Escaping The Build Trap

1. What is the book about as a whole?

It's a practical book about product management. Provides a framework of what good product management looks like and gives examples of bad product management.

2. What is being said in detail, and how?

Product management is a somewhat new and obscure career path and it is riddled with misconceptions that most often translate to business waste and, ultimately, failure. Here are some points from the book, (roughly) in order of importance:

• shipping features is NOT the end goal. This is the most common misconception about product management
• a product is just a way of solving a user need. Understand the user need deeply to make sure you're working on the right product
• users don't typically know the solution even when they might have ideas - active product management work is required
• always verify products through smaller-scale experimentation. This both saves time and helps with understanding the needs
• knowing what features to prioritize takes talking to customers and data understanding
• product-led companies are a frame of thinking that can't be fully done on individual level
• a product manager is NOT a human manager and should not act like one
• a good product manager should know what ideas to prioritize; the internal teams are often the source of ideas - he's the validator
• incentives absolutely matter. A company should have the right incentives and bonus scheme to be product-led
• there are multiple layers of product management - ranging from short term features to long-term strategy. The longer the term, the higher the seniority
• strategy framework: 1. There should be a long-term vision of a company 2. Follow the business metrics that should be reached to get 1. 3. User needs/product problems that can address 2. 4. Actual features to ship that address 3.

3. Is the book true, in whole or part?

I've worked in a company that I'd say was "in the build trap". The focus was on shipping features and I did see how the company ultimately failed. There was little understanding of the user needs. The problems that the book outlined did ring true and I'm convinced about the way things should not happen.

I found the book a bit light on how to set up incentives and experiments - there are examples provided but they are a bit narrow. To me this is where the true value of product management is - first, how to set up incentives in a way that people are focused on understanding the user needs. And second, how to devise and act on experiments.

4. What of it?

The book did validate some of my past experience. Understanding the user need is a great way to stay in business and it does mean that I'll have to think harder about how to validate what I'm working on. I should put more time in experimentation - especially devising experiments that can produce and track measurable insights.