Shreyas Doshi on pre-mortems, the LNO framework, the three levels of product work, why most execution problems are strategy problems, and ROI vs. opportunity cost thinking

Shreyas Doshi is a treasure trove of knowledge and tactical insights on product, strategy, psychology, leadership, and life. Over the course of his career, he’s PM’d at Google, Twitter, Yahoo, and Stripe, where he joined as its fourth product manager, later becoming Stripe’s first PM manager and helping define and grow its product management function (from ~5 to more than 50 people). Since leaving Stripe, Shreyas has amassed a huge Twitter following in large part thanks to consistent sharing of high-quality insights on the art of product management.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/shreyas-doshi-on-pre-mortems-the-lno-framework-the-three-levels-of-product-work-why-most-executio/#transcript

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In this episode, we’ll explore five big ideas from Shreyas Doshi:

1) How to predict and prevent problems with pre-mortems

• How did pre-mortem meetings impact the culture at Stripe?

• What are the best practices in running a pre-mortem meeting?

2) How to prioritize your time with the LNO framework

• What is the LNO framework? How did it change the way Shreyas went about his day?

• What is the two-step tactic you can apply to overcome procrastination on important tasks? 

3) The three levels of product work

• What are the three levels of product work? Which level should you optimize for?

• How might these product work levels cause conflict or influence your company culture?

4) Most execution problems are not really execution problems 

• What are the common types of problems hiding behind the execution label? 

• What are the two traits you need to identify a fake execution problem?

5) Why ROI thinking is detrimental to product planning

• What is the pitfall of ROI thinking?

• What is opportunity-cost thinking and how can you apply it?

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References:

• Coda template: https://coda.io/@shreyas/pre-mortems-how-a-stripe-product-manager-predicts-prevents-probl

• Pre-mortems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1221257568510603264

• LNO framework: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1492345184171945984

• Three levels of product work: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1370248637842812936

• Execution problems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1427116991274307588

• Opportunity-cost thinking: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1409726218438549514

• High agency: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1276956836856393728

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Where to find Shreyas:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shreyas

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyasdoshi/

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Our amazing sponsors:

1. Coda: https://coda.io/lenny

2. Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/

3. Sprig: https://sprig.com/lenny