#5 It depends.
Most product people need to hear this: "It depends..."
- Should you be a "feature factory"? It depends.
- Should you have a by-the-book product trio? It depends.
- Should you strive for product-led growth over anything else? It depends.
- Should your PMs be spending 70% of their time doing discovery? It depends.
- Should your teams have 100% autonomy in deciding their ways of working? It depends.
- Should you use OKRs? It depends.
- Should you organize your teams like well-known-and-successful-company X does? It depends.
- Should you implement what a bestselling author says you should in her/his book? It depends.
✅ It depends on your context (type of product you're building, its stage, industry, company size, your team skills, company goals, etc etc.)
Many product people have a strong desire to transform and work like "the best" companies do - as well as implement what certain books advocate for.
🤔 But forget to ask themselves first:
- What are our business goals?
- Why do we want to work in X way, instead of Y? What outcomes are we looking for to achieve, and why is that important for us and our company?
- What are our company's board motivations?
- What do our CEO and executives believe in?
While I'm biased that our likelihood of success in building great products (and businesses) dramatically increases by striving for certain principles and habits - everything must be contextualized...
... and your leaders' motivations have to be understood.
Because no company's transformation happens, even if it has to, without being highly embraced by its leaders.
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