1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes.
🛠️ The Problem with 0-1 Metrics
The Problem with 0-1 Metrics​Dear Reader,​ Welcome back! I hope you had (or still have) a relaxed or eventful (whatever your preference is) summer. I enjoyed the time off and being in places that filled me up. Among others, the baltic see. Which is where I captured one of my favorite summer shots: Before we jump into today's issue, I want to share three things from friends that I believe you should be aware of:
Let's get into this week's issue. ​​Outcomes over Outputs, but not at all cost​: It’s a powerful shift for product teams to use measurable changes in customer behavior (aka Outcomes) to prioritize work and measure progress. However, if that progress takes weeks or months to detect, these metrics are not as helpful as they should be. ​​As Ravi Mehta once said​, “The right goal depends on the team's understanding of what it is trying to accomplish.“ Whether a product team creates a new solution within a company or a newly founded startup, Measuring progress when you don’t have customer signals out of the gate can feel foggy. While you’re on your way toward improving customer behaviors, the feedback loops for your actions are simply not there. There’s not much to check in on a metric that hasn’t moved and, you know, won’t move for months. 0-1 efforts require more pragmatic Output or even Input metrics to measure your progress. Let’s look at an example: An analytics software wants to offer split testing functionality to increase the share of wallet and time spent with existing customers. The outcome to aim for would be the number of started or completed split tests by existing customers. But that metric would only begin to be measurable once the functionality is rolled out to a significant number of customers​—it’s lagging​ to help the team working on this initiative see if they’re on track. The team has to derive influenceable goals throughout the different stages of getting there. ​ Did you enjoy this one or have feedback? Do reply. It's motivating. I'm not a robot; I read and respond to every subscriber email I get (ask around). If this newsletter isn't for you anymore, you can unsubscribe here. Thank you for Practicing Product, ​Tim​ Join my In-Person Workshops in BerlinI'm excited to bring my beloved in-person workshops back to Berlin in January 2025. You can choose between 1-day workshops on Product Strategy, Product OKRs, or Product Discovery OR get the full 3-day experience for you or your team.
(early bird pricing is available until Sep 21) What did you think of this week's newsletter? As a Product Management Coach, I guide Product Teams to measure the real progress of their evidence-informed decisions. I focus on better practices to connect the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery. |
Product Practice Newsletter
1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes.
Product Practice #358 Why your Users don't careabout your Product Strategy READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Apr 11, 2025 READING TIME 3 min & 24 sec Dear Reader, One of the most powerful ways to spot and stop Alibi Progress is to start treating our practices like products. This means clearly defining three elements: Audience: For whom is this practice meant? Problem: What core problem does this practice aim to solve? Success: How would we know this practice has delivered value? The question then...
Product Practice #357 B2B vs. B2C Product Strategy READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Apr 4, 2025 READING TIME 3 min & 30 sec Dear Reader, When I switched from B2C to B2B product management, I had to unlearn many tactical approaches - but the strategic fundamentals remained surprisingly consistent. The truth is that B2B and B2C product strategies share core patterns while differing primarily in execution. Key Similarities 1. Blended Audience Considerations Even dedicated B2C companies must consider...
Product Practice #356 4 Opportunities to Layer AI into Your Product Discovery Activities READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED Mar 28, 2025 READING TIME 4 min & 32 sec Dear Reader, To use AI to shorten your lead time and reduce uncertainty, consider it a layer to supercharge your existing workflow. Instead of generating with AI, think about supercharging with AI. Here are four common Product Discovery activities where thoughtful AI integration can dramatically reduce uncertainty without sacrificing...