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Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance)

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May 18, 2023

Guest

Scott Belsky

Scott Belsky, Adobe's Chief Strategy Officer and founder of Behance, shares invaluable insights into product development and leadership. He emphasizes the importance of enhancing product sense and the need to invest in onboarding to optimize user experience. Scott discusses the evolving role of product managers in an AI-driven world, advocating for curiosity and experimentation with new technologies. He also delves into the 'messy middle' of entrepreneurship, highlighting resilience and adaptability as key traits for successful founders navigating challenges.

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ADVICE

Empathy and First Mile

Develop empathy for customers experiencing the problem, not just passion for your solution.
Focus on the "first mile"—onboarding, orientation, and defaults—by leveraging psychology.

insights

INSIGHT

Evolving Onboarding

Onboarding opportunities always exist because customer cohorts change over time.
New customers may be less forgiving, requiring reimagining the onboarding process.

insights

INSIGHT

Building Empathy

Understand customer context by observing their full day, not just product usage.
This builds empathy, allowing you to effectively "be the customer."

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Evolving Product Leadership at Adobe

05:06 • 8min

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Navigating Product-Market Fit in a Saturated Landscape

12:38 • 18min

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The Evolving Role of Product Managers in an AI-Driven Landscape

30:53 • 4min

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Empowering Design and the Art of Intuitive Decision-Making

34:41 • 4min

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Embracing Change: The Importance of Curiosity in Product Management

38:13 • 2min

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Navigating the Messy Middle: Insights for Founders

40:03 • 18min

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Navigating Self-Awareness and AI Tools

58:02 • 5min

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Build

An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

Tony Fadell

This book is an advice encyclopedia and a mentor in a box, written for anyone looking to grow at work, from young graduates to CEOs. It charts Tony Fadell's personal journey from a product designer to a leader, startup founder, executive, and mentor. The book includes captivating examples, such as the development of the first iPod and iPhone, and offers practical advice on various aspects of product development, leadership, and entrepreneurship. It emphasizes the importance of human relationships, continuous learning, and caring deeply about the work you do.

The messy middle

Scot Belsky

In 'The Messy Middle,' Scott Belsky delves into the often-overlooked middle phase of projects and ventures, where the initial excitement has worn off and the final success is still uncertain. The book is filled with practical insights, anecdotes, and actionable takeaways from Belsky's own experiences as an entrepreneur and investor. It covers topics such as managing uncertainty, powering through challenges, and making strategic decisions to ensure the success of any bold endeavor.

Brought to you by Braintrust—For when you needed talent, yesterday | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | Rows—The spreadsheet where data comes to life

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Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, investor, and currently Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Design and Emerging Products. He founded Behance, an online platform for creative professionals to showcase and discover work, and served as CEO until its acquisition by Adobe. Scott is an early advisor and investor in several businesses at the intersection of technology and design, including Pinterest, Uber, Warby Parker, Airtable, and Flexport. He is also the author of two nationally bestselling books and founded 99U, a publication and conference focused on productivity in the creative world. In today’s episode, we discuss:

* How to strengthen your product sense

* Why you should only do half the things you want

* What it takes to build a successful consumer product

* Why you are probably underinvesting in onboarding

* The future of AI and how to prepare for it

* Advice for founders and PMs who are feeling stuck

* Why resourcefulness will take you further than resources

* Adobe’s current priorities and their exciting path ahead

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-on-building-product-sense

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Where to find Scott Belsky:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottbelsky

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottbelsky/

• Blog: https://www.implications.com/

• Website: www.scottbelsky.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Scott’s background

(04:50) Why Scott shifted roles at Adobe

(08:29) Advice for PMs looking to build product sense

(10:43) The first mile

(13:18) How to develop more empathy

(16:33) How to build consumer products that work

(20:42) Scott’s philosophy that you should “only do half the things you want to do”

(26:15) Scott’s optimism about how the world will look in five years with AI

(29:44) How AI will impact product teams

(32:55) How the PM role will change as a result of AI

(35:09) How Adobe is leveraging AI tools

(36:59) What the term “golden gut” means

(38:15) Advice for PMs to stay ahead of the new AI trends

(41:02) How to start writing more

(41:49) The messy middle

(47:03) What Scott looks for as an angel investor

(50:16) Why resourcefulness will take you further than resources

(52:41) Adobe’s current priorities and the path ahead

(54:58) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/

• Behance: https://www.behance.net/

• Casey Winters on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/thinking-beyond-frameworks-casey-winters-pinterest-eventbrite-airbnb-tinder-canva-reddit-grubhub/

• Crafting The First Mile Of Product: https://medium.com/positiveslope/crafting-the-first-mile-of-product-7ed25e8f1027

• Shishir Mehrotra on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/

• Scott’s tweet on only doing half the things you want to do: https://twitter.com/scottbelsky/status/1441469886975279109?s=20

• Matt Mochary on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/

• Adobe Firefly: https://www.adobe.com/sensei/generative-ai/firefly

• Howie Liu (CEO at Airtable): https://www.linkedin.com/in/howieliu/

• ChatGPT: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt

• The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture by Scott Belsky: https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through-Hardest/dp/0735218072

• Adobe Express: https://www.adobe.com/express

• Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell: https://www.amazon.com/Build-Unorthodox-Guide-Making-Things/dp/0063046067

• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey on Netflix: https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Cosmos-A-Spacetime-Odyssey/80004448

• Vinod Khosla’s prediction: https://futurism.com/80-of-it-jobs-can-be-replaced-by-automation-and-its-exciting

• Queue: https://www.queue.co/

• Tome: https://tome.app/

• Kevin Kelly on The Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2014/08/29/kevin-kelly/

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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