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Product Management

Sunday Rewind: Metrics don’t have all the answers: a human-centered approach to business strategy by Samihah Azim

An Anthropic report on Claude misuse, Intel restructuring and layoffs: This week’s news round-up

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Why great product managers think like therapists

When your product is not THE product by Emily Tate at #mtpcon London 2025

Spotify invests in non-English audiobooks, new product chief at Trainline: This week’s news round-up

What AI can’t—and shouldn’t—do for product managers

How and when to sunset features – Roni Ben Aharon (CPO, Craft.io, Booking.com, Wix)

Ian Haynes is a digital marketing specialist and has successfully deployed over 500 pages of content as a ghostwriter for businesses of all sizes. He believes that for people to truly value your business and perceive it as a brand, your content needs to do much more than just inform, it needs to talk, engage, and convert. Outside of his work, Ian likes exploring Brooklyn with his Labrador.

Ian Haynes

<p>In this ProductTank Sofia talk, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/merissarsilk?originalSubdomain=de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Merissa Silk</a>, Senior Staff Product Manager at Onfido, provides 10 guiding principles when doing product experiments and when bringing the culture of experimentation to your team.</p>
<p>Consistent growth relies on experimentation. It can take different formats in modern organisations, from A/B and multivariate testing to alpha, beta, and hypothesis-driven development. No matter what format or layout you use, you’ll run into hurdles if you’re a product manager driving change.</p>
<p>Watch the video to see Merissa’s talk in full, or read on for an overview of her key points:</p>
<ul>
<li>Let the vision lead</li>
<li>Create a new vocabulary</li>
<li>plan, but only a little</li>
<li>Tell a story</li>
<li>Learn to love “I don’t know”</li>
<li>Prioritize the experiment</li>
<li>Park questions about the future</li>
<li>Do all the things</li>
<li>Keep your stakeholders involved</li>
<li>Have fun</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why do teams fail to experiment?</h2>
<p>Merissa list some reasons why teams often fail to experiment:</p>
<ul>
<li>They don’t know what to deliver or the stakeholder’s expectations</li>
<li>Both experimentation and innovation have become bad words</li>
<li>Proposing news of working scares people and organizations</li>
<li>Extensive pressure to deliver positive outcomes</li>
</ul>
<p>How do you experiment or even innovate to find your way to success when the odds are against you?</p>
<h2>10 guiding principles for product experiments</h2>
<p>Merissa explains her 10 guiding principles for developing a culture of experimentation in your team:</p>
<h3>Let the vision lead</h3>
<p>Start by aligning with your products’ vision. Merissa says clear product visions can help teams stay focused and organized. Also, it reassures your stakeholders and enables you to make improved decisions.</p>
<h3>Create a new vocabulary</h3>
<p>Merissa explains that words are crucial: the wrong ones can adversely affect your project, so choose your vocabulary wisely.</p>
<p>For instance, instead of “innovation project,” Merissa says  it may be better to call it an experiment. This way, you can work out of the box without fear of failing.</p>
<h3>Plan, but only a little</h3>
<p>Building a plan for product experiments can be tricky. While you have to satisfy stakeholders, you also require flexibility to change. Planning or dividing the experiment into short research phases is the best way forward, in Merissa’s experience.</p>
<h3>Tell a story</h3>
<p>Don’t forget to tell your story. Merissa says it’s essential to show stakeholders what you have done so far. In addition to showcasing outcomes and the next steps, explain the process.</p>
<h3>Learn to love “I don’t know”</h3>
<p>Merissa explains that one major challenge with experiments is the volume  of unknowns, so make sure that you embrace them. This way, you can create the culture of trust and safety that is integral to any project’s success.</p>
<h3>Prioritise the experiment</h3>
<p>Design experiments to improve learning. Often, it means you have to compromise on user experience (UX) to get what you want. Prioritise experimentation and testing over everything else.</p>
<h3>Park questions about the future</h3>
<p>While a future-focused approach is a key to successful product delivery, Merissa says it can have an adverse effect on your experiment. It’s better to park questions related to the future.</p>
<h3>Do all the things</h3>
<p>Merissa explains you can perform exceptionally well even if you have few ‘t-shaped’ individuals in your team. Everyone should step up and multitask during a product experiment.</p>
<h3>Keep your stakeholders involved</h3>
<p>Poor stakeholder attendance can negatively affect your team’s morale, so you must ensure your stakeholders are involved in the experiment. Give them tours or invite them personally to increase their interest.</p>
<h3>Have fun</h3>
<p>Trying something new can be emotionally charged, challenging and scary. Building a reliable and trusting relationship within the team is crucial to an experimentation culture. So don’t forget to have fun. As Merissa says, happy teams are productive teams.</p>
<h2>Wrapping up</h2>
<p>The key takeaway from this ProductTank talk is that you can seamlessly promote an experimentation culture within your team by following these 10 guiding principles. This will lead to increased productivity and revenue.</p>
<p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.mindtheproduct.com/producttank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ProductTank </a>and find some exciting new ways to get involved!</p>

core/freeform

Reduce risk, fail faster: Experimenting across the product development lifecycle

Experiment like a boss by Merissa Silk

How to find out what your customers want by Janet Bumpas

Why does my product suck? by Jen Dante

Driving customer adoption and retention as a product manager by Karen Adie

Mastering the art of the big bet by Alice Newton Rex

The magic of thinking big by Lenny Rachitsky

Making magic with balanced teams by Becki Hyde

Tools for agile product teams by Gavan Moule

Building Products for Bharat by Arpit Maheshwari and Smriti Pant

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