When feeling stuck in alibi progress, teams try to dig deeper into whatever domain they’re stuck with. Examples for ​staying in motion without making progress​: Try talking to more users to unlock “the one insight” that will make you believe a problem is worth solving. Rewrite your lagging OKRs after reading another thought leaders’ book. […] The post Product Practice #306: How to Avoid Alibi Progress appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

Research activities are an important enabler to reduce uncertainty during Product Discovery. But that doesn’t mean the weeks-long research study your boss outsourced frees you from Product Discovery. Research Projects aren’t “wrong” or “bad” per se, but we must understand their traits to recognize (and change) when they should be used – and when not. […] The post Product Practice #305: Research Projects vs. Product Discovery appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

As mentioned ​last week​, I’m a big fan of using flexible structures to define Product Strategy. One of the core ideas is the modular relationship between: (I recently heard about ​Rob Hayes’s talk on “Atomic Strategy”​ – Kudos to him for giving that structure a memorable name). Since nobody can predict the success of a […] The post Product Practice #304: The Consequences of Strategy Choices appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

Many frameworks describe how strategy should work, but few offer concise, practical structures that align with​ teams’ fundamental work​ and enduring ​Strategy Patterns​. Product Strategy is more than just structured workshops; it emerges from the ​messy middle​ between company priorities and practical synthesis. A tool particularly useful for navigating this complexity is the ​Product Field​. […] The post Product Practice #303: A Field Guide for Visual Product Thinkers appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

As a structural tool, Impact Mapping helps you zoom in and -out of the micro of Product Discovery. On a macro level, it helps you bring order to the insights artifacts you have: On a micro level, it guides the selection and execution of your Discovery tactics: Impact Mapping, like every other mapping tool, is […] The post Product Practice #302: Impact Mapping Helps You Answer These Discovery Questions appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

This week’s issue is a bit different from your typical program. I want to take a moment to celebrate the 300th(!) issue of this newsletter. Sorry for the non-existent product management tips this week, but humor me as I go down memory lane. I’ve been writing and sending newsletters in various formats since 2010, but […] The post Product Practice #300: 7 Things I learned from writing a Weekly Product Management Newsletter for 7 Years appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

Independent of the specific metric “framework” (think ​NSMs or OKRs​), companies need a clear understanding when asking teams to work on their Input or Output Metrics. From my perspective, two approaches exist to develop shared language: The deterministic definition and the relative position of metrics. Personally, I associate the deterministic definition with the work of […] The post Product Practice #299: Understanding Input and Output Metrics appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

It’s easy to lose track of the actual purpose of strategy work, especially between the noise of Product Strategy frameworks and how a “good” strategy should look according to Twitter or LinkedIn. Product Teams should work forward from the value for the recipient, not backward from the defaults of others. Instead of treating practices like […] The post Product Practice #297: Treat your Product Strategy like a Product appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

Most product teams review goals in hindsight to gauge success. But what if you didn’t have to wait until completion to start evaluation, allowing better clarity into the actions you take to reach those goals? After all, building products is about learning and iterating, which requires setting and measuring metrics that lead you toward your […] The post Product Practice #296: How to use Leading and Lagging Indicators in your OKRs appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more

Many product teams perceive the focus on User Outcomes as arbitrary goal-setting and the opposite of serving users. And it‘s easy to understand why. Many widely shared examples of User Outcomes out there read like this: „Users buy more tickets“ „Customers use more integrations. “ „Returning shoppers add more items to their basket.“ A product […] The post Product Practice #295: How to go from Research Intent to Useful User Outcomes appeared first on Tim Herbig ..read more