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7 Standout Moments From Mind the Product SF 2017

In April, we posted this list of conferences. Since then, I’ve been asked dozens of times what my favorite product conference is.

There are a lot of great product events, but for my money, none are better than Mind the Product. It’s the only product conference where I feel confident that the content will push my thinking and that there will be a number of great parties. That’s a fun combination.

Here are my highlights from Mind the Product SF:

1. My workshop attendees were fantastic!

Students in the Continuous Discovery Habits workshop learning how to create rapid prototypes.
Students in the Continuous Discovery Habits workshop learning how to create rapid prototypes.

I had 25 people in my Continuous Product Discovery Habits workshop. They learned how to collect stories in interviews, do rapid prototyping (they built several in the workshop), and because one of the participants asked for it (!), we spent some time learning about my opportunity solution tree. The feedback was great and I left encouraged to highlight the opportunity solution tree in my upcoming Mind the Product London talk.

2. Aparna highlights that machine learning will allow computers to adapt to humans.

Computers adapt to humans. Instead of humans adapting to computers.
A simple insight that should drive innovation in human computer interfaces.

I love the way Aparna Chennapragada, Product Director at Google, framed one of the benefits of machine learning as computers being able to adapt to humans rather than humans having to adapt to computers. This is such a simple insight and it’s what many of us aim to do when we develop products, but I lit up when I saw her slide as I started to imagine a world where this was really true (not just "kind of sort of, okay not really" true). That’s awesome.

“With machine learning, computers will adapt to humans, rather than humans having to adapt to computers.” - Tweet This

3. Nate encourages us to focus on knowledge transfer.

We meet every Monday morning to share our knowledge.
Nate encourages us to focus on knowledge transfer.

I love that Nate Walkingshaw, CXO at Pluralsight, deliberately focuses on knowledge transfer across his team. So many teams underestimate this. I believe deep knowledge about our customers is the best competitive advantage we have and it’s critical to do the work to share this knowledge across our teams.

"Customer knowledge is a competitive advantage. How are you sharing it across your teams?” - Tweet This

4. Josh tells us how to detect if our users are really using our products.

Your core users are your best users. Core users come directly to your service, they return often, and they share your service with others.
Josh provides simple metrics for understanding the behavior of your core users.
Understand activation buckets. How do new users become core users, casual users, or cold users?
Josh takes a systems view to activating core users.

Josh Elman, Partner at Greylock, excels at presenting simple metrics models that get at the truth. Be sure to watch this video when it comes out. In the meantime, scrutinize the two slides above.

“Are your users really using your product? Track core users to find out.” - Tweet This

5. Janice shows why intrapreneurship is legitimately hard AND we can do better.

Power Move: Reward learning, not certainty. Ask, don't tell. What did you learn? What's your evidence? Based on that learning, what's your next move?
Janice advises us on how we as product leaders can encourage intrapreneurship in our organizations.

This was my favorite talk of the day. Janice Fraser, SVP at Bionic Solutions, talked about intrapreneurship in big companies, what works, what doesn’t, and most importantly what each of us can do to help move the organization forward regardless of where we sit in the organization. The slide above is her advice to leaders on how to manage teams in an uncertain world. I’ll be sending this video to all of my clients as soon as it is available.

“Reward learning, not certainty. Ask, don’t tell.” - Tweet This

6. Janna argues your roadmap is a prototype for your strategy.

Your roadmap is a prototype for your strategy.
Janna drops a brilliant insight.

I hate that roadmaps typically present a certain view of the future. Repeat after me: There is nothing certain about the future. Nothing. So I loved this framing of roadmaps as strategy prototypes by Janna Bastow, CEO & Co-Founder of ProdPad.

“Your roadmap is a prototype for your strategy.” - Tweet This

7. Caitlin Kalinowski shares a thing or two about prototyping.

Graph depicting the up-and-to-the right trend of prototype attempts that lead to a solution vs. the flatlining trend of prototype attempts that lead to needing to reset and question your assumptions.
Caitlin visualizes the experience of getting there vs. getting stuck when prototyping.
Caitlin's prototyping tips: Define your non-negotiables. Let the product drive your style. Solve the hardest problems first. Build ugly prototypes. Converge quickly or reset. Iterate like crazy.
Caitlin shares a helpful list of prototyping tips.

Speaking of prototypes, Caitlin Kalinowski, Head of Product Design Engineering at Oculus, quickly dropped a lot of prototyping knowledge. I love her visual depiction of the decision to keep investing vs. resetting (the first slide) and she walked through a great list of prototyping tips (second slide).

“Solve the hardest problem first. Iterate like crazy.” - Tweet This

And finally, I’ll note that I absolutely loved that the vast majority of the day was about product discovery. Don’t get me wrong, delivery matters. Without it, we’d have no products. But for most of us, the hard problems we face are in discovery and we’ve neglected this area for far too long.

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