Start with a skeleton not to die a zombie
Most companies die a zombie. They start lean and nimble, ship feature after feature, and delight their customers. Then, after eighteen to twenty-four months, the bubble pops, and suddenly they cannot do anything. They limp around painfully until they bite the bullet and re-write their systems, or kick the bucket.
Read more…Organizational principles for effective software product development
I often rant about what I feel is wrong with an approach, practice, or system. Today, instead, I want to describe some principles that an effective software product development company should adopt.
Read more…At the heart of the burnout epidemic
These days we’re dealing with a job burnout epidemic. Everybody speaks about it, there’s a lot of awareness, and yet things have been getting worse and worse every year. So what have we been missing?
Read more…The product manager role is a mistake
The popular model
Software product companies aren’t usually started by people with a strong background in building software products. Those who most likely end up founding businesses are good at getting funding, and at understanding their target industry. They’ve been in their industry for a long time, know their industry inside out, convinced themselves this means they can do it, and used their relationships and skills to get the money necessary to start a company. These people tend to lead everything personally, and a lot could be said about the damage domain experts cause to their own companies when they lead things. Somebody already did it though, and they did it so well that there’s no point in me doing a worse job.
Read more…You should fear competition more than you fear your competitors
The situation
An obsession with competitors
Most startups obsess over their competitors. They watch every move, rush to copy every initiative or feature, analyze their marketing, check whether they’re being outsold, and keep an eye on others’ funding rounds.
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