Product Thinking Dear Melissa - Answering Questions about Internal Products and Prioritization
Mar 24, 2021
In this segment, insights on balancing ideal and pragmatic product management are explored, highlighting the importance of making real-world trade-offs. The discussion shifts to measuring success for internal products, emphasizing metrics like cost savings and user satisfaction. A thought-provoking question arises about prioritizing features in a two-sided marketplace, with advice to focus on the riskiest side to prevent churn. Listeners are left contemplating how to navigate these complex product challenges.
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Ideal Versus Practical Product Management
- Ideal product management is the long-term target but real teams must sometimes deviate for business reasons.
- Exceptions are fine if they remain exceptions, otherwise the practice degrades into bad culture.
Make Exceptions Explicit And Time-Boxed
- Track whether exceptions repeat and explicitly decide when to make trade-offs for business reasons.
- Make those deviations visible and time-boxed so you don't lose focus on outcome-based product work.
Never Skip Customer Discovery
- Don't use "we're special" as an excuse to skip core practices like customer interviews and experiments.
- Adapt methods to your context but preserve fundamentals: talk to customers, set strategy, and experiment.
