Teresa Torres explains how she decides what to accept and decline as a product coach, teacher, writer and speaker, starting from a clear set of personal priorities: teaching, curriculum design, reading, writing and…
Chris Jones argues that enterprise software companies often underinvest in product design because they assume only end users benefit from it, when design also drives buyer decisions. He contends that the product itself…
Teresa Torres argues that engineers should be active participants in product discovery rather than only writing code, since they contribute distinct knowledge and skills. She explains that different team members…
This case study traces how Pieter Omvlee built Sketch, a lightweight vector drawing app for Mac, into a serious alternative to Adobe's Illustrator and Photoshop. Omvlee started with a student project, charged for it…
Marty Cagan describes the most common confusions he sees in product teams, drawn from a dinner conversation with product leaders who recognized the same patterns. He argues that product teams should discover solutions…
This case study traces how theSkimm, a daily email news digest aimed at young millennial women, grew to roughly 7 million subscribers despite a crowded and hostile media market. The founders bet on a routine-based…
Hiten Shah responds to critics who call Net Promoter Score (NPS) harmful or overrated, arguing the metric is not the problem but how it is used. He contends NPS is useful only as one input among many feedback methods…
Hiten Shah surveyed practitioners about how they measure customer happiness and found that 55% rely on Net Promoter Score, a single-question metric in use since 2003. The article reports other methods, including…
This essay traces Snapchat's rise from a 2011 Stanford side project to a major social platform, and its subsequent stall after going public. The author argues Snapchat's early success came from turning a familiar…
Hiten Shah traces how Square went from a 2009 idea born of a lost glassblowing sale to a company valued in the billions, by solving the costly problem of card acceptance for small businesses. He highlights the simple…
Marty Cagan argues that most companies fail to get results from product teams not because teams lack discovery skills, but because they are not truly empowered. He contrasts teams that serve the business with strong…
This essay traces Medium's history from its 2012 launch by Evan Williams through its 2018 monetization struggles. It argues Medium's minimal design and long-form focus reinvigorated interest in in-depth writing and…
Teresa Torres argues that product teams shifting from managing outputs to managing outcomes need three mindsets to succeed at continuous discovery. She describes a collaborative mindset where the core trio (product…
Marty Cagan reviews Ken Kocienda's memoir Creative Selection, told from the perspective of an engineer who spent about 15 years at Apple and served as tech lead for key efforts, most notably the original iPhone…
Martina Lauchengco, a long-time SVPG partner, shares her origin story: an instinct for finding better ways that grew from a childhood shaped by her father's habit of challenging the status quo. She recounts early…
Teresa Torres describes coaching the CarMax Digital Merchandising team, a mature product team that already practiced discovery but lacked deliberate organization. Through interviews with the PM, designer, and tech lead…
Chris Favorite Interview Question describes a hiring question a PM manager can use: ask candidates to rank four work attributes (execution, creativity, strategy, growth) from strongest to weakest. The exercise reveals…
Teresa Torres shares six guiding principles for effective product discovery, distilled by her co-instructor Jeff Merrell from a design course on prototyping solutions. The principles cover building empathy for a…
Marty Cagan responds to readers who argued that any tool or process can be used well or badly, so blaming the process is misplaced, and that culture matters more than process. He agrees culture is central but argues…
Marty Cagan follows up on his critique of SAFe, the scaled-agile framework, by answering reader questions. He argues that process choices are really culture choices, and that adopting a heavy framework signals top-down…
Marty Cagan argues that the Agile movement had two parts: frequent small releases, and empowering teams to solve problems rather than execute roadmaps. The first change spread easily, but the second threatened…
Teresa Torres argues that product managers often feel frustrated when senior stakeholders override discovery-based recommendations with their own preferred solutions. Because organizations are hierarchies rather than…
Marty Cagan revisits Henrik Kniberg's skateboard-versus-car MVP article and argues it describes what engineering-only teams can do, not what true cross-functional product teams should do. He contends that a skilled…
Teresa Torres argues that asking how much time to spend in discovery is the wrong question, because discovery and delivery should happen continuously rather than in sequence. The right amount of discovery is whatever is…
Marty Cagan revisits his earlier skepticism of the 'CEO of the Product' metaphor and states a clearer position in favor of it, with caveats. He notes the concept's risk of making product managers act like bosses, but…
Teresa Torres profiles Amy O'Callaghan (product manager) and Jenn Atkins (product designer) at Snagajob, who were coached in continuous discovery and now run a team that talks to customers weekly and validates work…
Marty Cagan argues that many teams claiming to be Agile or Lean still operate with a Waterfall mindset, merely adopting the rituals and buzzwords. He identifies three telltale signs: risks deferred to the end…
Teresa Torres uses a product manager and designer dilemma to argue that teams waste time designing a whole near-term vision upfront, because their assumptions about being right are usually wrong. She contends that…
Cagan argues that product discovery, the practice of validating ideas with real customers before building, is still essential in heavily regulated industries such as finance and healthcare, even though legal and…
Teresa Torres argues that rapid prototyping is far broader than wireframes and usability testing. She offers a working definition of a prototype as something that simulates an experience, is built to answer a specific…