Kevin Yien (@kevinyien) is a PM I've admired from afar for a long time, so I was thrilled to have finally gotten him on the podcast. Kevin leads product for merchant experiences at @Stripe, previously built the restaurants business and ecosystem team at @Square, and was head of product and design at @Mutinycorp. He also makes great ice cream, was a competitive eater, and teaches for fun. In our conversation, Kevin shares: 🔸 Why great PMs need to be great writers, and how to become a better writer 🔸 Tactics for automating user insights 🔸 Kevin's "unsell email" hiring technique 🔸 Why you need to keep a decision log 🔸 Insights on AI and its impact on our lives 🔸 Why aspiring PMs should start in engineering, design, or sales 🔸 Lessons from failure 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: - Spotify: - Apple:

@nonmayorpete @airtable Yeah, waiting to see them announce something big - I reckon we're not too far away. This gets a lot closer to the ideal of malleable software that empowers citizen creators to solve specific problems simply by describing them. So much potential.

There’s a significant issue in Product Management. I've interviewed and spoken with hundreds of leaders in this field, and while they excel in many areas, they often fall short in the fundamental aspect of actually building products. Product management is not just an occupation—it's a craft. It involves shaping software with a blend of insight, instinct, design, and technical ability. Many in product leadership focus on managing teams, leveraging data, and driving financial outcomes. While these are important, they're secondary to the core ability to lead the creation and delivery of a product. The essential skills every product leader should master are: 1. Deep customer understanding. Genuine, in-depth knowledge of your customers is crucial. If you don't possess this, you're not fully embracing your role. 2. Design mastery. Effective product design translates customer needs into functional software. Without this skill, the potential to create outstanding products is severely limited. 3. Instinctive prioritization. Data is helpful, but it can't replace the instinct required to determine what to develop next. Strong conviction is necessary for true leadership in product management. 4. Taste. The aesthetic and functional quality of software and customer experiences hinge on your taste. Without it, the product will lack appeal and coherence. 5. Execution ability. This includes the competence to plan and manage cycles of work, effectively—a skill many product leaders possess. 6. People leadership. This is important, but without the skills listed above, you cannot create an exceptional product. Conversely, excelling in product skills but struggling with people management might still yield great products, though the process may be challenging. Most in the industry are missing skills 1-4. To truly excel in product management, you must not only handle the operational aspects but also be deeply involved in the creative and technical processes that bring a product to life.