{"id":20228,"date":"2019-04-29T18:42:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T17:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?post_type=intercom-podcast&p=20228"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T11:35:39","slug":"intercom-on-product-ep01","status":"publish","type":"intercom-podcast","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/podcasts\/intercom-on-product-ep01\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Intercom on Product, our brand new podcast series"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this podcast, I’m going to be getting\u00a0behind the mic regularly with Paul Adams<\/a>, our SVP of Product, to share our latest thoughts on how to build a great product.\u00a0Over the time we have worked together, Paul and I have had countless conversations about things like how to run a product org at scale<\/a>, how to balance customer feedback on your product roadmap<\/a>, how to spread a product-first<\/a> mentality throughout a company, how to maintain design excellence<\/a> in a fast growing R&D team, and so much more.<\/p>\n

“If you\u2019re a designer, product manager, engineer, researcher or anything in between, we think you\u2019ll find these conversations really valuable”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this series, we’re going to begin sharing some of these discussions with you on a regular basis, covering everything from industry trends, what’s hot right now, all the way through to things like how we’re embracing the rise of automation<\/a>. So if you’re a designer, product manager, engineer, researcher or anything in between, we think you’ll find these conversations really valuable.<\/p>\n

You can listen to our full conversation above, or read a quick summary of our conversation below.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy the conversation and don\u2019t want to miss the rest of the series, you can subscribe on iTunes<\/a>\u00a0or Google Podcasts<\/a>, stream on\u00a0 Spotify<\/a> or Stitcher<\/a>, or you can grab the RSS feed<\/a> in your player of choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why a “quality bar” is actually a “quality zone”<\/h2>\n

Every business has a challenge in front of them \u2013 to create the best product they\u2019re capable of making. As part of this process, product managers, designers and engineers inevitably must ask themselves: Does the work meet our standards? Is it good enough to ship?<\/p>\n

“We operate within a ‘zone’ which acknowledges that there\u2019s a scale of acceptability in product quality”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At Intercom, we’ve begun to reject the notion of a quality \u201cbar\u201d (which implies a single line between acceptable and unacceptable). Instead, we operate within a \u201czone,\u201d which acknowledges that there\u2019s a scale of acceptability in product quality, depending on the circumstances. That allows us to be smarter about where we\u2019re committing our effort.<\/p>\n

Pattern libraries set your standards<\/h2>\n

One way to mitigate the tension between high standards and limited bandwidth is to create a pattern library for product designs<\/a>. This allows a minimum viable standard at scale \u2013 which can then be even further improved upon depending on the importance of the feature.<\/p>\n

Don’t mistake output for outcome<\/h2>\n

Many companies mistake output for outcome. It\u2019s natural for the day you ship to be a celebratory one. Your team\u2019s hard work has finally come to fruition, and there\u2019s elation and relief at getting the project over the line.<\/p>\n

But in reality, launch day tells you very little about whether the product or feature is a success. That only becomes clear over time.<\/p>\n

Have a conversation with the market<\/h2>\n

In order to get clarity around that success, you often have to look beyond two-dimensional metrics and work harder to understand to your customers. Through qualitative (not quantitative) feedback, they\u2019ll reveal what\u2019s truly valuable to them.<\/p>\n

“A\u00a0product is effectively a conversation with the market, and your launch is like your opening gambit”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Marc Andreessen<\/a> put it recently, a product is effectively a conversation with the market, and your launch is like your opening gambit. The conversation only gets going after the market replies, and that\u2019s when it comes down to whether you\u2019re a good conversationalist.<\/p>\n

Humility is key to improving your product<\/h2>\n

In this paradigm of being a good listener and conversationalist, it\u2019s essential to maintain humility.<\/p>\n

Ego is one of the biggest threats to improving a product, so your company must create a safe space for anyone at any level of the organization to raise their hand and say, \u201cWe got that wrong; we\u2019re going to try again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to our brand new podcast series, Intercom on Product, where Intercom co-founder Des Traynor and Intercom SVP of Product Paul Adams discuss their latest thoughts on how to build successful products<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20498,"template":"","category":[5],"tags":[16234,547,153,16235],"show-category":[25328],"coauthors":[348],"class_list":["post-20228","intercom-podcast","type-intercom-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-and-design","tag-intercom-on-product","tag-product","tag-product-design","tag-rd","show-category-intercom-on-product"],"yoast_head":"\nIntroducing Intercom on Product, our brand new podcast series<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Join Intercom co-founder Des Traynor and SVP of Product Paul Adams as they kick off a brand new podcast series diving into all things product\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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