Building AI products that don't suck 👎🤖, Blurry company vision 👁️, Benefit from Gen AI as PM ✅, and more
Weekly Roundup 20 - October 27, 2024
👋 Hey, Sam here! Welcome back to the 🔁 Weekly Roundup edition 🔁 of The Product Trench. Each week, I curate deep dives, trends and resources related to product management and leadership.
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In case you missed my post this week about navigating the product hiring landscape, make sure to check out the written interview with Heidi Ram.
Happy Sunday everyone! 😎
I am not sure if it was a coincidence or just my unconscious thoughts playing a part in it, but today’s roundup ended up with a theme; using AI and building products/visions that don’t suck. 🤔
I am constantly working on evolving this roundup. So, if you have any feedback on things you would like to see in these roundups, I would love to hear back from you. Leave me a comment, reply to this email or chat with me.
With that said, let’s just get to it.
This Week's Roundup 🔁
How to build an AI product that doesn't suck.
Empathy and context: The hidden drivers of growth.
Why sticking to a rigid product roadmap might be killing your product, and how to escape.
How PMs can benefit from generative AI instead of being replaced by it.
Why your (company) vision is blurry.
Frustrated by rejection? How to plan before you ask.
Mastering solution product management.
How to build an AI product that doesn't suck (11 min read)
Creating AI products that resonate with users requires a balance between advanced tech, simplicity, and transparency. While tools like LLMs add power, they aren't a universal fix; often, straightforward solutions best serve real user needs. Focusing on reliable, adaptable designs that solve clear problems is key to making AI practical, trustworthy, and genuinely valuable.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Emphasize solving real problems with simplicity and transparency—sometimes, the simplest AI solutions are the most effective.
Empathy and context: The hidden drivers of growth (3 min read)
Real growth stems from truly understanding the context of customers' lives and the specific "job" they hire products to accomplish. By focusing on customer needs and lifestyle demands, products can become essential rather than optional. Empathy-driven tools like direct conversations and surveys offer rich insights into these customer contexts, enabling more relevant solutions that balance convenience, choice, and customer empowerment. Sustainable growth is not only about product functionality but also about fitting seamlessly into the routines of users.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Deepen customer empathy by exploring their daily context and core needs to make your product indispensable.
Why sticking to a rigid product roadmap might be killing your product, and how to escape (13 min read)
Overly rigid roadmaps can limit product adaptability, missing shifts in market trends or regulatory needs and reduce team motivation. Flexibility enables better responses to change. The FLEX model (Focus on outcomes, Learn continuously, Experiment, and maintain X-ray vision/transparency) helps keep product direction dynamic yet structured, promoting innovation and continuous customer alignment. The key is balancing roadmap structure with adaptability.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Embrace a flexible roadmap by emphasizing themes over strict deadlines, prioritizing customer feedback, and holding regular roadmap reviews to ensure product relevance and team engagement.
How PMs can benefit from generative AI instead of being replaced by it (4 min read)
Generative AI accelerates key PM tasks like prototyping, analysis, and content creation, but it's most powerful as a co-pilot, not a replacement. Effective AI usage requires precise problem framing, clear context, and PM-driven decision-making. While AI saves time, it cannot replicate human judgment, empathy, or direct customer insights. PMs should deploy AI thoughtfully, focusing on the best-fit solutions rather than relying on AI universally.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Use AI selectively to enhance, not replace, your expertise; let empathy and judgment lead for the best results.
Why your company vision is blurry (8 min read)
Many company visions lack focus because they're overly generic or aspirational without clarity on purpose. An effective vision is specific, aiming at a target audience and problem, and aligned with a strategic goal. This clarity helps in decision-making, keeps teams motivated, and attracts talent. Strong visions are ambitious yet adaptable, guiding without being restrictive.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Define your vision with a specific audience and problem in mind, balancing big-picture goals with flexibility for evolving needs.
Frustrated by rejection? How to plan before you ask (3 min read)
To reduce rejection, be selective in who and how you ask, focusing on the recipient's needs. Show how saying "yes" benefits them to make your request more appealing by prioritizing empathy, aligning your request with the recipient's goals, and enhancing your credibility with relevant data.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Make intentional, well-prepared asks by focusing on the other person's perspective and offering a clear value exchange.
Mastering solution product management (5 min read)
Product managers with a solution-focused mindset drive product success by anticipating customer constraints, customizing standard products, and managing risks across product ecosystems. PMs at any level can help reduce customization requests, address dependencies, and improve alignment by considering interdependencies across products, partners, and ecosystems. Shifting focus from features to full solutions strengthens customer satisfaction and strategic growth.
⚡️Your Actionable Takeaway: Build cross-product relationships, align roadmaps, and track ecosystem impacts to create cohesive, customer-focused solutions.
👋 That's it for this week's edition. Thank you for reading, and enjoy your week.
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See you next time.
— Sam ✌️
Thank you for sharing the good articles on product management each week. The AI product thinking article, the empathy and context article and the vision article were especially helpful!
Thanks for the shout out!