Drawer 14 · 397 notes · 75 people · 2005–2026

Communication & influence

Writing, storytelling, stakeholder management, and influence

Q:
Answers from Communication & influence notes, cited
Product Talk · Teresa TorresDec 17, 2014

My Favorite Books Read in 2014

Dec 17, 2014 · 6 min

“I’ve read 60 books (so far) this year. These were my favorites. If you like these reviews, I’ll be launching a blog after the new year about the books that I’m reading. I’ll share details in an upcoming newsletter. If you don’t get my newsletter,”

SVPG · Marty CaganOct 16, 2005

How Does Your Manager Rate?

Oct 16, 2005

Marty Cagan argues that employees join a company but leave a manager, so a manager's behavior strongly shapes job satisfaction and team effectiveness. He offers a list of characteristics of great product leaders, aimed…

Product Talk · Teresa TorresFeb 10, 2014

That's Not Brainstorming

Feb 10, 2014 · 5 min

Teresa Torres responds to reactions to her earlier post arguing against traditional brainstorming. She clarifies how creative output is measured (fluency, flexibility, originality) and addresses objections about…

Product Talk · Teresa TorresSep 11, 2012

User Stories Aren't As Simple As They Seem

Sep 11, 2012 · 9 min

Teresa Torres extends her earlier post on user stories by walking through the INVEST criteria (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimatable, Small, Testable) with concrete examples. She argues that stories should be…

Product Talk · Teresa TorresAug 16, 2012

To Portfolio Or Not To Portfolio

Aug 16, 2012 · 3 min

Teresa Torres argues that public portfolios are a poor fit for product professionals, since they encourage over-claiming credit for team work and expose proprietary or employer-owned material. Hiring managers still want…

Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 22

Generating buzz

Dec 8, 2020 · 9 min
Subscriber post — summary only

Lenny Rachitsky argues that launches only get attention when they are genuinely remarkable, something worth talking about. He organizes ten recurring buzz-generating strategies, such as remarkable videos, value…

SVPG · Marty CaganJan 2, 2024

The Power of Visiontypes

Jan 2, 2024 · 3 min

Marty Cagan uses an anecdote about Apple, Xerox PARC, and the graphical desktop computer to explain what a product vision and a 'visiontype' (a vision prototype) are for. He argues that a compelling visiontype helps…

SVPG · Marty CaganOct 11, 2021

Discovery – Feedback

Oct 11, 2021 · 5 min

Marty Cagan argues that product teams should actively seek out critical, negative feedback, since qualitative insight about why users don't adopt, buy, or stay is more valuable than most quantitative data. He observes…

SVPG · Marty CaganFeb 8, 2019

Coaching Tools – The One on One

Feb 8, 2019 · 10 min

Marty Cagan argues that the weekly one-on-one is the foundation of coaching product managers, and that most managers either never run it well or treat it as optional. The 1:1 exists primarily to build a PM's competence…

Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 123

Preparing for a PM interview

Apr 19, 2022 · 5 min
Subscriber post — summary only

Lenny Rachitsky lays out a three-part approach to preparing for product manager interviews: research the product, company and interview process; practice with real people through mock interviews and coaching; and study…

SVPG · Marty CaganDec 12, 2017

Learning Fast vs. Failing Fast

Dec 12, 2017

Chris Jones argues that the popular slogans "fail fast" and "embrace failure" have outlived their usefulness because they blur risky experimentation with genuinely preventable mistakes. He proposes reserving the word…

SVPG · Marty CaganNov 1, 2012

Assessing Customer Impact

Nov 1, 2012 · 4 min

Marty Cagan argues that as teams move to frequent or continuous delivery, releases can surprise customers and internal stakeholders such as sales, service, and product marketing. Most incremental releases are invisible…

SVPG · Marty CaganAug 13, 2024

The Product Model in Outsourcing

Aug 13, 2024 · 15 min

Marty Cagan and Josh Kerievsky argue that outsourcing agencies can apply the product model to custom solution work, even though clients often arrive with a fixed solution in mind and fixed-price contracts. The core…

SVPG · Marty CaganFeb 14, 2022

Introducing LOVED

Feb 14, 2022 · 4 min

Marty Cagan introduces Martina Lauchengco's book LOVED, which argues that product/market fit has two halves: a strong product and a strong market approach. Building on his earlier work on product discovery, he contends…