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.

Hello, Product fans!

Welcome to another delectable edition of Product Tapas! 🌮

🔥 What's Sizzling?

📰 Not Boring: Today’s hot dishes include Spotify's significant workforce reduction, Intel's major legal win, and a Brazilian city's law written by ChatGPT, plus more. 🌐

🤖 GPT & Tool Time: We're showcasing the best timesaving tools out there! TL;DR offers to explain complex concepts in a jiffy. DataGPT is your AI Data Analyst, ready to provide analyst-grade answers instantly. And we link up a great Hustle Badger JTBD examples template! 💻🔍

🎙️ Product Bites: Dive into Richard Mironov's insight on why Revenue Goals are Not Company Strategies, and explore Roman Pilcher's thoughts on Product Strategy and Product Discovery. Plus our 1st Pod Bite this week is from the Product Experience podcast; revealing the secrets to success in Product Management, including managing perceptions and priorities. 🌟

Spread the word about Product Tapas! Share with friends to join our vibrant community for exclusive benefits. Your feedback helps us continuously improve! 🚀👋

Ready for your serving of Product wisdom? Here we go! 🚀👇

📰 Not boring

• Spotify lays off 17% of its workforce (c1500 people)

• Intel wins US appeal to overturn $2.18 billion VLSI patent verdict ntel wins verdict to overturn $2.18 billion patent-infringement award, overturning one of the largest verdicts in the history of U.S. patent law.

• Brazilian city enacts law written entirely by ChatGPT

• Quick overview/review of Spotify AI DJ

• AstraZeneca looks to utilise AI to create anti-cancer antibodies

• Alibaba announces Animate Anyone - turn images into realistic animated videos 👀 

  View more →

📰 Time-Saving Tools & GPTs

1. TL;DR: “Explain this” explains key concepts and helps you understand what you're reading on the internet

2. DataGPT - conversational AI Data Analyst (website); Ask DataGPT any question and get analyst-grade answers in seconds

3. Hustle Badger JTBD examples template. Remember you can also read our summary of Tony Ulwick and Sabeen Sattar’s JTBD masterclass here

4. Product Tapas Product Audit tool: Our own comprehensive Product Management Audit tool 👀 👀 👀 allows you to thoroughly evaluate your organisation’s end-to-end product management practice, by gauging Product Maturity across four key areas:

   1. Strategy & Principles

   2. Execution & Delivery

   3. Team Capabilities

   4. Data-Driven Insights

   Featuring 19 targeted questions, this audit tool generates a dynamic visual output making it easy to pinpoint strengths versus development areas.

   Tailored recommendations then provide clear direction on reaching the next level of product management maturity and help facilitate productive prioritisation conversations with cross-functional partners.

   The full spreadsheet tool equips you to independently conduct audits while accessing the GPT version simplifies the process further. Drive organisation-wide product excellence through objective assessment.

   Sound interesting? Snag your free copy just by bringing 5 friends to our Product Tapas family using the link below [web users see newsletter for link] 🚀👇

🫦 Product Bites

🌟 Revenue Goals are Not Company Strategies

📆 Published: 6th December ⏱️ Reading Time: <1 Minute

📖 Read the full article here

What's The Buzz? 🐝 Richard Mironov, digs into the topic of strategy - specifically covering how revenue goals aren’t a strategy. He emphasises that revenue is an outcome, not a strategy, and delves into the nuances of strategic planning beyond mere financial targets.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟 Mironov highlights a critical flaw in many companies' annual planning processes: the overemphasis on revenue targets without substantive strategies. He illustrates this with a practical example where a company sets ambitious financial goals but lacks a clear plan to achieve them. The major takeaways include:

• Strategic Depth Over Revenue Targets: Companies often get lost in the allure of impressive revenue figures. Mironov stresses the importance of having deep, strategic foundations that define how these financial goals will be met, rather than just setting lofty revenue targets.

• The Role of Product, Engineering, and Marketing: Setting revenue goals without strategies leaves key departments without direction. Mironov emphasizes that actionable strategies should inform the decisions and directions of these departments, ensuring that their efforts contribute meaningfully to the company’s goals.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: The example provided by Mironov suggests the need for a holistic approach involving all departments in the strategic planning process. This helps in aligning the company’s efforts towards common goals rather than working in silos.

• Scenario Analysis: Mironov proposes using various scenarios to demonstrate the implications of strategic choices. For example, expanding into new markets, innovating product lines, or venturing into new business models like e-commerce can be pathways to achieving revenue goals.

• Company-Wide Commitment and Realistic Expectations: Successful strategy implementation requires unwavering commitment from all levels of the organization. Mironov points out the need for realistic expectations and preparations for the challenges and investments these strategies may entail.

By focusing on these key aspects, companies can move beyond the superficial goal-setting of revenue figures to develop comprehensive strategies that drive sustainable growth and innovation.

Why Should You Care? 💡 For professionals in product management and related fields, this is a crucial distinction. Understanding that revenue goals are mere outcomes of well-thought-out strategies can reshape how you approach strategic planning, product development, team alignment, and overall business growth.

What To Do With This Information 🔗 Mironov suggests a more holistic approach to planning, involving cross-functional thinking and prioritising strategic initiatives over arbitrary financial targets. He urges leaders to engage in strategic discussions that encompass the entire business, not just the financial aspect.

📖 Read the full article here

🌟 Product Strategy and Product Discovery

Here’s a summary of an interesting Roman Pilcher article covering his views on the importance of knowing strategic goals when doing discovery. He differs a bit from what Torres and Cagan advocate but makes some good points.

📖 Read the full article here

📆 Published: 4th December ⏱️ Reading Time: <1 Minute

What's The Buzz? 🐝 Roman Pichler delves into the nuances of Product Strategy and Product Discovery, emphasising the critical role of a validated product strategy in guiding effective product discovery. He uses the Opportunity Solution Tree model to illustrate the connection between strategic planning and practical product development.

What's The Big Deal? 🌟 Pichler argues that a well-crafted product strategy is essential for successful product discovery.

In the article, he emphasises several key points:

1. A validated product strategy should clearly define the target audience, problem to solve, business goals, and unique selling points of the product.

2. Pichler highlights the importance of using the Opportunity Solution Tree to align business goals with customer needs and potential solutions, ensuring a focused approach to product development.

3. Regular validation and iteration of the product strategy based on market feedback and data are vital for staying relevant and effective.

4. A robust strategy avoids common pitfalls such as pursuing irrelevant features or losing sight of the market needs.

5. The article also sheds light on the importance of a strategy that is adaptable, allowing for shifts in market trends and user preferences.

Why Should You Care? 💡 For product managers and development teams, understanding the interconnectedness of strategy and discovery is crucial. It helps in aligning product features with user needs and business objectives, thereby increasing the likelihood of product success. This approach also streamlines the discovery process by providing clear guidelines and reducing the risk of pursuing unviable features.

What To Do With This Information 🔗 Utilise Pichler’s insights to refine your product strategy. Start by identifying your target users, their needs, and your product’s unique selling points. Regularly validate and adapt your strategy based on market feedback and emerging trends. Use the Opportunity Solution Tree or similar frameworks to align your product discovery efforts with your strategic goals, ensuring that every feature developed serves a clear purpose and contributes to overall success.

📖 Read the full article here

🎙️ Pod Review: The Key to Success in Product Management: Priorities, People, Processes, and Perception

Today’s Pod Bite is a summary from the Product Experience podcast about succeeding in Product. Let’s dig in 👇️ 

⏰ Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute. Time saved 40 minutes 🔥 

Theme 1: Importance of Perception in Product Management 👥

Hosts Randy and Lily discuss the key factors that separate good product people from the best ones. They emphasise the significance of perception and how it affects a product manager's success. Randy shares his personal experience of realising the importance of perception through trial and error and working with a challenging colleague. The hosts highlight the need for product managers to be conscious of how others perceive their priorities, people, and processes.

Theme 2: Prioritization and Storytelling 📊📖

The hosts delve into the first aspect of being a great product person: having clear priorities. They stress the importance of knowing what's truly important and articulating it effectively. Randy mentions the use of a North Star metric and an opportunity solutions tree to align priorities. He also emphasizes the power of storytelling in conveying the vision, mission, and decision-making process to stakeholders. The hosts recommend seeking input from others and conducting experiments to validate assumptions and make informed decisions.

Theme 3: Managing Relationships and Expectations 🤝

The discussion moves on to the people aspect of product management. Randy highlights the need to have the right people with the right culture, understanding, and permission to execute tasks effectively. He suggests creating a culture where people feel comfortable asking questions and fostering an environment of trust. The hosts mention the importance of understanding varying levels of competency and setting expectations accordingly. They also discuss the challenges of dealing with opinionated executives and offer strategies for managing such situations.

Theme 4: Streamlining Processes and Adding Value 🔄💼

The hosts explore the significance of having efficient processes in product management. They acknowledge that processes can become outdated or burdensome over time, hindering the delivery of value. Randy encourages product managers to regularly question existing processes and identify areas for improvement. He suggests using techniques like story mapping to map out the journey from strategy to release and identify critical points. The hosts emphasize the need to focus on delivering value rather than getting caught up in internal bureaucracy.

Theme 5: Perception and Building Alliances 🌟🤝

The final theme centres around the importance of perception and building alliances within the organization. Randy highlights the need to understand others' perceptions of your work and the value you bring. He suggests seeking feedback from stakeholders, observing subtle signals, and analyzing employee satisfaction. The hosts discuss the benefits of using tools like the Product Environment Canvas to facilitate conversations and align perceptions. They emphasize the need for product managers to work collaboratively with other teams and build bridges across the organization.

Overall, this episode provides valuable insights into the mindset and skills required to be a great product person. It emphasizes the importance of perception, effective prioritization, relationship management, streamlined processes, and building alliances. The hosts offer practical tips and tools to help product managers navigate these challenges and succeed in their roles.

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 - Introduction and discussion on the importance of perception

• 00:07:28 - Prioritisation and storytelling

• 00:15:42 - Managing relationships and expectations

• 00:22:08 - Streamlining processes and adding value

• 00:25:22 - Perception and building alliances

Full Audio: Link to the full audio of the podcast episode

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That’s a wrap.

As always, the journey doesn't end here! Keep exploring, keep questioning, and most importantly, keep growing in your product journey. Until our next issue, keep savouring the bites of wisdom we've shared. 🚀👋

Alastair & the Product Tapas Team 🍽️.