“Two and a half years ago, I introduced the opportunity solution tree. It’s been a blast seeing product people put it into practice. Today, I’m excited to share Hope Gurion’s thoughts on using opportunity solution trees. Like a true Agilist, she hasn’t just adopted the tool,”
In this podcast episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille examine how people behave in communities, noticing a growing number of members who ask what they can get rather than how they can help. They argue that community…
Shreyas Doshi argues that when two highly competitive, ego-driven product managers must negotiate with each other, the outcome tends to be poor for everyone involved. The piece frames this as a recurring pattern in some…
Teresa Torres describes her Continuous Discovery Habits (CDH) community, built on the idea that people learn best in community rather than from reading alone. She explains why she shifted from being the expert to…
Shreyas Doshi argues that blunt feedback can be transformative, but its value depends heavily on the giver's intent and judgment. Feedback delivered bluntly without care or accuracy can cause harm rather than growth…
Cagan argues that when executives are deeply hands-on with products, product teams should use "visiontyping", a lightweight, high-fidelity prototype focused on core concepts rather than completeness. He contrasts three…
Teresa Torres argues that people often hear what they expect rather than what was actually said, which leads teams to disagree about the same user interview and to build the wrong product. Because great products depend…
Teresa Torres argues that product emails only help if they are designed to convert, and recommends building a reusable email template rather than designing each message from scratch. A template lets teams user-test and…
A guest-written post by storyteller Matthew Dicks argues that humor is a learnable skill rooted in surprise, not a fixed talent. It walks through seven practical strategies (nostalgia, exaggeration, o…
Teresa Torres and Petra Wille discuss a world where nearly every conversation is recorded and transcribed by AI note-takers and wearable devices. Teresa found, after checking her own Granola transcripts, that her…
Marty Cagan argues that moving from command-and-control leadership to an empowered product model requires changes on both sides: executives must not simply step back, and product teams must engage executives more, not…
Teresa Torres argues that remote teams are becoming the norm, and that companies focus too much on their benefits while underestimating the challenges. Drawing on her experience with distributed graduate-school teams…
Teresa Torres argues that resistance to product changes often has little to do with whether the new design solves a real need. Instead, people push back because they have grown familiar with the status quo and because…
April Dunford argues that B2B buyers often choose "no decision" because purchases feel high-stakes and confusing, making indecision the real competitor. She proposes a two-part sales pitch: a setup that teaches the…
Hiten Shah argues that many workplace problems are simple to solve once they reach the people directly involved, but they become costly when routed indirectly through intermediaries. Drawing on experiences at…
Teresa Torres and Petra Wille argue that product practitioners should trace frameworks and best practices back to their original creators rather than relying on social-media summaries. Simplified takes often dilute the…
Shreyas Doshi describes a founder asking whether to go wide or deep, and argues that abstract framings like this feel productive but avoid the decision. The core advice is to push past comfortable generalities toward…
Marty Cagan argues that real collaboration in an empowered product team is very different from how many product managers assume they work. It is not consensus, democracy, artifact-producing requirement handoffs, or…
Lenny Rachitsky curates ten more essays for product builders, spanning problem framing, communication, distribution, market sizing, growth, scaling teams, positioning, and ambitious startup ideas. Each pick is paired…
Lenny Rachitsky recommends a curated set of books for product builders, organized by the skill or job a reader wants to improve, such as communication, strategy, management, and sales. He limits himself to three books…
Coach Erika argues that first-round interviews exist mainly to filter candidates, so preparing efficiently matters more than endless practice. She presents a method called Minimum Viable Interview Prep (MVIP) covering…
Teresa Torres and community members address a common problem: a stakeholder, such as a CEO, brings a solution idea that is unconnected to the team's current outcome and discovery work. The article argues against simply…
Lenny Rachitsky, who moved from engineering into product at Airbnb, lays out how to decide whether product management suits you, which of four common entry paths to pursue, and which seven core skills to build. He…
Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader moving from a solo startup PM role to a large company, arguing that communication, influence, and data-driven decision-making matter most in that shift. He also notes the shared core of…