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InsightHunt

Hunt the Insights

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Ebi Atawodi

Episode #83

Director of Product Management, YouTube

YouTube (Google)

🎯Product Strategy🔍User Research⚡Execution

📝Full Transcript

19,050 words
Ebi Atawodi (00:00:00): I do not believe in being liked. I believe in being loved, right? And that's a very, very different thing. When I said this once in a meeting, people were like... Yes, right? But it took me a while in reading a lot of books to come to a definition of love and love is the choice to extend yourself for the spiritual growth of oneself or another, right? It's very big, lofty and whatever, but you're literally extending yourself for somebody else or yourself, self-love, right? And that's love. And when you are extending yourself, you're not nice. It's not always nice or like, it sometimes is having hard conversations. It's knowing that, oh, there's a human, they know I care about them. So when the feedback is coming like raw, they know that it's in their best interest because I've shown enough times that I genuinely care about the person behind the role. Lenny (00:01:00): Today my guest is Ebi Atawodi. AB is director of product management at YouTube overseeing the creator experience. Previously, she was director of product management at Netflix and head of product for Uber Wallet, checkout, pay, and financial Products at Uber. Ebi shares the most tactical advice I've ever heard on how to develop a vision for your product, along with a bunch of very concrete ways to communicate your vision to your teammates and to executives. We also dig into the craft of product management and how to get better at it. Along with what Ebi's learned about creating a strong product culture on your team and across the company. Ebi is such a wonderful human and clearly an amazing product leader, and I'm excited for you to get to learn from her. With that, I bring you Ebi Atawodi after a short word from our sponsors. (00:01:48): This episode is brought to you by sidebar. Are you looking to land your next big career move or start your own thing? One of the most effective ways to create a big leap in your career and something that worked really well for me a few years a...

💡 Key Takeaways

  • 1A good vision must be lofty yet realistic, devoid of current technical limitations, and grounded in a potent user problem.
  • 2Use the 'Once Upon a Time' storytelling framework to simplify complex product visions into a narrative everyone can understand.
  • 3Practice 'Catfooding' alongside Dogfooding: don't just use your own product, religiously use your competitors' products to build product sense.
  • 4Maintain a living 'Top 10 Things You Should Know' document that lists the most critical user problems and tech debt, rather than relying solely on new research for every cycle.
  • 5Structure strategy documents as 'Insights -> Strategy -> Big Rocks' within a strict 2-page limit to force clarity.
  • 6Evangelize vision in concentric circles: start with the core team, move to stakeholders, and finally present to leadership.
  • 7Product management is the art of Clarity (removing noise) and Conviction (making the bet).

📚Methodologies (4)

🎯 Product Strategy

A storytelling framework that forces PMs to articulate the 'before' state, the catalyst for change, and the 'after' state of the world in simple, human terms. It translates complex product goals into a relatable journey.

Core Principles

  • 1.Start with 'Once upon a time...': Describe the current state of the world and the user's specific struggle.
  • 2.Introduce the catalyst: 'Then one day...' (insert the product launch or specific change).
  • 3.Describe the immediate impact: 'And because of that...' (the direct user benefit).
  • +2 more...

"If you got on a plane and the pilot was like, 'I don't really know where we're going... but trust me, we'll get there,' you probably would be thinking twice about staying on that flight."

#'once#time'#vision
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🔍 User Research

A living, collaborative document that lists the absolute most critical problems (qualitative, quantitative, and tech debt) facing the product. It serves as the source of truth for planning cycles.

Core Principles

  • 1.Maintain a living document: It is not a one-off presentation; it is updated quarterly.
  • 2.Crowdsource the problems: Ask cross-functional partners (Marketing, Eng, Design) to contribute their own lists of '10 things'.
  • 3.Include 'Product Debt': Infrastructure and tech debt are valid problems if they hinder the user experience.
  • +2 more...

"If I go around... and ask what are the top five problems for studio? They should all have the same answer. This says I've done my job."

#things#should#know'
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🎯 Product Strategy

A method of 'working backwards' where the PM writes the press headline or mocks up the app store update that would announce the finished product. It anchors the team on the final value proposition.

Core Principles

  • 1.Write the Headline: Draft the specific title you would see in a TechCrunch article or a major press release (e.g., 'Uber replaces your Clipper Card').
  • 2.Draft the Sub-head: Explain clearly what the launch is and why it matters in one sentence.
  • 3.Visualize the Entry Point: Don't just mock the UI; mock the App Store 'What's New' panel or the marketing hero image.
  • +1 more...

"Words are amazing, but a picture tells a thousand words... He literally took out a pencil and drew the future."

#'future#headline'#visualization
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⚡ Execution

A strict document format for strategic planning that prevents 'peanut buttering' resources across too many initiatives.

Core Principles

  • 1.Section 1: Insights (The Why): Based on the 'Top 10 Problems' and data.
  • 2.Section 2: Strategy/Approach (The How): The specific angle or leverage point the team will use to solve the problems.
  • 3.Section 3: Big Rocks (The What): Limit to 3-5 major initiatives. These are the boulders in the jar; the sand (small features) fills in around them.
  • +2 more...

"If I asked you to make me a cocktail, you would put ice in first... You would not put the drink and then put the ice or it will splash... that's how an endless roadmap looks to me."

#'insights-strategy-big#rocks'#2-pager
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