Finest-5 Product reads #42
Finest-5 Product reads #42
Notion growth, Overlays, data informed product managers, etc..
Hi,
Out of many things that happened this week, two things have taken my attention: the launch of ONDC beta and Cred launched scan and pay. Though both incidents look very different, there is a common thread, both launches of products are trying to change the experience for the users. ONDC is trying to revolutionise E-commerce in India, CRED pay is bringing a new and fun experience for scan and pay. What will work and what will not is still a question, but it’s fun to keep track of these 2 launches.
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How Notion Grows
Notion grow horizontally by marketing to a large base of people, segmenting their audiences, and leaning heavily into their flexibility and the power of community
Key Takeaways:
Find a wedge — a specific problem and use case that is real and relatable to the people you want using your product, one that is stupid simple to explain.
The beauty of Notion’s template strategy is that they have also open-sourced templates, leading to the growth loop.
To build a community, you help people help each other.
Accidental Dismissal of Overlays: A Common Mobile Usability Problem
Overlays have become a ubiquitous UI element on mobile: beyond the annoying pop-ups, you will also find them used for navigation menus, bottom sheets, product-detail pages, or in-app browsers.
Key Takeaways:
Depending on whether the user can interact with the background, overlays can be modal or non-modal.
Major problems commonly associated with overlays: Users pick the wrong overlay-dismissal method, Users’ work is lost, Stacked overlays amplify confusion.
How to Prevent Overlay-Dismissal Problems: Use an Alternative Pattern, Prefer Partial to Full-Page Overlays, Do Not Use Stacks of Overlays, Include a Close Button for Dismissing the Overlay.
Why product managers should not be data driven
Considering Goodhart’s Law, you need to always be careful and qualitatively reason whether the changes you are observing are real and sustainable changes, not lost in the long run. Idea is to be data informed, and not always data driven.
Key Takeaways:
Being data-driven can lead to prioritising thinking opportunistically rather than strategically.
An issue with the data-driven approach is that it favours incremental improvements. Reason: you can test slight changes much more quickly and these small incremental wins often lead to the current solution approaching a local maximum.
Data -driven can lead to slowing down the organisation. If decisions aren’t made until sufficient data is available, then decisions will be made later than they should be.
How to Identify Your Product’s Aha Moment
Aha moment is the moment where users see the value of the product. This becomes the hook, which leads to activation, engagement, and retention.
Key Takeaways:
There are three stages you must go through that will help you identify it: Talk to actual users, look for patterns, shortlist and test potential behaviours
The goal of a free trial is not to have engaged users, you need users that consistently get value from your product.
Organise your potential experiments to test in an Experiment Log.
Product GTM Fitness
In many orgs, it is a pendulum. Product drives and pushes the debt to GTM. And then, the pendulum swings, and GTM drives and pushes the burden to the product.
Key Takeaways:
Even if you have PMF, you still need to be working towards a future state where the market has evolved, and your product has kept up.
There are four ways to “manage” increased operational complexity. Offload, Tame, Absorb and Avoid.
When GTM leaders experience the pressure of increased operational complexity, they push back for product(s) that are easier to sell.
Product of the week: Marqly
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