Great question. It's really hard to prioritize small, iterative product improvements against large new features/bets. In my experience you need both, as well as a few other aspects. The way we do it in my teams is to think of it as balancing investment levels between different buckets, and to dedicate capacity to each of these buckets. Otherwise it's a constant struggle. We've tried to describe it in this section of the Atlassian product discovery handbook talking about ideas, and that one about prioritization. A couple of different types of buckets: * Boulders, rocks and pebbles * Boulders: large investments with potentially big payoff but high uncertainty, too. E.g. one or multiple teams over one or multiple quarters. * Rocks: medium sized investments with fewer risks, but potential for delighting users. E.g. one team for a month. * Pebbles: Small, typically straightforward change. E.g. one person for a week. * Don't underestimate the impact of rocks and pebbles! In my experience users LOVE to see the app they use get better every time, that's a great way to create fans. * RUF: Reliability + Usability improvements + new Features. Think of the RUF framework as a pyramid: * At the base of the pyramid there's Reliability. Reliability is about building trust. Trust takes a long time to build, but can be destroyed very quickly — a single event of data loss or security breach can be a serious source of churn, let alone repeat incidents. So you need to invest in your product's reliability first and foremost. * Usability Improvements comes second: a feature is rarely “done” — it’s part of a system and that system needs constant tuning. In your roadmap, it is important to allocate budget and resources to keep investing in improving your current feature set. * At the top of the pyramid is new features, both large and small. Then you decide how you want to invest in each: E.g. for a super early stage app you might be spending all your time on boulders and rocks, and little in reliability or usability improvements. For a more mature product you might spend 50% in the reliability bucket and only 10-20% on new features. Then how you actually implement that in your team can vary. In my teams we look at it at investment over time: we might be focusing on a boulder for a quarter, then go back and tackle a few rocks and pebbles. Some of the teams have a rotation where 1 engineer is focusing on pebbles each week. etc. But the important part is to have a strategy and make it a conscious choice, vs something that you react to every time you get a new request from a customer or stakeholder.

When you’re working at an early-stage startup, I know it can feel like every conversation, Slack message, or email thread throws another item on your plate. It’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed because there is always more work than can be done by a PM. To help manage this, here are a few strategies and tips I use: 1. Define Clear Priorities and Communicate Them: Define the priorities for you and your team in terms of areas of focus. What are the most important things that will have the biggest impact on your product and your product success right now? For example, if you're at the design phase of a future release, you would prioritize things like user experience research, customer feedback, focus groups, etc. Be ruthless with your priorities, define them, and stick to them. Early in my career, I would get distracted by items that weren’t critical at that moment and later regret the distraction. The second part of defining priorities is communicating those. When your team and your stakeholders understand what your area is a focus is, it's easier to manage those incomings and set expectations. 2. Batch Your Interruptions: In a startup, the product manager is often the jack of all trades. This is a double-edged sword as being the focal point of many conversations allows you to drive the product strategy and execution with a greater degree of confidence and visibility, but it comes at a cost since everybody looks to us for every type of question. To help manage this, I typically carve out a block of time every day to respond to non-critical interruptions. Reserving a block of time either at the beginning or the end of the day allows me to defer those interruptions and knock them out without disrupting my flow. Context switching to handle incoming interruptions comes at a significant cost to your focus....so minimize that. 3. Empower the Team Around You and Defer: Typically with a small product management team, it's not possible to handle all of the incomings all of the time. Defer what you can to either other members of your team or a subject matter expert in another team. Don't be afraid to suggest speaking with somebody else to get the answer that they need. It's hard to let go sometimes, but protecting your focus is critical to being successful as a product manager. 4. Don't Be Afraid of No: Your time and capacity is valuable for your organization. Don't be afraid to say no to incoming interruptions in order to preserve your focus. It's not a black-and-white answer that applies to everything, but you need to use your best judgment and be comfortable, saying no to incoming asks and requests if it doesn't align with your priorities or won't help you drive product success. Be honest when you say no to something and be open to explaining why you are saying no. You never want to be the black hole of incoming requests where customers and stakeholders feel you don't respond....so always better to respond with a no vs ignoring and never responding.

I currently work in the intersection of enterprise security & AI and it is incredible to see the use cases that have emerged for AI in this space. * User research: As I mentioned in one of the earlier questions, AI tools can be a fantastic source to understand user trends, market, and competitive trends. For example, you can take a look at online user reviews for your product to understand key functionalities and usability gaps. * Product functionality: Within security SaaS we often use the framework of detect, investigate, and resolve. AI is changing each of these experiences from a product development perspective. For example within ‘detect’ AI is enabling us to develop product experiences which help organizations more proactively understand attacks their orgs are more vulnerable to. Leveraging machine learning and external data sources we can provide scores to attacks to help understand how significant a vulnerability truly is. Within remediation AI helps to develop automated playbooks based on other similar playbooks that can help users more quickly resolve issues and get external data about how other orgs are resolving the issue. * AI experiences: In addition to augmenting the security workflow to make it more productive and effective, gen AI is also enabling us to create net new experiences for prospects and customers. For example if an organization doesn’t have the security skillset to complete one of the tasks across detect/investigate/resolve - what is the role AI could play here in filling the gap? How can AI be leveraged to empower shift left security in an organization so that developers are encouraged to incorporate security from the get go in their designs? There is so much potential for how AI can fundamentally change the product development process and excited to see all the innovation organizations bring to their products over the next two years.

Product Manager position could be optional. A team building a software product will have someone fulfilling a product manager role either way. * Who will take accountability for the market success of team’s work? * Who will deeply understand the market, the customer and their pain worth solving? * Who will fight for the team inside of the organization to acquire needed resources and to defend existing? * Who will be a “PR manager” building team’s brand inside of the organization? * Who will detect early learning and make a case for adjustments and improvements? This list may go on and on. Try to make the case not for the position of a PM (“I am a PM, you listen to me”), but for the inevitability of the work above for any successful team. Chances are, your engineering leader and their team do not find this type of work most exciting. Hopefully they are reasonable to agree it is required, or at least helpful for the eventual market success of your product. From there, if you established there is work to be done - demonstrate how you can take this work off the team’s plate and have them focus on what they do best and enjoy most - building great software (or hardware, if that’s your thing).

Market trends can be a good indicator of what will matter to users, investors or stakeholders. Don't ignore them, but also don't let them distract you from the fundamentals. * Do you think this trend will drive a permanent shift in the market you operate in? If so -- consider how you can position yourself for success in the long term and the pros / cons of investing in alignment. If not, consider whether there are short / mid term changes you want to make to take advantage, or whether you just want to ride it out. * Identify where the trend is coming from. Is it driven by macroeconomics? A technological innovation? And are you and your org well positioned to take advantage of it? * Are you moving early enough vs other competitors? If you have an opportunity to be out in front of the crowd -- can you position yourself as a leader in this trend and drive marketing value from doing so? * Does it genuinely drive economic advantage for you, either directly or by second order effects?

1. Lack of Customer Focus: * Confusing customer wants with needs: Product managers may focus on features customers request rather than understanding the underlying needs they are trying to fulfill. * Ignoring customer feedback: Not actively soliciting and incorporating customer feedback can lead to products that don't meet real-world needs. * Not understanding the customer: A lack of deep understanding of the target audience, their pain points, and behaviors can lead to products that miss the mark. * Focusing on internal processes over customer needs: Prioritizing internal processes or personal preferences over customer needs can result in a disconnect between the product and its intended users. 2. Misguided Innovation: * Mistaking innovation for value: Innovation for the sake of innovation, without a clear understanding of the value it provides to the customer, can lead to wasted resources and a product that doesn't resonate with users. * Starting too big or too perfect: Attempting to launch a fully-fledged, complex innovation without first testing the waters with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) can be risky and time-consuming. Its important to start small and iterate fast.

This can sometimes seem like an impossible task - but there are some core change management principles we use at BILL that you can use to help people get excited about the idea of making the move. Step 1: Prep the organization for the change You have to get people to move from their current beliefs and behaviors to the desired beliefs and behaviors. You can do this in a few steps (1) Understand what their fears and concerns with the change, (2) Share a clear vision and strategy to address concerns and feedback, (3) Get buy-in to try it, (4) Set clear goals and share how success will be measured, (5) Share a detailed plan for how the change will work. Step 2: Implement the change This is usually the hardest step for moving to be more KPI driven - since it usually requires investment from teams to get their products instrumented. This can sometimes feel to teams like they have wasted product development cycles building in a bunch of metric measuring, but understanding current baselines is the first step to getting more data driven. This is also the most challenging part - since many teams assume measuring alone = KPI driven. You will likely need to provide training, templates, etc to help teams understand the KPIs are about using the KPIs as the data to inform the decision making process. If this is overwhelming to start - you can always start piloting with one team. Step 3: Embed the Change Once you implement the change and get people to start being more data driven - you need to make sure it sticks. You can do this by celebrating wins, highlighting it in team meetings, and consistently reenforcing the message. Step 4: Review and Evaluate the Outcomes Once you have some cycles under the team, to ensure that the change sticks, make sure to communicate widely the wins and the learnings from the change. This ensures that there is transparency in the change and people can see the positive effect of it on the company.

From personal experience, I've made a couple mistakes that I can share: 1. Not doing enough research or having answers to pushback readily available (this makes you look weak and degrades trust in your recommendation or ownership). 2. Pushing an objective without understanding the other perspectives or priorities of stakeholders (this makes you look unprepared and degrades trust and collaboration). Ways to mitigate these: 1. Spend your time to prepare your roadmap with lots of research (customer, prospect, field, data, market, competitive etc.) Work with your manager or peers to brainstorm or identify gaps in your roadmap in advance. Make your roadmap and reasoning bulletproof and well documented. 2. Spend time with stakeholders who are involved on a one-to-one basis to understand their current priorities and their perspective of your area and what they think is a top priority. Truly consider their perspective, they may have a point - people can tell when you aren't actually engaging with their perspective. Ask a bunch of questions to deeply understand. This allows you to prepare to present why you're moving in the direction that you're moving instead of their alternative path proactively and have a meaningful discussion about it. In addition to building a deep understanding of their perspective, building a strong relationship with stakeholders allows for you to have a basis of human connection to build from and tackle misalignment together.

While embarking on a product management journey, it's important to acknowledge that most companies typically do not seek out fresh graduates for product management positions. The role demands a high level of strategic thinking and decision-making, often requiring years of expertise and a comprehensive understanding of both technical and business aspects. However, while securing entry-level roles in product management may be challenging, it's not impossible. Seeking out internship opportunities, continuous learning, and mentorship can significantly enhance your chances of breaking into the field. Additionally, being proactive in networking and showcasing your skills through projects or relevant experiences can also help demonstrate your readiness for a career in product management. It's essential to recognize that transitioning into product management may require persistence and dedication, but with the right approach and a commitment to continuous improvement, recent graduates can certainly carve out a path towards success in this dynamic and rewarding field. To embark on a successful journey into product management, recent graduates can consider the following strategies: 1. Explore Internship Opportunities: Consider seeking out internship opportunities in product management to gain practical experience and exposure to real-world scenarios. Internships provide invaluable learning opportunities and can serve as a stepping stone to a full-time product management role. 2. Embrace Continuous Learning: Educate yourself about product management principles and best practices through courses, workshops, and relevant literature. Recommended reading materials include books by industry experts that cover topics such as product strategy, user research, and roadmap prioritization. 3. Read about Product Management: Reading books authored by experts in the field offers invaluable insights into key principles and best practices. Here are some highly recommended books that can help you deepen your understanding of product management: 1. "Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love" by Marty Cagan (Silicon Valley Product Group) 2. "The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" by Eric Ries 3. "Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert B. Cialdini 4. "The Product Manager's Handbook" by Linda Gorchels 5. "The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback" by Dan Olsen 6. "The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager" by C. Todd Lombardo, Bruce McCarthy, and Tom Cummings 7. "The Art of Product Management: Lessons from a Silicon Valley Innovator" by Marty Cagan 8. "Cracking the PM Interview" by Gayle Laakmann McDowell 9. "The Product Manager's Desk Reference" by Steven Haines 10. "Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz 4. Seek Mentorship: Connect with experienced product managers who can provide guidance and mentorship as you navigate the transition into the field. Or join a specialized Product Management mentorship program such as Product League. By adopting a proactive approach to skill development, seeking mentorship, exploring internship opportunities, and leveraging available resources, recent graduates can position themselves for success in product management roles.

A product manager should prioritize addressing customer problems to create long-term value and profitability for the business. , there are several ineffective KPIs that we often fall prey to: Output-Focused KPIs Deliver X Number of Features: Emphasizing quantity over quality can dilute the value provided to users. Create Y PRDs, Processes, or Briefs: Focusing solely on documentation can lead to a lack of actionable outcomes. Tactical KPIs Cost-Cutting Metrics: Overemphasizing reductions in costs can hinder innovation and growth. Short-Term Wins: Setting goals like "Do X and win this quarter's business" may prioritize immediate results at the expense of long-term strategy. By shifting focus away from these metrics, product managers can better align their efforts with meaningful outcomes that drive sustainable success.