Drawer 13 · 460 notes · 69 people · 2005–2026

Org design & culture

Team topologies, operating models, culture, and scaling organizations

Q:
Answers from Org design & culture notes, cited
SVPG · Marty CaganDec 6, 2011

Product Manager vs. Product Owner

Dec 6, 2011

Marty Cagan argues against a common corporate arrangement that splits the product role between a 'product manager' who handles customers and stakeholders and a 'product owner' who handles the backlog and developers. He…

SVPG · Marty CaganDec 29, 2013

Epic Waste

Dec 29, 2013

Marty Cagan argues that the largest source of technology waste is not government projects or startups but large non-tech companies such as banks, insurers, airlines and retailers. These firms, often run by CIOs or CFOs…

Product Talk · Teresa TorresOct 9, 2024

12 Hurdles to Effective Product Trio Collaboration

Oct 9, 2024 · 9 min

“If you’ve ever felt like working as part of a product trio was hard, you’re not alone. We often field questions or comments from people who are skeptical about how this type of collaborative decision-making can work, so we’ve known anecdotally for quite a while that”

Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 105

Six rules of hiring for growth

Nov 9, 2021 · 15 min

Elena Verna argues that a founder's first growth hire is one of the most consequential hires a startup makes, and that many founders begin with avoidable mistakes. She proposes six rules: define a growth model before…

@ttorres · Teresa Torres on X♥ 9
🎙️Facilitation Skills Conflict on a product team isn't a warning sign — the absence of it usually is. In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres tackle a question Teresa hears constantly: what should a product trio do when collaboration breaks down and disagreement turns…
Lenny’s Podcast89 min

How to fire people with grace, work through fear, and nurture innovation

Matt Mochary · Nov 10, 2022
Key learnings
  • When you sense fear clouding judgment, make a low-stakes bet with a peer on the opposite prediction; Mochary says fear has…
  • Deliver layoff news one-on-one, never via email or group chat, since impersonal delivery is what turns layoffs into anger and…
  • Separate the decision from its implementation: decide based on what serves the customer, then address the hurt of each affected…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 131

How Gong builds product

Jan 23, 2024 · 20 min
Subscriber post — summary only

An interview with Gong's chief product officer on how the company builds product. It covers two-tier annual and quarterly planning, autonomous multi-skill pods organized around problem areas, the decision to skip OKRs…

SVPG · Marty CaganNov 9, 2020

Inspired and Empowered

Nov 9, 2020 · 4 min

Marty Cagan announces the pre-order launch of his new book EMPOWERED, co-written with Chris Jones, and explains how it complements INSPIRED. He argues that many companies can teach product teams strong practices but…

Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 276

How Notion builds product

May 30, 2023 · 19 min
Subscriber post — summary only

An in-depth look at how Notion builds product, drawn from an interview with its Chief Product and Technology Officer. It covers planning cadences, a four-stage product review process, the small size of the PM team, a…

SVPG · Marty CaganSep 24, 2014

The Internal Agency Model

Sep 24, 2014 · 3 min

Marty Cagan argues that UX designers often work in isolation, going off for days or weeks to produce a polished 'grand reveal,' a pattern he calls the 'internal agency model.' This breaks down because requirements and…

The Beautiful Mess · John Cutler♥ 83

TBM 425: AI and Agency

Jun 7, 2026

The piece argues that organizations asking their teams to find ways to use AI for company benefit are undermining that goal by stripping away the agency people need to experiment and decide. The core claim is that…

Lenny’s Podcast72 min

How Revolut trains world-class product managers: The “local CEO” model, raw intellect over experience, and a cultural obsession with building wow products

Dmitry Zlokazov · May 15, 2025
Key learnings
  • Treat product managers as end-to-end owners of their area, closer to local CEOs, with authority over the roadmap, team direction…
  • Hire for raw intellect and an unquenched hunger to build things, rather than for years of experience, since experienced hires…
  • Look for people who have founded startups or worked as tech co-founders, since they tend to be hands-on across many areas and…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 265

How Duolingo builds product

Mar 21, 2023 · 19 min
Subscriber post — summary only

Lenny Rachitsky interviews Duolingo VP of Product Cem Kansu about how the company builds product. The post covers its co-lead team structure, quarterly and yearly OKR cycles, a tiered product review process, weekly…

Lenny’s Podcast148 min

35 years of product design wisdom from Apple, Disney, Pinterest, and beyond

Bob Baxley · Jun 12, 2025
Key learnings
  • Before joining a new company, check whether founders genuinely believe in design; design-led cultures are born that way, not…
  • When changing cultures, keep your core values but re-express them in the new company's behaviors rather than carrying over old…
  • Keep teams small when inventing something new; add people once the vision is clear, since more people slows creative convergence.
SVPG · Marty CaganOct 24, 2006

Succeeding With Remote Development

Oct 24, 2006 · 4 min

Cagan argues that remote development teams, whether from outsourcing, acquisitions, or internal centralization, magnify normal communication and execution problems and often frustrate organizations. He offers three…