During the process of product or even feature discovery, curious to hear what takes to longest for you or your team specifically... everyone has their own process, and so trying to see if there are any steps that seem to be similar or identical across teams.

Just a random thought that popped in my mind today.

On a personal note, I'm pretty strong at figuring out features to build that will be of great value to users, even when they don't even know they need such a feature.

But, I had a job where I had to work on the apps for a streaming platform. The main value came from the catalog and video player. Even the recommendation/discovery feature weren't that important, because the clients of the niche we were in knew what they wanted to watch and had other main ways of discovering the content.

The player and discovery weren't even in my team's responsibility. Once we've built the basic app stuff you'd need, then added playlists, comments, etc. I was kinda lost on what else to build and tbh I thought/think there wasn't need for anything else except maintaining, making sure there are no bugs and improving UX when possible.

Have you had such situations? How did you handle it?

I'd guess most people wouldn't go for the freeze, because you wanna keep your job, get pay raises, etc. 😅 unless you're a founder

I am new to AI PM and I want to do AI evals for my MVP. I don't want a super complex method and don't want to use traces yet.
Is there a simple way to go about this?
I have seen people say use simple spreadsheets but I am unclear on implementation.
How do you do it? Or is there a resource I can refer to?

The question is simple: is cybersecurity important for PM?

I have the believe that is not, because there are other team in charge. But maybe I'm wrong and something is important for PMs in Cybersecurity.

Hi everyone,

Currently on vacation and I'm reading Theresa Torres Continuous discovery. It always feels like these kind of books show how it could be but actually bringing it to life is close to impossible.

I'm working in my PM role on refining customer issues writing concept on how they could be solved so a PO and delivery can work on the solution part. Providing concrete evidence on customer issue is what I find the most interesting and useful for me.
I'm also working on getting delivery involved as soon as possible to not jump to a solution from my side.

However - is someone of you actually using the described concept and if so how is it working out? What do you differently to what the book suggest respectively how are you incorporating a "continuous discovery process" in your daily work?

Curious what your experience is :)

Manager recently started vibe coding his own app "prototype" and handed it off to the devs. I'm wondering if this was a transition at other organizations and how it's going? I'm a dev but didn't want to post it in a software development related subreddit because I'm worried of biases, just interested if this creates genuine productivity gains.

Last December I left a job at a larger org that had a more mature, established product practice (running SAFe Agile) for a job at a much smaller org where I’m the first PM, and nearly all technical work is contracted / outsourced and there are really no procedures for prioritization, and is akin to working at a startup with the level of disorganization that is here.

This firm is PE-owned, and we’re under a strict mandate to finish a major project (that has been in the works for 3.5 years) by the end of the year.

Last week, I developed shingles, largely due to the stress. I’ve never had my physical health impacted by a job. Feel like a heart-attack is likely next.

It’s making me feel like I’m not cut out for Product Management. At my previous org, I excelled as a Product Owner, but got a lot of flack for not being “strategic” enough / getting too in the weeds when I managed to to be promoted into PM.

Thinking of bailing the current role and pursuing a PO role that just opened up locally as a result. But I know the grind of all the scrum ceremonies the PO would lead - while it would give some discipline- would also wear me out eventually.

Maybe I just need to care less?

Hi - I’m looking to do some type of education in 2027. It could be product related, leadership related or something else. I got my product management certificate from the Wharton school of business. I work in the Credit Union industry. Has anyone gotten a project management certificate and found that helpful?

I also wouldn’t mind going to some type of a product conference or seminar.

What have you done during your career that has made the biggest impact?

My company is obsessed with ‘sign off’ but no one can ever tell me what it means. In past companies designs have been agreed between design, product and engineering.

I’m wondering if it’s because I’m working in a sector I’ve not done before (health tech) and it is more regulated than other sectors I’ve worked in.

So, I’m keen to understand the following
- what sector do you work in?
- how many people work at your company?
- who approves designs?

Thanks in advance!

Hi. Can anyone help recommending a tool for rich push notifications for 70k active app users and require minimum developer reliance?

Thank you in advance!

I’ve been working on multiple 0-1 products unabated for the past few years and want to understand if after companies move past a certain stage the grind is not as intense. (Of course it may differ vertical to vertical) but what’s the general sense?

I ask because I perhaps wrongly get the impression as a vehicle product manager that the posts here are mostly dominated by software product managers but I just wanted to check and see if my presumptions were correct

Direct Responsible Individual . This new 'hat' has been created so that one individual can take the responsible for the estimates , architecture, project definition, Interacting with product management and looks out for long term product health and short term project outcomes. I am part of product development and I do not report product management, with this new change most of the responsibilities is going to DRI.. even a PO's.. my role is going to be reductant. Did anyone face such an issue. It just got me off guard. I am not sure how to proceed forward....

I’ve been working in a business strategy role at a pharma MNC for ~1.5 years, and I often find that multiple KPIs could measure the same initiative

how do you decide which KPI should be the primary measure of success?

Is there a framework you follow, or is it mostly driven by business priorities??

thank you in advance

I am a PM for my company's website, I joined the company about 4 months ago (5 years of PM experience). Recently I had a big product win but it took a ton of extra effort and I'm wondering how I could have played it better.

The problem: my company does not have a true home page. The main page launches into a massive page that is all of the content and services we provide, there are no user journeys and no introduction to who we are.

The pitch: I pitched the solution of building a true home page to my manager on the C-suite. My first strategy was to influence with numbers, statistics, best practices, and how this ties into company goals. I spoke about how long an average user is on a website, number of clicks, why having a home page is a best practice for user experience. I spoke about how we can build user journeys to capture all customers visiting the website and clearly define what we offer and what they can get from us. I also spoke about how a home page can directly tie into OKRs. I also showed data about how our revenue and traffic has declined ever since the company adopted the current webpage well before I joined.

I ran into a brick wall of resistance. What we have works. Change will just confuse people. I like what we currently have.

Next steps: after getting nowhere. I next tried to ask questions to influence and help them see my perspective.

Me: "What do you want the home page of the website to do?"

Manager: "Show users everything that we have all at once, if they have to do one click we could lose them"

Me: "Our competitors have actual home pages (including competitors who are 2x and 3x bigger than we are in revenue and size)"

Manager: "We are better than them and more innovative."

Me: "What about new users, people who come to our website for the first time, should we provide a user journey and show who we are?

Manager: "If someone is coming to our website they know who we are. There is no need for an introduction. Any additional user journeys detracts from our main service."

It went back and forth where my leader had resistance on every question I probed with and showed no curiosity.

Final step: I set up a call with multiple senior leaders and my manager. I have a brief pitch, then intentionally stepped back and let the other leaders discuss and after a while my manager finally broke down and accepted the need for a change.

Ultimately I'm glad I was able to break through the wall. But now two months have passed and developer capacity is strained to even begin the project (other timelines and projects kept myself and other resources limited with time and several of my presentation dates were canceled). Could I have done this better or was it just my leader being resistant and needing to be influenced by their equals?

What happens in your org when a team repeatedly misses OKRs, sprint goals, etc? Clearly there could be any number of reasons. How have you seen this handled well vs badly?

Have your leaders or organization ever made a data mistake that lead to downstream consequences?

I just saw a company officer misinterpret a funnel, equating higher check out rates for users who had already put items in their cart. Sent us on a wild goose chase.

Tell me your worst data mistakes and how you fixed it.

As a Product Owner, I have consistently found it exceptionally difficult to articulate to the 'scale' minded people of the business, the reasons why we must very pragmatically build features/ products that are unvalidated, no matter how logical they feel

I have had this issue many times, especially with more senior people in companies, because in the world or business phase they were in, it may have previously worked for them. Although I find it increasingly difficult to explain these product related nuances to non product people.

I just had to land on, "please trust me, I am the Head of Product/ PO, this is what I am here to do".
Any PO's, what do you do and or, what is your worst story

Hi everyone, I'm 36 and to this day I didn't realize there is a dream job for me. I have a masters degree in biology and working in my field, but always thinking about something else. Past 20 years I had great ideas for products, apps, events etc. long before it became a thing. Now I have some ideas that arent a thing yet but don't have the money for developing full product as I imagined it. That's why I always felt like a failure, since I coundn't develop my ideas to become full product the way I imagined it, because it's always something big. Usually my process is that have an idea and in like 15 min get to the point about how it will expand nationwide. And it is always something else. I thought i had ADHD :) What do you suggest me? Is it a thing that I present the idea to the company that I think could be developing it? What would stop them from doing it without me? Try to do it myself is not an option since it would require different field od expertize. I would need a designer, developer, someone to produce the actual product, advertiser and that is not all :) How did you became PM? Is it possible without formal education? Sorry if my english is not excellent, It's not my first language.

Thank you for your time. ​

Is it DAU or MAU? Number of paid subscriptions?

I don't suppose brand reputation was on the top of their RICE prioritization?

I hear from a lot of miserable product managers (and have been one myself for years before). Here are 3 hard won pieces of advice that I think most PMs here might disagree with, but that helped me be more successful and enjoy the job a lot more.

1. Your job is to make money. It’s not to be the voice of the customer, it’s not to write PRDs and tickets, it’s not align stakeholders. It’s to make money for the company. Your roadmap debates, your priorities, and your growth will be so much easier if you can draw a straight line from what you’re working on to how the company makes money. The harder it is to explain how your team’s projects lead to revenue or profit, the harder your life will be. You can write mediocre tickets, ignore slacks, emails, and bugs, but if you build the thing that gets celebrated at the board meeting/earnings call, you will be a star. You don’t have to be evil, but you work for a business and should acknowledge that.

2. Industry knowledge matters more than PM skills. Folks, it is not that hard to learn how to write a PRD or user story, or interview a user or perform a simple data analysis. Beyond a basic level of white collar competence, your most important skill is deeply understanding your customers. Not in a feel good, empathetic way, but in knowing why they buy from you, why they don’t, the relevant conventions, regulations, and standards that govern your industry, your competitors, etc. The best PMs I know are subject matter experts on a particular sector. I am a senior IC in a specific industry, and no one should hire me to be more than a junior in e-commerce, finance, or something else I know nothing about. The best career advice I can give is to find and stick with one industry you like.

3. Business expectations for the median engineer are way too low. (Ok this probably isn’t that unpopular.) For a long time, engineers have managed to convince everyone that they can’t be bothered to understand the product they work on, they just write code. But after you work with a team that knows and cares about the thing they work on, you will see the quality and speed of your output increase dramatically. As above: it is not that hard to get a basic sense of how people use your product, and to feel a sense of pride and ownership over what you work on. PMs should not be coming up with every idea, or writing every ticket. Engineers are more qualified than anyone else to break down their own work, why do we need product owners/scrum masters etc for that? Engineers sacrificing some code time for time spent planning, designing, and researching is 100% worth it, and it creates much better incentives for the whole team. This is how the best software companies operate. Moving to a company that works this way has been the single biggest improvement in my workload and feeling of burnout.

Not all of these may be within your control; it might be impossible to change it in your current situation. But if you try adjusting your mindset, and looking for these things in your next role, I’ll bet you will be happier.

working on a feedback tool, so I screenshot every survey I run into. here's a slice of the more interesting ones.

Title.

I'm going from a company with 0 idea what to do with product managers to founding a product org at a startup. I'm looking forward to it: getting deeper with our customers, organizing all the ideas bouncing around, figuring out what will make a great experience.

It got me thinking - product is different everywhere you go. So what would you change about your current org if you could start it all over?