Uncategorized
-
A general plea on all App Store and Google Play users
If you have time to leave a review, you have time to respond to the developer when they reach out to you to try to solve your problem. Behind every app in the App Store, behind every game, sticker pack and camera filter, is an app developer. These individuals, or most likely team of individuals,…
-
On solitude and taking a break for a day
On Friday, I did something I nearly never do. I took the day off, and spent the day outside in a Kayak. The simple act of being outside, alone on the water, was not only fun, but it was refreshing and energising. I relaxed. I had nothing to do, nowhere to be, no emails or…
-
The new way to display outdoor maps on your website
There is a new way to embed beautiful 3D Maps into your website. Meet the new Map Embed from FATMAP. There is no better way to embed a high-resolution 3D map onto your website. Chamonix, France The map is fully interactive: use your mouse or trackpad to move around, and hold the SHIFT key to…
-
Barrels and Ammunition
I came across this quote from Keith Rabois: If you think about people, there are two categories of high-quality people: there is the ammunition, and then there are the barrels. You can add all the ammunition you want, but if you have only five barrels in your company, you can literally do only five things…
-
On Medium’s new ‘applause’ feature
I really like Medium’s new ‘applause’ feature for ‘liking’ articles. The idea is that the extent to which you like something is not binary… it’s not either “I like it” or “I don’t”. It’s a spectrum. There are other ways they could have done it. They could have made it a star rating, a rating…
-
Product Transparency, and some tips to help increase it
A little while ago I ran a retrospective with a product team where we focussed specifically on the product process. We invited a cross-section of the company: engineering, design, marketing, operations and the founders. Everyone present in the retrospective had the opportunity to give feedback on what was working and what wasn’t with regards to the way product…
-
How to prioritise your time and stay sane as a Product Manager
I recently finished training a new Product Manager and on-boarding him onto a project. After his first week alone on the job full-time, he came to me on a Friday afternoon with a frazzled look on his face and asked me: “How do you cope with the continual and immense demands for my time as…
-
Three Core Characteristics of Great Product Teams
There are many characteristics of great product teams. But when I think about what the very best teams have in common, there are a few common core elements that I think tend to lead naturally to many other great attributes. Characteristics like high levels of trust and motivation, proactive attitude, open communication and knowledge sharing…
-
A simple framework to triage and prioritise new ideas
For any product startup, prioritisation is everything. Spend time working on the wrong things, and you’ll waste both time and money – two things you have in very limited supply as a startup. Lots has been written about prioritisation in product teams, and it’s often cited as one of the biggest challenges facing startups and…
-
The value of talking to customers
I spent about 4 hours last week conducting usability tests. No matter how often I do this, it always amazes me how incredibly valuable it is. Every test reveals something new about the product. As a coincidence just this week I also came across this article talking about how many Product Managers lament that they…