Martin Felcman

An opinionated take on design: In a meeting with CTO, CMO, and the CSO last month, they mentioned that they are a fairly mature org in design practices, and their product shows it. —If a certain small set of customers are not too happy about a certain experience, this is because those stories are not a priority on the roadmap, and they are in transition from our legacy systems to more modern systems, and they will update the design team *at the right time*. ⏰ —They added that the org has a strong and favorable engineering culture—but they can be design mature org within the engineering culture. 🧫 I agreed to the last part but not on the priority and communication practices—and certainly not the communication model within that priority matrix. They asked me for an open and brutal honest opinion and this is what I wrote👇🏼. --- "In a leadership workshop that I attended many years ago, the presenters asked the audience to raise hands if they were honest in their work. A few hands were raised." "Next, they asked the audience to raise hands if they were dishonest. A few hands raised and there were a set of common participants too who raised hands in both the groups." "When asked, the common participants said that they were slightly dishonest—say two percent, or ten percent, because there is context." "The presenter said that either one is honest of dishonest. For example a crook cannot say that they are honest because they cheated only for one penny." "Design is not as black-and-white but it is close to this example. If design cannot address the concerns of right communication practices in the transition, and regardless of <whatever-centric culture>, you are not a design mature org *yet*. The silver lining is that you aspire to be." ----

1

Our latest launch—the Chrome Extension for LinkedIn—is a case study in how we think about product innovation at Common Room. We try to be very thoughtful about how we sequence our roadmap. Based on what matters most to our customers, it’s a healthy mix of new functionalities and quality-of-life updates. But here’s the thing: When your customers are on the bleeding-edge of go-to market, your EPD team has to be, too. Industry leaders like Notion and Zapier simply aren’t satisfied with the status quo. We constantly push ourselves to reimagine what’s possible because that’s where the alpha is for our customers. Our new Chrome Extension for LinkedIn is a great example. LinkedIn is hands-down the most important prospecting channel for B2B companies. We’ve always auto-captured LinkedIn signals for our customers—reactions to their company posts, comments that mention their companies—but these were explicit engagements. What about all the LinkedIn signals that don’t call out your company by name? People engaging with posts related to your industry. People engaging with posts from business-relevant thought leaders. People engaging with posts from your top competitors. Each one of these is a powerful signal. And each one is incredibly difficult and time-consuming to capture. Or at least they used to be. Our new Chrome extension allows you to: - Pull everyone who engages with any LI post into Common Room and send them to a prioritized burndown list. - Uncover contact details to outbound with AI-powered waterfall enrichment. - Access a contact’s Person360™ profile while browsing their LI profile page. - Take the next best action (think adding to a sequence or syncing with your CRM) with zero tab hopping or manual data entry. What does that mean for our customers? Social engagement plays powered by our Chrome extension produce: - 50% higher open rates - 3x higher reply rates - 2x higher booked meeting rates No more dealing with subpar web scraping tools. No more spending hours updating spreadsheets. No more struggling to manually qualify for fit. Just the ability to reach the right person, with the right message, at the right time—all on the most-important channel for modern GTM teams. LinkedIn is just the start. I’m so excited to see how our customers put our new Chrome extension to work. Sign up for Common Room and download our Chrome Extension for LinkedIn today. Or check out the blog post in the comments for more info ⬇️

34

3 komentáře

Be highly skeptical of “great product people.” It’s not about titles like PM, Dev, or Designer. It’s not about fancy tech degrees or frameworks. It’s not about sitting on Zoom with other “product people.” Great product people solve hard problems. They talk to customers constantly. They stay relentlessly curious. Example: I know an 8-fig CEO with no support team. Customer support? His inbox. Every email takes a backseat to customers. His co. is one of the fastest-growing in the country. -- Beware of the product hype and fluff. Titles don’t make the skill.

21

17 komentářů

😮 How bad is the current PM job market? What we've observed at Product People in the last few months is that the current market is like the Schrödinger's cat - it's both dead and alive at the same time 💀 - there are open positions and some companies are hiring as actively as ever - there are people who struggle to get anything going for them even with the big names on their CVs - there are people taking positions 1-2 levels lower than what they've had in the previous company I'll be discussing these insights and more at the TopProds Q3 Product Management Talent Forecast together with Ross Webb, Nick Charalambous and Chris Mason. Join us you if it's relevant for you! Link in the comments!

47

4 komentáře

I am inclined to agree. I've never understood the implicit value of NPS in many contexts. I will say from it has been interesting to see just how much $ is deployed to measure, coach, and generally industrialize what NPS is, what it means, how to track it and how to improve it. There are careers and what I assume are lucrative businesses and consultancies built up and fortified all around this. But some of Leah's points resonate with thoughts I've had for a long while.

3

5 komentářů

🏪 Ever wondered how an online business works? Let me break it down using a familiar example - your neighborhood supermarket! Think about it: 🏢 The Store Front Physical Store: An attractive facade with clear signage Online Business: Website/app interface designed by Software Engineers Software Architects? They're like the masterminds who plan the entire mall! 🛍️ Getting People In Physical Store: Pamphlets, billboards, seasonal sales Online Business: Digital Marketing team crushing it with SEO, social media, and app store optimization 📋 Stock Management Physical Store: Staff ensuring shelves are stocked Online Business: Category Managers maintaining product listings and inventory 🗺️ Navigation Physical Store: Well-organized aisles and clear signs Online Business: Intuitive website navigation and user flow But wait... where do Product Managers fit in? 🤔 They're the conductors of this orchestra! PMs: - Design the store layout (site navigation) - Decide shelf heights (page layouts) - Plan checkout counters (payment systems) - Coordinate between all teams to create seamless experiences 🔄 The Scale Factor: Small business: Owner wears multiple hats Growing business: Specialized roles emerge Large enterprise: Business Heads manage different "stores" (product lines) 💡 Next time someone asks you about tech roles, just point them to their nearest supermarket! Agree? Disagree? What other parallels can you draw? Let's discuss in the comments! 👇 #TechExplained #ProductManagement #DigitalTransformation #BusinessAnalogy

41

6 komentářů

According to Marty Cagan European companies are "addicted to process", which is a big barrier for doing proper product work. Here are some key points from Marty's talk that I personally found important: (1) Marty believes that real product work is about solving customer problems. The main negative character in Marty's world is feature teams—teams that just implement features following a roadmap someone else wrote, instead of engaging in product discovery. – You don’t want to be a feature team, do you? – Marty asks. According to him, teams should be actively searching for answers to questions like: → What problem should we be trying to solve? → How can we solve this problem? If you're just developing something, you’re not a product manager but a project manager at best, and you don't belong in the profession. In delivery, Marty values speed (in the spirit of CI/CD); he doesn’t see anything else as valuable or interesting. "Think about time to money, not time to market." (2) Marty strongly advocates for autonomous cross-functional teams that can quickly experiment with solutions to discovered problems. He believes that everyone on the team, including engineers, should be involved in product work. "We don’t hire great engineers to tell them what to do, we hire great engineers so they can show us what’s possible". (3) Marty views processes and frameworks as the main enemies of product thinking because they replace analysis and critical thinking. This is especially true for Agile; while the original principles are good, the way they're often implemented in practice tends to be just mindlessly following a prescribed process. (4) Instead of frameworks, Marty suggests a set of "first principles of product model", which you can interpret and practice to the extent of your understanding and talent. These principles are shown in a picture. (5) Lead with context, not control. To elaborate on this point, Marty shares a story of a product leader at Netflix. When his team started doing something weird, his first instinct was to fire everyone. But then he remembered that Netflix fires anyone whose performance is even slightly below "exceptional" every year. Then he realised that if a smart product person does something strange, it means he, as a leader, dropped the ball and didn't provide some crucial part of the context. So, he went to figure out what critical piece of knowledge the team was missing.

68

2 komentáře

Scaling B2B SaaS with remote teams: 3 lessons from my pre-pandemic playbook. Adding 'remote' to product management isn't just complex - it opens up a world of opportunity. I've been doing it since before the pandemic. Starting with a software subsidiary in Slovenia, I learned early on that distance requires a sophisticated approach. Now, at CREATEQ and as an enthusiast of AI and agile teams, here's what I've re-discovered about making remote agile work: → Over-communication is key: Agile thrives on collaboration. When you're remote, it's all about clear channels and rituals, like daily standups, that actually connect the dots. → Ownership and trust are non-negotiable: Agile empowers teams, but remote setups require it. Trust every team member to own their part of the sprint while maintaining visibility. → Time zones aren't barriers: Asynchronous workflows and clear sprint goals are your allies in making the most of global talent without sacrificing speed. Agile isn't just a framework - it's a mindset that turns remote challenges into opportunities. With the right balance of communication, tools and trust, it's possible to deliver great products faster, no matter where your team is located. #ProductManagement #RemoteTeams #Leadership #AI #Automation #B2BSaaS

21

🚀 Why Product-Led Growth (PLG) Teams Need to Own Revenue 💰 As a PLG leader, I've seen firsthand how owning revenue transforms our impact: 1️⃣ Direct influence on marketing spend 2️⃣ Justify crucial engineering investments 3️⃣ Focus on viral growth and word-of-mouth By owning revenue, we're not just a product team - we're growth drivers. We close deals efficiently, generate authentic social proof, and create a self-sustaining engine. It's about creating a virtuous cycle of user trust, organic growth, and revenue generation. It's reshaping SaaS as we know it. What's your take on PLG team owning revenue? Share your thoughts below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/e7K7G9Ea #ProductLedGrowth #SaaS #Revenue #Growth

5

2 komentáře

A/B testing is not product design. In recent years, it’s become fashionable to use lots of small A/B tests to try to build and refine products and experiences—even though there is no evidence that this actually works. I've worked with companies that went all in on A/B testing over all other methods and are now in deep trouble. While A/B testing can be a powerful tool in the right hands, it can also be an incredibly dangerous tool in the wrong hands. And I think most product and tech teams don’t have the sophistication to pull off A/B testing properly. I've written in the past that you can’t A/B test your way to product transformation, and Tony Fadell explains why in his book Build: “A/B and user testing is not product design. It’s a tool. A test. At best a diagnosis. It can tell you something’s not working, but it won’t tell you how to fix it. Or it can show you an option that solves one hyperlocal issue but breaks something else downstream.” — Tony Fadell. That final point is so critical. A/B testing done poorly will result in runaway butterfly effects, where these small tests lead up to big, unknown changes long term in your products. A/B testing is what you should do once you know the product design — once you have the vision. If you don’t know the vision and why you are building something, you shouldn’t be anywhere near A/B testing. What becomes really dangerous is when a company starts doing multiple hyperlocal A/B test experiments on the same page and then tries to slam together the results from multiple tests into one vision. Fadell also talks about how user panels/focus groups aren’t very useful. You can’t ask users what to build (but you can ask them about their pain points). Why? Because they can’t conceive of what has never been built before. I highly recommend Fadell’s book Build to anyone looking to either learn how great products and experiences get made or to learn how to get better at product development. It’s one of the best product and business books I have read in years. #productdesign #ux #abtesting #testing #data #userresearch

108

28 komentářů

Inevitably in every OKR session I run, someone wants to measure NPS as a key result. I don’t like NPS for OKRs because it’s a lagging indicator - meaning the results of the NPS survey lag way behind the actions that are taken. Once we find out the results of the NPS, it’s too late to do anything about it! My advice in this situation is to ask the question, “In order to improve our NPS, what do we believe we need to do about it?” Then take THAT answer and write an OKR.

5

💔 Is product ops broken? Here’s my story of why leaders hated #prodops work, inspired by Antonia Landi's wonderful presentation today at Product-Led Alliance #summit in #berlin. Such awesome content there, go follow her now if you're not already. → We sold out of free codes yesterday, so here are some more! 3 months free with: 💰💸 Discount code: ProductLedAlliance2024 Now, back to the conference... Antonia had me at the cat memes this morning – but the questions she asked equally made my inner #PM sigh in relief. It confirmed things I learned the hard way. → Ops is not broken, but sometimes its leaders are. When working at BlaBlaCar, my team and I changed the roadmap & PDLC processes. I loved it. Over two years we created life cycle & discovery processes, collaboration guidelines, tracking & reporting solutions focusing on outcomes, prioritization schemas, quarterly presentations and more. → I loved bringing order and gaining visibility through feedback. It was all hand-in-hand with the Product, Engineering, and service teams. We iterated through several frameworks, processes, and methodologies together, and did retros (so many retros) to find what worked for the 80% and gave the other 20% the right to bend the rules -- within reason 😉. I think we did something right because soon after, they were profitable. → It ended great, but it didn't start out that way. I started with some strongly held beliefs. I was a tiny 5'4'' blond ‘murican bulldozer, and let me tell you it did not make me friends with leaders there. It was only in talking with teams and listening to their ways of working that I realized the truth: → Applying a book-recommended frameworks by the book failed. I'm so grateful for those experiences and the time the teams invested in *my* learning. They taught me this critical lesson from Antonia's keynote: → Ditch the assumptions: There is NO ONE WAY to do product work. Here are the 5 lessons learned inspired from her talk and some of my own experiences in ops. I hope you like them; and go watch the recording, it's still happening live! #product #productmanagement #pm #PMops #Ops #productops #productled #plg #conference #event #antonialandi

58

10 komentářů

I built an iOS app from scratch in just 6 weeks! 🚀 Even though I’ve launched products in my day job, I've never actually done the development side. To deepen my understanding of the actual development process—all the way to production—I decided to create an app from scratch. So, each night after the kids went to sleep, I embarked on this journey without any prior coding experience. With the help of AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude (via Cursor AI), I developed a logging app that allows users to track and visualize almost anything. I use it daily myself, as I needed a simple, bloat-free way to monitor my kids’ growth and health. Just log stuff. Some things I learned: 🤝 Design and Development Super tight collaboration between design and development people would speed up processes and result in better outcomes for users. 📚 Foundational Knowledge is Crucial AI tools are powerful, but having a basic understanding helps you ask the right questions and spot inaccuracies. I watched YouTube tutorials to gain a high-level understanding of Swift. ✍️ Type Code Manually Typing out code instead of copying and pasting from GPT/Claude builds your understanding and aids in troubleshooting. 🛠 Version Control is Your Friend Learning GitHub saved me countless hours and safeguarded my code. ❤️ A new found admiration for developers, and the difficulties they face on the daily. If you’ve been thinking about diving into app development or learning a new programming language, now is a better time than ever. LLMs are only going to get better! Check out my latest article where I share the full story and insights or the site I built to promote it for funsies. https://lnkd.in/g8jYvixC https://lnkd.in/g9GczuiT

32

4 komentáře

Always challenge your existing tools. When it comes to setting up workflows, Zapier is often the go-to solution - so we used it too. But recently, we tried n8n and ended up moving everything over. Why? Zapier is great, but n8n offers the flexibility we need. It’s open-source, giving us full control over automations without paywalls. Plus, it’s far more customizable for complex workflows. It’s a bit more technical—but with ChatGPT helping where some JavaScript is needed, you don’t need deep engineering skills to make it work.

7

6 komentářů

Yes, we use Niimblr internally. Simply because it is super easy to include another opinion on a design choice. This screenshot is from us working on improving our "product" page. (check out page-link in comments). ❔ Celine asks a super valid question ❕ ...and I answer. If we want to include someone else in this talk, I'll just send a link in slack and they can see all relevant discussions going on. Never missing a beat. This has saved us from so many "where's the latest version" questions 😁 Figma is perfect for the actual design and development of websites, but we see a lot of users who lack a structure for doing ad-hoc live website changes. We also see a lot of users adopting Niimblr to solve this pain point, along with their other needs for structured reviews. I'll be happy to show you how this can help you as well 🖖 (more links in comments 😉 ) #webdevelopment #figma #review #webdesign #versionmanagement

13

3 komentáře

PMF isn't forever. How to make sure you keep it ↓ I dug deep into Product/Market Fit. And made a surprising discovery 🥲 Even though it can be REALLY HARD to reach it. Once you have it you're not safe ❌ >> You can still lose your PMF << This is what happened to Nokia ☎️ While Nokia's marketing was running 'focus groups'. And asking people to rank potential features. Apple was at work... Their team dived deep into human needs. And understood what prevented people from using smartphones. The rest is history. Apple's strategy resulted in a lasting success. And Nokia lost its PMF in the 'tech-savvy' buyer market.   Another example happened during COVID 😷 Lockdowns changed people's behaviors. They couldn’t head to a physical office. And so Virtual Office apps became very popular. Very quickly. Once lockdowns were lifted, things changed. Many who had adopted these systems would drop them. As they could go back into the office for real. Virtual Office apps reached PMF then lost it - within a few months 🤯 If you’ve built a product & reached PMF, congrats 🎉 This is a pretty big deal. But don’t forget: The world is changing fast. And markets too. PMF is not eternal. To make it last, we need to keep our customers front & center. What am I missing? Take care 💜 Enzo #pmf #twowaydoor

357

51 komentářů

I waited too long to replace myself in product and development. And it almost broke things. For a while, I was managing it all. And things were going well: → We built the right features. → Everything aligned with market fit. → We moved fast. But those wins came with problems: → Release coordination became a mess. → Features weren’t marketed effectively to new clients → Moving too quickly created stress for development …And sometimes even broke things. I realised something had to change. So, I did two things: 1. Built a product team capable of taking over the work I’d been doing. 2. Coached and gave space for our lead developer to grow into a leadership role. The process itself was, well - not that easy. Letting go of decisions I used to own? Hard. Watching others solve problems differently than I would? Uncomfortable. But once I stepped back, I gained something that helped us scale to $9M: → A helicopter view. Now I have: 1. A clear view of what was broken and needed fixing. 2. The ability to improve processes for speed and efficiency. 3. Space to focus on long-term growth, not just daily tasks. Not just for product and dev, but for our entire company. The truth is, I should have done this sooner. Because your job as a founder isn’t to do everything. It’s to build a team that can do it better than you. PS: Do you agree? Let me know below.

58

12 komentářů

🐨 The easiest AI-assisted product quality hack: 🤔 We don't have any dedicated QA engineers. Instead, engineers and product managers are responsible for the product's quality, and it actually works well. 👉 When features are almost ready for release (automation tests developed and passing, feature manually checked), the entire feature team meets to do a bug bash. In this bug bash, we do scripted manual testing and go freestyle. We find bugs, fix them, add tests, and repeat. 🤖 A big time-saver is to prepare the testing script with your favorite AI bot. Upload your PRD and a spreadsheet template with one or two test scenarios, then ask the bot to complete the rest. Columns could include: 'Setup situation', 'Action to test', 'Desired Results'. Go over the results your AI provides. You *will* find issues for sure, but overall this is a super net-positive investment. Enjoy! #productmanagement #productquality #productivty

32

3 komentáře

Thanks, Olga Berezovsky! I'm delighted to contribute to your Data Analysis Journal. As you say... maximizing product KPIs truly comes down to understanding the causal relationships between metrics and user actions. I hope that your subscribers find the detailed (conversion, retention, engagement, and funnel) analyses, the insight on feature impact throughout the user lifecycle, and other information, such as building an opportunity sizing model, practical and inspiring advice that helps them drive growth for their companies! #productgrowth #causalml

21

1 komentář