Product Management Practices
Everyone at Shopify works on Product
Whether you’re a product manager, a developer, a marketer, or a Support Advisor, we all contribute to Shopify's products. Product thinking is incredibly valuable, and it’s not the domain of product managers alone. You can learn and apply product thinking to your own work, regardless of your discipline.
We’ve learned so much over the years. Shopify has figured out a set of principles that allows us to build incredible products. Our approach is unique, interesting, and cohesive.
Product Management Principles
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Help ship the right products
It's the main responsibility of the PM to ship the right product, which is the right solution for the right problem at the right time. It's important to fully understand the differences between a product and a project.
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Understand and validate customer problems
The glass-ceiling for the quality of the decisions PMs make will always be how much information you have. Research incessantly, understand the "why", understand the problem within the context of your ecosystem, become a domain expert, validate hypotheses, and understand biases.
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Communicate goals, expectations, and solutions
Define and hold a compelling product vision in relation to our company goals and strategy. Create a product roadmap of orthogonal projects and define what order we need to do them in. Communicate to and receive buy-in stakeholders. Strive for alignment.
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Inspire the team to avoid inaction and ship quickly
The quick shall inherit the world. While slow will add unnecessary embellishments, fast is out in the world. That means that fast can learn from experience while slow has to rely on theorizing. Those who ship quickly can learn quickly. Fast doesn’t just win the race, it also gets a head start for the next one.
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Measure and share results continuously
Shipping is the greatest gift to quality of a product. A shipped product is measurable. Data will be the best source of information.
The 20 Minute VC Podcast
Featuring Glen Coates
Shopify's VP of Product discusses why the founder is always Head of Product, what makes a Product Manager, why the majority of Product Managers need to change, and why top-down decision-making in product is good.
Setting a foundation for your PM career in the first 6 months
By Helen Mou
Three key areas for first-time PMs to focus on in their first 6 months.
The Knowledge Project Podcast
Featuring Tobi Lütke
In this video, the CEO and founder of Shopify, Tobi Lütke, shares what he thinks are the big differences between a founder and a CEO. Can founders and CEOs both effectively do the same job? How does a company change when the founder leaves? How much do founders contribute to company culture?
