☁ Erick de Carty

Product discovery (in some companies) have become a loaded term that execs are allergic to. And not because they don't see value in it. No exaggeration but I was sitting in a meeting earlier today and when the team suggested doing discovery, the exec jumped in and said... Exec: “I wouldn’t go so far as discovery… I think it’s just spending a bit of time validating the problem statement and what the solution might be and if it adds value or not.” The irony is they did a great job explaining what discovery is but clearly that's not what they're thinking when they hear the word. You say “discovery” and they hear “6 months of research and analysis” when really you mean a couple of days. I've found in a lot of cases, getting buy-in for discovery is simply resetting this understanding and rebuilding trust. It's why I'm an advocate for time-boxing discovery. Especially when discovery cycles are long which is often the case when this scenario happens.

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"Big ideas start with Jir.." ** WHACK ** 😂 All jokes aside I learned a lot from John McKiernan's PMA session back when he was the lead PMM at Jira Product Discovery for Atlassian. Quick context: John was launching an enterprise product at a company where the bar for success is massive. He was stuck in what he calls the "trough of sorrow", that painful period when reality hits after launch and you're fighting for resources against established cash cows Until... He repurposed Lenny Rachitsky's Racecar Framework TLDR for you: 1) Growth Engine: Self sustaining loops that drive most growth  2) Turbo Boosts: One off marketing pushes for temp acceleration 3) Kickstarts: Getting your first 1,000 users 4) Fuel: What keeps the engine running  5) Lubricants: Remove friction and make everything work smoother It's a complete growth strategy disguised as a car metaphor that executives could actually understand and rally behind. Saved his POV for you 👇: In this framework, the growth engine was a two-way doorway between Jira Software, where developers live, and Jira Product Discovery, home of product managers. Rather than relying on traditional marketing, we could create value by better connecting Jira’s existing audiences. Turbo boost represented traditional marketing campaigns – short-term pushes to get people in the door. Together with the growth engine, this combined sustainable long-term growth with quick wins. I especially loved reconceptualizing complaints (for instance, about friction points in the sign-up process) as opportunities to add lubricants. Presented positively, these friction points became opportunities for partner teams to solve problems together and help get Jira Product Discovery over the finish line. Another essential component of this framework was, of course, fuel. Putting the Racecar Framework into action: Crafting a unifying brand is one thing, but putting it into action is what really matters. There are a few ways I did this: First, I made the racecar my mascot, incorporating it into every planning document, meeting, and update. I still reference it to this day. I also shared the Racecar Framework via Loom videos to set the context more vividly than if I was just relying on the written word.   I used our internal communications tool, Atlas, to share weekly Racecar updates across the company. I organized our quarterly plans under pillars like fuel, turbo boost, and growth engine, and had one member of my team look after each of these areas. I had hoped just to create some alignment through these initiatives. Instead, I created genuine excitement. Soon our founder, department heads, and CMO were using racecar terminology in comments and meetings. Everybody finally understood my vision thanks to this simple, branded unifying theme. -- h/t Peter Kazanjy for this gem btw haha Make sure you give John, Lenny and Peter a follow btw!

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I encourage every CEO / Product Manager / Strategy officer / Leader to publish a "Strategy Note" this week. What is a "Strategy note" ? - Its a note that describes a strategic (aka long term) problem that your company is tackling. - Its inherently ambiguous what to do - otherwise it would tactical note - The problem should be a long outstanding problem or hypothesis that isn't answered with one datapoint, but rather answered over time. - You want to solicit your team's opinion on the problem. Having an action is great, but is not necessary. - The strategic problem should make the team incredibly uncomfortable, and getting it right is a "do or die" proposition for the company. Otherwise, its not a strategically important for the company. Case in point for Qolab, there was two "strategy" problems we asked: 1) Do we believe that overall semiconductor industry will dramatically increase investment in quantum hardware in 2025 and beyond ? 2) How do we want to position Qolab for future fund raises ? (Note : I'm not telling the answer publicly because its our secret competitive advantage 😃 ) Why do it this week: 1) Asking this questions before the end of a quarter or holiday is going to distract the team from hitting their deadlines. This is bad to answer before Christmas 2) Employees coming back from holidays come with new perspective which is usually beneficial to answering some of the "hairy" strategy problems. This is especially true for me. 3) There is actually a lot of data that comes in during the holidays (especially end of year) because its when most competitors announce their final results for the calendar year. 4) Adding some "fear" is important. In today's business landscape, "only the paranoid survive". It makes people more conscious about the importance their day to day work, which ultimately enhances the fullfillment. Have you published a "strategy note" before ?

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I get asked a lot how to get PMs to deliver more, have more impact, be more accountable. The answer often starts with the organization itself and how it defines the role of PMs. Here are 5 top recommendations: 1. Focus the PM Mission on Delivering Value, Not Bits 2. Hire Product Managers, Not Product Owners 3. Encourage PMs to Discover as Well as Deliver 4. Look for the Right Abilities, Not the Right Resume 5. Have PMs Report to PMs Full breakdown in this article:

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Do you feel anxiety when looking at a backlog with 1014 tickets? What if I told you there is another way? Here are 8 ways to keep your backlog clean and actionable: 1) Differentiate between a backlog item and an idea - It's ok to have a notebook, Figma, mural, whatever, where you collect all ideas and requests. However, the backlog should only contain items you aim to work on FOR REAL within the next 1-3 quarters. 2) Set a hard limit of tickets - In my experience, only the top 20-30 tickets will actually have any chance to ever be closed as completed. There are too many new directions, opportunities, and urgent tasks coming in overriding the priority of tasks further in the backlog. Just close the items that will never happen or at least move them to your ideas space. 3) Don't make it a BUGlog - bugs are tasks like all others. They need value and effort estimation and have to be prioritized against any other product opportunity. If they don't make the cut, they don't make the cut, sorry. No point collecting bugs - they are not Pokemon! 4) Keep the tickets high quality - However, if there is something in your backlog, let it shine! Make sure to include the user story, impact hypothesis, requirements, and links to design and tracking specifications. The tickets should be able to speak for you when you are not around. 5) Try to have 3 months' worth of refined items ready to go - It might be hard (try daily refinements!) to achieve and it's worth it! With items ready for the next 3 months for the team can pick up, you will have so much time to do proper long-term planning and assessment. It's worth the initial effort! 6) Introduce visual cues - It's much easier to look at the backlog if you can easily tell apart a new feature task, improvement initiatives, bugs, and research. If you add other color cues to represent item status, you will be able to tell everything at a glance. 7) Add key stakeholders to their tickets of interest - A personal update email may work. Automated status updates work too and keep relevant people in the loop with no time investment on your end! 8) Create a task document associated with a backlog item - This is basically an extended version of the ticket, where you can collect all the pre-development research and post-development results and observations. Collecting this info in one place saves you hours when it comes to writing progress updates and presentations. At the same time, your tickets remain clean and hold only the relevant information. There you go! Here are my 8 ways to keep the backlog neat and functional. Did your backlog ever make you feel depressed? Please share the story in the comments. #productmanagment #productmanagers #backlog P.S. Having a clean backlog is one thing. Having great tasks to put there is another challenge. To be well equipped to face that challenge, check out my courses at drtbartpm. com :)

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