NewsletterInsight

A Three-Step Framework For Solving Problems 👌

Jun 2019

Success criteria must be concrete and ambitious

Define success as a specific metric with a defined goal you can easily measure—ideally a concrete number like '10% increase in X' or '50% decrease in Y.' Pick a goal that's believable but ambitious enough that hitting it would genuinely excite your team and leaders.
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What Seven Years at Airbnb Taught Me About Building a Business

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Celebrate success, don't punish failure on ambitious goals

Wildly ambitious goals are meant to push you, not kill you. If you don't hit the goal but get close, congratulate the team and move on. The moment you punish near-misses on stretch goals, you've signaled that teams should set comfortable targets instead.

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This Week #1: Must reads on growth, what PMs should focus on when joining a new team, and the value of an MBA

Sep 2019

Quick wins build credibility faster than grand plans

Find 2-3 quick wins in your first 30 days that make the lives of the team better—unblocking a blocker, resolving a lingering decision, or improving an annoying process. Small, visible improvements establish you as someone who delivers before you attempt to reshape strategy.

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This Week #0: Advice on growth, product, and leadership

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Expectations shape how your work is judged

Your performance will be judged based on how it compared to your manager's expectations, not against an absolute standard. Set realistic expectations upfront, then exceed them—this is more powerful than doing great work against unknown benchmarks.

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Jackie Bavaro on getting better at product strategy, what exactly is strategy, PM pitfalls to avoid, advancing your career, getting into management, and much more

Jun 2022

A numerical target is not a strategy

When executives say 'increase revenue by 50%,' that's a goal, not a strategy. A PM's job is to connect that target to specific product work by identifying which features best match the business goal and explaining why—filling in all the missing dots between high-level objective and tactical execution.

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Sep 2019

Strategy clarity is a team-wide test

If you ask anyone on your team what your strategy is, would they be able to explain it? If not, your strategy isn't clear enough. A strategy that only lives in the PM's head isn't a strategy—it's a secret.

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