Top product management reads in July

From ways to succeed when the rest of your company doesn’t understand your job, to the lack of interest from users on AI features and strategies to build a high-performing product team, here’s a look at the most read posts published on Mind the Product in July.

For our top read this month we speak to some product leaders about their experiences of trying to “do Product” in an organisation that doesn’t understand it. They’ve got plenty of advice, including how you might find the path you can tread without too much friction, what wiggle room you have and what changes you might make.

Successful product management in companies where it’s least understood

Our survey shows that user engagement with AI features is a big issue, with only 15% of product leaders in North America and Europe reporting that their users embrace AI features. 

Conversely, product managers are very happy to use AI tools, with 69% of European product managers and 62% of North American product managers using AI in their daily tasks. 

Product survey findings: Only 15% of users are embracing AI features

In this post product leader Reham Fawad shares key strategies for building and nurturing high-performing product teams using the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) approach. 

She starts by explaining that a high-performing product team has two components, a think tank and a delivery engine. Without a strong think tank, the delivery engine solutions miss the mark.

She runs through how to define the need and your ideal product culture. Then how to build the solution and gauge the cultural fit of your product team and how to sell yourselves to the rest of the organisation.

Building high-performing product teams: The PDLC approach

In this episode of the Product Experience podcast,hosts Randy Silver and Lily Smith speak to Frances Ibe, SVP of Product at Tide. Frances shares invaluable insights on her journey from developer to product leadership and how to avoid common pitfalls during the discovery process. They look at effective product discovery strategies, building strong product teams and maximising data analysis.

What most companies get wrong about product discovery – Frances Ibe (SVP of Product, Tide)

In this Pendomonium+#mtpcon Amsterdam roadshow talk, Ebi Atawodi, a product director at Google YouTube Studio, says that, at their core, product managers need to believe there is a mission worth fighting for, that there are people around them that can learn from, and they need to have agency. 

She runs through the traits she thinks are needed to succeed in Product and shares a builder’s playbook for product managers from the lessons she learned at Uber. It has six tenets which she says allow you to create an environment in which you can build. 

Making product magic with cross-functional collaboration by Ebi Atawodi