Ways of working
🗣️ Loved this post from Duolingo: Meaningful metrics: How data sharpened the focus of product teams. Data scientist Erin Gustafson walks us through how the team behind the language learning app arrived at their Growth Model – a series of metrics they developed to jump-start their growth strategy with data. She explains how they decided on the metrics that matter, and that the team is looking to the future to proactively head off a wave of stagnation with current users. Related: How much can Duolingo teach us? – a long read from The New Yorker. AI-heavy, of course, but interesting stuff on its early concept: a crowd-sourced translation tool relying on user collaboration to improve accuracy and tone and iron out local nuances.
👏🏽 From projects to products by Marty Cagan is a short, straight-forward explanation of the problem with project-based working when we’re building technology-powered products. “In the project model, the best you can really ask for is time-to-market. But in the product model, you can focus on the much more impactful time-to-money.” One to bookmark and share with stakeholders just after you pose the question: “What is more important for this effort? Hitting this date? Or accomplishing this outcome?”
🇨🇦 What we learned on Service Canada Labs before going live on Canada.ca is an ode to short feedback loops and iterative working. “The tool [Old Age Security Benefits Estimator] was still in an early development phase, but it was working. We knew the earlier we let everyone use it, the earlier we'd get real feedback. Since then, over 4,000 people tried it out, and around 200 provided feedback.” Hat tip to the team. Nice point from Assistant Director Andrew Abela on how sharing the results of research and what the team is doing as a result is transparent and can help build trust with users.
💥 This, from Product Design Director Cap Watkins, is refreshing and much-needed: The Rebalancing of Design Management. These days, it’s common to see management as a people-first endeavour: “hire well, encourage folks, make sure they have what they need and… stay out of the way.” But Watkins says, “we need to… take on a little more of that old Creative Director energy: get in the details, push our teams to… try something totally weird that probably won't work, challenge and inspire their peers in engineering and product,” Waktins rallies. “It's not a binary choice."
😁 Speaking of thinking differently, Do Interesting – Notice. Collect. Share. by Public Digital friend Russell Davies looks useful – both for work and in life generally.
↔️↕️ Product specialist Caitlin D. Sullivan shared a handy flow chart of YES and NO questions to help product managers figure out if the team has done enough discovery work. Share it. |