SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

Spending time on internal optics creates energy, awareness, excitement, and opportunities for feedback, enabling greater impact and better execution.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

I learned the importance of building multiple services under a single account at Yahoo, which was a powerful concept that they executed well.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

At Google, I learned the power of thinking really big, which became a normal part of how I operated.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

At Twitter, I observed the stickiness that comes from combining network effects with core product differentiation, which has enabled Twitter's staying power.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

At Stripe, I saw that combining high energy, sound judgment, low ego, and small teams creates magic.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

A pre-mortem meeting allows teams to identify potential failures before they happen, creating psychological safety and a shared vocabulary for discussing risks.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

The initial prompt in a pre-mortem meeting is to imagine the project has failed and work backwards to identify what went wrong.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

In a pre-mortem, team members share concerns about what could go wrong, which fosters a culture of openness and proactive problem-solving.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

I encourage teams to identify 'tigers' (real threats), 'paper tigers' (seeming threats), and 'elephants' (unspoken issues) during pre-mortems to enhance discussion.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

The LNO framework helps prioritize tasks as a product manager by categorizing them into leverage tasks, neutral tasks, and overhead tasks.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

Most execution problems in high-performing environments are often strategy or culture problems rather than actual execution issues.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

When teams are misaligned, it often stems from pursuing different strategies or a lack of clarity on what the strategy is, rather than just execution problems.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

In high leverage roles, focus on minimizing opportunity cost rather than just achieving positive ROI, as this leads to better long-term outcomes.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

Opportunity cost is the value of the optimal option minus the value of the chosen option, and minimizing it leads to better prioritization.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

Instead of quantifying opportunity costs, teams should have the freedom to explore and pursue high-impact opportunities that minimize opportunity cost.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

During planning, provide guidance on how to allocate time across different types of activities, such as incrementals, big initiatives, and stability.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

High agency is about finding a way to get what you want without waiting for conditions to be perfect or blaming circumstances.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

As product managers, we constantly face adverse conditions like limited resources and customer problems, making high agency an essential trait.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

High agency PMs take ownership, creatively execute through challenges, and demonstrate resilience, which differentiates them in their impact.

SD

Shreyas Doshi

08/25/22

@ Lenny's Podcast

The best help listeners can provide is to share ideas that resonate with them, whether publicly or privately, to foster greater clarity in team dynamics.

The art of product management | Shreyas Doshi (Stripe, Twitter, Google, Yahoo)

Takeaways