Ebi Atawodi is Director of Product Management for the Creator Experience at YouTube, former Head of Product at Uber, and a former Director of Product (Payments and EMEA) at Netflix. Known for crafting a strong, unified vision, Ebi empowers her teams to achieve outsized outcomes. In today’s episode, we go deep into vision and strategy, including:

• The four key elements of a good vision statement

• Three ways to determine your mission

• The four pillars of great product management

• How writing helps you gain clarity

• How culture influences product

• Tips on how to structure a strategy session

• Advice on building team culture and improving work relationships

• What’s coming soon at YouTube

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/crafting-a-compelling-product-vision

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Where to find Ebi Atawodi:

• X: https://twitter.com/ebiatawodi

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebiatawodi

• YouTube mixes: https://www.youtube.com/@EbiAtawodi/videos

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Ebi’s background

(04:31) Four key elements of a product vision

(08:14) Examples of lofty but attainable visions

(11:43) Vision vs. mission

(13:23) Examples of visions and missions from notable companies

(15:00) A simple framework for outlining a vision

(20:51) Other methods for outlining a vision

(23:29) The impact of writing clear headlines

(26:41) Using mockups to frame your vision

(28:24) A step-by-step approach to developing a vision

(32:58) Ebi’s “10 Things” document

(37:47) A quick summary of Ebi’s tips

(40:56) How to use the “10 Things” doc in a strategy session

(43:11) The three concentric circles of evangelizing

(47:48) The cadence of developing a vision and bringing it to life

(49:26) Visions vs. micro visions

(52:58) First steps in developing a vision

(55:12) Infrastructure is the product

(56:39) Clarity and conviction, the main jobs of PMs

(59:58) Ebi’s narrative doc

(1:04:59) Conviction, its role in the job, and how to build it

(1:08:20) How to build company culture

(1:17:06) The monolithic culture at Uber

(1:19:09) The culture Ebi embeds in her teams

(1:23:58) How to evaluate your relationship with your engineering manager

(1:26:02) What’s new at YouTube

(1:29:22) Ebi’s closing thoughts

(1:30:45) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Andre Albuquerque on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-albuquerque

• TED’s mission: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization

• Stripe’s operating principles: https://stripe.com/jobs/culture

• Microsoft’s vision and mission: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about

• Tesla’s mission statement: https://www.tesla.com/blog/mission-tesla

• Lyft’s mission on Comparably: https://www.comparably.com/companies/lyft/mission

• Ebi’s playbooks and templates: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tU3jpbq_xHcF4x1bdANCVBsO6rbQ8h1HqvdQfwGW4MA/edit

• Working Backwards Press Release Template and Example: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/working-backwards-press-release-template-example-ian-mcallister/