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Without design systems, your product is already failing

Product Management

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Louron serves as the Editor at Mind the Product, bringing nearly a decade of experience in editorial positions across business and technology publications. For any editorial inquiries, you can connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Louron Pratt

Dear Santa,
It’s me again – your favourite product manager! You haven&#8217;t from me in a while. The past few years have been&#8230;.interesting, but all is well. I am writing to let you know that I’ve been very good this year. I have been completely focused on my users, talking to them regularly and not pretending that I am them. I have made a concerted effort to be data-informed over data-driven, and have been focused on outcomes over outputs. All. Year. Round.
Of course, we can’t forget that time earlier in the year when I ended up overengineering my product by making features too complex for our users, but that’s all water under the bridge….if you’re not winning, you’re learning…am I right or am I right?!
So in the hope that I have done enough to find my name on the Nice List, here is my wish list for this Christmas:
<ol>
<li>Knowing when my <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/how-to-write-okrs-that-dont-suck-by-adrian-howard/">OKRs don’t suck</a>, this year I’ve fallen into the trap of cargo-cult OKRs, where I’ve expected the rituals to solve their problems while losing sight of my thinking. Anything to understand how to use them well would be GREAT.</li>
<li>A lesson in <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/effective-communication-with-software-engineers/">communication with Software Engineers</a>. Like me, engineers need long periods of uninterrupted work to be effective. I don’t know when to interrupt them, and whether it’s worth small talking about the weather. Sometimes I would love to have a step-by-step guide on what to do more of, and what to avoid.</li>
<li>Understand what product manager role best works for me. As much as I’ve loved seeing the role grow, when I go to a talk or event with so many different types of product managers around, I see myself regurgitating a similar question “what exactly is it, that you do?” it would be desirable for you to expand on <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-rise-of-product-ops-independent-function/">product operations</a> is as well. Thanks in advance…</li>
<li>For my sanity, please provide me with a list of measuring the right metrics. For Christmas I’d like to know what to measure to build successful products, I want to be efficient with my data and not be overloaded with spreadsheets. Please help me to keep things <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/hicks-law-keep-it-simple-and-straightforward/">simple and straightforward.</a></li>
<li>And finally on my list (as it always is…) is to master <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/sunday-rewind-just-say-no-hard-decisions-in-product-management/">the art of saying no</a>. This might be a big ask, but even when I want to say no, I somehow end up saying yes? Teach me the ways of the no’s. Feel free to say no to this request though…</li>
</ol>
I haven’t got around to finding the best stocking yet, it’s somewhere on my to-do list. But I promise it will be in the same place as always, next to the whiteboard and on top of my pile of sticky notes. I have the finest milk and cookies on arrival. Looking forward to seeing what Christmas brings!
Merry Christmas!
Sincerely,
Overstretched Product Manager

core/freeform

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Growth as a Product Person

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas this year…

ProductTank Austin

ProductTank Norwich

ProductTank Des Moines

ProductTank San Francisco

ProductTank Helsinki

ProductTank Riga

ProductTank Edinburgh

ProductTank Reading

ProductTank Brighton

ProductTank Montevideo

ProductTank Reston

ProductTank Vienna

ProductTank Buenos Aires

ProductTank Córdoba

ProductTank Curitiba

ProductTank Santiago

ProductTank Bielefeld

ProductTank London

ProductTank Charleston

ProductTank Bogotá

ProductTank Newcastle Upon Tyne

ProductTank Birmingham

ProductTank Raleigh

ProductTank Washington

ProductTank Atlanta

ProductTank Tokyo

ProductTank Cardiff

ProductTank Ahmedabad

ProductTank Braunschweig

ProductTank Columbus

ProductTank Dallas

ProductTank Montréal

ProductTank Seattle

ProductTank Köln

ProductTank Chicago

ProductTank Malmö

ProductTank Canberra

ProductTank Belfast

ProductTank Porto

ProductTank Auckland

ProductTank Perth

ProductTank Charlotte

ProductTank Richmond

ProductTank Paris

ProductTank Manchester

ProductTank Madrid

ProductTank Los Angeles

ProductTank Pittsburgh

ProductTank Zürich

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas this year…

Louron Pratt

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