The hottest Product Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

The Power of Skunkworks Projects (a conversation with ChatGPT)

An Innovator's Sketchbook • 98 implied HN points • 02 Apr 23
💼 Business Innovation Organizational Culture Product Development Corporate strategy
  1. Large companies must grow through expanding market penetration or entering new markets, either by inventing new products or acquiring other companies.
  2. Challenges of creating successful new products in large companies include bureaucracy, risk aversion, resource competition, resistance to change, and short-term focus.
  3. Skunkworks projects are effective for innovation in large companies, requiring careful planning, autonomy, cross-functional teams, open communication, agile processes, and customer-centricity.

Optimise for Change when Pressured for Features

🔮 Crafting Tech Teams • 39 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
💼 Business Management Finance Product Development Entrepreneurship
  1. Businesses with low outcomes for big budgets may get stuck in a negative feedback cycle due to perceived ineffectiveness, leading to frugality and pressure.
  2. When pressured for features, it's important for teams to optimize for change to adapt to evolving demands and challenges.
  3. Optimizing for change in high-pressure situations can help businesses break free from stagnant cycles and drive better outcomes for their investments.
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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.

Crafting Great Software Products: The Function of Building for Beauty

Nadia’s Substack • 19 implied HN points • 08 May 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Design Quality AI Product Development
  1. Craft and beauty in software products have significant business value. Quality design details can enhance user experience and performance.
  2. Meticulous craft and quality work are essential in company culture. Focusing on quality output is crucial for impactful software product development.
  3. Functionality and beauty should be prioritized in software design. Solving root causes and maintaining focus on core features contribute to building high-quality products.

Improving the conversion rate 💰

André Casal's Substack • 1 HN point • 09 Sep 24
💼 Business Marketing Entrepreneurship Strategy Sales Product Development
  1. Improving the conversion rate is a top priority, and the focus will be on enhancing the landing page to stand out and attract more customers.
  2. A solid marketing strategy is being developed, which includes identifying the right channels, testing, and scaling successful approaches.
  3. The next steps involve making the product even better with new features and improved documentation to surprise and delight customers.

#7: What can we learn from Viking Cruises?

Bureau of Adventure • 59 implied HN points • 02 Dec 23
🏝 Travel Cruise Industry Business Growth Customer Experience Marketing Strategy Product Development
  1. Viking Cruises grew quickly by taking smart risks and thinking long-term. They started by buying existing operations to reduce risk and focused on profitable markets early on.
  2. They kept their cruise ships and itineraries very standard, which makes it easier for customers to understand and enjoy their products. This also lets them market their offerings more effectively.
  3. Viking clearly defined their target audience as older, English-speaking travelers. This focus helped them create a more appealing experience for their guests, leading to greater satisfaction.

6 Reasons You Can’t Make Money Online Despite Your Hard Work

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights • 78 implied HN points • 06 Mar 23
💼 Business Online business Entrepreneurship Digital marketing Product Development
  1. Online business is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it requires hard work and commitment.
  2. Ensure your products or services add value to solve problems and make lives easier for clients.
  3. Build a mailing list, engage with clients, and collaborate with others to grow your online business effectively.

Five tips to turn startup toys into essential tools

A Bit Gamey • 6 implied HN points • 01 Dec 24
💼 Business Startups Innovation Technology Entrepreneurship Product Development
  1. Disruptive technologies often start off looking weak or like toys, but they can evolve into essential tools. It’s important to recognize their potential early on.
  2. Startups should design products with long-term improvements in mind and focus on how they will get better as they are used. This approach can help them meet user needs more effectively.
  3. Ignoring criticism from established companies might mean a startup is onto something important. Founders should understand the difference between sustaining and disruptive technologies to guide their strategies.

AI isn't a feature of your product

Sunday Letters • 139 implied HN points • 25 Feb 23
💼 Business Tech Integration Product Development AI Strategy Innovation Market Trends
  1. AI should be seen as a platform, not just a feature of your product. Treating AI as a foundation can lead to more innovative and valuable solutions.
  2. The real potential of AI comes from creating products that can't function without it. This approach can lead to significant advancements and new possibilities.
  3. Ask 'what if' questions to explore the full potential of AI. This mindset can help you think creatively about building solutions for the future.

The Region-Beta Paradox and its Impact on Product and Experimentation Thinking

CAUSL Effect • 119 implied HN points • 12 Apr 23
💼 Business Product Development User Experience Psychology Market fit Experimentation
  1. The Region-Beta Paradox shows that people often tolerate mild discomfort until they reach a more intense state, which can lead to faster recovery. In simple terms, we might ignore small problems until they become serious.
  2. This idea can change how product teams think about improving customer experiences. Instead of aiming for perfect satisfaction, it might be okay to allow for some mild frustration, as it can be a signal for customers to take action.
  3. Not all products need to be perfect to be successful. Sometimes, a product that fits well in the market is more important than one that delivers an ideal experience but lacks user interest.

Listen More

Build To Scale • 59 implied HN points • 15 Aug 23
💼 Business Leadership Customer Feedback Product Development
  1. Executives, especially founders and CEOs, need to prioritize listening to customers over talking to ensure they understand market needs and priorities.
  2. Encouraging a culture of customer-centricity within a company can lead to product success and advantages in the marketplace.
  3. Listening to customers can help reorient engineering efforts towards solving the problems that truly matter to customers, preventing product failures.

Government as a Service

Engineering Open Societies • 58 implied HN points • 19 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Government Software Development Data Access Product Development API
  1. Governments struggle to build good software for citizens, with outdated technology and convoluted processes.
  2. Governments lack good product and software development practices, often using outdated methods and facing bureaucratic challenges.
  3. Governments have inadequate API and data access, causing issues for engineers and entrepreneurs trying to integrate with government systems.

Shreyas Doshi on Product Thinking

Practical Product Discovery • 58 implied HN points • 23 Mar 23
💼 Business Product Management Product Development Strategic Thinking User Experience Innovation
  1. Product thinking involves understanding motivations and conceiving solutions based on effects you want to create.
  2. Avoid relying solely on project thinking, which focuses on plans and resources rather than user needs and creativity.
  3. To learn product thinking, prioritize real goals over deliverables, understand user needs, generate options, simulate outcomes, and study examples in the wild.

How to Get From Zero to Prototype in 5 Days

CodeLink’s Substack • 58 implied HN points • 25 May 23
🕹 Technology Design Prototyping Collaboration Product Development
  1. Learn how to go from zero to prototype in just five days using an async design sprint.
  2. Key elements of a design sprint team include Facilitator, Timekeeper, Bus Driver, Decider, and Interviewer.
  3. Daily schedule for a design sprint includes warm-up sessions, group collaboration, individual work periods, and sync-up meetings to stay on track.

Shut up and Build!

Play Permissionless • 99 implied HN points • 12 Jan 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startups Income Product Development
  1. Focusing on building and taking action can lead to concrete results and improvements in income.
  2. Building a service first, then turning internal tools into standalone products can provide value and stable cash flow.
  3. Taking a step back from the 'indie hacker game' mindset and following a proven playbook of service-oriented growth can lead to more sustainable success.

4 reasons why PMs and UXR should understand business strategy

Askwhy: UX Research, Product Management, Design & Careers • 50 implied HN points • 04 Mar 24
💼 Business Strategy Product Development Decision-making Competitive Analysis
  1. Understanding business strategy helps drive alignment and focus, ensuring products contribute to company goals and avoiding feature creep.
  2. Knowing consumer trends, markets, and competitive landscape aids in developing relevant products and making informed decisions to stay competitive.
  3. Engaging with business strategy leads to better decision-making through frameworks like second-order thinking and inversion, fostering alignment within the organization.

Codiga: How it Ended

Tech Ramblings • 39 implied HN points • 24 Nov 23
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Acquisitions Product Development Personal Growth
  1. The author reflects on building Codiga, a small company that developed a code analysis product. Initially, they turned down an acquisition offer but later realized it was a good opportunity for both themselves and their team.
  2. Obsession and hard work are key traits for entrepreneurs. Being passionate about your product helps create something unique and successful.
  3. The journey of building a company can come with personal sacrifices. The author learned the importance of maintaining relationships and handling criticism, and ultimately feels proud of their accomplishments.

Becoming a sales-engineer

Leading Developers • 49 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Management Career development Customer Relations Product Development
  1. Acquiring new skills through new challenges can be exciting and lead to unexpected career paths.
  2. Transitioning from a technical role to sales doesn't mean losing technical skills - understanding the product deeply remains crucial.
  3. Sales engineering roles offer variety, immediate value, and potential for lucrative rewards, but require strong communication and collaboration skills.

From no research to continuous research: a how to guide

UX Psychology • 138 implied HN points • 03 May 22
🕹 Technology UX Research User Insights UX Design Product Development
  1. Continuous research involves conducting fast-rhythm, open-ended user research sessions without a specific project focus, helping to uncover user pain points and opportunity areas.
  2. Creating a user research panel and semi-automating the process can help enable regular interactions with users, making it easier to schedule and conduct interviews.
  3. Continuous research can bring the 'voice of the user' to the company, but traditional UX research methods are still needed for specific personas or segments. Automating parts of the research process is crucial to establishing a continuous research habit.

Syntax vs Semantics

Sunday Letters • 99 implied HN points • 13 Feb 23
🕹 Technology AI Software Innovation Digital Product Development
  1. There's a shift from focusing on strict rules in programming (syntax) to understanding meaning and context (semantics) with new AI models. This could change how we build software.
  2. Using language involves a lot of knowledge about the world, which helps AI understand context and meaning, not just following patterns.
  3. Just like the early internet, companies that don't adapt to new AI technologies and methods may soon seem irrelevant or 'invisible' in the digital space.

What Makes a Great Quality Engineer?

QUALITY BOSS • 39 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Software Testing Quality Assurance Technical Skills Product Development User Experience
  1. Great quality engineers need a quality mindset. This means they care about making sure the product is useful and works well for customers, not just ticking off boxes.
  2. Some key traits of top QEs are curiosity, adaptability, and persistence. These qualities help them understand the product better and keep pushing until they get to the bottom of any issues.
  3. Effective communication and problem-solving skills are also important. This ensures they can share findings clearly and work well with other teams to improve the product.

Apple has a new Industrial Design Leader, Molly Anderson

Apple Wire • 2 HN points • 04 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Design Innovation Product Development Leadership Consumer Electronics
  1. Molly Anderson is the new leader of Apple’s Industrial Design team. She aims to combine beautiful designs with practical use in Apple products.
  2. Anderson has experience working on the iPad Pro, which was made thinner and lighter than before. She focused on improving its structure and functionality.
  3. Her design approach seems to balance style and practicality, similar to Jony Ive, but with a stronger focus on how the product works.

Prompt to product

Step-by-step Product • 39 implied HN points • 31 Mar 23
🕹 Technology AI Product Development Coding Tools Artificial General Intelligence
  1. The future of product development may involve AI tools like 'Prompt to Product' for rapid prototyping and testing.
  2. Product people may need coding skills now, but advancements in technology are making product creation more accessible for non-coders.
  3. To stay ahead in the AI wave, product people should refresh coding skills, understand LLMs, and improve prompt design skills.

How I Built This In Public: Joshua Xu

Build In Public Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 05 May 23
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Product Development Marketing Innovation
  1. Starting a 'build in public' journey can inspire other founders and attract valuable feedback
  2. Building in public fosters trust in the brand by showing transparency and commitment to enhancing the product experience
  3. Embracing a growth mindset and focusing on the advantages of building in public can help overcome challenges like intellectual property theft concerns