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Premortems are an effective way to identify potential issues before they arise. By imagining a project's failure and working backwards, teams can openly discuss and address potential threats. This approach creates psychological safety and shared vocabulary, leading to more effective problem-solving and risk mitigation.
The E-L-N framework highlights the importance of recognizing the three levels of product work: impact, execution, and optics. High leverage (L) tasks offer the most significant return on effort, while neutral (N) tasks provide proportional returns. Overhead (O) tasks, on the other hand, yield minimal impact compared to the effort invested. By focusing on high-leverage tasks and minimizing time spent on neutral and overhead tasks, product managers can maximize their effectiveness.
Product work often operates at different levels: impact, execution, and optics. While execution focuses on the day-to-day implementation of tasks, impact emphasizes the broader outcomes and customer experience. Optics, both internal and external, involves creating awareness, excitement, and feedback opportunities for the work being done. Understanding and balancing these levels is crucial for effective collaboration and alignment within a product team.
The concept of optics involves creating awareness and excitement around the work being done, fostering feedback and collaboration. While internal optics can be beneficial, organizations must ensure that optics does not overshadow actual impact and execution. Striking the right balance between optics and impact is essential to maintain a healthy work culture and drive long-term success.
In a high leverage role, it is crucial to focus on work that minimizes opportunity cost rather than simply providing a positive return on investment (ROI). This shift in mindset allows product managers to prioritize tasks that have the highest potential impact, even if they require more time or resources. By minimizing opportunity cost, teams can pursue big opportunities that may otherwise be overlooked when solely focused on positive ROI tasks.
High agency is a key attribute for successful product managers. It encompasses taking strong ownership, creatively executing through challenges, and demonstrating resilience. Product managers with high agency drive impactful results, exceed expectations, and unleash their full potential. By embracing ownership, creative execution, and resilience, product managers can navigate adverse conditions and achieve exceptional outcomes.
Shreyas Doshi is a treasure trove of knowledge and tactical insights on product, strategy, psychology, leadership, and life. Over the course of his career, he’s PM’d at Google, Twitter, Yahoo, and Stripe, where he joined as its fourth product manager, later becoming Stripe’s first PM manager and helping define and grow its product management function (from ~5 to more than 50 people). Since leaving Stripe, Shreyas has amassed a huge Twitter following in large part thanks to consistent sharing of high-quality insights on the art of product management.
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Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/shreyas-doshi-on-pre-mortems-the-lno-framework-the-three-levels-of-product-work-why-most-executio/#transcript
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In this episode, we’ll explore five big ideas from Shreyas Doshi:
1) How to predict and prevent problems with pre-mortems
* How did pre-mortem meetings impact the culture at Stripe?
* What are the best practices in running a pre-mortem meeting?
2) How to prioritize your time with the LNO framework
* What is the LNO framework? How did it change the way Shreyas went about his day?
* What is the two-step tactic you can apply to overcome procrastination on important tasks?
3) The three levels of product work
* What are the three levels of product work? Which level should you optimize for?
* How might these product work levels cause conflict or influence your company culture?
4) Most execution problems are not really execution problems
* What are the common types of problems hiding behind the execution label?
* What are the two traits you need to identify a fake execution problem?
5) Why ROI thinking is detrimental to product planning
* What is the pitfall of ROI thinking?
* What is opportunity-cost thinking and how can you apply it?
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References:
* Coda template: https://coda.io/@shreyas/pre-mortems-how-a-stripe-product-manager-predicts-prevents-probl
* Pre-mortems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1221257568510603264
* LNO framework: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1492345184171945984
* Three levels of product work: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1370248637842812936
* Execution problems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1427116991274307588
* Opportunity-cost thinking: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1409726218438549514
* High agency: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1276956836856393728
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Where to find Shreyas:
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shreyas
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyasdoshi/
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Our amazing sponsors:
* Coda: https://coda.io/lenny
* Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/
* Sprig: https://sprig.com/lenny
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