The Roadmap Is Not a Promise
Why treating the roadmap as a contract quietly destroys trust — and what to call it instead.
Say No by Default
The strongest product muscle is a polite, well-reasoned no. Most PMs never build it.
Your Best Feature Is the One You Didn’t Build
Every feature you ship is a feature you maintain forever. Subtraction is underrated.
Velocity Is Not Progress
Shipping faster is not the same as moving the business. Don’t confuse motion with outcomes.
The Demo Is the Spec
If you can’t demo it, you haven’t defined it. Working software beats a perfect document.
Write the Press Release First
Amazon’s working-backwards trick, and why drafting the launch note clarifies the whole project.
The Metric You Celebrate Is the Metric You Game
Pick the number you reward carefully — your team will optimise it, side effects and all.
Most Meetings Are a Failure of Writing
If a document would have done the job, the meeting was a tax. Write more, meet less.
“Customer-Obsessed” Is Usually a Slogan
Real customer obsession shows up in your calendar, not your company values page.
Ship the Smallest Honest Version
The MVP isn’t the cheapest thing you can build — it’s the smallest thing that tells the truth.