Unorthodox PM tips: Automating user insights, unselling candidates, decision logs, more | Kevin Yien

Documenting the rationale behind each product decision is an exciting idea. I worked with several companies where the FLS process (Fail, Learn, Succeed) was taken quite seriously but only used when you fail. Doing that kind of analysis on 100% of decisions might be a great way to improve product sense. Curious to hear from other PMs who have already tried it!

I enjoyed this so much. Comments that particularly resonate...

1. Most people underinvest in design - I've had to become so good at briefing in designers so I protect and maximise their skills and time.  
2. Automate user research using smart tools - so many fall in love with just one (often time consuming) way to do this rather than evolve and automate research. 
3. The importance of autobiographies and human behaviour books. To "The Courage to be Disliked" I'd add "How We Learn" by Benedict Carey.
4. You define your 100% not others.

Thanks Lenny and Kevin.

A great episode. Loved the wisdom around writing more, setting constraints and building decision making via decision logs. Thanks, Kevin!

Beautiful episode. Thanks for bringing him on the pod, Lenny.

I like how Kevin is precise and clear with his words. Great episode.

This man’s PM Buddha

Agree...but not just for product , I do this for design, engineering and business decisions. Insightful prodcast thanks Lenny and Kevin😊

Is the book mentioned by Lenny, "Several short sentences about writing" written by Verlyn Klinkenborg?

Good pm’s making a difference is often a joke. If the organization doesn’t empower people such as happens all over the place, you’re just a fancy admin. And by the way execs give you direction, so your degrees of freedom are pretty limited anyhow. Also the idea of saying to yourself that you’re world class? We’re not playing championship tennis here. I think most people with the PM title would settle for professional and competent.

Wow I enjoyed this so much. I cannot believe it only has 200 likes. This deserves so much more. Subscribed and ALL notifications on.

I really loved the decision log bit. Just had a botched feature launch and i think maintaining this decision ,log would have really helped

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!💡

Why is jobs to be done becoming a loaded term? Could someone educate me, pls?

Great episode, Kevin is a PM powerhouse!

What an insightful and delightful talk. To have such an empathetic PM working with you is a blessing. Thank you a lot Kevin for such an honest and genuine story telling and Lenny for getting him on the show. WOW. Every line was thoughtful. I also wish I had known him earlier too. Please post more often on the traditional platforms. \m/

100% agree that a good PM needs the right environment and company to succeed. Super relevant observation from a PM leader!

this channel is pure gold. keep going mate

Lenny: Another amazing episode. I can see why you named the episode "Unorthodox PM Tips." So many golden nuggets that aren't commonly followed in the conventional world. I loved everything he said about decision logging, the unsell email, the art of automating user research, and so much more.

Thank you so much, Kevin, for these insights—especially for sharing your failure story. As someone who came to the States to pivot from engineering to product management and has found this market challenging to break into, this advice is exactly what I needed to hear to keep moving forward.

Most underrated episode on Lenny's. One day this will blow up. What an amazing session. "Be kind :)"

Hey Lenny, it would be amazing if you could get folks who come from non-technical backgrounds (such as traditional business or strategy roles!). Loved the episode, I have taken down so many notes :D