Main Takeaways: - Data is great - but don't go overboard! - Innovation comes with (tons of) uncertainty - the trick is to navigate it! - Dance to the tune and never forget the end goal.

1. The Unknowns in Product
Development by Spotify Director of
Product
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6. Navigating the Unknowns in
Product Management
Flavia Neves | July 2021

7. PORTUGAL
IRELAND
SILICON
VALLEY
BARCELONA
startups, growth, development, jill of all trades
startups, large orgs, product growth,
product management
startups, product management, advisor
startups, scale ups, large orgs, advisor,
product management, engineering

8. 01 Innovation comes with a ton of uncertainty

9. Move quickly, learn fast, build to explore
Get a rough iteration in front of users ASAP to start collecting quality inputs

10. Accept the uncertainty and the long odds
Endless hours of planning will unlikely change the odds but might give you less time to iterate

11. Be the cheerleader
It’s our job as PMs to keep everyone motivated and with the eyes on the future

12. 02 Data is great, just don’t go overboard!

13. The mindset
When you look at data, the goal should be to prove your assumptions wrong

14. Data snooping isn’t cool!
Don’t stretch the numbers to tell a story and resist to the temptation of jumping to conclusions

15. Take calculated risks
It won’t make you popular but learn to say “we don’t have enough data to answer that”

16. 03 Dance to the tune and never forget the end goal

17. The north star is your best friend
Having a north star you can fall back on will help you make the toughest decisions

18. It worked once… double down!
Use previous iterations to guide your future optimizations

19. Is it time for a paradigm shift?
Sometimes the signs point towards a paradigm shift so make sure you don’t overlook them

20. Nobody likes a frankenstein product
Small iterations are preferable but the new proposed state needs to be functional

21. ACCEPT IT
THE CHEAT SHEET
accept the
uncertainty and the
long odds
BUILD TO EXPLORE
you’ll learn more
and faster by
building to explore
instead of
exploring to build
MOTIVATE
motivating the
team is crucial to
succeed
know when and how
to use it, don’t stretch
the numbers and don’t
jump to conclusions
USE DATA WISELY
1 2 3 4
DISPROVE HYPOS
don’t overestimate
what you know,
use your instinct
but always try to
disprove your
hypotheses
SAY NO
it’s ok to say that
you don’t know yet,
earning lost trust is
hard work
NORTH STAR
if you have a north
star, you always
have something to
fall back on
Invest in under
optimized areas, look
out for signs that a
paradigm shift is
needed and don’t build
frankenstein products
CRO/INNOVATION
5 6 7 8

22. The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else
Eric Ries

23. Flavia Neves
www.linkedin.com/in/flavianeves
flsneves@gmail.com

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