Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

The 10 traits of great PMs, how AI will impact your product, and Slack’s product development process | Noah Weiss (Slack, Foursquare, Google)

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Jul 23, 2023

Noah Weiss, Chief Product Officer at Slack, formerly at Foursquare and Google, shares insightful strategies for product managers. He discusses the top traits that great PMs should possess, from communication to decisiveness. Weiss highlights the unique 'complaint storms' approach at Slack for fostering empathy. He also dives into how AI is reshaping product development and the importance of staying customer-aware, but not obsessed. Valuable lessons on team dynamics and innovative user engagement are also key takeaways from this engaging discussion.

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ADVICE

New Parent Advice

Focus on getting a little bit better every day as a new parent, embracing imperfections.
Don't over extrapolate from the challenging early days; things will improve.

INSIGHT

Learning from Setbacks

Negative feedback loops, while unpleasant, offer valuable learning opportunities.
Foursquare's experience with Instagram and Google taught Weiss about market timing and competition.

ADVICE

Working with Founders

Align with founders on product principles and company vision to avoid miscommunication.
Establish a U-shaped involvement curve for founders, high involvement initially and finally, low in between.

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