PM/UX Thought Leader — Michael Sippey
Michael Sippey, VP of Product, Medium.com
Why you should watch this video: He’s an original practitioner of Product Discovery. He’s concise. His advice is timeless and cuts to the core of how Product teams should spend their time and energy. Don’t write the MRD, PRD, Jira, whatever. Talk to customers. Now. Only 13 min long when you watch at 1.5x speed.
What’s unique about this video: He gives specifics that are actionable, valuable and repeatable. For example, he counsels PMs to:
Talk to a customer 1x day
Listen to Support calls 2x week
Go on Sales calls 2x month
My Advice: I did something like this in my final year at PowerReviews.com. We went to LA, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and even more over video. I learned more in that one year about my customers than in my first 9 years there. And I started that company with a few friends. In the beginning, I took my customers for granted. Never again.
Audience: PMs. CEOs. Head of Product.
Noteworthy Slides
“Get in the Van”. He took his whole team to the customer. Not just himself.
The core steps of the discussion he had with each customer.
Don’t write an MRD, PRD, Jira, whatever. Learn together.
Michael Sippey’s mantra. Problems first. I love it.
Jim Morris, Product Discovery Group
Jim coaches Product teams to collaborate with each other and seek customer input early and often during the design and ideation phase.
