May 6, 2024
The Effective Manager by Mark HorstmanThe definition of an effective manager is one who gets results and keeps their people.
Your first responsibility is to deliver whatever results your organisation expects from you. Your second responsibility as a manager is to retain your people.
Dalton CaldwellUsually, a successful pivot gets warmer instead of colder from what you're an expert at and somehow builds on what you learned on the prior idea.
In the case of Retool, it was the same thing. They had built similar internal tools both at their internships as well as for Cashew. They had all these dashboards they built to operate their Venmo competitor. And so they knew a lot about what to build in the case of postprod, pivoting and through idea, they knew a lot about analytics and had strong opinions about it. And so it was much closer than what the original idea is.
A good pivot is like going home. It's warmer, it's closer to something that you.
Build Better Products by Laura KleinWhen the team understands the goals, the users, and the reasons for the original decisions, each member can make better decisions in the moment, rather than relying on the product manager or designer to answer every single question.
Takeaway | Description | Source |
---|---|---|
The Effective Manager | Focus on achieving results and retaining your team by setting goals and helping them achieve them. | Mark Horstman |
How to Pivot | Leverage existing expertise and build on prior knowledge. Successful pivots are closer to your area of expertise and learnings. | Dalton Caldwell |
Thick Skin | Be resilient and push forward despite challenges from customers, peers, and leadership. | Danny Postma |
Team Alignment | Ensure the team understands goals and decisions to make better independent decisions. | Laura Klein |
Ship First | Launch products/features in a good enough state for feedback, optimizing later if successful, except in regulated/high-risk areas. | General Advice |