The folks over at ProductBoard just published a great ebook on product excellence. It features in-the-field wisdom from over 20 product leaders, like Hiten Shah, Alex Osterwalder, Ash Maurya, John Cutler, Bruce McCarthy, and many more. Honored to be included, I wrote a chapter on one of my favorite topics: rollout strategies called "Be bold, … Continue reading Be bold, ship gradually! A chapter in Product Excellence
Author: Kurt Heinrich
How the ‘new Gmail’ rolled out in just 90 days!
You may have noticed the new Gmail that launched recently. The update touts letting users “do more without leaving your inbox.” It brings a new, fresher look while at the same time bringing over the best functionality (like snoozing and attachment previews) from Inbox, Google’s sister email product. Rolling changes out like these is no … Continue reading How the ‘new Gmail’ rolled out in just 90 days!
My homescreen (August 2018)
I read Jeff Hilimire's blog and one thing that I find really interesting that he posts about is his phone's homescreen. Why? Looking at one's homescreen says a lot about them. It's a window into their priorities and how they organize their life (or not). We have different ways of organizing our homescreens. He uses … Continue reading My homescreen (August 2018)
Dear Slack: Where’s vacation mode?
Dear Slack, It's 2018 and there is still no easy way to disable Slack notifications while on vacation. The workarounds are not adequate and it's been over 3 years since you first said that a vacation mode was in the works. What gives? https://twitter.com/SlackHQ/status/639582799922634752 WorkaroundsWe use Slack at my work and most people that I … Continue reading Dear Slack: Where’s vacation mode?
Notifications are distracting! This is how I manage them.
I got the idea for this post after going on a work trip recently to a conference. A co-worker sat down next to me and placed their phone face up in their lap. It was on silent and they were paying attention to the speaker, but every few minutes the screen would flicker on and … Continue reading Notifications are distracting! This is how I manage them.
Book: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
I recently finished reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. As an entrepreneur and person that builds products for a living, I found his story highly fascinating. Most people know Steve Jobs for the products he created at Apple and his prickly personality. However, there is much more to his story than that. As a … Continue reading Book: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
A great vision is informed by customers
Vision. Every great product needs it. CEOs and product managers are expected to have it. But where does vision come from? A gut feeling Perhaps it's just intuition. That spidey-sense of knowing exactly what to build next. Steve Jobs was probably the master of intuition. He had a knack for turning out successful product, … Continue reading A great vision is informed by customers
Happy users can ‘dislike’ your product too
One of the things I think Google does a great job at is asking for feedback on their products. I came across a recent example of this when booking a flight through Google Flights, which went through an overhaul earlier this year. After searching for a flight and staying on the page for 10 seconds, … Continue reading Happy users can ‘dislike’ your product too
How do you get your news?
Ten years ago, I was a huge user of RSS. I loved the simplicity of it and ability to follow topics that interested me. My preferred reader was Google Reader, whereby I could simply add a URL of a site that I wanted to follow and subscribe to updates in close to real-time. Since I … Continue reading How do you get your news?
Why greyhounds?
When I think back, it's hard to pinpoint what exactly got me interested in the breed. I neither had greyhounds growing up nor knew anyone who did. The only thing that really stands out in my memory is in 2011 when I saw the movie 50/50. The main character's girlfriend surprises him with a greyhound … Continue reading Why greyhounds?