Innovation in Product Development

Should you try Google’s famous “20% time” experiment to encourage innovation? We tried this at Duolingo years ago. It didn’t work. It wasn’t enough time for people to start meaningful projects, and very few people took advantage of it because the framework was pretty vague. I knew there had to be other ways to drive innovation at the company. So, here are 3 other initiatives we’ve tried, what we’ve learned from each, and what we're going to try next. 💡 Innovation Awards: Annual recognition for those who move the needle with boundary-pushing projects. The upside: These awards make our commitment to innovation clear, and offer a well-deserved incentive to those who have done remarkable work. The downside: It’s given to individuals, but we want to incentivize team work. What’s more, it’s not necessarily a framework for coming up with the next big thing. 💻 Hackathon: This is a good framework, and lots of companies do it. Everyone (not just engineers) can take two days to collaborate on and present anything that excites them, as long as it advances our mission or addresses a key business need. The upside: Some of our biggest features grew out of hackathon projects, from the Duolingo English Test (born at our first hackathon in 2013) to our avatar builder. The downside: Other than the time/resource constraint, projects rarely align with our current priorities. The ones that take off hit the elusive combo of right time + a problem that no other team could tackle. 💥 Special Projects: Knowing that ideal equation, we started a new program for fostering innovation, playfully dubbed DARPA (Duolingo Advanced Research Project Agency). The idea: anyone can pitch an idea at any time. If they get consensus on it and if it’s not in the purview of another team, a cross-functional group is formed to bring the project to fruition. The most creative work tends to happen when a problem is not in the clear purview of a particular team; this program creates a path for bringing these kinds of interdisciplinary ideas to life. Our Duo and Lily mascot suits (featured often on our social accounts) came from this, as did our Duo plushie and the merch store. (And if this photo doesn't show why we needed to innovate for new suits, I don't know what will!) The biggest challenge: figuring out how to transition ownership of a successful project after the strike team’s work is done. 👀 What’s next? We’re working on a program that proactively identifies big picture, unassigned problems that we haven’t figured out yet and then incentivizes people to create proposals for solving them. How that will work is still to be determined, but we know there is a lot of fertile ground for it to take root. How does your company create an environment of creativity that encourages true innovation? I'm interested to hear what's worked for you, so please feel free to share in the comments! #duolingo #innovation #hackathon #creativity #bigideas

I am constantly thinking about how to foster innovation in my product organization. Building teams that are experts at execution is the easy part—when there’s a clear problem, product orgs are great at coming up with smart solutions. But it’s impossible to optimize your way into innovation. You can’t only rely on incremental improvement to keep growing. You need to come up with new problem spaces, rather than just finding better solutions to the same old problems. So, how do we come up with those new spaces? Here are a few things I’m trying at Duolingo: 1. Innovation needs a high-energy environment, and a slow process will kill a great idea. So I always ask myself: Can we remove some of the organizational barriers here? Do managers from seven different teams really need to say yes on every project? Seeking consensus across the company—rather than just keeping everyone informed—can be a major deterrent to innovation. 2. Similarly, beware of defaulting to “following up.” If product meetings are on a weekly cadence, every time you do this, you are allocating seven days to a task that might only need two. We try to avoid this and promote a sense of urgency, which is essential for innovative ideas to turn into successes. 3. Figure out the right incentive. Most product orgs reward team members whose ideas have measurable business impact, which works in most contexts. But once you’ve found product-market fit, it is often easiest to generate impact through smaller wins. So, naturally, if your org tends to only reward impact, you have effectively incentivized constant optimization of existing features instead of innovation. In the short term things will look great, but over time your product becomes stale. I try to show my teams that we value and reward bigger ideas. If someone sticks their neck out on a new concept, we should highlight that—even if it didn’t pan out. Big swings should be celebrated, even if we didn’t win, because there are valuable learnings there. 4. Look for innovative thinkers with a history of zero-to-one feature work. There are lots of amazing product managers out there, but not many focus on new problem domains. If a PM has created something new from scratch and done it well, that’s a good sign. An even better sign: if they show excitement about and gravitate toward that kind of work. If that sounds like you—if you’re a product manager who wants to think big picture and try out big ideas in a fast-paced environment with a stellar mission—we want you on our team. We’re hiring a Director of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dQnWqmDZ #productthoughts #innovation #productmanagement #zerotoone

🎯 Product Innovation Secret: Your Users Are Already Building Your Next Big Feature Dream11 SVP of Product Vaibhav Kokal revealed how their most successful feature came from an unexpected place: their users were already building it on Telegram. Their popular "Guru" feature wasn't conceived in a boardroom or through complex market research. The inspiration? Their own users... on Telegram! 🤯 Here's why this is brilliant: 1.Dream11's users were creating informal prediction communities on Telegram 2.Instead of fighting this behavior, they turned it into their "Guru" feature 3.Result: Massive engagement boost and organic user acquisition 🎯 Key Takeaways: • Your best product ideas might be hiding in plain sight • Innovation often means observing and adapting, not inventing • Users will find ways to fulfill their needs - your job is to make it easier 🔍 Real-World Application: → Check your app's Reddit/Discord/Telegram communities → List the top 3 unofficial workarounds users have created → Evaluate which one could become your next native feature 💡 This reminds me of how Instagram stories came from observing how people were using Snapchat, or how Twitter's hashtags emerged from user behavior. 👉 Watch the full breakdown on my Behind The Featuren YouTube Channel: Link in comments #ProductInnovation #UserBehavior #ProductStrategy #FeatureDiscovery #ProductGrowth #GameDesign #GrowthStrategy

Do you feel anxiety when looking at your Product backlog with those 1014 tickets? What if I told you there is another way? Here are 8 ways to keep your backlog clean and actionable: 1) Differentiate between a backlog item and an idea - It's ok to have a notebook, Figma, mural, whatever, where you collect all ideas and requests. However, the backlog should only contain items you aim to work on FOR REAL within the next 1-3 quarters. 2) Set a hard limit of tickets - In my experience, only the top 20-30 tickets will actually have any chance to ever be closed as completed. There are too many new directions, opportunities, and urgent tasks coming in overriding the priority of tasks further in the backlog. Just close the items that will never happen or at least move them to your ideas space. 3) Don't make it a BUGlog - bugs are tasks like all others. They need value and effort estimation and have to be prioritized against any other product opportunity. If they don't make the cut, they don't make the cut, sorry. No point collecting bugs - they are not Pokemon! 4) Keep the tickets high quality - However, if there is something in your backlog, let it shine! Make sure to include the user story, impact hypothesis, requirements, and links to design and tracking specifications. The tickets should be able to speak for you when you are not around. 5) Try to have 3 months' worth of refined items ready to go - It might be hard (try daily refinements!) to achieve and it's worth it! With items ready for the next 3 months for the team can pick up, you will have so much time to do proper long time planning and assessment. It's worth the initial effort! 6) Introduce visual cues - It's much easier to look at the backlog if you can easily tell apart a new feature task, improvement initiatives, bugs, and research. If you add other color cues to represent item status, you will be able to tell everything at a glance. 7) Add key stakeholders to their tickets of interest - A personal update email may work. Automated status updates work too and keep relevant people in the loop with no time investment on your end! 8) Create a task document associated with a backlog item - This is basically an extended version of the ticket, where you can collect all the pre-development research and post-development results and observations. Collecting this info in one place saves you hours when it comes to writing progress updates and presentations. At the same time, your tickets remain clean and hold only the relevant information. There you go! Here are my 8 ways to keep the backlog neat and functional. Will those work for your backlog and if not, why? Or perhaps you can contribute more pieces of advice? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagment #productmanagers #backlog P.S. Having a clean backlog is one thing. Having great tasks to put there is another challenge every Product Manager faces. To be well equipped to face that challenge, check out my courses at drtbartpm. com :)

Product Discovery is the most critical area for a PM. But, it is largely misunderstood. Teams waste time and energy delivering ideas that do not work and do not drive the expected outcomes. Product Discovery 101: 1. Why do we need Product Discovery? „The first truth is that at least half of your ideas are just not going to work” - Marty Cagan, Inspired I’d argue that Product Management is, at its heart, about managing risk. And for every product, there are 5 risks that can materialize: - Value. Will it create value for the customers? - Usability. Will users figure out how to use it? - Viability. Can our business support it? - Feasibility. Can it be done (technology)? - Ethics. Should we do it? Are there any ethical considerations? What will happen if we throw random ideas into the Product Backlog? This is agile "learning by delivering."This approach results in a waste and rework. So, we would like to understand: - How can we come up with better ideas? - How can we validate those ideas before the implementation? And the answer is Product Discovery. --- 2. When Does it Happen? Continuous Discovery and Continuous Delivery. Those two streams run in parallel: - The goal of Product Discovery is to discover the product to build. - Product Delivery aims to deliver that product to the market. Product Discovery results in a validated Product Backlog. In particular, high-risk assumptions are tested before the implementation. --- 3. Who's Responsible? Some say that the Product Manager decides what to build, and Engineers and designers should focus on how to build it. Have you heard that before? It hurts my ears because Product Discovery is not a task for a single person. Make sure that a Product Designer and at least one Engineer are included. This will help you build a shared understanding and stay open to different perspectives. And if we believe that customers don't know how to solve their problems, why should a Product Manager know it? Product Managers may be tech-literate, but they are not tech experts. --- 4. What’s inside Continuous Product Discovery? There are two groups of activities: - Exploring the Problem Space to understand and define opportunities (problems, needs, desires). My favorite default approach to mapping opportunities is using the Opportunity Solution Tree, as defined by Teresa Torres. - Exploring the Solution Space to explore possible solutions, formulate testable assumptions, and run experiments to prove or disprove those assumptions. --- What's the state of Product Discovery in your company? What is one improvement you can implement starting tomorrow? Hope that helps! --- 🎁 P.S. In my free post, I described Product Discovery in depth. No email, no paywall: https://lnkd.in/dNUB__n3 And here you can download all my infographics: https://lnkd.in/d5bHGj5j

Why do some companies struggle to go from 1 highly successful product to multiple highly successful products? The need for great operations is a common disease in companies that are scaling, especially companies that are going from 1-2 successful products to multiple products that are sold/adopted separately from the core product. Once a company reaches a certain scale, its senior management implicitly begins to view great operations as the most reliable marker of a given team’s (and its leader’s) competence. And they accordingly create incentives for operational excellence, uniformly across all teams. These incentives do tend to produce better results for the teams working on the core product. But these same incentives tend to produce worse results for the teams working on newer products. It is only a really shrewd senior leader who says to an early stage team at a QBR or product review: “it is fine that your team isn’t firing on all cylinders on operations. that is to be expected at this stage. the main & only priority right now is to gain customer insight & creatively build the right things that create differentiation for us in this market.” When senior leaders don’t say this, and when they instead fixate on the operations optics of early stage teams, it makes it nearly impossible for the company to replicate its initial success for its newer products.

In every boardroom I’ve sat in this year, the same conversation surfaces: why are category leaders losing momentum and how are challenger brands stealing share? After spending several decades in big corporate environments, the uncomfortable truth is that many traditional FMCG models were built for a market that no longer exists. We engineered for distribution advantage, built brand equity on TV and designed innovation pipelines with long lead, linear innovation cycles. But the new rules of growth are different. And they’re being written, unapologetically, by challenger brands. Here’s what I’m observing: · Private labels and challenger brands are reshaping the game. · Challenger brands don’t just compete. They reframe the category narrative. · They prioritize speed, not polish. Connection, not campaigns. · Packaging is now a media channel. Your shelf presence is on an iPhone screen. · Challenger brands leveraging social-native marketing are achieving 2.5x engagement at ~35% lower CAC than traditional FMCG. So what’s the real challenge? · Incumbents are often playing defense with structures designed for scale, not speed. · Innovation and Go-to-Market are still linear. · Talent is optimized for predictability, not fluidity. · Leadership often lacks the mandate to disrupt the very models they’ve built their careers on. · Digital remains elusive. They are still operating with an old-world marketing model This is where strategic leadership must evolve. I’m not suggesting we throw out what works. But we must build ambidextrous organizations capable of defending core businesses while addressing challenger brands. Corporations must embrace the new marketing model to succeed: · Build brand equity through content-led marketing that is culturally relevant. · Create influencer partnerships that help build brand cachet and extend reach. Creators are not simply media buys; they are brand builders. · Build tribes. Consumers are no longer just audiences; they are co-creators. Smart brands involve them in product development and foster identity-driven communities. · Build capabilities for precision targeting. It’s not just about reaching more people; it’s about being relevant to the right people. · Design a turbo-charged innovation model. Shorten the feedback-to-launch cycle and innovate in rapid sprints rather than traditional stages. · Accelerate cultural cachet through bold, attention-grabbing strategic brand collaborations and partnerships. In my view, the winners in this next chapter of FMCG won’t be the ones who defend their legacy the hardest. They’ll be the ones who evolve the fastest without losing the core. It’s about building businesses that earn their next era of relevance with new capabilities, new talent models, and new definitions of brand value. Because at a time when every consumer decision is a referendum on purpose, accessibility, and authenticity…being big doesn’t make you safe anymore. It just means you have more to unlearn.

Sustainability = Innovation 🌎 Integrating sustainability into business strategy requires continuous advancements in technology, processes, and resource management. At the same time, sustainability challenges drive research, development, and operational efficiencies that lead to new market opportunities and competitive advantages. Resource constraints drive material and process innovation. The need for alternatives to finite or harmful materials has accelerated the development of advanced composites, circular economy models, and energy-efficient production systems, improving cost efficiency and resilience. Addressing sustainability challenges requires systems-level innovation. Reducing emissions, optimizing resource use, and minimizing waste require advancements in supply chain management, product lifecycle design, and industrial processes, reshaping entire sectors. Cross-functional collaboration is critical. Sustainability initiatives require input from engineering, data science, regulatory compliance, and finance to develop integrated solutions that meet environmental targets while maintaining operational and commercial viability. Data-driven approaches enhance sustainability performance. Measuring environmental impact enables companies to identify inefficiencies, optimize resource allocation, and refine business strategies based on quantifiable sustainability metrics. Long-term sustainability targets drive investment in research and technology. Businesses are accelerating development in areas such as AI-driven resource optimization, carbon capture, and next-generation materials to align with regulatory requirements and market expectations. Nature-based solutions provide scalable innovation opportunities. Biomimicry has led to advancements in self-healing materials, passive cooling systems, and regenerative agricultural techniques, improving efficiency and resilience across industries. Sustainability is reshaping business models. The transition to circular economy principles, service-based models, and regenerative supply chains is driving competitive differentiation and long-term value creation. Innovation is fundamental to achieving sustainability objectives. The convergence of regulatory frameworks, technological advancements, and market shifts is reinforcing the role of sustainability as a driver of industrial transformation and business resilience. #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #climatechange

Understanding product strategy is foundational to building products that truly deliver value. But I often see teams confuse strategy with roadmaps or a list of features. Strategy isn’t about dictating ‘what’ to build—it’s about building a framework to help the organization decide what to build. Why does this matter? Without a solid product strategy, even the most innovative ideas can lose focus. A strong strategy ensures that every decision your team makes is intentional, helping you navigate complex markets, meet customer demands, and drive meaningful business outcomes. One approach I love for building and refining product strategy is the Product Kata (based on Toyota Kata)—a method that focuses on planning, executing, learning, and iterating to keep your strategy dynamic and adaptive. The Product Kata is built around five essential steps: 1️⃣ Understand the vision: Define what success looks like. Where are you trying to go? This is where you would understand the strategy level above you, make sure it is crystal clear, and identify your business and customer goals. 2️⃣ Assess the current state: Where are you now? Identify gaps and areas that need improvement to move closer to your vision and strategy. This is where we research and gather data to make an informed hypothesis. 3️⃣ Set your next goal: This goal is set from our informed hypothesis, and breaks down the strategy into smaller, achievable goals in the near term. 4️⃣ Experiment and learn: Test your hypotheses with small, targeted experiments. Collect real-world data to understand what works and what doesn’t. 5️⃣ Reflect and iterate: Review the results, compare them to your current state now that you’ve attempted to solve the problem, and adapt based on what you’ve learned. Adjust your goals as you learn new information. What I love about this method is that it prevents strategy from being static. Instead of setting your direction in stone, you’re constantly learning, adjusting, and evolving as you go. A well-executed product strategy bridges the gap between business outcomes and customer value. It keeps teams aligned, focused, and ready to seize opportunities in a rapidly changing landscape. If you’re ready to master this and create strategies that drive results, our Product Strategy course covers this in depth. You’ll learn frameworks like the Product Kata and how to align your team around strategies that deliver real business and customer impact. How do you keep your strategy adaptable and aligned with your vision? I’d love to hear how your team approaches this—share your thoughts in the comments! #productinstitute #productstrategy #productmanagement #leadership #teamalignment #businessgoals #customerfocus #productleaders

I was invited to speak to the Chief Sustainability Officer group at the World Economic Forum during climate Week. I urged us all to take control of the narrative. Here is a summary... Let’s shift the narrative. As sustainability leaders… Let’s not talk about decarbonization as emissions. Let’s talk about it as innovation that drives: ·    energy cost savings, ·    avoidance of energy pricing volatility ·    avoidance of carbon fees ·    reduced maintenance ·    increased productivity ·    sales lift Let’s not talk about tons of waste diverted from landfill and reused, let’s talk about it as innovation that reduces: ·    virgin input costs ·    waste disposal costs ·    exposure to geopolitical risk in supply chains ·    exposure to tariffs (e.g. Renault is putting 45% of used car components into new cars) Our research into the Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI) shows that sustainability is just good management.   The methodology (developed with companies) has found nine value drivers associated with sustainability, including operational efficiency, risk reduction, employee retention and productivity, sales and marketing, and and innovation and growth. For example, innovation is about identifying a problem or an opportunity. It can be focused on process, product or service. It can be incremental or transformative. From a sustainability perspective, innovations fall into two broad buckets:  ·    innovating sustainability improvements in an industry or a category ·    innovating with a process, product or service that is needed by society. The first approach requires understanding the material ESG issues for the sector and designing solutions that tackle that issue, while also improving the underlying value proposition - -which sustainability can do. The second approach is tougher, but has more potential to go big: Innovating to solve broad societal problems such as water scarcity, plastic packaging pollution and health impacts, tackling the carbon transition, social inequity and so on. Here we might look at innovation such as 3D printing (e.g. on demand) using recycled inputs – tires, dresses, construction materials etc. We might look at bio-based plastic made from air and methane-based greenhouse gas dissolved in saltwater, recyclable through biological digestion. We might look at how to give immigrants and others with no credit history access to credit through tracking ontime rental payments. So as you work with your companies, help them understand that managing the material ESG issues for their sector and company is not a reporting and compliance exercise. It is a good management exercise that can drive everything from operational efficiency to sales and customer loyalty to innovation that will help the bottomline. Put in place methods such as ROSI with your finance team or ESG controller to track the financial benefits so you can get sustainability to the speed and scale you and the planet want and need.