Product Management – From Mission to Roadmap

When we are talking about a roadmap in the context of product management, we mean A shared source of truth that outlines the vision, direction, priorities, and progress of a product over time. It’s a plan of action that aligns the organization around short and long-term goals for the product or project and how they will be achieved.

It is an essential tool for product planning and serves as a communication channel between product management and other stakeholders. Product managers need to understand how to create a product roadmap and how to keep it updated, and keeping it updated with reality is the challenging part.

As Mike Tyson said: “Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth.”
Or in other version (popular in the army) – “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
That’s why we must invest in keeping it as close as possible to the changing reality.

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How to record a Demo/Meeting on MacOS

To record a meeting or a demo on a Mac, you can use the built-in QuickTime Player app.

Here’s how:

1. Open the Quicktime Player app from your Applications folder.
QuickTime Player is the default media player for your Mac.
It lets you record audio and video.
You can use Spotlight (cmd+space bar) to open it.

2. In QuickTime Player, choose File > New Screen Recording.
This will open Screenshot and display the tools.

Second order thinking in practice

Some decisions seem like wins at first, but turn out to be losses over time. Second-order thinking is the ability to think about the consequences of one’s actions, and to consider how different courses of action can affect the long-term outcomes. It is a tool that will help you examine the long-term effects of your decisions.
In some cases, try to shift the timelines. Will this decision be impactful in 5 days? 4 weeks? 12 months? 10 years?

By doing this, you are looking at the larger picture and taking a longer-term view.
To do this well, you will need to look at both the direct and indirect consequences of your decisions

Second-order thinking involves taking into account the ripple effect of your decisions and how they can affect the future. It requires you to think beyond the immediate outcomes and consider the future implications of your current choices. This is especially important for business decisions, where a single decision can have lasting implications.

The 2022 Year Summary – Books And Running

In the past few years (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013) I’ve been summarizing the year on sports events (Ironman, running, biking, snowboarding, etc.) and books.

Here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed most in 2022.

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini – I first read it around 2010 or 2011, but early this year, I went back. It is a sad and powerful story of love, friendship, and the enduring human spirit. It is a testament to the resilience and strength of women and a moving depiction of the struggles and triumphs of life in Afghanistan. Yes. You will cry (just like I did).

“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens – A beautifully written and moving story about the power of survival, the resilience of the human spirit, and the enduring mystery of human connection. It is a captivating and heartwarming tale that will stay with readers long after they finish the last page. Yep. There is a Netflix movie that you can watch but like the known phrase, “the book is much better!”

Numbers don’t lie by Vaclav Smil is an exploration of the key global trends shaping the world today and how they will impact the future. Smil, a renowned scientist and author (whom I need to thank Mr. Gates for the intro), examines a wide range of issues, including population growth, economic development, energy, resource use, and environmental change. He uses data and statistical analysis to provide a clear and nuanced view of the key trends shaping the world today and the implications of these trends for the future. Throughout the book, Smil discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by these trends and offers insights on navigating them. He also highlights the importance of addressing these trends in a holistic and integrated way and the need to consider their complex interactions and implications. This is a thought-provoking and engaging book that offers a fresh perspective on the key global trends shaping our world. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding the forces shaping the future and how we can prepare for and address them.

Noise by Daniel Kahneman explores the concept of “noise” in decision-making and how it can lead to flawed judgment and poor outcomes. Kahneman, a Nobel laureate in economics, argues that noise is a pervasive problem in decision-making and can lead to biased and irrational conclusions. He defines noise as random or unpredictable variations in judgment that can distort or obscure the underlying reality. Noise can come from various sources, including individual biases, the influence of emotions, and the complex and uncertain nature of the world. Through examples and case studies, Kahneman demonstrates how noise can lead to flawed judgment and poor outcomes in various contexts, including business, finance, and politics. He also offers practical strategies for reducing noise and improving decision-making, including using statistical analysis and developing more robust decision-making processes. It is a thought-provoking and insightful exploration of the role of noise in decision-making and how it can be addressed to improve judgment and outcomes.

JavaScript Objects 101

The Object type represents one of JavaScript’s data types. It’s important stuff as we will use them—a lot.

It is used to store various keyed collections and more complex entities. Objects can be created using the Object() constructor or the object initializer / literal syntax. Did you know that all modern JavaScript utilities for working with objects are static?

Here is an example of a JavaScript object that contains two names and one key:

let obj = {
  name1: "John",
  name2: "Jane",
  key: "value"
}

How To Learn A New Company?

When you are coming to a new company/team, you want to learn about it.
Usually, you wish to do it quickly because there is (always) pressure to start a be ‘productive.’
There are many cases when the opposite is better for the long term.
You want to take your time and learn more about the WHY without giving your biases a place to run. However, reality forces us to push and try to make things faster/better.

Here is a plan that worked for me in the past.

Crypto 101 and a bit more

What is a blockchain?
Why is cryptocurrency the future of the finance world?
Below you can find a deck I was preparing for a lighting talk at ESGgo.
Since I got some positive feedback on it, I wanted to share it broadly.
Hopefully, you will find it valuable.

RegEx 101

Regular expression or in short Regex is a string of text that lets you create patterns that help match, locate, and manage text. It’s an important tool in a wide variety of computing applications, from programming languages like JS, Java and Perl, to text processing tools like grep, sed, and vim.

Here are a few helpers to refresh your mind when you need some ‘simple’ regex to do the job.