“What’s a good idea look like? Do you think you’ll recognize it when you see it? Are you sure? Most good ideas start out as bad ideas. They are infeasible. They look like they should be on your “never do” list. The engineers will tell you they are”
Teresa Torres examines the common push to build a mobile app and tests the assumption that it will drive growth. Stakeholders often justify the idea with broad beliefs about mobile usage, yet the data on typical app…
A founder whose product isn't gaining traction gets seven concrete options: talk to more users, narrow the target audience, rework positioning, try growth 'kickstarts', pivot to whatever shows pull, allow more time, or…
Cagan distinguishes two lightweight planning tools that are often confused: the Business Model or Lean Canvas and the Opportunity Assessment. The Canvas suits new businesses or entirely new product lines, where many…
🎙️Unpacking Innovation Is innovation the goal — or just a byproduct of solving customer problems well? In this episode of All Things Product, Petra Wille and Teresa Torres unpack one of the most misused words in product: "innovation." Teresa makes the case that chasing novelty for its own sake…
Part two of Lenny's pivot series argues that pivoting is fundamentally about opportunity cost and distinguishes early ideation pivots from hard pivots on live products. It draws on founder-reported data to suggest…
Jason Fried argues against the idea that AI will spark a bespoke software revolution where everyone builds their own custom tools. He notes that custom software already exists and is usually bloated because clients pay…
Marty Cagan argues that once a product strategy is set, leaders cannot simply step back, because no strategy survives contact with reality. Teams will hit dependencies, technical gaps, customer crises, platform…
Marty Cagan argues that product teams should stop framing their work as gathering and documenting requirements, since most so-called requirements are really constraints. He proposes defining products along two…
Teresa Torres addresses a common confusion: how OKRs relate to outcomes. She explains that an OKR pairs an inspiring objective with measurable key results, while an outcome is the change that results from actions…
Teresa Torres argues that teams who set incremental goals get incremental results, and that big wins require exponential goals. She recommends focusing on a single metric chosen for its impact on the business…
Lenny Rachitsky relaunches his dormant newsletter as an advice column on growth, product, and leadership, built from reader questions he previously answered privately or on Twitter. The first installment answers three…
This article describes how John Deere, a 185-year-old equipment maker, is repositioning itself as a technology company centered on "smart farming." Facing a projected global population of 9.6 billion by 2050 and rising…
Marty Cagan argues that the coming decade will be among the most productive for product innovation. He points to four converging forces: ubiquitous connected mobile devices, powerful platforms that give apps instant…
This podcast episode, hosted by Teresa Torres with guest Petra Wille, examines how product management frameworks should be used. Frameworks like the Business Model Canvas, Opportunity Solution Trees, and Jobs to Be Done…
This reading guide introduces the June installment of a book club around Continuous Discovery Habits, centered on Chapter 7, which argues that product strategy belongs in the opportunity space rather than the solution…
The post argues that marketplaces succeed by choosing one of three routes: delivering far more convenience, offering a significantly lower price, or unlocking desirable supply that customers want. It also explains what…
Cagan argues that feature-list roadmaps often tell teams what to build without explaining the underlying problem, producing waste. He proposes replacing them with shared context: a product vision describing the…