20Product: Nubank's CPO on Why Product is 90% Science and 10% Art, Why Execution is Overrated and Strategic Clarity is Under-Appreciated, Why You Should Never Fall in Love With Your Own Ideas & Nubank's Biggest Product Challenges Scaling to 80M Users
Mar 29, 2023
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Jag Duggal, CPO at Nubank, shares insights on product management: 90% science, 10% art; don't listen to customers but ask good questions to understand their pains; don't fall in love with your own ideas. Also discusses leaving Silicon Valley for a Brazilian fintech startup and the importance of hiring the best team.
Strategic clarity is crucial for success, as execution without a clear strategy is just frenzy.
Product management can be made predominantly scientific by focusing on metrics-driven approaches and understanding product-market fit.
A common pitfall in customer development is not asking good questions; product leaders should focus on exploring the customer's problems and observing how they navigate and work around those problems.
Deep dives
Importance of Strategic Clarity and Execution
Strategic clarity is crucial for success, as execution without a clear strategy is just frenzy. While execution is important, it should be aligned with a well-defined strategy to drive progress and forward motion. Without a clear strategy, execution becomes aimless. Therefore, product leaders should focus on developing a sharp hypothesis and be open to changing their minds based on evidence and customer feedback. Balancing customer research and observation allows for a better understanding of unmet needs and helps create products that resonate with customers.
Product Management as Science and Art
Product management can be made predominantly scientific by focusing on metrics-driven approaches and understanding product-market fit. While the majority of product management can be made data-driven, around 10% of the process involves intuition and art. The heart of this intuitive aspect is empathy with the customer and identifying deeply unmet needs. However, it's crucial to not simply take dictation from customers but to observe, interpret, and prioritize their needs. This empathy and intuition are difficult to measure scientifically but play a vital role in determining the success of a product.
Asking Good Questions for Customer Development
A common pitfall in customer development is not asking good questions. Rather than asking about solutions, product leaders should focus on exploring the customer's problems and observing how they navigate and work around those problems. This approach helps identify unmet needs and potential breakthroughs. The goal is to go beyond asking about the problem directly and listen, observe, and interpret the customer's experiences to uncover their pain points and address them effectively.
Avoiding Confirmation Bias and Falling in Love with Ideas
Product leaders should avoid confirmation bias and falling in love with their beliefs or hypotheses. It is important to remain objective and approach product development with a hypothesis that is clear and sharp, yet be open to changing it based on evidence. Rather than becoming an advocate for an idea, product leaders should approach their work more as judges, not lawyers. This involves having a hypothesis, being clear on it, but remaining agnostic and open to new information. By staying detached from specific ideas, product leaders can make more objective and effective decisions.
The Significance of Strategic Clarity and Execution
Execution without strategic clarity leads to aimless efforts and lack of progress. It's crucial to have a well-defined strategy that guides product decisions and actions. Strategic clarity allows teams to align their efforts and make progress towards specific goals. Balancing inclusivity and safe spaces during product reviews can be challenging, but it is essential to foster an environment where feedback is honest, diverse, and directed towards improving products. Additionally, leaders should prioritize focus, setting clear priorities for their teams to drive successful outcomes.
Jag Duggal is the CPO @ Nubank where he is responsible for product strategy and roadmap reporting to CEO David Velez. Jag leads over 200 professionals across different functions within his role. Before Nubank, he was the Director of Product Management at Facebook, leading monetization of video and third party content. Before Facebook, Jag spent close to 7 years at Quantcast as a Senior VP of Product Management & Strategy. Finally, pre-Facebook, Jag was at Google for 5 years as a Group Product Manager and Head of Strategy (Display).
In Today's Episode with Jag Duggal We Discuss:
1. From Cushy Valley Job to CPO @ Brazilian Startup:
Why did Jag leave the life of luxury in the valley at Facebook to join David as CPO @ Nubank?
What does Jag know now that he wishes he had known when he took the position?
What one piece of advice would Jag give to a product leader starting a new position today?
2. Product: The Playbook, Art vs Science:
Why does Jag believe that product is 90% science? What is the final 10%?
Why does Jag believe that you should not listen to your customers?
What is the right way to ask customers questions to determine their pains?
Why does Jag believe that you should not fall in love with your own ideas?
3. Building the Bench: Hiring the Best Team:
How does Jag approach the hiring process for all new product hires?
What are the single biggest mistakes Jag has made when hiring for the product team?
What are the must ask questions when hiring for product?
What hiring lesson did Jag learn from Kevin Systrom? How has he applied it today?
What did Jag believe about hiring that he now no longer believes?
4. Go Time: Build, Manage and Execute:
Why does Jag think execution is overrated and strategy deserves more credit than people give it?
How does Nubank utilise small teams to operate fastest? What have been lessons here?
What are the best ways to do product post-mortems? What works? What does not work?
What has been Jag's best product decision? What has been his worst?
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