get project after project. And in 5 years we look back and wonder why we don't have any shade or fruit.

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Working Backwards - Book Review

Kyle Evans — Tue, 25 May 2021 14:52:39 -0600

In this episode, we review Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. I know firsthand that we could all learn a thing or two from Amazon’s way of working and solving problems. It’s not perfect (and neither is Amazon). But the principles create a great foundation for any team or company to build on. And Amazon consistently out-innovates and outperforms most companies. So they’re clearly doing some things right.

Book: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon
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What is Innovation?

Kyle Evans — Tue, 18 May 2021 09:36:52 -0600

We use the term “innovation” way too frequently. It’s become too diluted in our modern business world. But if we focus on the right definition, we can get back to bringing real innovations back to our teams and our companies. We can create products, processes and experiences that are truly new, better, and valuable.

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What is Product Management?

Kyle Evans — Tue, 11 May 2021 15:36:17 -0600

A product manager brings all of those things together. She talks to users before, during, and after the team develops a product. She makes sure there is a good business for what they built. And she works with the developers to build the thing and get it out to people to use.

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Customer Retention: The Importance of Retaining Your Users and Continuously Adding Value

Kyle Evans — Tue, 04 May 2021 16:40:46 -0600

User retention is the key to successful growth. Acquiring new users is expensive and fruitless if you can’t keep them. But turning your existing users into loyal, long-term customers is a powerful winning strategy.

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Will Mobile Stay Mobile? The Future of Productivity in A Post-Covid World (panel discussion)

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Book Review - Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products

Kyle Evans — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:14:00 -0600

This month we’ll review the latest book from the person many people refer to as the godfather of product management, Marty Cagan. The follow-up to Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, Chris Jones and Marty Cagan have written just released Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products.

Next month we'll review Working Backwards: Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon.

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What Have You Failed At Recently - Overcoming the Fear of Failure

Kyle Evans — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 11:48:10 -0600

Failure is part of everything we do. We stink at things when we start. But we seem to have the expectation that we will be good at everything, regardless of when we started. Even fundamental actions take practice. Which is why we need to get over our fear of failure. It’s not easy. But we need to give ourselves permission to suck at things.

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6 Ways to Avoid Burnout - Prioritizing Mental Health and Finding Your "Why"

Kyle Evans — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:19:41 -0600

Burnout is a serious issue. It can lead to even more serious mental health issues of not addressed. As employees and leaders, we need to identify the signs of burnout and head it off before it becomes a bigger problem. We can encourage ourselves, our colleagues, our teams, and our employees to avoid burnout by taking some of the steps mentioned. It's about looking out for ourselves and each other.

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5 Tips For Product Interviews

Kyle Evans — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 11:44:58 -0600

Most interviews are about understanding, and you will do well to edit your responses and distill what you know to its core to make it as easy to understand as possible for everyone involved. Understand the company and people you're talking to, understand your stories, and tie it all together succinctly. Here are the tips for how to do it.

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Productization, Disruption, Bubbles, and More

Kyle Evans — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 08:13:56 -0600

We're pushing the boundaries of our current technology. The pace of change will continue to accelerate. Some exciting innovations like NFTs offer promising solutions, but are in early stages. But we need to address underlying institutional inefficiencies as robots and AI make life cheaper and better. Check out the newsletter for lots of links for podcasts and articles.

Product Thinking Newsletter

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Death by Data - Avoiding Analysis Paralysis By Taking Action

Kyle Evans — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 15:27:47 -0700

Analysis paralysis can kill some of our best ideas and our best work. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can avoid "death by data" by taking action. Even small actions. In this episode, we look at what causes analysis paralysis and what we can do to avoid it in our lives and in our teams and organizations.

Death by Data Newsletter

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Taking the Long-Term View: Product Thinking and Mars Colonies

Kyle Evans — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 18:20:08 -0700

Where we push the boundaries, magic happens. It forces innovation, drives understanding, furthers exploration. We don't need more companies simply maximizing quarterly revenue. We don't need more teams just incrementally adding product features. And we don't need more shortsighted MBAs. We need people pushing boundaries. We don't get to Mars by setting our sights on incremental revenue. We have to set our vision much higher than that. We have to focus on the long-term.

Newsletter: Taking the Long-Term View: Product Thinking and Mars Colonies

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Creating a Culture of Recognition

Kyle Evans — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 11:22:20 -0700

We all want to be appreciated. Even if it is just so everyone recognizes our expertise or the effort we’ve put in. As leaders, it’s important we recognize that. As colleagues, we can make work suck a little less for each other by acknowledging that we’re all in it together and we’re making meaningful contributions.

https://www.productthinking.cc/p/creating-a-culture-of-recognition

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Jeff Bezos and Amazon

Kyle Evans — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 13:30:51 -0700

With the news of Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO, we look at the lessons from Amazon and what he's created. You don't create a company like that without incredible vision, drive, and luck. So what are the key principles for product teams and product people? And what's next?

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