Resources for product teams from industry experts
To think is to rehearse action without triggering it. Thought involves the excitation of motor neurons, but below the threshold at which the actions those neurons enervate would be emitted. In computer parlance, thought is virtual behavior.
— Genomes, Menomes, Wenomes: Neuroscience and Human Dignity by Robert W. Fuller
But the principle of constantly expanding your experience, both personally and vicariously, does matter tremendously in any idea-producing job. Make no mistake about that. Another point to encourage you. No doubt you have seen people who seem to spark ideas—good ideas—right off the “top of their heads,” without ever going through all this process that I have described.
Sometimes you have only seen the “Eureka! I have it!” stage takes place. But sometimes you have also seen the fruits of long discipline in the practices here advocated. This discipline produces a mind so well stocked, and so quick at discerning relationships, as to be capable of such fast production. Still, another point I might elaborate on a little is about words. We tend to forget that words are, themselves, ideas. They might be called ideas in a state of suspended animation. When the words are mastered the ideas tend to come alive again.
— A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Young
Habits are behavioral autopilot, and that’s why they’re such a critical tool for leaders. Leaders who can instill habits that reinforce their teams’ goals are essentially making progress for free. They’ve changed behavior in a way that doesn’t draw down the Rider’s reserves of self-control. Habits will form inevitably, whether they’re formed intentionally or not. You’ve probably created lots of team habits unwittingly. If your staff meetings always start out with genial small talk, then you’ve created a habit. You’ve designed your meeting autopilot to yield a few minutes of warm-up small talk. The hard question for a leader is not how to form habits but which habits to encourage.
— Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
When Netflix analyzed customer sessions, they realized that 87 percent of all mobile sessions lasted less than ten minutes. The only problem was, Netflix didn’t have any content shorter than ten minutes long. As a result, the brand announced in 2014 its intentions to create 2–5 minute clips designed for mobile users. This same technique can help you target consumers’ desire for Microconsumption as well, by giving them value in short, digestible bursts.
— Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future by Rohit Bhargava
A great company doesn’t just thrive because it’s profitable; it’s profitable because it helps people to thrive. Great companies leave the world better than they found it—which is why those of us responsible for creating and building businesses must be as clear about the way we get to our destination as we are about what that destination is.
— Story Driven: You don’t need to compete when you know who you are by Bernadette Jiwa
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