This Week in Product – Jun. 7, 2019

Reality Bites

Five Whys vs Reality pic.twitter.com/RR8oJdIDJD

— supermassive backlog (@FakeRyanGosling) June 5, 2019

Product managers obsess over whys. Why are people leaving my app at this point? Why are users not coming back as often as I’d like them to? Why is this feature underused? We often think that if we just keep asking why things happen, eventually the root cause will reveal itself. But like all good things in life, and all flowcharts, this is far more complicated. Any time there are user behaviors involved, you just might find yourself in a dumpster fire thinking “this is fine.”

Storks?

Where good roadmap ideas come from:
* Talking to customers
* Talking to employees who talk to customers (eg sales, CX)
* Observing what your customers are doing (research, data)
* Thinking solo + small discussions
* Using the product yourself
* Looking at competitors
Where else?

— Lenny Rachitsky (@lennysan) June 3, 2019

This preliminary list is a good start, but this whole thread is a goldmine of answers. Granted, you probably have ideas aplenty and not enough resources to implement them. But maybe the quantity is overshadowing the quality, or things have just gotten a little stale. This is a good reminder to look for new sources of inspiration.

Longform Corner

Growing within a startup can be a challenge and an opportunity for contributors in any role. This may be particularly true for those who want to transition to a career in product, a function that often emerges with growth and increases in influence quickly. Sid Yadav made the transition from designer/engineer to PM and then product leader, and shares 10 lessons about what it takes to make that transition successfully. If you’re in this position or contemplating a move, this is invaluable reading for the weekend!

Minefield Ahead

https://twitter.com/EricaJoy/status/1135940867376599041

Now, I know what you’re thinking. This is how things get ugly on Twitter, quickly. But, in a bout of magical Internet civility, this is actually a thoughtful discussion between a lot of (mostly) engineering folks about what the relationship should and could be.

Haute Job

This week I went to a Women in Product event at Rent the Runway’s headquarters in NYC, and heard three product leaders speak passionately about building products that really change behavior. It was an enlightening discussion, and one thing that came up is that Rent the Runway is looking for a senior PM — some of the challenges they’re trying to solve are fascinating and you can’t get to a whiteboard fast enough, so I highly recommend checking it out!