Kassen Qian

The biggest risk is building the wrong product - a product that doesn’t delight our users, or doesn’t improve success metrics such as user acquisition, user retention, etc. We call this “product risk". The 4-stage model helps us drive down risk and get products out the door quickly.

In particular, not all software is a Web app ... We discount the volume of, for instance, embedded systems and one-off infrastructure.

You’re a super user: Eat your own dog food and talk to people who do too.

Features work as a management control because they manifest in the final product, and their relationship to programmer-hours is about as close to linear as you’re going to get.

Cross-functional teams: people can work on different parts of a system in parallel.

Ownership: I can give you a problem statement, but you’re the one who determines what your job is. You don’t get driven around by the team; you figure out what the team needs, and you deliver that.

4. Don't Confuse Micromanagement with Miscommunication: Contextualize why it needs to be done in the first place.

Kwan's Hierarchy of Product Needs: