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Scott Belsky

Chief Strategy Officer & EVP Design / Former CPO

Adobe

🔍 User Research (1)🎯 Product Strategy (1)👥 Team & Culture (1)⚡ Execution (1)

Key Takeaways

  • 1.Users are lazy, vain, and selfish in the first 30 seconds; build for this psychology.
  • 2.Optimize for the problems you want to have (users asking for features) rather than building everything upfront.
  • 3.Kill features to increase velocity on the core metric (The Behance Example).
  • 4.To survive the 'Messy Middle', short-circuit the reward system with micro-milestones.
  • 5.Product sense = Empathy + Psychological understanding of human tendencies.
  • 6.AI will allow PMs and designers to explore 10x the surface area of possibilities.
  • 7.Great product UX answers three questions: How did I get here? What do I do now? Where do I go next?

Methodologies(4)

🔍 User Research

Product teams often spend 90% of effort on the 'final mile' features, but users never get there if the 'first mile' (first 30 seconds) fails. You must accept that new users have zero tolerance for learning curves.

Core Principles

  • 1.Acknowledge the Trinity: In the first 30 seconds, users are lazy (want it easy), vain (want to look good), and selfish (want immediate value).
  • 2.Defaults over Choices: Don't make users configure settings; use presumptuous defaults to reduce cognitive load.
  • 3.Re-evaluate for New Cohorts: Early adopters are forgiving; later cohorts are pragmatists who require an even smoother first mile.

"In the first 30 seconds of using a new product, you are lazy, vain, and selfish."

#'lazy,#vain,#selfish'
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The Rule of Halves

by Scott Belsky

🎯 Product Strategy

Most teams build too much. You should build half the features you think you need. By focusing the product on one core utility, you drive the primary metric significantly harder than by offering options.

Core Principles

  • 1.Optimize for 'Good Problems': It is better to have users complaining that a feature is missing than to have users churning because they are confused.
  • 2.Kill to Accelerate: Removing secondary features often increases the usage of the primary feature (the 'Core Crank').
  • 3.The 24-Hour Rule: When you remove a feature, expect backlash for 24 hours, then silence and improved metrics.

"Optimize for the problems you want to have."

#halves#strategy#product
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👥 Team & Culture

The middle of any journey is volatile. Biology demands constant rewards, which startups rarely provide naturally. Leaders must manufacture momentum to keep the team engaged.

Core Principles

  • 1.Short-Circuit the Reward System: Create artificial micro-milestones and celebrate them aggressively to hack the brain's need for dopamine.
  • 2.Merchandise Progress: The team is in the backseat with blacked-out windows; the leader must constantly narrate that the car is moving forward.
  • 3.The Conviction Audit: Ask yourself: 'Do I have more or less conviction now than when I started?' If less, pivot or quit.

"If they don't receive the narrative, they will go stir-crazy."

#navigating#messy#middle
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⚡ Execution

A framework to evaluate the structural integrity of a product's design. It ensures users always maintain their orientation within the application.

Core Principles

  • 1.Question 1: How did I get here? (Clear breadcrumbs/origin)
  • 2.Question 2: What do I do now? (Clear primary action/CTA)
  • 3.Question 3: Where do I go next? (Clear exit paths/progression)

"I look for an object model way of thinking... clear breadcrumbs."

#object#execution#process
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