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Failing forward; how to learn from Product Failures

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes. Time saved 27 minutes 🔥

🔍 Introduction: In this podcast episode, Mark explores the concept of failing forward in the world of product management. Through real-life examples and practical tips, the episode delves into the tension between wanting to fail fast and the pressures that prevent product failures. The FAIL framework (Features, Assumptions, Impact, Learning) is introduced as a tool to unlock critical learnings and ensure that products don't fail in vain. The episode emphasizes the importance of understanding the problem, making measurable hypotheses, and learning from failures.

🚗 Theme 1: Well-Publicised Product Failures (Neil Young's Pono, Quibi, Segway, Juicero) The episode begins by highlighting well-known product failures such as Neil Young's Pono, a yellow Toblerone-shaped music device that aimed to provide high-quality audio but only sold 10,000 devices globally. Other examples include Quibi, a content streaming platform that crashed and burned within a year, and Segway, a two-wheeled electric vehicle that failed to revolutionize transportation. The Juicero, a $400 machine that squeezed juice packets, is also mentioned as a product that failed to gain traction. These examples demonstrate the importance of understanding market demand and solving real problems. (🚫)

📊 Theme 2: The Tension Between Failing Fast and Organizational Pressures The episode explores the tension that arises within organizations between product managers who want to fail fast and the rest of the organization that may be resistant to failure. Commercial pressures, resource constraints, rigid product roadmaps, and concerns about brand reputation are identified as factors that limit the ability to embrace failure. The host emphasizes the need to overcome these pressures and develop the skill of calling time on a product or feature at the right time. (⚖️)

🔍 Theme 3: Understanding and Mitigating Product Risks The FAIL framework is introduced as a tool to assess and mitigate product risks. Four types of risks are identified: problem risk, solution risk, execution risk, and timing risk. Examples such as Juicero (problem risk), Quibi (execution risk), and Google Glass (timing risk) are used to illustrate the impact of these risks on product failure. The episode emphasizes the importance of constantly assessing and prioritizing risks, as well as developing confidence in their likelihood and impact. The fail framework provides a structured approach to understanding and mitigating these risks. (🔍)

📈 Theme 4: Quick Wins vs. Big Bets The episode explores the concept of quick wins and big bets in product management. Quick wins are characterized by high confidence in the problem and solution, resulting in a low likelihood of failure but also lower expected returns. Big bets, on the other hand, involve high confidence in the problem but significant uncertainty in the solution, leading to a higher likelihood of failure but potentially significant returns if successful. The exploit and explore continuum is mentioned as a way to visualize this concept. The importance of data and hypothesis validation is emphasized in both quick wins and big bets. (💡)

🔍 Theme 5: The FAIL Framework: Features, Assumptions, Impact, Learning The FAIL framework is introduced as a practical tool to unlock critical learnings and ensure that products don't fail in vain. The four components of the framework are explained in detail. Features involve understanding the problem and flipping the feature to focus on the outcome for the user. Assumptions encompass problem, user, solution, and risk assumptions, which need to be tested and validated. Impact focuses on defining success through measurable hypothesis statements. Learning involves understanding what happened, what was learned, and what decisions were made based on those learnings. (🔑)

🔍 Theme 6: Overcoming Pressures and Embracing Failure The episode acknowledges the pressures and constraints that prevent organizations from embracing failure. However, it emphasises the need to use the FAIL framework to learn early and often, ensuring that failures lead to valuable insights and informed decisions. By understanding the problem, making measurable hypotheses, and being clear on the why behind learnings, product managers can navigate the tension between failure and organizational pressures. (🌟)

Timestamps:

  • 00:00:07 Introduction to the concept of failing forward and the tension between failure and organizational pressures.

  • 00:00:25 Examples of well-known product failures: Neil Young's Pono, Quibi, Segway, Juicero.

  • 00:04:36 The tension between failing fast and organizational pressures: commercial pressures, resource constraints, rigid product roadmaps, and concerns about brand reputation.

  • 00:09:39 Understanding and mitigating product risks: problem risk, solution risk, execution risk, and timing risk.

  • 00:10:51 Quick wins vs. big bets: high confidence in problem and solution vs. high confidence in problem but significant uncertainty in the solution.

  • 00:11:57 Introduction to the FAIL framework: Features, Assumptions, Impact, Learning.

  • 00:25:44 Importance of overcoming pressures and embracing failure using the FAIL framework.

  • 00:29:48 Conclusion and call to keep failing and learning from failures.