Peter Vida

"How do I write a good user story?" In today's video, we INVEST into writing a good user story. High-level, what does a good user story need beyond the usual pieces (request, context, acceptancr criteria, etc.)? If you have a question about product management, shoot me a DM. ✉️ I'm here to help! #productmanagement #productmanagers #careeradvice #askaquestion #askmeanything

2

Having a chat with Simon Bristow the other day, we discussed the idea of Design Debt. It inspired me to write a full article :) What exactly is Design Debt? It’s the buildup of nasty assumptions and misfires that happens when you spend too much time in the lab and not enough time on the street. It’s what happens when your team falls in love with their own ideas, research artefacts and designs, instead of listening to what real users actually want and need in real life. What do you think? https://lnkd.in/gpKiNj9x #Design EverestEngineering

34

1 Kommentar

Have I been in the industry too long? Is aging responsible for me becoming more cantankerous? Am I so out of touch? No. It's the software that is bad. I explain why I think that might be and what to do about it in my first official post for the Wunsch Werks Substack.

8

Had a great time chatting with the brilliant Leah Tharin on her podcast about what product management looks like in 2024 and beyond! We discussed many interesting topics, from navigating founder mode and balancing control with empowerment to why traditional tools just aren't cutting it anymore and how AI is set to transform product management. If you're curious about scaling teams, unshipping features (yes, that’s a thing!), or the future of product leadership, give it a listen👇 and let me know what you think 😉. #productmanagement #leadership #AI #foundersjourney #futureofwork

49

10 Kommentare

😈 API horror stories! 😈 Many API design issues stem from the same root cause. We don't treat API design with the same care as UI/UX design. Despite many companies claiming to be API first, they treat APIs as a way to deliver a cool UI/UX feature rather than a tool to be crafted and an end product that developers use. 🤯 Inconsistent or unexpected APIs surface: For example, a well-known cloud storage solution sometimes requires data to be sent via headers rather than in a request body or a query string. Every time this area of code needs to be touched or understood it's back to the API docs. 💯 Too many/confusing input parameters: As APIs grow over time and features get added, developers can cut corners, often for valid reasons, and a simple call can become a nightmare to use. A good example is an Invoice API I worked on. When it came time to add receipt functionality, we tried to repurpose the API into a general Document API; it was a nightmare, and we scrapped it almost immediately after developer feedback. 🥴 Too granular: We all know those API workflows where it takes 30 API calls to render a dashboard; this is a DX nightmare and leads to brittle features when some of the calls fail. I'm not a fan of creating APIs based on UX/UI flows, but when it takes several calls to render a screen, it often means the API is missing a concept. 📒 Bad documentation: The whole purpose of an API is to simplify achieving a goal; one could have the best API in the world, but without documentation, using it will be trial and error. ❎ Success with an error message: 200 OK { err: 'bad request' } - need I say more? Respond with appropriate HTTP status codes unless you are building a hypermedia API. What pet peeves/API horror stories have you experienced?

2

1 Kommentar

Lately I've been tinkering with a curious little hobby project: Building a hosted search service in Node.js, powered by Luca Ongaro's MiniSearch, to facilitate out-of-process indexing and searching of Umbraco content. I'm quite pleased with the result - even if it's not quite production ready 😆 All the details are in my latest blog post 👇 https://lnkd.in/dSZsHNx7 #umbraco #headless #nodejs

10

"Our documentation is great!" said no one ever. It is always interesting to talk to folks about this problem. It'ss a problem that can be hard to grasp, measure, and even harder to solve. That is; unless you think about it in a different way. A little bit of simplification, structure, and even some AI might do the trick. I also found a new AI tool, Unblocked, while at LambdaConf this week. I am excited to start experimenting with Unblocked and think it could be a game changer when it comes to managing documents across an organization. Check out my latest article where I talk about #knowledgemanagment. Dennis Pilarinos Daniel Horton

28

1 Kommentar

No-Code and Low-Code Development: The Product Manager’s Secret to Looking Like a Wizard (Without Learning to Code) Recently I've become fascinated with no-code and low code solutions and have noticed how they have started impacting our jobs as product managers. Product managers are expected to do a little bit of everything: understand customers, set product strategies, manage timelines, and maybe even figure out how to code a landing page (in theory, at least). Thankfully, the rise of no-code and low-code platforms means product managers no longer need to pretend they’re a software engineer when all they want to do is validate an idea quickly. So now you can now create prototypes, automate workflows, and develop apps without knowing your JavaScript from your JSON - but, of course, it’s never quite that simple... Selecting the best no code tools is crucial for product managers to efficiently build and deploy software without coding skills. So let’s explore the magical world of no-code and low-code platforms and why product managers everywhere are embracing these tools. (Spoiler: it’s because they make us look really good without having to break a sweat.) The Rise of No-Code and Low-Code Platforms No-code and low-code platforms, such as Bubble, Webflow, Make.com, Zapier, and Pabbly, are making waves in product management circles. These tools provide visual, drag-and-drop interfaces for building websites, applications, and automating workflows. The real kicker? They remove the need for a computer science degree—or any technical expertise, really. No-code platforms like Bubble and Webflow allow you to create fully functional apps and websites without writing a single line of code. Low-code platforms, like Appian, Appsmith and Nintex on the other hand, let you dip your toes into coding if you’re feeling brave, but for the most part, they still significantly reduce the need for manual development. Check out Paulo Gardini Miguel's from The CTO Club on the 10 Best Low-Code Platforms For Building Applications In 2024 for a detailed review. What is No-Code and Low-Code Development? No-code and low-code development are approaches to the software development process that aim to reduce the need for coding and make development more accessible to non-technical users. No-code development involves creating applications using visual interfaces and pre-built components, without writing a single line of code. Low-code development, on the other hand, requires minimal coding or scripting skills, using visual editors and pre-built components to build applications. To read the full blog https://lnkd.in/g538FESV

3

1 Kommentar

💔 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 Kommentare

Scaling culture through 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 and 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 with minimal friction. "People are not behaving as we expect" A common observation from execs in scaling companies. Let's stop for a moment. Has anyone explicitly shared the current culture? Culture, simply put, is the "way things work around here" If culture is not explicitly defined. People pick up on culture through observation: → Who gets acclaim and promotions? → Leadership values and behaviour → Who gets fired → Process However, as companies scale, observation alone breaks down: → Rapid influx of people from differing cultures can cause friction → Company leaders are less visible day to day → Opaque staffing decisions → Process misunderstood 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 Culture becomes diluted or misaligned to the original intent. Frustration all around 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀? 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 and 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 - beliefs that are deemed important 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 - rules of thumb that guide decision making A quick example from Apple. Value        → Design Principle  → Attention to detail 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 Don't be tempted to directly copy from a successful company. You are not Apple. Think carefully about your own beliefs and principles as a leadership team. What has driven your success so far? 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Several years ago the company I was working for got acquired. New CEO comes in and makes the culture we can expect explicit. This is how I run the business: • 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 and why • 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 and how they have been helpful   Furthermore they had some additional performance principals that outlined valued behaviours. The result? 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 People understood the rules. Are your cultural ideals explicit or implicit?

13

10 Kommentare

In this month's issue of The Pollinator, Solution Design Group's monthly review of current topics in product management, I got to thinking about the metaphors we use for software product work. I also got to thinking about Paris, France, which is rarely a bad place to think about. "...Effective cities are managed, over time, to be systems of economic value and human community and productivity. That’s not a bad description of what our digital products are, too. So I wondered, as I thought about Paris, the city of light: what if in product work we referred to destinations, zones, spaces, homes, workplaces, monuments, utilities, regulations, rights, private spaces, public spaces, sojourners, and residents? Would our product-making be better? Would we be less hung up on vanity measures of doneness, since when is a city done? Would we remember our users, since what is a city without its people?" (Link in Comments.)

11

1 Kommentar

In April 2020 I received an invitation I didn't expect. Sivan Hermon, a senior engineering manager at Google, asked me to teach the GIST model (Goals, Ideas, Steps, Tasks) to her product group. This request kicked my impostor syndrome into hyperdrive. As a former Googler, I knew Google had strong product people and a firm belief in its product culture and practices. Would anyone benefit from my approach to building high-impact products? With some apprehension we launched the training in June 2020 (online as this was the height of the pandemic). I expected pushback in the form of "we don't have these problems", but almost immediately I noticed this was not the case. The same questions and challenges that people raise in other companies came up at Google as well. People were bothered by unclear strategies and definitions of success. They worried they didn’t understand their customers well enough, and that they were picking the wrong ideas to work on. They had stakeholders to gratify and dependencies to manage. Some things are just universal it seems. I also feared that the solutions I offer would be rejected with "nothing new here". For example, as part of the Goals layer of GIST I teach Objectives and Key Results (OKR), but of course Google has been using OKR for decades. Indeed, When we prepared  for the workshop some people asked if we should skip this module entirely. However during the course we observed that what was being practiced isn’t the most effective (more on this in the linked article). Generally, throughout the workshop  the participants were engaged and receptive, and that the methods we practiced seemed to resonate strongly with them. The workshop (based on participant feedback) ended up being a success. But holding a training is the easy part. The hard part is changing the way you work, which some companies struggle with. But that wasn't the case with this group. They embraced the principles and methodology  and made them their own. They revamped their prioritization approach and got developers involved in discovery. As a result they were able to launch multiple successful products in rapid succession. Sivan attributes this success to these factors: - People being open minded - Supportive leadership team - Redesigning processes with the new information gained in the workshop I would add a fourth factor: Sivan as a leader is a strong believer in “realizing I can do better and being open to exploring new approaches” and she teaches this growth mindset to her reports. This mentality is key for a successful transformation.  Sivan regularly publishes beautiful articles about product development and culture. In her last article she recounts this GIST story from her perspective. This article is is packed with useful real-world insights and is also a great introduction to the GIST system. I highly recommend reading it:

61

14 Kommentare

🌟 From Coding to Leading: A Developer's Journey 🌟 Are you passionate about Spryker development? Don't miss out on this interview with our brilliant community member Vasily Rodin, where he will be discussing topics that will be sure to inspire and inform you! 🔥💻 Topics to be covered include: * Vasily's developer journey * Learning curve and experience with Spryker * Advice for those eager to learn about Spryker * ...and much more! 📹 Watch the recording with Vasily and our host Samuel now and level up your Spryker game! Don't miss this opportunity to grow and excel in your development journey. Check out the video below to watch the interview! 👇 #Spryker #Development #Interview #Tech #Innovation #LearnAndGrow

47

1 Kommentar

Holiday reading #1 (while technically digitally detoxing!) An overview of how to build a focused plan to develop a fast, focused, product strategy that enables iteration and super fast user feedback. A useful refresher.

6

1 Kommentar

I'm excited to share that I've written a review of #Miro on #TrustRadius. With my experience, I was able to share how I use #Miro day-to-day to help others choose the right software for them. Comment below if you have any questions or click the link below to read my full #TrustRadiusB2BReview. Great in a product company Not good if very tight budget, where there is ONLY view only

6

Give Rails a chance, or if not, at least watch DHH's highly entertaining and inspiring RailsWorld keynote about Rails 8, especially if you are in the web development business. The sentiments about simplicity and developer empowerment really resonated with me. Even if you don't adopt Rails, it seems important to question assumptions about what modern web development is, whether it needs to be so complicated, and what effect that has on business. I'm excited to build something again...with Rails. https://lnkd.in/ggkYzjhe

10

👉We have been chatting to a couple of new clients in Germany this week, about using freelance Developers/Engineers outside of Germany (Nearshore), the same questions pop up; ✔How do we know if they are good or not? ✔How much can we save? ✔How quickly can they start? 👀Like anything, there is pros and cons to everywhere, but we have built a network of Freelance Nearshore Engineers who have been rigorously vetted with technical expertise guaranteed, that could save you a 50% reduction on your current freelance rates. If you are interested to understand more about this option and how this could help your business. 🚨Feel free to book a call in my Calendly and let’s see if we can help - https://lnkd.in/eygXyhaz

8

3 Kommentare

Systems > SMART goals - especially in software development In April, I participated in the Berlin company run for the second time. So I was interested to see how I did compared to last year. I don't use Strava or heart rate monitors much, so I didn't know what to expect. Still, I was pretty sure I could beat last year's performance. That's because I've been doing a variety of workouts 5 times a week for the past few months. 📌 Set up a good system and the score takes care of itself The same goes for software development. If you want to increase your test coverage, start pair or ensemble programming on tests. If you want to get better at public speaking, find ways to practice in meetups and team all-hands. If you want to make progress on your project, start with a workshop and have regular discussions on Slack and in meetings. SMART goals makes sense when you have predictable processes. I don't find that useful in software development or in my personal life. And not motivating either.

50

6 Kommentare