Department of Product

Department of Product delivers product-led news, insights, and educational content tailored for professionals in the tech industry, including product managers, designers, engineers, and VCs. It covers emerging technologies, product development strategies, industry trends, monetization models, and introduces tools and concepts beneficial for tech product development and management.

Product Development Emerging Technologies Industry Trends Monetization Strategies Tech Tools and Solutions Educational Content for Tech Professionals Digital Transformation Market Analysis Software and Platform Updates Product Management

The hottest Substack posts of Department of Product

And their main takeaways

🧠 Knowledge Series #20: Headless architecture explained

1434 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Architecture Migration Benefits Examples
  1. Headless architecture separates the front-end from the back-end of a website, allowing for flexibility and customization.
  2. Choosing a headless solution means back-end dictates how the website functions while front-end appearance is independent.
  3. Headless solutions offer flexibility to customize the front-end and back-end separately, providing more control over the website's presentation.

Briefing: Super Google Sheets, Netflix’s app snub, Finding Nimo

1238 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Apps AI Mobile Software Tech Companies
  1. Notion integrates Indie calendar Cron into a new standalone Calendar app for sharing with stakeholders.
  2. Numerous plugin enhances Google Sheets with generative AI for tasks like creating formulas and translating text.
  3. Netflix's decision not to build a dedicated app for visionOS is a setback for Apple, while Nimo gains popularity as a lighter AR alternative.

Briefing: Tinder for Slack, GPTs, X’s 2024 roadmap

943 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Product Design Software Development Tech industry Artificial Intelligence
  1. Slack's new Catch Up feature works like Tinder for messages, making it easier to catch up on missed messages.
  2. OpenAI launched a GPT store with tools like DesignerGPT and AI PDF, offering add-ons for ChatGPT.
  3. Perplexity is a new 'answer engine' competing with Google, providing direct answers and generative AI capabilities.

Briefing: YouTube’s big bets, Snap slumps, Airbnb’s Winter Redesign

353 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Tech news Product Development AI Data Trends
  1. YouTube is focusing on subscriptions with over 100 million paying subscribers, positioning itself as a subscription superpower.
  2. Snap's stock slumped after Q4 results, but the company reached 7 million paid subscribers for its product.
  3. Google Maps introduced LLM search, enabling users to search using key phrases for recommendations in the US, with expansion planned.

Briefing: Shopify Magic, Vision Pro Zoom, AX vs UX

393 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Products AI Remote work Software Development Tech Companies
  1. MultiOn and Arc Browser are challenging the assumption that users interacting with products are human by automating browsing tasks
  2. Shopify introduced over 100 new product updates in its Winter Edition, including a media editor for generating product images instantly
  3. Google, PayPal, Zoom, TikTok, and OpenAI all revealed new features and products this week, showcasing advancements in technology
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🧠 Knowledge Series #23: Passkeys explained

314 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Security Product Development User Experience Cybersecurity Authentication
  1. Passkeys are digital keys replacing traditional passwords, enhancing security and creating unique keys for each account and device.
  2. Major companies like Uber, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are actively supporting and implementing passkeys for a passwordless future.
  3. Product teams can implement passkeys by understanding how they work and following a step-by-step guide for integration.

🧠 Knowledge Series #22: What’s a cache?

334 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Caching Tech stack
  1. Caching helps things load faster by storing them closer to the user.
  2. Caches can be deployed across different parts of a tech stack like CPU, hard disk, and network.
  3. Client-side caching in the browser and server-side caching on the server are two main types used in product development.

Briefing: Instagram nudges, Stripe retries, Chrome AI

275 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Product Management AI Browsers Startups E-commerce
  1. Instagram is implementing a new safety feature to deter teens from night-time app use.
  2. Many companies struggle to train employees on GenAI tools, but new visual AI workflow tools like VectorShift aim to simplify the process for product teams.
  3. Netflix's success in ad-funded plans raises questions on whether this model will extend to other product categories like SaaS.

DuoLingo's monetization machine and Google banishes blue links

648 implied HN points • 18 May 23
🕹 Technology Startups AI Monetization Voice technology Search Engines
  1. Google is changing its search results page to prioritize AI-generated information over blue links, presenting a strategic dilemma for tech companies.
  2. DuoLingo saw impressive revenue growth thanks to their new monetization machine, DuoLingo Max, leveraging proprietary machine learning models and GPT-4.
  3. A new startup, Async, aims to streamline asynchronous voice communication for corporate environments, offering a potential solution for message management overload.

📈 Chartpack - Monetization models (part 2)

117 implied HN points • 02 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Monetization Generative AI Search Engines Advertising
  1. Google heavily relies on advertising, with search and YouTube being significant sources of revenue.
  2. Generative AI could pose a threat to Google's search business model by providing all answers directly, potentially decreasing the need for users to click on search results.
  3. Microsoft's strategic partnership with Bing and OpenAI is seen as a move to challenge Google's search business, focusing on software subscriptions.

visionOS and product opportunities in spatial computing

78 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Spatial Computing
  1. Apple's visionOS design principles emphasize familiarity, human-centered approach, and immersive experiences.
  2. visionOS introduces new gestures like taps, double taps, and pinch and drag, requiring product teams to rethink design systems for spatial computing.
  3. Spatial computing with visionOS could find applications in productivity and individual user experiences, potentially changing traditional input methods.