53: How Effectuation Works with Imagining the Future that Doesn’t Exist Yet

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Kunal Nayyar (Stripe) to talk about effectuation. PMs and other product leaders often build their team and identify frameworks once a problem is identified. With effectuation, PMs identify what resources are available and formulate solutions based on the resources at hand. It’s a reverse framework, nonetheless, it’s effective.  

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What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 04:49 What is effectuation?
• 10:12 It’s all about what side of the coin you’re looking at
• 15:49 The affordable loss principle
• 19:28 When is it okay to do an affordable loss?
• 30:09 The security compliance bar set by the industry
• 33:12 How much leeway do regulated industries have?
• 35:13 A space for team members to work on any idea
• 40:02 Help your team imagine the future that doesn’t exist
• 43:31 Our concluding thoughts