The Work
See the problem clearly before you make the promise.
Framing, discovery, evidence, uncertainty, decision-making, risk, delivery, and responsibility for what ships.
All 13 Essays
What Problem Is Hiding Inside That Feature Request?
A request is evidence about a need, not proof that the requested artifact is the right product problem.
Can Your Problem Statement Survive Without the Feature?
If the problem collapses when the proposed feature is removed, the team has not framed the problem yet.
What Is That Workaround Doing That Your Product Isn't?
A workaround is evidence that the formal product and operating reality disagree; diagnose what it protects before fixing or banning it.
What Do You Do When You Don’t Have Time for Discovery?
Under severe time pressure, discovery changes form rather than disappearing; existing behavior and operational residue become evidence.
Are We All Saying “Discovery” and Meaning Different Jobs?
Discovery is the work required to reduce the uncertainty that matters before the next consequential decision, and its form changes by context.
Take the Marker
When formal authority is limited, shaping the problem-solving frame can create more leverage than arguing harder for an answer.
What Decision Became Easier Because This Document Exists?
A useful product artifact makes a decision easier by putting enough of the problem outside people’s heads to reason about together.
Are You Running a Learning Bet Like an Execution Plan?
Learning work and execution work need different governance because one reduces uncertainty while the other fulfills a commitment.
What Is on the Other Side of the Date?
A genuinely fixed date does not eliminate product thinking; it changes which variables can still move and what must be true on the other side.
What Would Your Team Say If the Launch Had Already Failed?
Pre-mortems create social permission to surface risk before failure without making the speaker look negative or obstructive.
Leadership Overrode the Recommendation. Who Owns the Tradeoff Now?
When leadership overrides a recommendation, the displaced work, accepted risk, changed commitments, and decision owner should remain visible.
Everything Is Green. Are You Actually Ready to Launch?
Completing launch steps is not the same as understanding failure modes, consequences, ownership, and whether the organization is actually ready.
Did You Ship the Product, or Just Your Piece of It?
The meaningful product boundary is the complete customer promise, not the software or team boundary that happens to own one piece.
Stay in the loop
Get new essays, reading notes, and occasional updates.