🎁 Free PM Certification Course, Free PM Templates, 9 Free Ebooks, The Product Strategy Canvas, 9 Red Flags, and more!

Hey, Paweł here. Welcome to the free edition of The Product Compass! 🌎

Every week I share actionable insights to boost your PM career. If you haven't already, join the community of 30,000+ weekly readers by subscribing below.

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Last week, I thought I won’t post anything Today. I’m already on a short vacation in France. But hey, old habits die hard, right?

So before leaving, I collected a few issues you can benefit from:

1. Free PM Basics Certification Course by Pendo

2. Free PM Templates from my Google Drive

3. 10 Free PM Ebooks

4. The Product Strategy Canvas v1.1

5. Features vs. Benefits

6. 9 Red Flags in Product Management

7. The Best of The Product Compass

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Updated: 1/30/2024

For the most recent list of free PM courses, see Free Product Management Courses & Certificates

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1. Free PM Certification Course by Pendo

We just got a special link to a free Product Management Basics Certification Course by Pendo 🎁

The course launched on 8/1/2023, includes:

• Module 1: Welcome to Product Management Basics

• Module 2: Product management: What it is and how it works

• Module 3: The Product Management Life Cycle

• Module 4: Discover: Understanding your customers

• Module 5: Validate: Finding the right solution

• Module 6: Build: Delivering continuous value

• Module 7: Launch: Getting the word out

• Module 8: Evaluate and iterate: Identifying the right improvements

• Module 9: Product Management Basics next steps

• Certification Exam & Certificate

Product Management Basics Certification Course by Pendo

Save this link: Product Management Basics Certification Course

The previous two courses from Pendo are still available for free only for our community (with a 100% discount code “learnwithpawel”):

• Product-led Certification Course, $0 instead of $149

• Product Analytics Certification Course, $0 instead of $149

Product-led Certification Course; Product Analytics Certification Course

(Pendo doesn’t sponsor me; I like their courses)

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2. Free PM Templates from my Google Drive

All PM templates from my Google Drive are now free for everyone 🎁

Browse My Google Drive\PPTX:

Browse My Google Drive\XLSX:

Browse My Google Drive\DOCX:

For more free PM templates: browse my Notion collection.

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3. 9 Free PM Ebooks

Here you can find 9 best ebooks available for free (Notion): 9 Free PM Ebooks 🎁

9 Free PM Ebooks

Some of those authors might soon appear in The Product Compass 🤫

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4. The Product Strategy Canvas v1.1

Strategy is simple. And it’s for everyone in the organization. But, contrary to what many believe, it’s not:

• A plan (“we will build a new division”).

• A goal (“we want to grow by 50% by 2024”).

• An ambition (“we want to be the best”).

• An action (“disable that feature”).

• An OKR.

• A Business Model.

• A Unique Value Proposition.

Many companies do not have a strategy at all.

A good Strategy:

• Defines a long-term vision (winning aspiration)

• Is a single, integrated set of choices that reinforce each other and increase your odds of success

• Defines the market (problems) and your playing field’s constraints

• Focuses on customers whom you can’t control

• Has a theory on how to persuade them to do what you want

• Explains what competencies, resources, and systems you need

• Passes the Can’t/Won’t Test. Your competitors can’t or won’t copy it

• Has many levels (organization/division/team)

• Allows you to formulate hypotheses

I couldn't find a single Product Strategy Canvas I could recommend. So in January 2023, I created a new one. Two days ago, I released an updated version.

A dedicated page with detailed information and a free PPTX template: 🎁

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5. Features vs. Benefits

And a short one.

Customers couldn't care LESS about:

• How difficult it was to build your product

• The impressive technology used

• Your product's features

The only thing that matters is what they can get from it.

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6. 9 Red Flags in Product Management

Be careful. Most "products" are, in fact, projects.

9 red flags (and how it should work):

1. Large PRD: You start an initiative by documenting everything.

2. Feature factory: Implement the requirements. Don't ask why.

3. Waterfall: All the requirements are collected in the "initial phase."

4. Gatt roadmap: A time-based, feature-based roadmap.

5. No discovery: No need to validate ideas before implementing them.

6. No designer: There is no Product Designer on the team.

7. No analytics: You have no idea how people use your product.

8. Customer in charge: Powerful customer(s) make all the decisions.

9. No strategy: You try to maximize sales by satisfying all customers and grasping every opportunity.

9 Red Flags in Product Management

Here’s a better way:

1. Your cross-functional team is empowered to solve the problems.

2. PM, Product Designer, and Lead Engineer perform Product Discovery together. Continuously.

3. You have an outcome-based roadmap. Preferably Now-Next-Later.

4. If you commit to a date, you do it rarely and only after the Discovery. You never commit too early.

5. You manage the value, usability, feasibility, and viability risks by experimenting.

6. The riskiest assumptions are tested before the implementation.

7. Choosing, instrumenting, and tracking the right metrics is key.

8. You ship incrementally, measure the outcomes and learn from it.

9. Tradeoffs are essential. What you do, but also what you don't. You respect your market and the unique value proposition.

And if your product hasn’t been launched yet:

1. Discover the market and define a unique value proposition, business model, initial vision, and strategy.

2. Test your business idea with the help of MVP prototypes. Before the implementation.

3. You define the go-to-market strategy and validate key assumptions. Messaging included.

4. You can't rely on product analytics before launching the product, so you rely more on customer interviews and data from your experiments.

5. The Product Trio performs the Initial Product Discovery, like in an existing product. You always need a Product Designer and Lead Engineer.

6. Once you ship, use product analytics and apply Continuous Product Discovery.

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7. The Best of The Product Compass

Finally, I created a Notion website, so you can easily find the issues you need (Notion): The Best of The Product Compass

The Best of The Product Compass

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Thanks for reading The Product Compass!

I can’t believe 30,000+ professionals have joined our community since Nov 2022!

Thank you all for your support 🙏🚀

It’s an amazing journey, and it’s fantastic we are taking it together.

Let’s keep learning and growing together.

Prends soin de toi, Paweł

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P.S. If you have any ideas on how I can improve, please let me know: pawel@theproductcompass.tech The more detailed criticism you can provide, the better.