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Imagine you run a company that creates products. Are you focused on building a bunch of stuff, or are you building things that people actually want and need?
That’s the difference between a traditional and a product-led organization. Here’s what it takes to be product-led:
- The right people: You need product managers who understand customers and the business, and can turn that knowledge into valuable products.
- The right strategy: Focus on outcomes, not just features. What problems are you solving, and how will you measure success?
- The right process: Experiment and iterate to learn what works and what doesn’t. Don’t just build stuff and hope for the best.
- The right culture: Reward teams for creating value, not just shipping features. Make sure everyone’s on the same page about what success looks like.
A lot of companies get stuck in a “build trap” where they focus on churning out features instead of creating value.
Here’s how to avoid that trap:
- Focus on customer needs, not internal desires. Don’t just build what you think is cool, build what solves real problems.
- Measure outcomes, not outputs. Don’t just count how many features you ship, measure how those features are actually helping customers.
- Be willing to experiment and iterate. Don’t be afraid to try new things and see what works.
Product managers are the bridge between the business and the customer. They play a critical role in making sure products are successful.
Here’s what a great product manager does:
- Understands the market, the business, and the customers.
- Can empathize with customers and understand their needs.
- Is a great communicator and can influence others.
- Is data-driven and uses data to make decisions.
There’s a difference between a project manager and a product manager.
A project manager is focused on shipping features on time and on budget. A product manager is focused on making sure those features are actually solving customer problems and creating value.
The best product managers are always focused on the “Why?“. Why are we building this product? What problem are we solving? How will it benefit the customer and the business?
Building a product-led organization requires a shift in mindset. It’s about moving from a focus on features to a focus on outcomes. It’s about creating products that people love and that create real value.
Here are some additional tips for building a product-led organization:
- Organize your teams around value streams, so everyone is working together to deliver value to the customer.
- Develop a clear product strategy that is focused on achieving the right outcomes.
- Empower your teams to make decisions and take action.
By following these tips, you can create a product-led organization that is successful in the long run.
What is a Strategic Framework?
Imagine a company like a band. A strategic framework is like their sheet music – it tells everyone what to play and how to play it together to achieve a great outcome (killer song!).
Having a good strategic framework is crucial for creating products that people love. It avoids confusion and ensures everyone in the company is working towards the same goal.
Key Components of a Strategic Framework:
- Vision: This is the company’s big dream, like becoming the best music streaming service in the world.
- Strategic Intent: These are smaller, more actionable goals that help achieve the vision, like leading the streaming market.
- Product Initiatives: These translate the business goals into problems that product teams can solve, like “How can we allow users to watch Netflix anywhere, with anyone?”
- Product Vision & Portfolio: This describes the value proposition for the customer and the problems the products aim to solve.
Making it Work:
- Communication is Key: Everyone in the company needs to understand the strategic framework and how their work contributes to it.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Use data to inform your decisions and measure progress towards goals.
- Experimentation & Iteration: Don’t be afraid to try new things and learn from your mistakes.
- Focus on Outcomes: Focus on solving customer problems and creating value, not just shipping features.
Helpful Tools & Frameworks:
- Product Kata: A process to help product managers develop the right experimental mindset.
- Pirate Metrics: A framework to measure user acquisition, activation, retention, referral, and revenue.
- HEART Framework: A framework to measure user happiness, engagement, adoption, retention, and task success.
The Takeaway:
Building a great product is like playing a great song. With a clear strategic framework, everyone in the company can work together to create something truly special.
Imagine you’re building an app to help teachers create online courses. Here’s the story in a nutshell:
- The problem: Teachers struggle to get their course content into the system, slowing down course creation.
- Initial guess: The team thought teachers needed a way to easily upload content.
- User research: They talked to teachers and found video editing was the biggest pain point.
- Solution: They built a tool to help teachers create and edit videos for their courses.
- Testing: They experimented with different versions of the tool to see what worked best.
- Results: Teachers who used the video editing tool published their courses at a much higher rate.
- Learning: User research is key! Talking to real people helps you understand their problems and build better products.
This is all about building products that people actually want and need. It’s about listening to your users and learning from them every step of the way.
you wanna know if a company is really all about that product-led life? Here’s a cheat sheet to check them out:
- Who calls the shots? Good sign if the whole team throws ideas around, not just the boss. This lets everyone chip in and make the product awesome.
- Can they say goodbye? If they’re stuck with old products that don’t work, that’s a bad sign. gotta know when to cut bait and move on.
- Do they talk to their users? If they have no clue what their customers want, that’s a problem. Gotta chat with them to see what they need.
- What’s the goal? If they can’t tell you what they’re trying to achieve, that’s a red flag. Goals should be clear and focused on solving problems.
- What’s the buzz? Listen to what the team is excited about. Are they solving big problems or just making bells and whistles?
- How do they treat product people? If nobody respects the product managers, that ain’t good. A good team appreciates them and sees them as leaders who help the company win.
This way, you’ll find a company that’s all about building products people actually love, and where you can do your best work too!