Resources for product teams from industry experts.
Product marketing is truly a great on-ramp for any career path in tech. It can lead anywhere, and if you’re lucky enough to lead people doing it, help grow them into tomorrow’s company leaders.
— Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products (Silicon Valley Product Group) by Martina Lauchengco
In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here, companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the red ocean bloody.
Blue oceans, in contrast, are defined by untapped market space, demand creation, and the opportunity for highly profitable growth. Although some blue oceans are created well beyond existing industry boundaries, most are created from within red oceans by expanding existing industry boundaries. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set.
— Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, et al.
I’ve met dozens of teams who have never talked to customers because they believe they aren’t allowed to. However, they regularly engage with customers outside of work. They work for a major bank, and most (if not all) of their friends have a bank account. They build sales software, and their best friend’s dad works in sales. They work on hospital badge systems, and they have three clinicians in their extended family. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Get started by talking to anyone who is like your customers. Iterate from there.
— Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value by Teresa Torres
True leadership is a big part of what separates the great product people from the merely good ones. So, no matter what your title or level may be, if you aspire to be great, don’t be afraid to lead.
— INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love (Silicon Valley Product Group) by Marty Cagan
While what I don’t know about the future is probably much more than what I do know, what I do know is also a lot. Dealing with the future is all about:
Knowing how things have changed in the past leads me to consider the possibility that something similar might happen in the future. That is a big advantage relative to being unaware. “…”
Knowing this, I am constantly looking for leading indicators of the same things happening again, and having leading indicators of these things, even if they aren’t perfect, puts me in a better position to protect myself than remaining blissfully unaware and unprepared for what might happen.
— Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail by Ray Dalio
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