Melissa Perri

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What I Wish I Knew Before Writing a Book

Melissa Perri

Since publishing my second book, Product Operations, in October, I’ve been reflecting on what I learned writing two business books and wanted to share those insights that I wish someone had shared with me before I started. Escaping the Build Trap has sold over 75,000 copies in 5 years, and my second book Product Operations came out just a few months ago.

Books 197
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Are We Getting Rid of Product Managers?

Melissa Perri

A few weeks ago, Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, said they were “getting rid fo Product Managers”. Which created an insane swirl in the community. He later clarified and said it was not going away, but morphing this into a more business related role, rather than purely tech. I don't think this is a bad thing. Product Management has always firmly sat between business, tech, and the user/customer.

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A Decade of Product Management

Melissa Perri

I've been reflecting on the last decade in Product Management. We've come a long way but we still have far to go. These are a few of my observations and personal experiences. Not every company has seen all these changes, but by and large I think it's been a positive push forward and I'm proud of where we've come from and where we have gotten to. -- 2014: "I do not need Product Managers, I can run my company myself,I have the strategy." 2019: "How do I hire a Chief Product Officer?

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Prioritization Shouldn't Be Hard

Melissa Perri

A while ago, I was interviewing a VP of Product candidate for a client. They were on the case study portion of the interview, where they had to prioritize major initiatives for the company. We explained that the objective wasn’t to get the prioritization completely right, and it was more for us to understand their thought process. They had access to any people or any data they needed from the company.

Framework 293
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Product Operations: The Fuel for Winning Product Strategies

Melissa Perri

46.8% of product decision makers cite lack of quality data as the main challenge they make when making decisions and only 21.9% always or almost always use data to back decisions. Source: How Decisions Are Made by Alpha Everybody in Product has subscribed to the importance of data as a driver of high quality decision-making by now. But tragically few are able to do it. ??

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Introducing the CPO Accelerator

Melissa Perri

I’m very excited to announce a new division of Produx Labs , specifically focused on growing future Chief Product Officers for growth stage companies. In late March of 2018, Shelley Perry of Insight Venture Partners reached out to me about an opportunity. When she asked me what I was passionate about, I said developing great product leaders. Little did I know that would soon become a reality.

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Podcast: How to Think Like a Product Manager

Melissa Perri

I was very excited to be on Roadmunk's podcast talking about Product Institute and how we teach Product Managers to think. The key takeaway is: it's not a linear process. Product Management involves a lot of assessing and analyzing before acting. Every project surrounding the improvement or creation of a product or feature will look different. Good Product Managers know how to evaluate where they are, then choose the right tools and processes to act.