Untrapping Product Teams

Foreword by Ash Maurya xiii
Foreword by Jim Highsmith xv
Preface xvii
About the Author xxi
Introduction 1
Who Can Benefit from This Book 2
How to Read This Book 3
What to Expect from Untrapping Product Teams 3

Part I: Facing Dangerous Traps 5
Chapter 1: How Common Ways of Working Trap or Untrap Teams 7
How Feature Factory Companies Work 8
Coordinative Flow: A Logical Way of Working with Unexpected Results 12
Nine Out of Ten Ideas Will Fail 15
Collaborative Flow: A Simple Way of Working with Outstanding Results 16
Key Takeaways 21

Chapter 2: The Mindset Impacts on Dangerous Traps 23
What's a Growth Mindset? 25
What's a Fixed Mindset? 25
Identifying the Mindset's Impacts 26
Output over Outcome 27
Opinions over Evidence 28
Prescriptive Roadmaps over Embracing the Unknown 30
Meeting Deadlines over Achieving Goals 32
Implementing Solutions over Solving Problems 33
Key Takeaways 35

Chapter 3: What Distracts Teams from Creating Value 37
Facing the Real Enemy: Bullshit Management 38
Gathering Requirements: A Distraction to Value Creation 39
Extensive Product Backlog: When the Past Limits the Future 40
Output Reports: Wasting Time 42
Consensus-Driven Decisions: Slowing Down Progress 43
Output Approval: Limiting Team's Accountability 44
Meeting Marathon: Long Days with Little Value Created 45
Fear of Saying No: The Art of Getting Overwhelmed 46
Bridge Communication: Becoming the Bottleneck 47
Opinion-Driven Decision: Ignoring Evidence, Creating Waste 48
Failure Avoidance: Killing Innovation Chances 50
Bullshit Management Check 51
Key Takeaways 51

Part II: Overcoming Dangerous Traps 53
Chapter 4: Using the Right Ingredients for Product Teams 55
How a Simple Restaurant Became the World's Number One 56
Understanding the Right Ingredients for Product Teams 56
What a Solid Product Strategy Enables 57
Accelerating Learning with Product Discovery 59
Approaching Product Delivery Mindfully 61
Finding the Right Ingredients for Your Situation 62
Key Takeaways 63

Chapter 5: Crafting a Meaningful Product Strategy 65
Identifying Who You Serve 66
Understanding Your Product Stage 68
Product Vision: Knowing Where to Land 69
Lean Canvas: Defining the Key Aspects to Thrive 72
Value Curve: Designing to Differentiate 80
Roadmap: Establishing Clarity on What to Achieve 82
Key Takeaways 86

Chapter 6: Forget What You Know to Get Ready for the Unknown 89
My Unforgettable First Date with Product Discovery 90
Biases: Blocking Learning Opportunities 91
Confirmation Bias: The Art of Missing Opportunities and Creating Waste 92
Commitment Escalation: Making a Bad Situation Even Worse 92
Sunk-Cost Fallacy: The Fear of Losing Triggering More Losses 93
Bandwagon Fallacy: Following the Masses Without Knowing Why 94
Value Drivers: Doing What Matters for Customers and the Business 95
Do What's Right, Not What's Easy 97
Key Takeaways 98

Chapter 7: Embarking on a Journey to Discover What Matters 99
Understanding the Discovery Journey 99
Clarify the Goal: Know What Success Looks Like 101
Understand Your Audience: Know How Customers Use Your Product 102
Uncover Value Drivers: Identify What's Worth Pursuing 104
Prioritize and Focus: Take One Value Driver at a Time 107
Reinvent the Future: Diverge and Converge 109
Deal with Assumptions: Drop Bad Ideas Fast Enough 110
Use Evidence to Progress: Experiment, Learn, Decide 116
Key Takeaways 118

Chapter 8: Enabling Product Delivery Beyond Outputs 119
How the Wrong Approach to Product Delivery Leads to a Feature Factory 120
Product Backlog: Organizing What Drives Value 121
Refinement: Building Shared Understanding 125
Alignment: Setting the Next Goal 127
Getting Things Done 129
Using Tech Debt: Accelerate Learning to Avoid Poor Investment 131
Review: Getting Business and Product Aligned 134
Improve: Strive to Continuously Become a Better Team 135
Key Takeaways 136

Chapter 9: Defining and Measuring Actionable Metrics 139
Data Traps: Avoid Common Traps 140
Leading versus Laggard Metrics 141
Input versus Output Metrics: Understanding Control and Influence 143
Defining Metrics: Focus on Signs While Ignoring Noise 144
Measuring Results: Be Careful, You're Not a Stockbroker 146
Sharing Results: Spread the News about Outcomes 147
Pro Hints: Saving You Hours per Week 148
Usual Metrics: The Bread and Butter of Analytics 149
Key Takeaways 151

Chapter 10: Getting the Teams Right 153
Common Product Teams Setup 154
Roles and Responsibilities: Who Takes Care of What 160
Product Managers versus Backlog Managers 162
Software Engineers versus Coders 165
Product Designers versus Pixel-Perfect Designers 167
Agile Coaches versus Agile Rulers 168
Key Takeaways 169

Chapter 11: Building Solid Relationships 171
Who the Stakeholders Are 172
Power and Interest: How to Improve Collaboration with Business Stakeholders 173
Sharpening Communication: How to Ensure Shared Understanding 175
Establishing Alignment: No More Confusion 177
Breakthroughs Occur with Real Interactions Instead of Shallow Ones 179
Key Takeaways 180

Part III: Remaining Untrapped 183
Chapter 12: Establishing Product Principles 185
Why Product Principles? 186
How to Craft Product Principles 186
How to Ensure Principles Are Kept Alive 188
Evolving the Product Principles 190
Principles That Helped My Teams 190
Key Takeaways 196

Chapter 13: Assessing Your Company's Dynamics 197
Leadership: Creating a Space Where Great Ideas Can Happen 198
Product Perception: Are You Ready to Thrive? 200
Product Leadership: Coordination or Collaboration? 201
Team Topology: Setting Teams Ready to Rock 202
Risk Tolerance: From Fear to Courage 203
Key Takeaways 204

Chapter 14: Evaluating How Your Product Strategy Implementation Simplifies Decision Making 205
Ownership: Clear Accountability, Better Results 206
Prioritization: Moving from Serving to Partnering 207
Decision Making: Progress over Analysis 208
Goals: Clarity on Where You Want to Land 208
Collaboration: Getting Together to Create What Matters 210
Key Takeaways 211

Chapter 15: Understanding How Quickly You Can Drop Bad Ideas 213
Value Proposition: Clarity on What's Most Important 214
Customer Interviews: Creating Insights to Unlock Learning 215
Identifying Assumptions: Knowing What We Don't Know 216
Testing Assumptions: Confronting Reality 217
Ideation: Creating a Better Future 218
Key Takeaways 219

Chapter 16: Examining How Fast You Can Drive Business and Customer Value 221
Implementation: Prioritizing Learning over Scalability 222
Measure Results: Focusing on What Moves the Needle 223
Feature Removal: Getting Rid of Distractions 223
Facing Failures: Learning versus Blaming 224
Product Backlog: Past Promises versus Future Opportunities 226
Key Takeaways 227
Wrap-Up 229

Appendix: Untrapping Lessons 233

Bibliography 235
Index 237