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The 10 traits of great PMs, how AI will impact your product, and Slack’s product development process | Noah Weiss (Slack, Foursquare, Google)

23 Jul 2023 42 published claims 2 attributable people

Speakers in the public record

Claim mix

belief 25uncertainty 5evaluation 4recommendation 3commitment 2prediction 2preference 1

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Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

42 published records

01 / recommendation

Recommends Innovator's Dilemma. Recommends Radical Candor. Recommends Leadership in Turbulent Times.

“These may not be the most unique, but I will say them, which is Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christiansen, whether you're working a large company and you're suffering it or you're working a startup and you're trying to out flank an incumbent, I still do think that and innovative solution, the follow on are the best books on product strategy to read. If you're moving into more of a leadership or management position, I think Radical Candor by Kim Scott is just incredible and worth everyone reading. Frankly, if you're a PM and you're doing soft influence, I think it's really important. Then the third one, which is maybe a little off the beat of path, there's a book called Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Goodwin who's a presidential historian. It's this amazing book that looks at four of the most notable presidents and how their leadership style evolved when they were in really critical hard times in their presidency. I just think it's actually the best book about leadership style and how do you evolve and how do you deal with crises, which again is maybe later on in your career. But I love getting inspiration from not just reading books about tech and product and I think that's one of the best ones.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

02 / belief

Either we're on the free tier or we get to pay for the paid tier. And that wound up being one of, I think the Ripest veins is figuring out how to give people a taste of the full premium Slack experience so that they would never want to go back and doing that in a variety of different points in the customer journey.

“Either we're on the free tier or we get to pay for the paid tier. And that wound up being one of, I think the Ripest veins is figuring out how to give people a taste of the full premium Slack experience so that they would never want to go back and doing that in a variety of different points in the customer journey.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

04 / belief

What we'll wind up doing often is have a team do a two-week customer love sprint, almost like a hackathon, but with that burndown list of what we think is the lowest effort, highest impact changes that we can make to generate more love from our customers and whatever that feature areas.

“What we'll wind up doing often is have a team do a two-week customer love sprint, almost like a hackathon, but with that burndown list of what we think is the lowest effort, highest impact changes that we can make to generate more love from our customers and whatever that feature areas.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

05 / belief

I think that the distance you have from your users as your user base gets more and more diverse and larger I think can make it harder to actually develop the product because you're not designing for yourself anymore.

“I think that the distance you have from your users as your user base gets more and more diverse and larger I think can make it harder to actually develop the product because you're not designing for yourself anymore.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

06 / belief

Then suddenly that thread becomes actually the best source of truth for the research report that then gets written up. But I think most importantly, it gets the team almost like the complaint-storms, but actually watching someone else do it in the shoes of an actual human being trying to use the thing that you thought was so brilliant and yet has all these flaws.

“Then suddenly that thread becomes actually the best source of truth for the research report that then gets written up. But I think most importantly, it gets the team almost like the complaint-storms, but actually watching someone else do it in the shoes of an actual human being trying to use the thing that you thought was so brilliant and yet has all these flaws.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

07 / belief

I think the feedback to you get from our people willing to pay for the product that you're building is so much faster than can I build a large-scale consumer business and when they hope to have enough reach to then slap ads onto it.

“I think the feedback to you get from our people willing to pay for the product that you're building is so much faster than can I build a large-scale consumer business and when they hope to have enough reach to then slap ads onto it.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

08 / belief

Basically, it's like it's word of mouth is how you have to win. But I think that's so true and every successful company I talk to ends up being like, "We just want to build something people want to share with their friends," even if it's growing in some other way, SEO paid feels like that's always at the root of it is you just want to tell your friends about it because you love it.

“Basically, it's like it's word of mouth is how you have to win. But I think that's so true and every successful company I talk to ends up being like, "We just want to build something people want to share with their friends," even if it's growing in some other way, SEO paid feels like that's always at the root of it is you just want to tell your friends about it because you love it.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

09 / belief

I think impact solves all PM issues, which is if a team is consistently building things people love and changing the director of the business, everything else is just an input.

“I think impact solves all PM issues, which is if a team is consistently building things people love and changing the director of the business, everything else is just an input.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

11 / belief

I would say to folks in general, if you're joining company and the CEO does the role that is your functional area of expertise, it's probably the area where you'll learn the most because they're hopefully world class at it.

“I would say to folks in general, if you're joining company and the CEO does the role that is your functional area of expertise, it's probably the area where you'll learn the most because they're hopefully world class at it.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

12 / uncertainty

I definitely riffed off at least the Paul Graham thing because I remember reading that essay of he thinks everyone thinks that you can get ideas by, I don't know, sitting with their co-founder laying in Dolores Park looking up at the sky and conjuring up the next unicorn or something.

“I definitely riffed off at least the Paul Graham thing because I remember reading that essay of he thinks everyone thinks that you can get ideas by, I don't know, sitting with their co-founder laying in Dolores Park looking up at the sky and conjuring up the next unicorn or something.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

13 / belief

I think maybe around the time you joined Slack around 2019 that the self-service business of Slack basically plateaued and it wasn't clear why.

“I think maybe around the time you joined Slack around 2019 that the self-service business of Slack basically plateaued and it wasn't clear why.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

14 / belief

I think the byproduct is that you also get calibration on product pace, product quality, and as a team you develop that together.

“I think the byproduct is that you also get calibration on product pace, product quality, and as a team you develop that together.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

15 / belief

" I think teams can often get lost crawling up that hill, not realizing that there's a huge, incredibly beautiful range behind it where we've over time freighted new teams from scratch that incubated in a new area before the areas mature.

“" I think teams can often get lost crawling up that hill, not realizing that there's a huge, incredibly beautiful range behind it where we've over time freighted new teams from scratch that incubated in a new area before the areas mature.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

16 / belief

I mean Slack I think is where we enshrined them much more because we scaled the org so much, more that we needed principles.

“I mean Slack I think is where we enshrined them much more because we scaled the org so much, more that we needed principles.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

17 / belief

I know you guys have been working on a bunch of AI stuff at Slack. I believe you've been working on AI related stuff for many years.

“I know you guys have been working on a bunch of AI stuff at Slack. I believe you've been working on AI related stuff for many years.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

18 / belief

I think what's important there is that hopefully you're refining in code and you're not still at static design mocks because using the software is so different than looking at what the software will visually appear.

“I think what's important there is that hopefully you're refining in code and you're not still at static design mocks because using the software is so different than looking at what the software will visually appear.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

19 / belief

I think that's the most dangerous piece of advice ever in the history of product management because I think that is how you end up having PMs who try to act like dictators instead of leaders and facilitators.

“I think that's the most dangerous piece of advice ever in the history of product management because I think that is how you end up having PMs who try to act like dictators instead of leaders and facilitators.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / commitment

I will confess that I haven't used Twitter in months because I was doing digital detox, but still I think @Noah_Weiss is a pretty good place to find me online and whether there or anywhere else, still love to have peoples like Slack feature requests, especially about things that you wish were possible or that would get the rest of your company to join on Slack because you love it, but you can't convince them.

“I will confess that I haven't used Twitter in months because I was doing digital detox, but still I think @Noah_Weiss is a pretty good place to find me online and whether there or anywhere else, still love to have peoples like Slack feature requests, especially about things that you wish were possible or that would get the rest of your company to join on Slack because you love it, but you can't convince them.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

21 / belief

I think at most companies that have a maniacally customer-focused founder, if you don't do that last step, it's going to be much more painful after you launch because they weren't part of that co-creation of the team.

“I think at most companies that have a maniacally customer-focused founder, if you don't do that last step, it's going to be much more painful after you launch because they weren't part of that co-creation of the team.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

22 / belief

Then I think building that news for impact, even if the impact is more local, because that's how you actually will demonstrate momentum and build credibility and then actually do think early on getting really fluent on the data and the research side that you can have insights that you can read back to your team.

“Then I think building that news for impact, even if the impact is more local, because that's how you actually will demonstrate momentum and build credibility and then actually do think early on getting really fluent on the data and the research side that you can have insights that you can read back to your team.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

23 / belief

On the executing impeccably bucket, the way I think about that is as a great PM you need to have this aura of "I've got this.

“On the executing impeccably bucket, the way I think about that is as a great PM you need to have this aura of "I've got this.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

24 / belief

I think having a well-managed sidebar, which doesn't actually take that long, it's like this amazing thing because then all this inbound is structured in an order and a grouping that fits how you want to view your working life.

“I think having a well-managed sidebar, which doesn't actually take that long, it's like this amazing thing because then all this inbound is structured in an order and a grouping that fits how you want to view your working life.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

29 / belief

I think over time, what it'll probably look like is that all the existing product areas, as soon as we know more of the shape of what the technology is capable of will just have AI capabilities as part of their roadmaps.

“I think over time, what it'll probably look like is that all the existing product areas, as soon as we know more of the shape of what the technology is capable of will just have AI capabilities as part of their roadmaps.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

30 / belief

I think that's exactly what you're talking about here is just be the person that knows the most about the problem, the customers, the space.

“I think that's exactly what you're talking about here is just be the person that knows the most about the problem, the customers, the space.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

31 / uncertainty

I don't know if you know this, but this is actually going to be the last podcast I'm recording before I go on pat leave.

“I don't know if you know this, but this is actually going to be the last podcast I'm recording before I go on pat leave.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

32 / belief

A PM role I think can be a little bit unsatisfying if you're useful, where you create things yourself opposed to you are the one who's amplifying what the work that's being created by everyone else is.

“A PM role I think can be a little bit unsatisfying if you're useful, where you create things yourself opposed to you are the one who's amplifying what the work that's being created by everyone else is.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

33 / evaluation

Again, it was hard to stay ahead, I think specifically of Google, because they had billion plus Google Maps users distributed on Android and iOS.

“Again, it was hard to stay ahead, I think specifically of Google, because they had billion plus Google Maps users distributed on Android and iOS.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

34 / recommendation

I just think it's actually the best book about leadership style and how do you evolve and how do you deal with crises, which again is maybe later on in your career. But I love getting inspiration from not just reading books about tech and product and I think that's one of the best ones.

“I just think it's actually the best book about leadership style and how do you evolve and how do you deal with crises, which again is maybe later on in your career. But I love getting inspiration from not just reading books about tech and product and I think that's one of the best ones.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

35 / prediction

I think what wound up happening was that you would have teams that was independently at a company like IBM or Disney or Capital One or whoever it might be, or Comcast discovering Slack using it for themselves because they thought it would just make their working lives simpler, more pleasant, more productive, and maybe not even know that anyone else at the company was using Slack.

“I think what wound up happening was that you would have teams that was independently at a company like IBM or Disney or Capital One or whoever it might be, or Comcast discovering Slack using it for themselves because they thought it would just make their working lives simpler, more pleasant, more productive, and maybe not even know that anyone else at the company was using Slack.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

36 / evaluation

I think the origin of Teams really was a defensive move for them to protect Office because Office is an incredible, very profitable monopoly in the productivity space.

“I think the origin of Teams really was a defensive move for them to protect Office because Office is an incredible, very profitable monopoly in the productivity space.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

37 / commitment

I think that's going to be something that people are going to have to work on a lot, which is to figure out how to be not so faultless, to acknowledge when you're not sure, because otherwise, it undermines the trust people have in the system.

“I think that's going to be something that people are going to have to work on a lot, which is to figure out how to be not so faultless, to acknowledge when you're not sure, because otherwise, it undermines the trust people have in the system.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

38 / preference

I think there's something actually where you learn more from the things that don't fully work out or don't quite achieve what you wanted to achieve.

“I think there's something actually where you learn more from the things that don't fully work out or don't quite achieve what you wanted to achieve.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

39 / evaluation

We have this really robust program that we call our pilot program where we have, I don't know, probably thousands of different customers that have all signed different agreements now where we can actually roll out to progressively larger user bases, because Slack is a multiplayer product.

“We have this really robust program that we call our pilot program where we have, I don't know, probably thousands of different customers that have all signed different agreements now where we can actually roll out to progressively larger user bases, because Slack is a multiplayer product.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

40 / evaluation

I think maybe we're all a little self-delusional, because I think everyone who works at Slack likes to think that we're still at a small startup.

“I think maybe we're all a little self-delusional, because I think everyone who works at Slack likes to think that we're still at a small startup.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

41 / prediction

I think of product market fit is almost like you keep stacking these S-curves where you get product market fit in a small group and then you suddenly reach exponential growth because you can crack that coal group, that type of audience, but then you start declining because you start hitting the ceiling of, we've got in, I don't know what it might be every development team in the US to be using this product.

“I think of product market fit is almost like you keep stacking these S-curves where you get product market fit in a small group and then you suddenly reach exponential growth because you can crack that coal group, that type of audience, but then you start declining because you start hitting the ceiling of, we've got in, I don't know what it might be every development team in the US to be using this product.”
Speaker
Noah Weiss
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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