"Watch the bartender" This was Jack Dorsey's way of explaining Square. They took all the things that interfered with the bartender interacting with the customer and built a product to remove those barriers. Ibrahim Bashir shares this real world example and numerous others related to customer feedback in a packed episode of the ProdPad ...

"If your guiding principle embodies a specific insight, it will guide you, and you'll always know if what you're doing is right... There are many ways to live your life. That's maybe the most important thing to realize in your life, that every aspect of your life is a choice. There are default choices. You can choose to sleepwalk throu...

“Working Backwards” This was a concept I had heard of before but hadn't studied much, until recently when a friend encouraged me to take a closer look. There are some great details on this approach in the annual Amazon shareholder letters: "'Working backward' from customer needs can be contrasted with a 'skills-forward' approach where ...

I was late to the world of tech & product compared to my peers; I didn't gain interest until I was halfway through grad school. So I felt like I had to play catchup, I dove in, reading books and taking courses. As I got in the real world I found myself discouraged... what I had been learning didn't match up with what I was seeing day t...

"One of the greatest weaknesses in most of us is our lack of faith in ourselves." - L. Tom Perry I have this quote written on a whiteboard that hangs in front of my desk, so that I can read it every day. I need the reminder daily, if not multiple times a day, that I can do a lot more than I would let myself believe. It seems to be huma...

My favorite customer insight of all time ⬇ As part of my deep dive into written narratives and Amazon, I have been reading through the yearly Amazon shareholder letters. This summary of the thought process behind the Kindle is mind-blowing. Where most of us would have hard-charged into doing all we could to highlight how high tech and ...

“Speed and scale are weapons and Amazon has already told everyone its secret… if only they have the discipline to implement it.” This was Bard Porter's parting shot in a discussion of how strong writing is the secret to Amazon's continued innovation and success. Since coming across this quote in Empowered I have been deep diving into t...

One of my favorite podcasts is the Stack Overflow podcast. I like it because the episodes are usually short but packed full of insights. It also does a great job of teaching business people how to work with technical people. On the last episode Paul Ford had two amazing insights that I had to call out as they were two of the coolest th...

Seems like everyone is talking about Continuous Discovery Habits right now. After finishing it for myself I can see why. It is one of the most practical and actionable books out there. You’ll want to keep this on your desk and refer to it often. There’s too much good stuff to be able to call out and highlight everything, you just need ...

How do you know if the product you built is having an impact? Or if the project you delivered was successful? Or if you are truly meeting customer’s needs? Delivery is often the focus of our work, the more we can get out into the world the better... or so we think. But where we should be putting more of our time is into measuring the i...

I just finished reading Invent and Wander which contains all the Amazon Annual Shareholder Letters. Many have called these letters a mini-MBA and after reading them I can see why. In the span of a few pages each year you see clearly how to: -be customer obsessed -use writing as a tool and weapon -develop a product mindset -use metrics ...

Empowered by Marty Cagan and Chris Jones is jam-packed with insights and tools for how to build a truly empowered product team and organization. It compiles the learnings from Silicon Valley Product Group and the world's best product organizations and gives you a concise and actionable framework for emulating the way they operate and b...

Most people who know me know that I like to read a lot. I usually churn through multiple books in a month and try to take away a few key learnings from each. But I have to say, that out of all the books I've read, I cannot remember a book that has ever impacted me in the way that Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins has impacted me. It has c...

I recently finished Drive by Daniel Pink, it was an engaging read, that was difficult to put down until I was all the way through. The book highlights what we think motivates us versus what actually motivates us. It was striking how intuitive the methods for modern day motivation are but also more shocking is how often we do things cou...

Each day I take tons of actions and make lots of decisions, most of which are based off experiences I have had in the past. Things that I have seen and done before, become references for how I tackle similar challenges now. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and realized that while I rely on this store of experience every day...

I have spent much of this week reflecting on all the good that has happened to me lately, both recently and throughout my life. The big realization was how little I actually contributed to my own good fortune, the majority of it was the work of other or luck. I owe so much to my parents who supported me early in life and helped me beli...

My whole life I have been deeply interested in Technology, paying attention to trends and keeping up on the latest news. I was drawn to it but at the same time didn't know how to get started in technology for myself. I went to grad school thinking I would spend my career working in business and admin. I quickly learned that it was not ...

I just wrapped up reading Survival of the Bark Canoe and could not have enjoyed it more. I have long heard about John McPhee and his ability to deep dive on obscure topics from Tim Ferriss and other but this was my first chance to check out his work for myself. While it is definitely a book anyone interested in the outdoor or woodworki...

One of the things I love learning about most are frameworks. Understanding how people approach: making decisions, building products/processes and creating lasting change. My personal framework is anchored in the concept of foundations. My grandfather was a custom home builder and talented carpenter. I spent summers and weekends working...