So our last episode convinced you to prioritize product speed — what can go wrong? Turns out, a lot. In this episode, we share the common pitfalls we’ve seen in prioritizing speed — from the dozens of tiny features that together drag down your

S3 E2: Latency Targets

Apr 5th, 2020 20m 28s

We all agree that speed and responsiveness are critical to making a product great. But how do you know which parts of your product to optimize and what to set as a goal? In this episode, we discuss with our special guest Ryan, who spent years a

S3 E1: Tools and When to Use Them

Apr 5th, 2020 20m 12s

When do you run an A/B test vs just rolling out a feature? When does user testing help? The answer is when you need to know something. In this episode, we explain the types of unknowns you face when launching a new product of feature and how to

S2 E5: Good Products have “Feel”

May 20th, 2019 15m 26s

Good products feel great to use. They’re fast and responsive. Every interaction is a mini-delight. They feel unbreakable. But how do you as a PM get that good product feel in your product? From performance targets to cutting jank — we’re here t

S2 E4: Good Products are Usable

May 20th, 2019 15m 40s

Good products have great design (and no, we’re not talking about beauty, but that’s important, too). Introducing, the How To Product 15 min design crash course. We’ll give you the concepts you need to understand what separates brilliant design

S2 E3: Good Products are Exceptional

May 20th, 2019 16m 53s

In a previous episode, we mentioned that great products solved a real, user problem better than it ever had been solved before. This episode is all about that one word: better. What made Facebook better than Myspace? What made Gmail better than

S2 E2: Good Products are Focused

May 20th, 2019 16m 52s

Good products don’t always stay good. One pernicious cause of product rot is feature creep. Don’t make the mistakes we did! In this episode, how to handle power user features, how to say No, and why every product evolves to add messaging.

S2 E1: Good Products Solve Real Problems

May 20th, 2019 16m 58s

Sounds obvious but it’s easy to forget: good products solve real, human problems. But how do you find these problems? Worse how do you make sure you and your team aren’t chasing “mirage value” — something that seems like a real problem but real

S1 E7: Working with Remote Teams

Dec 24th, 2018 16m 27s

Otherwise known as PM’ing on hard mode. At some point you’ll need to work with a distributed team. We talk about the 24 hour rule for making decisions, the extra importance of squashing ambiguity, and how important it is to rep your teams work

S1 E6: Earning Trust on a New Team

Dec 24th, 2018 15m 33s

As a PM, trust is your currency. You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but if nobody trusts that you know what you’re doing or trust that you’ll do what you say you’ll do, nothing is going to happen. We share our tips for building trust

S1 E5: Intro to A/B Experiments

Dec 24th, 2018 16m 46s

As a PM, you build features that you hope will have an impact. But how do you know if your feature helped or was a flop. The answer is experiments. We run through the basics of A/B testing and share plenty of stories about where we went wrong i

S1 E4: Idea to Launch, Part 4: Launch Day!

Dec 24th, 2018 18m 17s

It’s launch day, so you better bring the donuts. We talk about how to make sure your launch goes smoothly, how to make sure everything worked, and what to do next.

S1 E3: Idea to Launch, Part 3: Building It

Dec 24th, 2018 23m 25s

Everybody’s excited and working on your feature! What can possibly go wrong now? Answer: a lot. In this episode we walk through the common issues you run into during implementation – from rabbit holes to endless edge cases – we cover how to spo

Idea to Launch, Part 2: Planning a Plan

Dec 24th, 2018 18m 55s

PMs turn ideas into plans. In this episode, we swap stories and tips about how to work with design and engineering to turn your idea into a plan of something to build. Plus, we introduce you to our totally made up idea of an AI music DJ for Spo

Idea to Launch, Part 1: You’ve Got An Idea, Now What?

Dec 10th, 2018 15m 20s

So you’ve got an idea for a feature, now what? We share tips on how to refine your idea, determine if it is even something you should do, and convince the rest of your team that maybe you all should actually build it.

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