Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Why great AI products are all about the data | Shaun Clowes (CPO Confluent, ex-Salesforce, Atlassian)

1006 snips

Dec 29, 2024

Shaun Clowes, Chief Product Officer at Confluent and former growth leader at Atlassian, shares insightful perspectives on navigating product management challenges. He discusses why many PMs struggle and how to improve their skills. The conversation dives into the critical role of data in creating successful AI products and how to effectively build B2B growth teams. Shaun also reflects on his evolution in embracing data-driven decision-making and offers advice on career choices in the tech landscape.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

State of Product Management

Most PMs are not very effective, and the discipline feels underdeveloped.
There's a significant opportunity to improve product management practices.

INSIGHT

AI's Impact on Product Management

AI's impact on product management lies in improving data management.
LLMs are limited by data quality and recency, making data management crucial.

INSIGHT

Value of SaaS Apps

The true value of enterprise SaaS apps isn't the UI/UX but the business rules.
Replicating these apps is hard because they are deeply configured to specific business processes.

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

Get the app

Radical Candor

Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Kim Scott

Radical Candor by Kim Scott offers a practical approach to management by emphasizing the importance of caring personally and challenging directly. The book argues that effective managers must find a balance between being empathetic and providing clear, honest feedback. Scott draws from her experiences at Google and Apple to provide actionable lessons on building strong relationships, giving feedback, and creating a collaborative work environment. The book introduces the concept of 'radical candor' as the sweet spot between obnoxious aggression and ruinous empathy, and provides tools and strategies for managers to implement this approach in their daily work[1][2][5].

The Lean Startup

Eric Ries

The Lean Startup introduces a revolutionary approach to building and scaling businesses, emphasizing continuous innovation, customer feedback, and scientific experimentation. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. The book advocates for 'validated learning,' rapid experimentation, and the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop to shorten product development cycles and measure actual progress. It also stresses the importance of pivoting or persevering based on data and customer needs, making it an essential read for anyone involved in starting or growing a business[1][2][5].

Listen

Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges

Patty Wipfler

This book introduces parents to five practical tools: Listening Partnerships, Special Time, Playlistening, Staylistening, and Setting Limits. These tools help parents build a strong, attachment-based relationship with their children, addressing common challenges like tantrums, separation anxiety, and behavioral issues. The book is filled with real-life stories from diverse parents and emphasizes the importance of emotional attunement, empathy, and validation in fostering children's emotional intelligence and well-being.

Inspired

How To Create Products Customers Love

Marty Cagan

In 'Inspired,' Marty Cagan provides a detailed and practical guide to product management. The book emphasizes the critical role of product managers in merging technology and design to address genuine customer needs while aligning with business objectives. Cagan discusses key concepts such as the importance of product vision, continuous discovery and delivery, and the need for a user-centric approach. He also highlights the differences between product management and other roles like product marketing, and stresses the importance of having a dedicated team for product development. The book is structured to help both junior and seasoned product managers understand and implement best practices in product management, drawing from Cagan's extensive experience in the tech industry.