Drawer 11 · 318 notes · 58 people · 2005–2026

Metrics, data & experimentation

North-star metrics, analytics, A/B tests, and data-informed decisions

Q:
Answers from Metrics, data & experimentation notes, cited
SVPG · Marty CaganJan 23, 2012

Product Management Then and Now

Jan 23, 2012

Marty Cagan contrasts the traditional PC-era product manager with the modern Internet-era product manager. He argues that many organizations still operate with the older model, which was often ineffective and poorly…

Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 185

The ultimate guide to willingness-to-pay

Feb 13, 2024 · 24 min
Subscriber post — summary only

Kristen Berman walks through the four main quantitative willingness-to-pay methods (Van Westendorp, Becker-DeGroot-Marschak, multiple price list, and discrete choice), comparing their strengths and biases. She argues…

Product Talk · Teresa TorresAug 3, 2026

Ch. 9: Identifying Hidden Assumptions

Aug 3, 2026 · 5 min

“Continuous Discovery Habits turns five this year. And to celebrate we are reading the book together. Each month, I am releasing an in-depth reading guide that includes: - The chapters we will be reading - A preview of the most important concepts we'll be learning about - Short videos you”

SVPG · Marty CaganFeb 8, 2016

When Performance Is Measured By Results

Feb 8, 2016

Marty Cagan argues that the performance-management ideas he learned at Hewlett-Packard, Management by Objectives (later refined as OKRs), remain the foundation of how the best companies operate. The first principle is…

Lenny’s Podcast115 min

Elena Verna on how B2B growth is changing, product-led growth, product-led sales, why you should go freemium not trial, what features to make free, and much more

Elena Verna 3.0 · Jun 23, 2022
Key learnings
  • Founders should drive the first stage of growth themselves; hire a growth leader only after product-market fit, strong retention…
  • A growth team cannot fix a declining core product or go-to-market; stabilize the core issues first before adding growth resources.
  • Homepage and brand redesigns rarely lift acquisition immediately; plan for three to six months of post-launch optimization or…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresSep 30, 2013

Don't Overcommit to a Bad Idea

Sep 30, 2013 · 3 min

Teresa Torres uses Jia Jiang's story of pursuing a startup dream under a six-month deadline to introduce the idea of tripwires: predefined points where a decision gets reconsidered. She argues that as people invest…

Lenny’s Podcast72 min

How to price your product

Naomi Ionita · Jan 12, 2023
Key learnings
  • Don't set pricing once and forget it; treat it like the roadmap and revisit monetization every 6 to 12 months, especially when…
  • Start monetizing earlier than feels comfortable, since delaying cheapens the product, removes pricing feedback loops, and creates…
  • Match price to value by choosing a value metric tied to how users get value, so revenue grows naturally as usage increases.
SVPG · Marty CaganMay 19, 2009

Portfolio Grooming

May 19, 2009 · 3 min

Marty Cagan argues that every technology company has more product ideas than capacity to build them, so the real work of portfolio planning is deciding where to invest. Rather than only adding headcount, companies can…

SVPG · Marty CaganSep 20, 2015

Roadmap Alternative FAQ

Sep 20, 2015 · 6 min

Marty Cagan answers the most common questions readers raised after his article proposing an alternative to conventional product roadmaps. He argues that engineers should help decide what to build, that outcome-based…

Lenny’s Podcast67 min

Teresa Torres on how to interview customers, automating continuous discovery, the opportunity solution tree framework, making the case for user research, common interviewing mistakes, and much more

Teresa Torres · Jun 30, 2022
Key learnings
  • Use the opportunity solution tree: put a measurable outcome at the root, map opportunities as customer needs and pain points…
  • Keep opportunities framed in the problem space rather than as disguised solutions; Torres notes most people mistakenly write…
  • Collect rich, behavior-based stories in interviews by asking about the last specific instance (e.g., 'tell me about the last…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 100

Building a referrals program

Mar 3, 2020 · 6 min

Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader's question about building referral programs for marketplaces, drawing on his experience leading supply growth at Airbnb, where the host referral program became the biggest driver of…

Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 265

How Duolingo builds product

Mar 21, 2023 · 19 min
Subscriber post — summary only

Lenny Rachitsky interviews Duolingo VP of Product Cem Kansu about how the company builds product. The post covers its co-lead team structure, quarterly and yearly OKR cycles, a tiered product review process, weekly…

SVPG · Marty CaganApr 3, 2012

Live-Data Prototypes vs. Production

Apr 3, 2012 · 4 min

Cagan distinguishes live-data prototypes, which are real code sent live traffic (usually in A/B tests) to prove an idea works, from production software that the business can run on. Production demands complete critical…

SVPG · Marty CaganMar 2, 2020

Team Objectives – Empowerment

Mar 2, 2020 · 7 min

Marty Cagan argues that team objectives should empower product teams by assigning them a hard problem to solve rather than a feature to build, along with the strategic context needed to make good decisions. Handing over…