MVP.FYI

1

Empathy

Application Designer... to Wordpress Developer

I worked a SaaS company a while back. Their office was on the top floor of a building across from the city. Exquisite skyline view.

Their product demo was off-the-charts amazing. It did things I didn't know were possible.

However... three months in, I realized the demo was a lie and their product didn't work. We maxed out at 2 active users.

They slowly transitioned me from being a product designer to building one-off Wordpress websites just to try to keep our customers from churning.

panphora – 2 months ago
0 comments

3

Empathy

That sick feeling you get when a very senior person in your organisation calls your mobile while you’re on holiday. Ugh.

Just happened.

BetaGirl – 2 months ago
0 comments

14

Empathy

I saw it coming

A few weeks ago...
Me to key stakeholders: Can you read these rules and agree that all the logic is correct?
Key stakeholder to me: Yup! All good!

10 days ago...
Me to key Stakeholders: Implemented all the logic. You guys 100% this is how it should work?
Key stakeholders to me: Yup! Definitely!

Today (launch day)...
Key stakeholders to me: This is all wrong.

The product is a song – 2 months ago
2 comments

4

Empathy

I tried to explain to my key stakeholder why we get slowed down delivering features. I said:

"Well you see the thing is, you ask us for something and you tell us it's super important. Then we start working on it, and midway through working on it we get asked to stop what we're doing and do something else; also super important"

He said "Well who is it that's interrupting you with new requests for work?"

I said "You..."

It didn't go down well.

Poke The Bear – 3 months ago
0 comments

22

Empathy

We want you to prioritise...

Everything.

It's all urgent. It all need done.

No we can't de-scope anything. Don't let me hear the "a" word. And it needs to be perfect first time.

Bad User Story – 3 months ago
0 comments

5

Empathy

It's too good, needs to be a bit shitter

This was back in my agency days, did some mock-ups for a car parts website based on a two-sentence brief from the account manager (standard). Showing him the two or three pages I'd designed he's like "Nah… nah man… needs to be a lot shitter, this is too good. The client has a tiny budget and he's a prick, make it much shitter."

"Eh, shitter? Ok mate, ok" I sighed.

anxiousdesigner – 3 months ago
2 comments

7

Empathy

Teams

Not a product story but teams calls, meetings...... over it

CJ – 3 months ago
1 comment

4

Empathy

Ever do one of those product demos where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and the only thing louder in the room than the silence was the sound of people being embarrassed on your behalf.

Yup.

The Monk – 3 months ago
5 comments

1

Empathy

Product Owner or Product Manager? Does your job title matter?

Which do you identify as?
What are the differences, in your opinion?

Lets have this discussion.

Bad User Story – 3 months ago
2 comments

3

Empathy

Not specific to Product Management but simply this:

2 hour meetings.

Bad User Story – 3 months ago
2 comments

6

Empathy

SEO gone wrong for one person

Couple of years ago my boss was yelling at me why the hell he sees dating ads next to our product ads in Google. A bit shocked, I checked. They did not show up for me. Got it. Those must have been personalized ads. Took a bit time to explain this.

Daniel – 3 months ago
4 comments

2

Empathy

No stories spring to mind right now but I definitely recognise almost all of the other ones posted here.

Let’s keep each other’s backs Product People!

StoryPoints – 3 months ago
0 comments

4

Empathy

A good day for this app

A senior leader in my organisation just asked me something on Teams like I should know the answer. And I know myself that I should know the answer. However my brain is like:

NOPE!

IamNoOne – 3 months ago
3 comments

8

Empathy

That one developer

Just found this on Product Hunt. Awesome!

Help me out here... is this just me? Does anyone else have that one developer who is JUST. SO. ANNOYING?

Unprecedented levels of pedantry and contrarianism. Is it me? Am I the asshole?

The Happy PO – 3 months ago
2 comments

17

Empathy

One Chance

My Stakeholder discussing an upcoming product we're about to launch:

'Now remember, we only get ONE CHANCE to make this right... it has to be PERFECT'

Oh my LOL. It's definitely Monday.

Bad User Story – 3 months ago
1 comment

6

Empathy

Roles & Remits

Should the old man who's job it is to do very complicated actuarial calculations really be the same guy who decides the color and position of buttons on the screen. I mean REALLY?? Why am I here? 😖

BetaGirl – 3 months ago
3 comments

6

Empathy

The outcast

Do you ever feel like as the product person everyone is against you? I walk around the office feeling like a pariah.

Devs want you to butt out. Stakeholders want you to push for faster and more.

We’re like the meat in the world’s most stressful sandwich.

The Lepper – 3 months ago
5 comments

3

Empathy

This sounds like a joke but it isn't

My old boss wanted me to print out every page of our company website so he could review it "at his leisure".

Charlie – 4 months ago
2 comments

11

Empathy

I'll just screen grab this Word document

First week in new job. Working on a Terms and Conditions page. Should be more than straight forward. Director responsible for my area calls me into his office.

"The page needs to look EXACTLY like this" - He points to his screen. "So I'm going to just screen grab this word document and I want you to put this on the website as an image"

Alfonzo – 4 months ago
3 comments

Group therapy for product people

Group therapy for product people

Do you live in the murky world between Stakeholders, Developers and Users?

Do you live in the murky world between Stakeholders, Developers and Users?

Share your war stories (anonymously) and get empathy, advice and supportfrom Product People across the world.

September 2020

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August 2020

14

4

22

5

7

4

1

3

6

2

4

8

17

6

July 2020

6

3

11

Coming Soon!

Do you live in the murky world between
Stakeholders, Developers and Users?

Share your war stories (anonymously) and get empathy, advice and support
from Product People across the world.