I wanted to write about something I’ve thought about a lot. I recently finished watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix based on the recommendation of my manager at work. It was in relation to mastery. The lessons that I got out of it was on two things:
1. Constant practice
2. Eternal pursuit of learning
They are both inter-related.
Deciding on what to do and when is a critical part of the role of product management. There are a million opportunities out there so how do you know that you are pursuing the right one? Life has many trade offs as does building products. Such is life 🙂
Here are some lessons that I have learned when deciding what to prioritize and why. This is a blog post I have been meaning to write for a long time. But alas it also got de-prioritized. This is what I believe in when prioritizing.
Its the festive season, so my stomach is feeling bloated already from Halloween parties, Thanksgiving feasts and the upcoming Christmas period. Shoutout to 7 slices of sweet potato/pumpkin/apple/cherry pie I’ve eaten in the last 3 days.
Today my readers I write to you about my latest product management thoughts on “time to celebration lunch” (TTCL). Its about prioritising based on the shortest path to a celebration lunch.
Lets discuss this from first principles. First principles are fundamental assumptions that a theory are based from.
Whilst I’m waiting for my laundry to finish drying (T minus 20mins), I’d thought I’d pay homage to my latest obsession, Stranger Things. Unless you’ve been living underneath a big huge gigantic rock, its a Netflix series set in the 80’s. There’s an alternative….wait I should stop there. You should watch it. The crux is there’s some strange things happening in this sleepy town. So here are the 3 strange things I have found in product management.
One of my favorite movies is The Butterfly Effect. Ashton Kutcher plays a character who has experienced a lot of trauma in his life. He discovers by accident that when he sees something from his past, he blacks out and can go back to his past. From there, he is able to make decisions that change the outcome of the future.
We need to give our organisations and teams a mission. Not just any mission. A mission that that they want to pursue with a passion. With an enthusiasm that makes them want to wake up everyday to come to work to tackle a huge problem.
We have to pick the right missions to pursue. We have to be bold in our choices. This is because people want to join causes they believe in. Your team needs to understand why this is an important problem to solve and the opportunity it presents if it is solved.
One day I was coming back from Church with my grandma and my mom. We pulled up in our driveway. I got out of the driver’s seat and helped my grandma get out of the car. Our house has set of stairs with 8 steps leading to the house. My mother climbed up the set of stairs first to the house to open the door for us.
Walking for my grandma is difficult and she uses a walking cane now. I helped her up the first couple of steps. Then I doubled back to the car to grab the portable breathing cannister that helps with her breathing. I closed the door and then came back to help my grandma up.
My mom came back from the door and told me me something that I’ll never forget:
