We track Product so you don't have to. Top Podcasts summarised, the latest AI tools, plus research and news in a 5 min digest.

Hey Product Fans!

Welcome to this week’s 🌮 Product Tapas! The best Bite-Sized tasty bites from the world of Product and Tech.

If you’ve been forwarded this or just stumbled upon it, you’re in for a treat. For the best reading experience, check out the web version and sign up for future editions here.

What's cooking? 🧑‍🍳

📰 Not Boring – Adobe brings full Photoshop to mobile with Firefly AI, while the AI model race intensifies with updates from Anthropic, DeepSeek, and more. Plus, Apple's bringing AI to more devices, Amazon unveils Alexa+, and Instagram might give Reels its own home.

⌚️ Productivity Tapas – From Chat Thing's AI agents to Landing's quick page builder, we've got tools to supercharge your workflow. Also definitely check out AutoDiagram for turning ideas into professional looking diagrams and visuals.

🍔 Blog Bites – Andrew Chen breaks down the dual mazes of AI success, Peter Ramsay shares more clever UX patterns, and Pawel Huryn delivers a practical guide to remote PM leadership.

🎙️ Pod Shots – Dave Killeen from Pendo drops knowledge bombs on using AI to 10x your impact as a product leader. Trust me, you won't want to miss these practical tips!

Plenty to get stuck into - off we go! 🚀

📰 Not boring

• Adobe launches full-featured photoshop for mobile, including Firefly AI tools (Android coming soon)

• Another week another set of jumps/updates in AI models:

  • Alibaba open-sourced Wan2.1 and it’s pretty amazing

  • Anthropic reveals Claude 3.7 Sonnet & Claude Code

  • PerplexityAI announces Comet [Agentic Search] waitlist open

  • DeepSeek is rushing to get its next-gen R2 model out sooner than expected

  • Inception emerges from stealth with a diffusion AI model (DLM). Usually chosen for images it promises much faster results

  • Gemini is giving away its Code Assist (GitHub Copilot competitor) away for free

• Andrej Karpathy’s 3hr non-technical overview on understanding LLMs. Really really useful

• Apple iPhone 16e review: An A18 chip and Apple Intelligence for $599

• iOS 18.4 brings Apple Intelligence-powered ‘Priority Notifications’ to help users manage notifications by prioritising important alerts and minimising distractions

• Amazon unveils a new and improved Alexa, Alexa+ with links to what you’ve read, listened to, watched and even access to your ring camera ($19.99 pcm or free for prime subscribers)

• Temu & Shein sales fall in week after Trump scrapped duty exemption, hitting China trade

• Instagram may spin off Reels into a separate app

• The top 50 genAI use cases in marketing

• Tim O’Reilly on the ways LLMs will change programming (TL;DR basically the same as programming has continually changed over the years)

• Shop Circle raises $60M to encircle e-commerce with an app suite (solutions range from AI-driven product discovery, up-selling, review management, inventory management, under one unified Shop Circle platform)

• Marty Cagan’s 3-10 yr product team vision (TL;DR, smaller teams, broader, improved efficiency and effectiveness; more thinking, execution automated)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shrugs off DeepSeek as sales soar (data centre sales nearly doubled in 2024 to $115 billion and rose 16% from the previous quarter)

• In this week’s dystopian corner…. Y Combinator deletes posts after a startup’s demo goes viral [AI performance monitoring sw for factory workers]

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

⌚️ Productivity Tapas: Time-Saving Tools & GPTs

• Chat Thing: Create AI agents for your business; automate customer support, lead generation, content creation and more

• Landing: Launch landing pages in minutes with AI

• Langflow: Low code tool to create AI agents and workflows linked to any database, API or model

• AutoDiagram: Transform ideas into professional diagrams with AI

Remember, as a Product Tapas Pro subscriber you can access the full time saving tools database for fast approaching 400 time-saving tools relevant for product managers and founders 🔥.

Check the link here to access.

🍔 Blog Bites - Essential Reads for Product Teams

Growth - The Dual Mazes of AI Success: Why Distribution Will Matter More Than Ideas

In this recent essay, Andrew Chen argues that as AI infrastructure becomes commoditised, the competitive advantage shifts from technical innovation to distribution and growth strategy. Understanding both the Idea Maze (finding the right product) and Growth Maze (finding the right distribution strategy) becomes crucial for AI startups to succeed in an increasingly crowded market.

Design - More UX Bites: 5 Clever Design Patterns That Enhance User Experience

We’re back to some more great UX nuggets from Peter Ramsay’s Built for Mars.

The TL;DR - Good UX takes time. Bad UX costs money.

This batch of bites, cover micro-interactions. These micro-interactions and design patterns demonstrate how subtle UX decisions can enhance user experience, increase engagement, and potentially drive better business outcomes. Each example shows how understanding user context and needs leads to clever solutions.

Peter calls out five apps demonstrating innovative UX patterns: Apple TV's automatic subtitles for rewinds, Uber Eats' contextual tip framing, Audible's shake-to-extend timer, Amazon's confidence-building return rate badges, and Up Bank's animated savings visualisation. Each feature solves a specific user problem or enhances the experience in a meaningful way.

Management - The Remote PM Playbook: A Practical Guide to Leading Product Teams from Anywhere

Here, Pawel Huryn covers his top tips for success managing remote teams.  

He states that success in remote environments requires intentional communication and knowledge management strategies and relies on five key elements: real-time communication over email, async-first approaches, structured knowledge management, effective time management, and purposeful meeting practices. While in-person interaction is definitely valuable (and in most cases highly beneficial), Pawel argues most PM work can be done effectively remotely with the right practices.

🎙️ Pod Shots - Bitesized Podcast Summaries

Remember, Product Tapas Pro subscribers get access to an ever growing database of all the top Podcast summaries we’ve ever created. 

Check it out here

🚀 Practical AI Use Cases for Product Leaders to 10x Impact Today

Dave Killeen, VP of Product at Pendo, recently gave a superb high-energy, tool-packed session at Product Con on how product leaders, founders, and executives can use AI to reclaim time, protect it, and amplify their impact. With his obsession for AI tools and workflows, Dave shares actionable insights and examples to help you work smarter, not harder.

I’m a fan and if you’re ready to supercharge your productivity, here’s your fast pass to everything Dave covered—complete with step-by-step examples to put these ideas into action.

 🎥Watch the full talk here. Connect with Dave on LinkedIn here

📆 Published: February 24th, 2025

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins. Time saved: 29 mins🔥

🕒 Step 1: Reclaim Your Time

Dave starts with a bold claim: as product leaders, we spend 12 hours a week typing at 50 words per minute. That’s a lot of time wasted on low-leverage activities. But what if you could triple your input speed and reclaim those hours for higher-value work? Enter voice-to-text tools like Super Whisper, which can take you from 50 words per minute to 220 words per minute, all while reducing friction and unlocking a state of flow.

I’ve written about this myself previously and cannot state enough how much of a productivity multiplier this is. Whilst it may feel odd at first - try it. NOW. Honestly, you won't be disappointed.

Key Takeaways:

• The Problem: Typing is the bottleneck, not your brain.

• The Solution: Use voice-to-text tools like Super Whisper, Better Dictation or whisperflow.ai to dictate emails, Slack messages, documents (everything) at lightning speed.

• Why It Works: Speaking is faster than typing, and tools like Super Whisper clean up your ums and ahs, format your thoughts, and even add emojis for Slack messages.

• Pro Tip: Customize voice input modes for different tasks (e.g., email, Slack, brainstorming) to save even more time.

Practical Example: Dictating a Polished Email in Seconds

Dave demonstrates how Super Whisper transforms a messy voice note into a professional email in seconds. Here’s how it works:

1. The Input: Dave speaks into Super Whisper, dictating a casual, unstructured voice note: “Hey, great to see you in New York last week. Let’s catch up soon—maybe dinner or drinks? Let me know what works for you. Cheers!”

2. The Magic: Super Whisper processes the voice note, removes filler words like “um” and “ah,” and formats it into a polished email: “Hi [Name], It was great to see you in New York last week! Let me know if you’re free for dinner or drinks soon—I’d love to catch up. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best, Dave”

3. The Result: What would have taken minutes to type is done in seconds, freeing up time for higher-value tasks.

Dave’s Tip: “It’s not just about speed—it’s about ditching the friction and getting into a state of flow where you can brainstorm, shape your thoughts, and create value faster.”

🛡️ Step 2: Protect Your Time

Once you’ve reclaimed your time, the next challenge is protecting it. Dave likens your calendar to a fortress: if you don’t actively defend it, others will storm the gates and dictate your agenda. The key is to be intentional with your time, and tools like Sunsama can help you do just that.

Key Takeaways:

• The Problem: Most of us manage our calendars reactively, letting meetings and tasks take over.

• The Solution: Use tools like Sunsama, a “calendar on steroids,” to integrate all your tasks, emails, and priorities into one place.

• Why It Works: Sunsama’s Pomodoro-style timer creates a forcing function for focus, ensuring tasks don’t expand to fill your time.

• Pro Tip: Treat your calendar as a reflection of your priorities, values, and commitments—not just a list of meetings.

Practical Example: Turning Your Calendar into a Productivity Powerhouse

Dave walks through how Sunsama helps him stay focused and intentional with his time:

1. Integration: Sunsama pulls in data from tools like Gmail, Notion, and ClickUp, creating a single source of truth for all tasks and priorities.

2. Task Scheduling: Dave schedules tasks directly into his calendar, ensuring they don’t get lost in the shuffle.

3. Pomodoro Timer: Sunsama uses a timer to create a sense of urgency, keeping tasks on track and preventing them from expanding to fill the time available.

4. The Result: Dave’s calendar becomes a reflection of his priorities, helping him stay focused and accountable.

Dave’s Tip: “Your calendar isn’t just a list of meetings—it’s a reflection of your values and your commitment to making an impact. Guard it like a fortress.”

🎯 Step 3: Amplify Your Impact

With your time reclaimed and protected, it’s time to make those hard-won hours count. Dave dives into the tools and techniques that can help you leverage AI to amplify your impact, from crafting better prompts to building agentic AI workflows.

Key Takeaways:

• The Magic Word Trick: Use a “magic word” like process to instruct AI tools (e.g., Claude) to wait before responding to your unstructured voice commands, allowing you to add in bulk whilst on the move. When you instruct it to “process” it transforms the unstructured voice notes into polished documents.

• Burger Prompts: Upgrade your prompts from basic to “burger-level” by adding context and structure. Use anthropic’s developer console to do this for you. It turns your simple basic instructions into comprehensive prompts that ensure the AI delivers high-quality, actionable results.

• Context is King: Tools like Claude Projects allow you to upload relevant documents and context, giving the AI a deeper understanding of your needs. As in the real world, context is king. The more relevant context you can add the better the results you’ll get.

• Chorus.sh: Use tools like Chorus to consult multiple AI models simultaneously, synthesising their insights into a single, cohesive output. Another LLM aggregator I can recommend is Abacus.ai. This is slightly different in that it only queries one model at a time, but you can let the LLM choose or pick yourself.

Practical Example: The Magic Word Trick

Dave shares how he used Claude to create a polished two-pager for his leadership team in just 10 minutes:

1. The Problem: Dave needed to write a two-pager about a potential partnership but didn’t have the time to polish it.

2. The Input: He dictated unstructured voice notes into Claude, saying: “Claude, I’m going to give you a bunch of voice notes in no particular order. Don’t respond or take action until I say the magic word “process”. When I say the magic word, take everything I’ve said and turn it into a polished two-pager.”

3. The Magic Word: After 10 minutes of dictation, Dave said process, and Claude transformed his notes into a professional document.

4. The Result: What would have taken days to write was done in minutes, freeing up time for other priorities.

Dave’s Tip: “Lean into this trick. It’s a game-changer for turning messy thoughts into polished outputs.”

🛠️ Building Agentic AI Workflows

Towards the end of the talk, Dave pulls back the curtain on agentic AI workflows, showing how they can save weeks of work in just minutes. Using a sales use case as an example, he demonstrates how to build workflows that integrate data from multiple sources, generate insights, and automate tasks.

Key Takeaways:

• The Problem: Manual research and repetitive tasks waste time and energy.

• The Solution: Build agentic AI workflows to automate research, generate insights, and draft communications.

• Why It Works: These workflows combine data from tools like Salesforce, Pendo, and public sources, creating a seamless process that saves time and improves accuracy.

• Pro Tip: Use tools like Gumloop to design and execute these workflows with minimal effort.

Practical Example: Automating Sales Prospecting

Dave shares a workflow that automates sales prospecting:

1. The Input: Sales reps fill out a web form with basic details (e.g., domain name, email, LinkedIn profile).

2. The Research: The workflow pulls data from public sources (e.g., 10-K filings, LinkedIn) and internal tools (e.g., Pendo case studies).

3. The Output: The AI generates a value hypothesis and drafts an email, saving hours of manual effort.

4. The Result: Weeks of work are condensed into minutes, giving the sales team a competitive edge.

Dave’s Tip: “Once you understand the building blocks, you can create workflows for anything—sales, product development, or even personal career growth.”

🧠 The Bigger Picture: AI as Your Superpower

Dave wraps up with a powerful message: AI isn’t here to replace you—it’s here to amplify your impact. By leaning into these tools and techniques, you can unlock new levels of productivity, creativity, and effectiveness.

Key Takeaways:

• Mindset Shift: Don’t fear AI—embrace it as a tool to enhance your skills and impact.

• Continuous Learning: Stay curious and keep experimenting with new tools and workflows.

• Strategic Edge: Use AI to look ahead and position yourself for where the puck is going, not where it is today.

🔑 Final Thoughts

Dave’s presentation is a high energy, rapid run through in how to leverage AI to reclaim time, protect it, and amplify your impact. Whether you’re a product leader, founder, or executive, these tools and techniques can help you work smarter, not harder.

Quick Recap of the Framework:

1. Reclaim Your Time: Use voice-to-text tools like Super Whisper to save hours every week.

2. Protect Your Time: Treat your calendar as a fortress with tools like Sunsama.

3. Amplify Your Impact: Leverage AI tools like Claude, Chorus, and Gumloop to supercharge your workflows.

Dave’s Tip: “Unlock the full potential of AI. Lean in, make time for your fridge, and cook up something amazing.”

🎥Watch the full talk here

That’s a wrap.

As always, the journey doesn't end here!

Please share and let us know what you would like to see more or less of so we can continue to improve your Product Tapas. 🚀👋

Alastair 🍽️.