Blog

Recognizing and Avoiding Team Burnout

At a startup, you’re always in a battle against time. You’re racing to find product-market fit. You’re sprinting to grow revenue ahead of a new fundraising round. You’re hustling to launch new features and deliver value to your customers faster than any of your competitors. Unsurprisingly, the nature of startups and, more specifically, the development teams at those startups very often leads to burnout.  Over the 4 startups I’ve worked at, I’ve seen burn-out at Read more…

By Alex Mitchell, ago

Why Product Managers Need Continuous Research

For anyone who’s ever been a Product Manager, I don’t need to tell you that it’s a busy, noisy, challenging, mile-a-minute, exciting, and often, pretty stressful job.  You’re trying to balance long-term strategic vision with short-term deadlines. You’re trying to ship value to users and drive outcomes for your company while keeping your team focused, informed, and not overwhelmed. In this difficult environment, many junior (and often senior) Product Managers often leave user research behind Read more…

By Alex Mitchell, ago

So You’re Returning to Work… The Do’s and Don’ts of a Hybrid World

More than 1 year ago, I wrote: “How to Be a Great Remote Product Manager.” Little did I know that we’d be living in a remote-only world for more than a year! How to Be a Great *Remote* Product ManagerIt’s easier than ever today to go remote in tech. But it takes serious effort to be a Great Remote Product Manager…blog.usejournal.com But, things are changing again and they are changing FAST!  As of 4/24/21, more Read more…

By Alex Mitchell, ago

Top 10 Middle East Startups to Watch in 2021

There were certainly a lot of ups and downs in 2020 to stay the least. A LOT of things changed around the world. Many businesses failed, but some startups thrived. I’m excited to write about many of the incredibly impressive startups in the Middle East and North Africa that you need to watch in 2021. These startups not only survived the pandemic but thrived in it, managing to grow incredibly quickly by meeting and exceeding Read more…

By Alex Mitchell, ago

Don’t Be a One-Man Wolfpack: Building Rapport with Your Designers and Engineers

Starting out as a Product Manager, there will be a lot to soak in. It might be daunting. It might be nerve-wracking. But you probably didn’t break into PM thinking that it’s easy (at least I hope you didn’t). It would have been far better to have found at least some kind of alignment with your role, your team, and your company. What were all those interviews for? That’s the beauty of onboarding. Jumping into the Read more…

By Karen Kim, ago

What Makes Notion So Effective?

Notion is an all-in-one workspace. It allows you to take notes, manage projects and other tasks. There are many products that offer these functionalities individually. But none of them offers everything in one place. Before using Notion, My go-to apps were Evernote & Google Docs for taking notes, Google Keep for to-do lists, and Trello for project management. My search for an all in one app came to an end with Notion. Why is Notion one of my Read more…

By Mahadeep Ray, ago

Top 10 Podcasts for Product Managers in 2021

For the past 4 years, I’ve written about my favorite Product podcasts and it’s already that magical time of year again! For a quick throwback, here are my past posts: Top 10 Podcasts for Product Managers in 2020Subscribe to these podcasts and you’ll stay entertained all year long (and learn a thing or two!) Author: Alex Mitchellblog.usejournal.com Top 10 Podcasts for Product Managers in 2019Get a jump on 2019 with these great podcasts! — Author: Alex Mitchellmedium.com Read more…

By Alex Mitchell, ago

Top 10 Israeli Startups to Watch in 2021

2020 was a year of many, many, many ups and downs (2021 has proven to be full of changes so far as well). A LOT changed around the world. Many businesses failed in the past year, but some startups thrived. I’m excited to write about many of the incredibly impressive startups in Israel that you need to watch in 2021. These startups not only survived the pandemic but thrived in it, managing to grow incredibly quickly Read more…

By Alex Mitchell, ago

How Video Games Built Modern Product Thinking

An American online game platform geared towards kids has been valued at nearly $30 billion, more than seven times the $4 billion it was valued at in its Series G round 11 months ago. Now, Roblox is joining the likes of Slack and Spotify by announcing to go public by a direct listing in lieu of an IPO. For context, Roblox is currently valued at the same level as Spotify when the latter went public in 2018 shares. Furthermore, Read more…

By Karen Kim, ago