#productboard

Old adage says: “Wise men listen first, speak second.”

I've been listening to so many great product leaders over the past few years. Aspiring ones, accomplished ones. The novices, the experts.

I learned that no matter the experience, the truly great product leaders are all the same at the core.

We all have a burning desire, passion, and drive for making truly great products. Doesn't matter if we make a simple mobile app or a complex enterprise system.

We want our products to be amazing. We strive for beautiful simplicity, for perfection of clarity. We want to understand our users like we understand ourselves. We live for solving their real problems. We relentlessly push design and technology to the edge. Relentlessly.

It is hard. Really hard.

We juggle, struggle with, and reconcile too many conflicting inputs and opinions. We are detectives, we are builders, we are missionaries, we are cat herders. We guard the simplicity and clarity of our products from the tsunami of myriad requests. We protect it, we cherish it.

We still preserve.

We persevere, because the sensation of seeing someone’s pupils dilate with excitement when they touch our product is indescribable. It is a cocktail of eureka feelings, of excitement, pride, relief, of joy.

It is so worth it.

Imagine Steve Jobs standing on the podium introducing the very first iPhone. Imagine that moment, imagine the feeling when problem solving, design, engineering and brilliant marketing come together to make a real difference. Imagine that.

Imagine the product leadership perfection. How amazing feeling is that?

Hubert

- by Hubert Palan (reposted from Medium)

November 1st 2013 was my last day at GoodData. I left to start ProductBoard a company that will change how we build products that people love. It is very early, so please sign up and be part of building something amazing from the very beginning.

Over four years at GoodData, I had been building a world class Business Intelligence platform and living the life of a Silicon Valley startup Product Manager with all of its pros and cons.

On the pros side stands the opportunity to meet and learn from the best VCs, entrepreneurs, sales teams, engineers and industry experts. To see how hundreds of companies measure and run their businesses, to participate and help win challenging sales battles in the field and to build great PM and UX teams. See people grow, help them advance in their careers, and last but not least to build great friendships.

On the cons side are the thousands of hours burned on harnessing chaos, answering countless emails about features and feature requests, the never-ending discussions with fellow leadership members about focus and priorities, and the constant struggle for transparency and alignment.

One might argue that this is what startup life is about. Perhaps some of it, but I don’t think it has to be that way. Of course startups operate under extreme uncertainty and myriad changes, but I believe there is a better way to manage the whole product development process, to prioritize, to communicate plans and progress, to learn and iterate, and to align everyone in a company - including management, marketing, product, design, and engineering - a better way to build amazing products. That is what I set on working on and that is why I quit GoodData.

Here is the farewell email I sent:

Dear all,

today is my last day at GoodData. I have spent close to four years here and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with so many great people on so many different teams. Thank you all for all the long hours you've been designing, building, testing, marketing, selling, implementing and supporting the product as well as running our finance, legal and HR.

Thank you also to so many of you who trusted me and opened doors to your personal lives. I promise to cherish our friendships in the years to come.

I have always said that GoodData has the opportunity to be behind every business decision ever made. It is an aspirational vision, but I've always liked it because it puts in front of us something bigger yet tangible. I have always seen in it not just the chance to build a better product or beat the competition, but to make a bigger impact and truly change the world. Thank you all for being part of it.

All the best,

Hubert

I would like to thank all of you already helping with ProductBoard. It is a great journey and I am grateful for all your help and support. I set on the path to change the world at GoodData and I am still changing the world with ProductBoard, just in a cooler way.

Onward,