Thread by @shreyas

Start-with-Principles—a technique I learned @stripe

Problem:
Should we do X or Y?

My prior approach:
X looks like this
Y like this
X&Y's pros/cons
Decide

Start-with-Principles:
Here are N proposed principles
Do we agree on them? Discuss
A new option Z emerges
Decide btwn X,Y,Z

Alright, let's see an example.

Problem:
How should we onboard users for our new prosumer productivity tool?

1. Should we build world-class self-serve onboarding, along with slick tutorials?

2. Or, should we provide a white-glove onboarding experience, Superhuman-style?

👇🏾

Start with Proposed Principles:

For now, we
A) Prefer few power users (depth) over many casual users (breadth)
B) Want an intimate view of user motivation
C) Want the brand to feel premium
D) Need to limit onboarding ops costs
E) Want a product with built-in learning & discovery

Debate these Principles as a group. Which ones do we disagree on vehemently? Which ones do we agree on? Why?

Lets say we conclude that we resoundingly agree on A, B, C. We disagree on D & can actually spend more for now. And we agree on E, but can't build it all at once for v1.0

Remember, these were Proposed Principles.

Now that we've debated them, our Revised Principles lean strongly towards
- prioritizing A, B, C
- selectively prioritizing E
- not prioritizing D at all

The decision then is obvious:
Start with Superhuman-style white-glove onboarding

Hope this hypothetical example is useful.

Including a couple of additional examples (with related frameworks) in the next couple of tweets.

👇🏾

Problem:
Netflix's catalog would be much larger if it offered individually-paid content to its members. Should Netflix do that?

This is the chief question/principle we need to discuss:
Do we care more about Catalog Size or Consumption Friction?

More👇🏾

https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1293973552840888320

Problem:
Design & Eng teams disagree on how to render a list.
Design: "list should be auto-refreshed for smooth UX"
Eng: "that needs new infra & would take too long"

Principle to discuss upfront:
What's our target quality-level for this launch?

More👇🏾

https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1223832388578361350

To answer more questions:

These Principles aren't Company's Core Values or its Product Philosophy. They may be informed by those things, but tend to be quite specific to the problem/context at hand.

They also aren't Outcomes, though may be influenced by the Outcomes we want.

You can start with Proposed Principles & then deduce possible solutions, OR you can start with possible solutions (often obvious, or proposed by team/self/customers) & independently conceive principles. The process is usually cyclic, not perfectly linear.

Lastly, treat this approach as *one of the tools* in your tool-belt.

This means:
- You need not use it for every single decision
- You can use it in concert with other frameworks/tools. Just as in a complex construction job, you don't just use one tool, no matter how great it is

Actually, one more thing about Start-with-Principles
(probably the most important thing)

👇🏾

The chief value of Start-with-Principles is to force ourselves to articulate proposed principles & debate them first.

This helps us avoid the anti-pattern of endlessly debating the minutiae of solutions, without ever recognizing that what we really disagree on is the principles.

Back to the top of this thread:

https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1322625628433129473

If you liked this thread, you might like this meta-thread on clearer thinking for product people:

https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1315543407331213314