Agility, Autonomy, and AI’s Next Moves

The Best Product Management Reads for Thursday 2/13

The future isn’t built on frameworks — it’s shaped by those who adapt.

AI is rewriting the rules of productivity. Agile is evolving beyond dogma. Leadership is tested in moments of crisis.

This week, we break down the forces actually driving impact — autonomy, aggregation, and the power of asking the right questions. Let’s dive in.

If you enjoy this round-up, please consider subscribing to The Product Brief here. You’ll get the best curated reads and actionable tactics to help you build better products every weekday.

Foundations

What Happened to Agile? | Untrapping Product Teams

• Agile demands adaptation, not rigid adherence to frameworks, prioritizing context-specific practices over mere rule-following.
• AI is set to significantly expand possibilities in product development, offering new opportunities for teams embracing it.
• The PMI and Agile Alliance merger is expected to enhance collaboration and value creation in the Agile community.

Actionable takeaway: Focus on leveraging AI advancements and tailored Agile practices to enhance team innovation and productivity.

How To Communicate What Really Matters In Leadership Interviews | The Uncommon Executive

• Candidates often fail to communicate ‘what matters,’ hindering hiring success despite relevant experience and good interviews.
• Asking insightful questions is crucial to uncovering real challenges the role aims to solve, thus better aligning oneself with job expectations.
• Understanding individual interviewers’ priorities allows candidates to showcase relevant experiences tailored to decision-maker demands.

Actionable takeaway: Focus on asking strategic questions that reveal core job requirements to better tailor your interview responses.

Leadership at Gunpoint | Hypergrowth Leadership

• Leaders stay calm and control emotions to prevent panic from spreading during crises.
• Emphasizing potential positive outcomes can foster resilience and better decision-making.
• Leadership is about action and mindset, not just titles, especially in challenging times.

Actionable takeaway: Cultivate emotional control and a positive outlook to lead effectively during uncertainty.

AI

Master Your Time and Productivity | Ness Labs

• Existing time management tools often overwhelm users with task overload from managing multiple apps and calendars separately.
• Morgen offers a unified approach, integrating personal, work, and project tasks into one cohesive platform to help users prioritize effectively.
• The app features AI-powered planning, time templates, and intuitive task filters for improved productivity management.

Actionable takeaway: Consider using a unified platform like Morgen to enhance productivity by integrating all your various scheduling tools into a single view for better prioritization and control.

YouTube’s vision for 2025, Figma’s new API and Google’s secret AI mode | Department of Product

• YouTube plans AI features leveraging Google’s Veo 2 models and age verification by 2025, with TV now surpassing mobile for viewing in the US.
• Figma’s new Library Analytics API aids teams struggling with design component adoption.
• Google tests a new ‘AI Mode’ in search, enhancing AI-driven user experiences.

Actionable takeaway: Explore new AI integration opportunities to enhance product functionality and user engagement.

Privacy, Psychology, and the Power of Personal Data | Remarkable People

• Casual digital activities create a map of our personalities, highlighting emotional states through data like pronoun usage.
• Digital data permanence presents significant risks for future privacy and freedom.
• Current data could become a future liability due to its potential uses beyond our imagination.

Actionable takeaway: Implement strategies to minimize digital footprint and proactively manage personal data privacy.

Strategy

TBM 340: Path to $ | The Beautiful Mess

• Teams vary in their alignment to customer impact, independence, and stability influencing ROI discussions.
• Successful startups often operate in a flexible, adaptive manner, contrary to traditional project-focused models.
• Dependencies in team structures suggest a need for better discovery and potentially evolving team dynamics.

Actionable takeaway: Identify and adjust team structures based on proximity to impact, independence, and stability to optimize ROI and agility.

An Interview with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi About Aggregation and Autonomy | Stratechery

• Dara Khosrowshahi took over as Uber CEO amid company struggles, helping stabilize the business and expand Eats and delivery services.
• Uber’s abandonment of its self-driving car program was strategic, focusing on leveraging its aggregator strengths versus OEMs.
• Khosrowshahi’s history at Expedia influenced his aggregation strategies at Uber, emphasizing demand marshaling over supply ownership.

Actionable takeaway: Consider leveraging aggregator models for demand management, focusing on digital platforms that streamline services without owning physical assets.

Uber’s Playbook: The Strategy Behind Take Rates and Discounts | Mostly metrics

• Uber combines deep discounts with strategic take rates to gain market share and optimize monetization.
• Dynamic pricing and local benchmarks help manage supply, demand, and pricing stability.
• Discounts and promotions initiate market presence while balancing profitability and driver retention.

Actionable takeaway: Consider using a mix of local benchmarking, dynamic pricing, and strategic discounts to effectively manage market entry and growth.

If you enjoy this round-up, please consider subscribing to The Product Brief here. You’ll get the best curated reads and actionable tactics to help you build better products every weekday.