The hottest Product Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

Advocating for Why

Steelhead • 78 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startup Success Product Development
  1. Understanding why customers care or don't care about a product's value proposition is crucial for building an actually robust business with a compelling value proposition.
  2. The absence of information (what people don't do or say) is just as important as what they do, highlighting the importance of understanding why customers behave as they do.
  3. By combining the Customer Development framework with a deep understanding of why, entrepreneurs can build a good product, orient business functions correctly, and operate with greater capital efficiency.

Project Tailwind

Adjacent Possible • 538 implied HN points • 11 May 23
🕹 Technology Product Development Artificial Intelligence Information Management Content creation Data Analysis
  1. Project Tailwind is an experimental 'tool for thought' being developed with Google
  2. Project Tailwind uses a 'source-grounded AI' approach to assist with research and information exploration
  3. Features of Project Tailwind include creating on-the-fly glossaries and suggesting additional product features based on uploaded materials

Steve Jobs vs. the Haters

Litverse • 219 implied HN points • 26 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Product Development User Experience
  1. In 1997, Steve Jobs made strategic decisions for Apple that were heavily criticized, such as discontinuing OpenDoc and embracing a closed system approach.
  2. Jobs believed in prioritizing user experience over technology, leading to the success of Apple products despite criticism from early tech adopters.
  3. The essence of successful products lies in making life better through simplicity and providing a seamless, convenient user experience, as shown by Jobs' approach with Apple.

A Complete Product Discovery Guide

Untrapping Product Teams • 412 implied HN points • 21 Jun 23
💼 Business Product Management Entrepreneurship Team Dynamics Product Development Innovation
  1. Product discovery is essential to uncover what creates value, while product delivery produces what creates value.
  2. Having a sustainable balance between product discovery and product delivery within one team is crucial for success.
  3. Product discovery is a journey, not a rigid plan, where you set a business outcome as your north star and make decisions along the way.
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How to Build Influence as an Engineering Leader | Kelly Vaughn

Dev Interrupted • 14 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
💼 Business Management Team Collaboration Product Development Goal setting
  1. Building influence as an engineering leader requires focusing on trust, communication, and empowerment to succeed in both individual contributor and managerial roles.
  2. Adopting GenAI can be challenging due to the pressure of the hype cycle, and understanding key considerations is crucial for successful implementation.
  3. Having hard deadlines can significantly impact productivity and response rates, highlighting the importance of leveraging deadlines to improve team tempo and cadence.

A Systematic Roadmap to Product/Market Fit

Running Lean Mastery • 255 implied HN points • 08 Jul 23
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Marketing Product Development Business Growth
  1. Product/market fit is a significant milestone for startups and achieving it takes time and effort.
  2. By having the right mindset and processes, navigating the early stages of a product can be done systematically like finding your way through a maze.
  3. The Running Lean roadmap consists of three main stages - Business Model Design, Validation, and Growth - leading to product/market fit.

Luck and Leadership

Fish Food for Thought • 15 implied HN points • 06 Mar 24
💼 Business Leadership Product Development Innovation Success Opportunities
  1. Successful leaders have a complex relationship with luck, involving factors like preparation, control, confidence, and opportunity.
  2. An excess of any element in the luck equation can lead to diminishing returns or negative outcomes.
  3. Effective leadership requires a delicate balance in managing preparation, control, confidence, seizing opportunities, and knowing when to say 'no.'

Book Review: “Working Backwards” by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr 4/5

Poczwardowski Notes • 78 implied HN points • 10 Nov 23
💼 Business Company Culture Innovation Product Development
  1. Amazon's success is attributed to its unique culture that fosters innovation and success in various domains.
  2. The book highlights Amazon's key principles, processes, and culture, and shares stories of successful product developments like Kindle, Prime, Prime Video, and AWS.
  3. Amazon's approach to creating new products, including using 'Working Backwards' method and the 'Narratives and the Six-Pagers' concept, showcases their emphasis on effective communication and clear thinking.

The Case for Being a Hyper-Responsive Leader

America 2.0 (by Gary Sheng) • 216 implied HN points • 07 Jun 23
💼 Business Leadership Product Development Politics Collaboration Community Building
  1. Responsiveness is crucial for successful leadership in various fields like product development, community building, and politics.
  2. Being hyper-responsive fosters trust, builds brand loyalty, and enhances products or services.
  3. Maintaining a high level of responsiveness can differentiate you, attract allies, and lead to collaborations and growth.

The Creator's Blind Spot

UX Psychology • 158 implied HN points • 28 Jun 23
🕹 Technology AI Psychology Product Development UX Research
  1. Understanding the psychology of AI creators is crucial as they may have an overly optimistic view of their own creations, known as the Inventor's Bias Effect.
  2. Inventors may view their products more positively due to personal identification with their creations, indicating biased decision-making.
  3. The importance of diverse input in decision-making processes to prevent overblown expectations about fairness and efficiency in AI tools.

Building a Business that Endures

Femstreet • 8 implied HN points • 07 Mar 24
💼 Business Endurance Leadership Product Development Innovation Strategy
  1. Building an enduring company in 2024 involves iteratively testing ideas and speaking to customers before raising capital.
  2. An enduring business focuses on solving long-term problems, breaking down strategies into clear phases, and maintaining disciplined product development.
  3. To build an enduring company, prioritize people, product-market fit, and unit economics while embracing quick decision-making and continuous learning.