Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance)

Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance)

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May 18, 2023
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Lessons on product sense, AI, the first mile experience, and the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe)
Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, investor, and currently Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Design and Emerging Products. He founded Behance, an online platform for creative professionals to showcase and discover work, and served as CEO until its acquisition by Adobe. Scott is an early advisor and investor in several businesses at the intersection of technology and design, including Pinterest, Uber, Warby Parker, Airtable, and Flexport. He is also the author of two nationally bestselling books and founded 99U, a publication and conference focused on productivity in the creative world. In today’s episode, we discuss: • How to strengthen your product sense • Why you should only do half the things you want • What it takes to build a successful consumer product • Why you are probably underinvesting in onboarding • The future of AI and how to prepare for it • Advice for founders and PMs who are feeling stuck • Why resourcefulness will take you further than resources • Adobe’s current priorities and their exciting path ahead — Brought to you by Braintrust—For when you needed talent, yesterday | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | Rows—The spreadsheet where data comes to life Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-on-building-product-sense Where to find Scott Belsky: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottbelsky • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottbelsky/ • Blog: https://www.implications.com/ • Website: https://www.scottbelsky.com/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Scott’s background (04:50) Why Scott shifted roles at Adobe (08:29) Advice for PMs looking to build product sense (10:43) The first mile (13:18) How to develop more empathy (16:33) How to build consumer products that work (20:42) Scott’s philosophy that you should “only do half the things you want to do” (26:15) Scott’s optimism about how the world will look in five years with AI (29:44) How AI will impact product teams (32:55) How the PM role will change as a result of AI (35:09) How Adobe is leveraging AI tools (36:59) What the term “golden gut” means (38:15) Advice for PMs to stay ahead of the new AI trends (41:02) How to start writing more (41:49) The messy middle (47:03) What Scott looks for as an angel investor  (50:16) Why resourcefulness will take you further than resources  (52:41) Adobe’s current priorities and the path ahead (54:58) Lightning round  Referenced: • Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/ • Behance: https://www.behance.net/ • Casey Winters on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/thinking-beyond-frameworks-casey-winters-pinterest-eventbrite-airbnb-tinder-canva-reddit-grubhub/ • Crafting The First Mile Of Product: https://medium.com/positiveslope/crafting-the-first-mile-of-product-7ed25e8f1027 • Shishir Mehrotra on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/ • Scott’s tweet on only doing half the things you want to do: https://twitter.com/scottbelsky/status/1441469886975279109?s=20 • Matt Mochary on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/ • Adobe Firefly: https://www.adobe.com/sensei/generative-ai/firefly • Howie Liu (CEO at Airtable): https://www.linkedin.com/in/howieliu/ • ChatGPT: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt • The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture by Scott Belsky: https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through-Hardest/dp/0735218072 • Adobe Express: https://www.adobe.com/express • Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell: https://www.amazon.com/Build-Unorthodox-Guide-Making-Things/dp/0063046067 • Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey on Netflix: https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Cosmos-A-Spacetime-Odyssey/80004448 • Vinod Khosla’s prediction: https://futurism.com/80-of-it-jobs-can-be-replaced-by-automation-and-its-exciting • Queue: https://www.queue.co/ • Tome: https://tome.app/ • Kevin Kelly on The Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2014/08/29/kevin-kelly/ Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
Lessons on product sense, AI, the first mile experience, and the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe)
Video preview
Key Takeaways from Scott Belsky on Product Sense, AI, and Product Leadership
  • Product Sense and Empathy
    • Developing strong product sense starts with deep empathy for users, not just passion for your solution. Observe users in real contexts to understand their real problems and motivations.
    • The “first mile” (onboarding, default experiences, initial orientation) is critical—*optimize for user psychology in the first 30 seconds: people want quick success, to look good, and minimal confusion.
    • Iteratively reimagine onboarding, as new user cohorts have different needs and mindsets.
  • Feature Discipline: Do Half of What You Want
    • Only build half the features you think you need. Eliminate everything that doesn’t directly advance users to key value. Ruthlessly reduce to your product’s core—every addition should come with a removal.
    • Focus on “problems you want to have”—the friction that means users are eager for more, not blocked by lack of essentials.
  • What Makes Consumer Products Durable
    • Surprise and delight users; products that feel like “magic” are memorable.
    • Lasting consumer products often have under-the-hood network effects or new, durable user insights (e.g., Pinterest’s focus on collecting/curating rather than showcasing).
    • Many popular new apps are simply features that incumbents can (and do) copy—so create defensibility at a deeper level.
  • AI’s Impact on Product Teams
    • AI will increase surface area of exploration: teams will be able to try many more ideas, faster, and with fewer resources.
    • The stack “collapses”: PMs, designers, and engineers gain cross-functional abilities with AI tools, reducing the need for handoffs and intermediaries.
    • The PM and designer roles will be augmented, not replaced—AI removes grunt work and expands creative exploration.
  • Advice for PMs and Founders
    • Stay ahead of AI by playing—experiment with tools, even outside your comfort zone, and make writing (e.g., newsletters, blogs) a forcing function for thinking.
    • In the “messy middle” of building products, find motivation in micro-goals and celebrate progress. If your conviction in the problem and solution grows with learning, persist; if it fades, consider a pivot.
    • Be resourceful over relying on abundant resources: constraints build lasting muscle and innovation.
  • Favorite Mental Models
    • “Golden gut”: developed instinct for simplifying user journeys, focusing on core success, and reducing cognitive load.
  • Adobe’s Strategic Priorities
    • Empowering creativity for all (Adobe Firefly, Express).
    • Enabling professionals to explore 10x more possibilities.
    • Personalization of experiences—products that adapt to you, with AI-driven interfaces and marketing.
These lessons center on relentlessly prioritizing user experience, leveraging constraints, and embracing constant experimentation and reduction.
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCKosdV1J-8