Product Meditation is a paid Newsletter (mail group) that I have been operating since 2017. After four years of operation, I have also accumulated a huge knowledge base about products.
Every week, fonter and I (Shaonan) will select four collections of high-quality content about Internet products, with independent viewpoints attached, hoping to expand the boundaries of your horizons.
The scope of our focus includes not only Internet products, but also many other related fields of building products, such as new technologies, new trends, economics, psychology, sociology, etc. We try to choose content that has a long half-life to ensure that knowledge spans time.
2021.11.21 Email content notice
台杉Miss Stripe by Brie Wolfson who used to work组作Why Everyone in an Organization Works Hard and Fails Flat by Alex Komoroske暗线Some Paradoxes of Modern Life by David Perell趋势What exactly is Web3.0 and what is its architecture?
If you want to get the latest subscription, or access the member-only database, please scan the QR code below; if you find it helpful, you are welcome to forward it to friends who are also on the product road.
VOL.20200510
Shaonan said: The full text of the title of this week’s email should be “ Encounter a wrong problem, stop immediately, no matter how big the price is, it is the smallest price. ” This sentence comes from Duan Yongping’s interview, and it lingered in my mind a few days. In fact, many times we are not aware of the mistakes, but we are aware of them, but we lack the courage to stop, or we will be overwhelmed by the confusion after the stop, so we simply keep walking with our heads depressed, expecting some "miracles" to happen. But look at the examples around you, the untrusted team fell apart under heavy pressure; the unreliable function became a new chicken rib after it was launched;
This issue may not have many tips on how to design products, but a reflection on many products designed in the past . What should not have been done, why didn't I realize it at the time, or did I realize that I didn't have the courage to stop? Why compromise in these places? Did the compromise achieve the best result? Or did you get the worst possible outcome?
This issue mainly introduces two characters, Duan Yongping, nicknamed China's Buffett, and the 68 suggestions sent by Kevin Kelly, a technical master (commendative), on his 68th birthday. Regardless of the depth of your qualifications, you should use these contents as a mirror to reflect what your true thoughts are like. When you map out these thoughts, you can often find the parts you ignore in your daily life.
#01
Character: Duan Yongping
Shaonan said: Duan Yongping was always placed in the category of "investment" by me before, but the review of some of his ideas that I saw last week made me realize again that he is a "very product-oriented" company. Home is also very powerful. Perhaps because of Buffett's greater influence, there are not many bells and whistles in his review, but these simple truths are worth pondering over and over again.
There are two articles in this character album, which review the concepts repeatedly mentioned in his public speeches over the years from different angles, and include his replies on various social media from 2016 to 2020 (It is called Duan Yongping's investment maxim in the market, but it is not all about investment). In fact, I read these two articles back and forth four or five times. In fact, the following aspects touched me:
Do the right thing: Know that you are wrong, and have the courage to stop. The sooner you stop, the lower the cost. Many times we can actually realize that something is wrong, but based on fear/sunk cost/laziness/no better goals, etc., let this thing (or product function) keep running like this, and eventually bring systemic Crash. There are countless examples, such as going to the wrong company, such as meeting a scumbag man/woman, etc., but not daring to terminate the relationship. The other is for short-term benefits, or short-term indicators. It’s not an example to rush a certain amount and put it down. But after taking the medicine, I found out that the medicine can’t be stopped. The typical one is luckin, but I also made similar mistakes. When the color is growing rapidly, in fact, many contents are not original, but turning a blind eye and closing one eye will lead to a catastrophic deterioration of the ecology. The reason why these words are simple but difficult is because on the one hand You must have the courage to face it calmly, and on the other hand, you must be able to greatly restrain your desires.
Dare to be the queen of the world: There is still a part of this sentence that many people don’t know. Fill it up first and it is called "the last must strive for the first". However, in the rapidly iterative Internet industry, everyone is looking for innovation and speed, which leads to the design and improvement of many products, often for the sake of innovation. I was also very excited about the blockchain industry at that time, and I kept imagining and medical data. How to combine, can form a personal health wallet? Whether these data can bring greater benefits and so on. But in fact, I found that I didn't even understand the basics of the trading platform (I didn't even realize that it was a trading platform). Looking at it now, many products are not the first to be invented, but only after thinking about them can they have longer vitality.
Slow is fast: Quoting the motto "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast." about the US Marine Corps in the article, the specific explanation is--the less elite infantry, especially the irregulars of many modern militias, at any point in time Movement speed will be faster. They tend to charge into battle with fanaticism, giving off a menacing vibe. But when they encountered resistance, they had to take cover in positions they had little time to assess. They may find themselves cut off from supply lines and isolated, tactically not knowing where they are or how they got there. If they manage to break free, they tend to charge again, continuing their choppy attack until one side (often them) backs down. Like the proverbial hare, this cycle of sprinting and recovering may seem fast in the moment, but long-term progress in the environment is slow and plagued by unknown threats—like our aggressive development The reaction after launching a new function quickly and then being cold?
I have annotated the relevant materials and quotations in the article, and added some content based on my personal experience. After reading the two overviews, you can supplement the history, and then look at the "not-for-list".
Finally, read the investment proverbs section, and you can also annotate your thoughts while reading, because the advantage of this kind of summary is that it allows you to immerse yourself in the fragmented semantics, thinking about whether you have done any related things, and the result is how is it.
David Senra has a theory that there are more smart people dead than alive. So in the follow-up, I will continue to study some living and deceased characters, and learn from them.
#02
68 Life Advice for Kevin Kelly's 68th Birthday
Shaonan said: Knowing that KK is still the thick "Out of Control", if you design social, e-commerce and other large-scale crowd interaction products, it is recommended to read it. Although many of the thoughts on natural evolution were put forward in 1994, but It still looks dated today.
These 68 suggestions should not be remembered as golden sentences, but as 68 mirrors to reflect your own views on these issues (I marked more than 50%) . It can be used as a checklist to examine one's own thinking and check one's own status of these issues.
What's more interesting is that many of the contents are surprisingly consistent with some of the simple viewpoints mentioned in the Duan Yongping topic recommended in this issue:
It is human to make mistakes. Admitting mistakes is great. Nothing enhances a person's status more than being quick to admit and take personal responsibility for the mistakes one has made, and then rectify them fairly. If you screwed up, confess it. The power of this spirit is astounding.
If you end up needing certain tools for work, buy the best you can afford.
And what inspired me is:
Separate the creative process from the improvement. You can't write and edit, sculpt and polish, create and analyze at the same time. If you do, editors will hinder creators. When you invent, don't choose. When you're sketching, don't check. When you're writing your first draft, don't reflect. In the beginning, the mind of the Creator must be released from judgment.
Be mentally prepared: When you get 90% of a big project (a house, a movie, an event, an app), the rest of the large details will also take 90% of the equivalent time to complete.
Enjoy this journey of mind inspection.
original:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MlRjgOl2iYMLZvU3MRWWGg
#03
Consumerism in this age
Shaonan said: What is a good life? A few days ago, I happened to be reading a philosophical book of the same name "What is a good life", but most of the time, we seldom think about this issue precisely, and most of the time it is a relatively vague overview-need to have a house of our own with floor-to-ceiling windows It’s best, it’s best to have a car of xx brand, it’s time to fire the boss’s squid and go on an instant trip...
For your attention, the free content constantly polishes the title to attract attention, which seems to make you feel that you are the only one around you who has no courage to live, and does not have the so-called good life. In fact, all of this is the foreshadowing of consumerism. Through the ubiquitous social media and recommendation algorithms, we recommend to you the lifestyles promoted by top IPs, and these lifestyles are composed of standard parts produced on a large scale. Constructed - new ways are born every day, and I still don't earn enough, so why the more I watch entertainment news, the more anxious I become.
Sharing this article is not to belittle or condemn consumerism, but to understand what causes the status quo. If you want to design products that are in line with the times, you need to accept these realities and make good use of the elements, instead of trying to act pure and fresh in this era of anti-consumerism.
Another purpose is to allow us to understand the reasons for our anxiety . Since I moved to Hangzhou, my anxiety has decreased a lot. Firstly, I have practiced a material life that cuts off the desire for shopping. Secondly, Hangzhou has mountains and rivers, so the number of shopping on weekends has been reduced. Being with nature can To think about some more simple things; thirdly, learning and practicing some less utilitarian things (such as the meditations I am writing) can also make me less anxious.
Original: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/34668881
#04
Second-Order Thinking | Second-Order Thinking
Shaonan said: When looking at some products and operating cases, I will habitually ask a question-if you have achieved the goal of your design, what will you do next; if you have not achieved the goal, what will you do next? What. If the person in charge of Case can answer it, I will continue to ask this question again.
For example, if a doctor does not prescribe a prescription after the user consults, if he just thinks of adding a "mandatory prescription reminder", although it can achieve some effects, the side effects will be more obvious, and the group will be full of complaints about this rule all day long. , and increased a lot of workload for no reason. In fact, digging down the reason why doctors do not prescribe is because prescribing not only has no economic benefits for individuals, but also has the risk of prescribing the wrong medicine. Therefore, if you look at it with second-order thinking, you need to adjust the doctor’s behavior and the platform’s behavior to be consistent, that is, the incentive compatibility mentioned in the previous issue (mechanism design theory research), link the proportion of prescriptions with the ranking, and the ranking itself affects Traffic and then affect income, in order to completely solve this problem.
If you ask "and then" a few times, you can often find that many cases either only solve the superficial problem, but bury a hidden danger for the future, or solve a marginal problem because they didn't dig deep enough into the problem.
Second-order thinking was proposed by Howard Marks in his book "The Most Important Thing in Investing". , such as blockchain), then there is already a huge bubble in this market, which is the application of second-order thinking.
However, second-order thinking is not a simple skill, but a judgment of independent thinking, which requires not only repeated contacts, but also courage, otherwise the money earned by luck will be paid back by strength—— I The investment failure caused by a hot head on the blockchain is probably such a case (fortunately, the amount is not large-_-||).
Original: https://fs.blog/2016/04/second-order-thinking/
#05
Learning from the Past: Is It Wrong to Praise Children?
Collection time: April 2017
Shaonan said: The content of the article can also be applied to the team. How to correctly praise team members is actually a university question, not just saying a few nice words. If there is no careful observation, the praise will be very weak, and it will make both those who are praised and those who are not praised feel "fake".
The author's suggestion is to praise children with descriptive language rather than simple comments. This is not only because simple comments give the child the feeling that you are judging his intelligence, but also because simple comments are very insincere. Concrete descriptive language appears more real and helpful.
