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Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
@shreyas
Oct 12, 2020 • 37 tweets • 9 min read • Read on X
The day you became a clearer thinker, you:

-started by identifying the real goal
-decomposed vague concepts
-framed the right questions
-sought more data or experience
-listened to multiple perspectives
-assessed upsides & downsides
-examined your own biases
-acted like an owner
Related resources👇🏾
What Are You Really Trying To Do
Decompose
Eigenquestions
Asking “why” before other questions
Listening without judging the source
Probabilistic thinking
Proxies muddy our thinking
Thinking over the long term
Metacognition is important
What’s even more important than clear thinking?
Some more tips on thinking & being
Biases & fallacies that get in the way of clearer product thinking
Mindset & Principles are more important for clear thinking than Tactics
A number of book recommendations for clear thinking, decision making, problem solving, and strategy in this thread
Some reminders of tendencies that get in the way of clear thinking as a group
On clear writing
Questions for B2B products
Questions to regularly ask for any product you work on
Questions for evaluating product features
Be aware of the Proxy Delusion and the proxies we commonly encounter in our lives
My thoughts on clearer thinking for career decisions
On Empathy, a superpower for clearer product thinking
The Upside-Downside framework for evaluating options and making decisions
For clearer product thinking, it's important to understand the difference between "the product" and "The Product"
The Mindset for clear thinking is at least as important as the Frameworks & Mental Models for clear thinking
Start-with-Principles, an approach for more rigorous discussions & decisions
The CEO Test, for more rigorous compromises
Pre-mortems are an extremely effective tool for predicting problems before they happen (which is important for clearer thinking)
A thread with the top 10 cognitive biases that product teams should understand. Includes examples of each bias. Confirmation Bias & Fundamental Attribution Error are the most crucial ones to understand for better decisions & relationships in business.
Thinking in probabilities
Creative thinking
"Think at least one level higher".

This is often one of the first thinking tools I share with new members of my team because of its effectiveness in bringing greater clarity for product decisions and execution barriers.
Recency Bias can help, but it can also hinder. In fast-paced environments, Recency Bias is a common enemy of clear thinking. Important for leaders of product teams to avoid creating an adrenaline-fueled, problem-of-the-day culture.
For many decisions with early stage products & companies, it's worth asking "Will it make the boat go faster?"
On being "more strategic, less tactical": feedback that many effective people receive at least once in their career, but usually without any guidance on how to act on it

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More from @shreyas

Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Sep 3
Founder Mode, done right (thread): Image
Some ppl are surprised by the exuberance with which PG’s Founder Mode blog post has been received. There are many reasons for its strong resonance.

But the main one is that it introduces a catchy term for something that many founders & leaders have seen & experienced first-hand.
Here’s my prediction: a majority of founders & leaders who said to themselves this weekend “henceforth I am going to be in Founder Mode” are likely to mess it up.

That is not bad per se. They might still end up being in a better place than if they continued with Manager Mode.
Read 45 tweets
Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Jun 27
Since time immemorial, when a CEO asks a PM at Product Review, “what do you need to 10X users/revenue?”, “what will make you go faster?”, etc

The PM steadfastly responds “We need [N] more engineers”. The Eng Mgr nods approvingly

A story thread, with some hard truths to swallow:


Image
Image
Image
Image
“More engineers” will usually *not* solve your problems.

Because the real problem is often a strategy problem, culture problem, interpersonal problem, trust problem, creativity problem, or market problem.

More engineers *will* solve your “I don’t have enough engineers” problem. Image
When you finally manage to get more eng headcount, things will usually get worse before they get better.

Management will now expect your team’s immediate output to be in proportion with this new headcount, not with your current staffing.

Not fair, but such is life in product 🤷🏽‍♂️Image
Read 23 tweets
Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Mar 30, 2023
Product life in midsized & large companies starts making a lot more sense when you understand that a large % of middle & upper management thinks their main job is to (i) try & decipher what the CEO wants done (ii) align their org with it (iii) propose a plan that the CEO approves
This is instead of *often* telling the CEO what actually needs to be done, in a way that is grounded in (a) deep insight into customers & market (b) creative product & GTM solutions

Many in middle & upper management will of course blame incentives set by the company for this.
And they are not wrong. But it is worth evaluating how much of one’s career (and life) one wants to spend in aligning perfectly with incentives set by another party.

20% or 50% or 70% or 90% or 99% or 100%?

What is your answer?
Read 6 tweets
Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Mar 7, 2023
Those who don’t understand the great value of instinct call it luck.
Useful to understand
Also useful to understand
Read 4 tweets
Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Mar 3, 2023
Everything we create, everything we do, it all starts with our thinking

Clear thinking drastically improves odds of success in all departments of career & life

While clear thinking is quite rare, it can be developed with practice

Advanced principles for clear thinking:

(1/12)
1) Essence first. Not story. Not analogy

Most people get seduced by great analogies & exciting stories.

Clear thinkers don’t *form* their thinking via analogies. They identify the essence of the issue, in their specific context. Then, they use analogies as one of their inputs.
2) WAYRTTD

“What Are You _Really_ Trying To Do” is a simple but powerful tool to make you pause & identify your real goal

Most people move too quickly to How & When to do a given task. But the task isn’t the goal

Clear thinkers have built a habit of asking themselves WAYRTTD.
Read 19 tweets
Shreyas Doshi Profile picture
Feb 23, 2023
Apple Pie Position:
A statement that instantly elevates the person who is saying it and is simultaneously hard for anyone else to push back on, and so everyone avoids the personal risk and just nods “yes”, even though its actual value in this specific situation might be… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Okay, so now that you understand Apple Pie, here’s your crash course on dealing with Apple Pie:

1) The greatest thing about Apple Pie Positions is that you now have a name to assign to a complex behavior (and it is a cute name, which helps a lot). Once you share this idea with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
One other important thing:

Note that Apple Pie Positions are, by definition, specific to the context. This means that the same sentence can be either the right thing to focus on, or it can be an Apple Pie Position. The way you determine which is which is through good judgment.
Read 5 tweets

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