novatechflow

Amazon often does this thing where they start with the customer instead of just coming up with a product and then trying to figure out how to sell it. They call it " working backwards. " This strategy totally works for any product decisions, but it's especially important when they're making something new. The Press Release Exercise When it comes to launching new stuff, product managers usually start by writing a press release for customers. This press release is all about their pain points, how current solutions fall short, and how the new product is going to crush it. If the benefits don't get customers excited, the product manager needs to keep tweaking the press release until it sounds super awesome. It's way easier and cheaper to make changes to a press release than it is to change the product itself. Here’s a template I use to describe a new service or product: Main heade r: The product name anyone directly understands, like “Ultra-compact power charger” ...

I like product ideation brainstorming—done right and focused,  it opens my mind to think much more analytically about an idea, its development, and its trajectory. But on the other hand, I often had brainstorming sessions, and they were just a waste of time. And to be honest, can you count how often a session went sideways, got stuck in the same old thought patterns, and the loudest voices in the room dominate the conversation?  I did a test yesterday with GPT-4o, and it blew the lid off my creative potential. I had tried the same exercise with the earlier models, and it was a colossal waste of time and energy. Adding AI To The Product Team, worth? Short, after the test, yes, it's definitely worth. Why? We as startup founders, product managers or developer, our job isn't just about executing on a roadmap, we have to build the roadmap and come up with the  right  product idea at the right time - in the first place. That means s...

First: XOps is not a new Marvell movie, waiting for Wolverine's revival. Period. XOps FTW  I'm a CPO. I'm not an HR expert, and I sure as hell don't want to spend my days mediating squabbles between product, design, sales and data teams. But here's the thing I've learned the hard way: if you want to build products that actually solve user problems and hit your business goals, you better figure out how to make these folks play nice in the sandbox. XOps might sound like something out of a comic book, but it's a mindset shift, a way of structuring your teams and their workflows to truly put the customer at the core of everything. Think of it as the secret sauce that turns a bunch of smart individuals into a cohesive product-building machine. I'm too lazy to write what XOps means, DevOpsSchool did it already:  XOps stands for “Cross-functional Operations,” which refers to the practice of bringing together teams and individuals from differen...

Let's be honest, most product definitions suck. They're either packed with jargon that makes your eyes glaze over, filled with features nobody gives a crap about, or so vague they could be about anything. And most importantly, they totally miss the unfair advantage. Wait, what the hell is an unfair advantage?  Simply, it's the killer feature or a strategic edge that's so good, the others can't even copy it. It can be so simple as a dark mode, or an App Store feature to let competitors hook in. It's like building with Lego: you want that one foundational piece that's the base for everything else. Start with a simple square? Cool. But with the right unfair advantage, you can build it into a freaking skyscraper that everyone wants a piece of. Let me break down how I start to build new products. Step 1: Forget the "What," Focus on the "Why" (and How It Makes Users' Lives Easier)  Simplified: Customer Problem > Fancy Featur...

Last weekend I got again fed up by SaaS companies and their permanent "digital engagement" noise, so I canceled. You guess what really fed me up then? The extortion when I cancel my subscription, leading to mandatory, useless interrogation practice - surveys: "We want to understand why you want to cancel" with dozens of questions! Folks, when you DON'T understand why and when customers cancel and why your awesome product has more churn than all wholesale companies combined , then your complete product metrics (if any) are wrong and your product team needs to reevaluate how they build products. Yes, the tech startup bubble obsesses over user and customer engagement. Your investors tell you that, the "marketing" gurus, "influencers," and I don't know who else. They tell you to push notifications, implement annoying gamification,and endless "sticky" features, desperately trying to keep eyeballs locked on our products and services....

I've been building products for a long time now, moving from Solution Engineer and Solution Architect over Product Manager to my current role as CPO. Along the way, I've seen the landscape shift dramatically. One thing's for sure: if you want to create products that customers truly love (and that drive real business results), you need to stay obsessed with their experience. That means rethinking some of the old "tried and true" ways of doing things. Don't: Just Adding Features Experience is critical for building customer loyalty: A great interface sells software. No great customer experience, no sales. Product management isn't about mindlessly churning out features. It starts with a deep understanding of your customers, the market and your competition. What drives the customer behavior? What are their biggest pain points?  To answer those questions, you need a toolkit that includes research, analytics, and direct feedback channels. This empathy fo...