1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes. Explore my new book on realprogressbook.com
🛠️ How Product Teams Use Decision Trees to Make Better Choices
Four Decision Tree Frameworks Product Managers Need to Know​Dear Reader,​ As a highly visual thinker, decision trees are one of my favorite ways to support product teams in making real progress and bringing structure to my thinking. Today, I want to share four of my favorite tree structures and use an outside-in view on Eventbrite to illustrate their usage. MECE TreesThe MECE tree structure, invented by legendary McKinsey consultant Barbara Minto, helps product teams break down problems into non-overlapping (Mutually Exclusive) and comprehensive categories (Collectively Exhausting). For example, when Eventbrite’s event creator success tanks, they might separate barriers into platform usage, business success, and support—ensuring no overlap and gaps in their analysis. Metrics Trees​Metrics Trees evolve MECE thinking into trackable metrics, progressing from lagging to leading indicators as you move down the tree. If you have the data, metrics trees can be set up in an algorithmic way. But even if you lack quantitative insights, creating a narrative-driven metrics tree will help you uncover measurement gaps. And while MECE is an excellent ambition for your metrics trees, don’t stress about it. Sometimes, a lower-level metric will link to more than one metric–and that’s ok. At Eventbrite, the tree might start with a lagging metric like quarterly creator revenue, break down into ticket sales performance, and further branch into leading indicators like event creation completion rates that predict future success. Opportunity Solution Trees​Opportunity Solution Trees bridge metrics and solutions. While Metrics Trees tell you what to measure, OSTs guide you on what to build. At Eventbrite, this means connecting creator success metrics to concrete opportunities (like simplifying event creation) and potential solutions (such as intelligent templates). Impact MapsSimilar to OSTs, Impact Maps help teams navigate the connection of problem and solution spaces by connecting high-level business goals to specific solutions and experiments–Highlighting where teams lack evidence to make decisions. Starting with a clear goal (increase creator success by 25%), Eventbrite’s product team might identify key actors (first-time vs. recurring creators), identify needed behavior changes through research, and outline solutions to test. If you have ever benefited from my content, I'd appreciate it if you would share​ this newsletter on LinkedIn. It truly helps. 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.
(reach out for custom team quotes) 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. Explore my new book on realprogressbook.com
Product Practice #408 How to Spot and StopDiscovery Slop PUBLISHED May 15, 2026 READ ON HERBIG.CO From Strategy to Derisked Assumptions Workshop Make clear strategy choices, translate them into leading product goals, and understand needed Discovery actions before deciding what to build (with and without AI Assistance). Next 3x 4h Workshop Cohort: Jun 15/16/17 Claim your Free Spot Dear Reader, The first time I heard Julia mention the idea of Discovery slop, I knew she was onto...
Product Practice #407 Your Goal Depends on Another Team — Now What? PUBLISHED May 7, 2026 READ ON HERBIG.CO Dear Reader, Your Key Result says to "Improve Conversion Rate by 7%," but you only control on-site search. You want to drive customer retention, but the marketing team is focused on new acquisition. Most teams respond in one of two ways: they water down the goal until it fits their scope (and lose the ambition), or they keep the big goal and quietly accept they can't move it. Both lead...
Product Practice #406 Why your Company's POV on OKRs matters more than Processes PUBLISHED Apr 30, 2026 READ ON HERBIG.CO Dear Reader, Before I talk with companies about OKR cadences, templates, or tools, I ask them: "What do you expect to change by using OKRs?" The answers take a bit of time. Not because they don't exist, but because OKRs have been treated as a solution without a problem to solve. OKRs haven't been treated as a product, but as a process without purpose. They've chosen a...