Ben Newell’s Post

I have always enjoyed falling in love with a problem. The hardest part of the early stage of #productdiscovery is not falling in love with a particular solution. As part of a personal project, I've been interviewing all of my friends and family. One person offers a suggestion that takes you in a whole new direction, the next person says "that sounds silly", yet another sees the problem the exact same way you do! Those early interviews are very nuanced, requiring follow up questions, exploration, ideation, etc... perhaps there's a little prototype to respond to. 😉 🎶 At some point, you form a hypothesis and you need to broaden the number of people you talk to. That's where you come in! Help me out and answer this one question below.

“If everyone is responsible, no one is responsible.” As I’ve spent more time on executive teams, I’ve found this adage to be one of the biggest obstacles to true "first team" collaboration and long-term success. It’s certainly easier to manage the team by splitting up the metrics and initiatives. However, we know that the principles of #systemsthinking tell us that you can’t improve the overall system by focusing on a single component. Everything is interconnected, and you need to work it together.   So, the next time you're in a meeting with your executive team, remember: Don't just divide and conquer. Work together as a team to understand the system, identify opportunities, and make decisions that will drive your business forward. When we’re all responsible….well, we’re all responsible! Isn’t that what we’re striving for? 📈

I was honored to cover some of my favorite “Ben-isms” in this interview with the team at LogRocket.   ✳ How do you manage to learn and contribute quickly when you switch industries?   ✳ What's the most important thing to remember as a product leader?  ✳ Lastly, I shared my Aha moment with Marty Cagan 10 years ago. Kudos to Jenna Danoy and Jessica Srinivas over at LogRocket for putting together an amazing lineup of product leaders to share their insights! I am humbled to be sitting alongside other leaders like Brad Bowers at Pampererd Chef, Ashley Daniels at Best Buy, Ryan Hinshaw at Lattice, Craig Saldanha at Yelp, Kunal Thadani at Houzz, and Neda N. at Stibo, just to name a few!  Hop on over to LogRocket's blog and check out their #product and #ux content. (Link in comments)

A strategy that can't be communicated effectively won't get you very far. Your communication package is the culmination of your strategic efforts, and it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. I have found three levels as the sweet spot: the 2-minute pitch, the 20-minute overview, and the 2-hour deep dive. ▶ 2-Minute Pitch: This is your elevator pitch—punchy, memorable, and something everyone in the organization can recite. ▶ 20-Minute Overview: This version is your go-to for most situations. It's what you use to kick off quarterly reviews, energizing the team with a clear sense of direction and execution. It's inspirational and actionable. You can't be inspirational for an hour. ▶ 2-Hour Deep Dive: Here's where the substance lies. This version includes market analysis, financial models, and data trends. It's the comprehensive blueprint that guides your strategy from vision to execution. More likely a detailed document, but one that could spark hours of discussion. If you find yourself unable to be clear in 2 minutes, or struggling to flesh out the 2-hour deep dive, you’re probably not done yet. #strategy #product

I've invented a new way to enjoy music. 🎶 📚 🎧 Well, maybe not invented...more like discovered. But, it does feel like a unique experience and I can't get enough of it! Most biographies, or stories about a moment in time, deeply reference the songs or albums of that period. Pop in your headphones and follow along! I've read all of these in the last year while also listening deep into the catalogs of these artists. Let's rank them! 🥇 The Best: Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen. I knew of the Boss, but had no idea of his amazing upbringing and how much I loved the first few albums. 🥈 Memory Lane: Richard Russell - Liberation Through Hearing. Being a DJ in the late 90s, this story of the founding of XL Recordings hit home. 🥉 Best Writing: Questlove - Hip Hop is History. This history of hip hop, and The Roots' drummers relationship with it, feels very personal. If you haven't read any of Questlove's writing, I'd highly recommend it. I'm constantly looking for new and creative ways to #experience the things I'm passionate about. Someday I'm going to start a business off one of these ideas... What's the next #music #biography for me?

Heather is a great human and a great leader. For my Canada network, let me know!

Great to be reminded by an old friend and colleague about the importance of #UXresearch. The core of Jeremy Johnson's talk was that there are "knowable" things that can be uncovered via modern product discovery techniques. We don't always have to build and ship in order to learn! 😉 Thanks to Lucas Smith and the Toyota Connected North America team for hosting!

The most important element of my Product Management 101 Principles is to ensure your intake channels for feedback are healthy. Below is a diagram I've used with teams to highlight the key areas of input and the adjacent teams you need to partner with to ensure success. There are a couple things worth calling out... ✳ Notice the presence of product marketing here. I haven't always partnered as well as I should with that team over the years. I now consider it indispensable and (in B2B situations) would propose that it live in the product team. (Of course, product marketing has other roles, but being a key member of the listening process is important.) ✳ This is helpful to show the multitude of ways you are taking feedback. That perspective helps the org understand why you might not immediately action one piece of feedback. Use this as an anchor slide you show each time you discuss prioritization. ✳ Please, please, please don't get caught up in tooling. That's why the summarize step is there and owned by many teams. Yes, you'll eventually need tooling to manage this, but too often I see teams start with that and never get past it. When getting started, let teams summarize how they want and focus your efforts on validation. Of course, this is just one element of the 101 principles. As you mature you get through these layers faster and faster, enabling the product team to have a strong pulse on the market, your customers, and your operations. Now you've got a foundation you can use to push into 201 principles.