Somehow — we’re not entirely sure how — it got to be 2019. And we are waking from a holiday slumber with some fresh picks from the abundant tree of product wisdom.
It’s Trend Time
The beginning of the year is filled with recaps, trend reports, and our personal favorite: the forecast report. One that stood out to us is OpenView Labs’ “SaaS Trends You Need to Know for 2019.” Why did we pick this one? So many of the trends in it speak to the importance of product-led growth, the top one being:
“even enterprise companies will adopt product-led strategies.”
The Amazon Way
The “big four” are known (and are notorious) for manifestos on successful workflows, hiring, collaboration, and design. This latest, whether endorsed by Mr. Bezos himself or not, highlights the increasing focus on PM excellence. Similar to our Anatomy of a PM, this document outlines the competencies necessary for a job that recognizes “no specific bounds.” Being a 1%-er sounds close to being a unicorn, but it’s good to dream (and think!) big.
Monkey See 🙈
“Emulation as a product strategy is attractive for a lot of reasons. For one, it’s easy. You don’t have to figure anything out; you just copy […] In reality, emulation is just as risky as trying something new, and maybe even riskier.”
The stress of feature envy is a real scourge of product management, and competitive pressure can really mess with your product priorities. So much so, that you might find yourself imitating the work of others. But, Jesse Weaver argues that emulation is not your friend. Before you get tempted to copy that feature or that, think about what it is that your users are trying to solve for. It’s not about shiny objects.
Northern Exposure
This week we want to highlight a hot product job in a cold place! The PM position at Zenreach‘s R&D hub (in Kitchener, Canada) is a great opportunity for a product manager who is striving to meet all the qualifications we discussed above — they’re looking for a combo thinker/doer/extroverted ping pong champ? Do you fit the bill?
