Product Manager's Mind Behind the World’s Most Popular Products
Lenny's Podcast with Peter Dang, who have been a product manager in leading companies in bay area.
This podcast features Peter Deng, a highly impactful product leader who has worked at OpenAI, Instagram, Uber, and Facebook. He shares his insights and experiences, offering unique perspectives on product development and leadership.
My key Takeaways:
"In six months, if I'm telling you what to do, I've hired the wrong person.": This was spot on for me. This is almost exactly I operate and what I say to my colleagues as well. I am more interested in equipping the hire to be independent, self-managed and self-initiated than they asking me for help or suggestions after the probation period. Having this metric and operational goal sets a high bar on nut just hiring, but on the work ethics within the team / org.
"Sometimes your product actually doesn't matter.": This was again spot on for me. I have personally witnessed so many projects that take forever to ship / complete because of a variety of nitpicking requests from a variety of stakeholders that in the end almost never matters to the actual customers. Colors, font, themes, pixel alignment of buttons, all those are nice to haves but not must haves. There is huge difference between these two. These features, are also almost never one way doors, they can be easily revisited once the primary goal - customer satisfaction / traction - has been achieved.
Hiring the right person for the team rather their skillset: This was very interesting learning for me. In addition to always hiring someone with strong skillset (raising the bar in hiring), he mentioned how it is important to align the new hire with the team goals & requirements. So hiring is not just at individual scope but at a higher level needs with the global scope. This was an interesting point
Not All successful companies were not founded from ground breaking technology innovations: This was so illuminating for as I have had this notion as well, but couldn’t put the finger on it and Peter Dang said it nicely. Google might have been a true genius company due to breakthrough innovation, but many others like Facebook became big and successful through continuous innovation and learning from customers
AI Assisted Summary:
On Success in Building Products
"You have to plan your chess moves out in advance. You have to really think before you act and build systems that are going to let you go sustainably faster."
Peter emphasizes the importance of strategic foresight and building scalable systems for sustainable growth.
Counterintuitive Lessons
"Sometimes your product actually doesn't matter." At Uber, he learned that factors like price and ETA often outweigh the app's design features in user experience.
He also highlights that many successful tech companies weren't built on groundbreaking technology, but rather on hard work and iteration, leveraging existing technology to meet human needs.
The Impact of AI on Education
Peter predicts a significant transformation in education due to AI. He shares a mind-blowing anecdote about his nine-year-old son creating a custom GPT to generate sentences with every letter of the alphabet, illustrating the potential for AI to rewire young minds and change how we approach learning. "I can already see his brain rewiring."
He believes the ability to ask the right questions will become a key differentiator in the future, similar to how calculators shifted the focus of math from calculation to higher-level problem-solving.
The Power of Language
Peter stresses the importance of precise language in product development and leadership. He believes language directly impacts thought processes and that careful word choice is crucial for clear communication and effective product design. "Language actually affects the way you think."
Building and Scaling Products
Peter advises against the "move fast and break things" mentality when scaling a product. He advocates for strategic planning and building robust systems to support sustainable growth. "Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast."
He emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making and building growth teams to gain insights and improve product development.
Building AI Startups
For AI startups, Peter suggests focusing on creating proprietary data flywheels and crafting exceptional user experiences that integrate seamlessly into users' workflows. He uses Granola as an example of a product that excels in user experience and product craft.
The Role of Product at AI Companies
At companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, the product team plays a crucial role in fine-tuning models and creating user-friendly interfaces that unlock the potential of advanced AI. Close collaboration between product and research teams is essential.
Hiring Practices
Peter shares two key principles for hiring:
"In six months, if I'm telling you what to do, I've hired the wrong person." This emphasizes the importance of hiring self-sufficient individuals who can take initiative and ownership.
Prioritizing growth mindset. He uses a specific interview question to assess candidates' self-reflection and openness to feedback.
He also describes five archetypes of product managers: Consumer PM, Growth PM, Business/GMP PM, Platform PM, and Research PM, highlighting the diversity of skills and perspectives within the product management field.
Management Style
Peter emphasizes the importance of helping team members lean into their strengths and create a balanced team with diverse skill sets. He shares a simple yet powerful phrase – "Say you'll do the thing, do the thing, say you did the thing" – for effective communication and management.
Lessons from Failure
Peter discusses the failure of Instagram's Bolt app, highlighting the importance of learning from failures and adapting strategies. "It ain't a loss, it's a lesson."
Conclusion
Peter's insights offer valuable lessons for product leaders at all levels, emphasizing the importance of strategic thinking, data-driven decision-making, building strong teams, and embracing continuous learning.