I feel like most designers put very little design thinking into their own design portfolio. This is weird, right? I mean, there is literally only one website in the whole world that you get to control 100%. No engineers, no product managers, no executives or sales people. Its just you. Why in the world would…
The phrase “Burn the Boats” comes from historical military events. It’s a phrase used once in a while in the tech industry. I used it recently and thought to write about it. Origin In 1519, Hernan Cortez wanted Aztec treasure. He invaded the Yucatan shores with only 600 men. Clearly, he was vastly outnumbered by…
It’s recruiting time again! This time in Tel Aviv, Israel. My new company, SenintelOne has a strong engineering and product management presence there. Since my budget is limited, I decided that it would be best to replicate the success I had at Treasure Data by hiring junior folks and training them. I visited Tel Aviv…
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a psychological tool proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. In short, it shows how people focus their energies in a cascading series of needs. The idea is that you can’t really focus on self-esteem when you are dying of thirst. The diagram looks…
As a new employee, I am meeting lots of new people. I have never been an avid note taker, but with a large group of new information and new people, I am finding it crucial remember names and what was said in meetings. It has me thinking of all the ways you can take your…
Recently, An old colleague from Marketo reached out to me about a role leading product design at his cybersecurity firm, SentinelOne. The more people I met, the more interesting the position became. It’s a fascinating field and team seemed smart, energetic, and experienced. I accepted the position and today is my first day as VP,…
QUESTIONWhat is the role of the product design department? I have always felt that the product design department should bring creativity, empathy, cognitive science, and problem solving to every possible facet of a company. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. Design is often relegated to “make it look pretty” tasks. It is my belief…
I was thinking back over the last three decades in terms of product design and product management. There are certain people who made a significant impact on me. I thought it might be useful to list them down in a chronological order. Joel Spolsky The year was 1991 and Microsoft Excel was being produced. The…
Rule #1: Understand The Details This is the most paramount thing. I only have one rule. You must understand the details at least as well as the engineers or product managers. How can the organization possibly trust designers if they don’t know the details. Never put a button on a UI if you don’t know…
One thing I do with people I manage is a yearly journey map. Basically, I sit them down and give them a whiteboard or printed piece of paper with this template: Then I ask them to draw their yearly journey from left to right. The line goes up and down based on their own perceptive…
I have been mentoring for over 15 years. I find tremendous gratification in helping someone else succeed. Lately, I have been trying out some mentor platforms that help mentors and mentees connect. They are PlatoHQ and ADPList. For the mentees, PlatoHQ is a paid service and ADPList is free. Neither provide any incentives for the…
A Product Manager whom I mentor occasionally asked about getting a team in alignment about a product feature. I told him about story telling. Without further ado, here is how you tell a great PRD story: Examples of great stories Before we get started let’s look at two great stories. Lucas and Noah Meet brothers:…
Inbox Zero is a technique (coined by Merlin Mann) for managing your email account with ruthless efficiency. I have been maintaining this technique for about 5 years and can show you how to achieve it. Note: The technique is possible in other mail tools, but for the purposes of this post, we will only be…
Adoption Marketing is a concept I have been working on for over 10 years, but for some reason never blogged about it. Warning: This is a long post because it’s a big topic. Sorry. Adoption Marketing is the effort to influence existing users to adopt the new features you design and develop. Glen Background At…