Lindsay Lee’s Post

So often, the changes that seem "easy" and "simple" are the most complex to execute and therefore difficult to prioritize. For Strava, Dark Mode was a great example of this (now launched!!) and I'm proud to have recently launched another one of these features: Hide Start Time. This functionality has long-been requested by privacy-conscious users... aaand folks who are just followed by their coworkers and aren't lucky enough to work somewhere like Strava where a mid-day workout is encouraged and even considered 'product testing'. So whether it’s for privacy, safety or to hide those extra-long lunch workouts from your coworkers (no judgment!), just go to Hidden Details in Edit Activity after you upload to conceal the time of day you got started.

He called me the “best human in the world” in this post so I’m obviously biased, but I genuinely feel that Derek Embry is going to be an absolute steal for any company that picks him up as a Product Designer. Companies so often bias toward hiring only Senior and Staff folks (especially in Product Management & Design) when we want to move quickly with limited headcount and ambitious growth goals. In some cases this can be counter-intuitive. Because in doing so, we can limit the opportunities of our existing teammates who may be seeking to mentor and spend more time on strategic work, and we limit the opportunities of those who are hungry to enter our field and provide value on the ground. Folks who have years of applicable experience without having had the exact title. Folks hungry to roll up their sleeves and do the work that needs to get done, and who view everything as a learning opportunity. Folks like me when I was trying to break into startups and, later, Product Management. Folks maybe like you, reading this, when you made a similar switch. Someone took a chance on us, and it’s the harder (but more rewarding) thing to see the potential in someone versus the lines on the resume. So let’s pay it forward. 🚨 So, if you or someone you know is willing to hire a fantastic Product Designer who just finished the Shift Nudge bootcamp and who has rich experience in tech, product marketing, and growth product, then please point them my way or Derek’s way directly!

The theme of Strava's 2024 AAPI Heritage Month celebration is Mindful Movement. May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. Many in our ERG can relate to the cultural whiplash of coming from heritages that can stigmatize mental health issues and de-prioritize boundary-setting while living amid a modern rhetoric that encourages the opposite. AAPIs have the lowest help-seeking rate of any racial/ethnic group, with only 23.3% of AAPI adults with a mental illness receiving treatment. Given Strava’s place in the world of sport and movement, we wanted to combine these two things and discuss sport through the Pan-Asian lens, especially as a tool for mindfulness. This month, we’re celebrating both moving and improving, in whatever manner feels authentic for you! We encourage you to join the challenge on Strava to take part.

A frequent Product Management adage I've heard is "being a good PM means being good at saying no". While I don't disagree that respectful dissent and setting boundaries are a key skill in a PM's tool belt, I think this saying often misses the point when taken at face value. Dissent, in itself, is not competence. I've worked with/encountered many folks who hear an idea/plan and look for reasons and ways that it won't work. This might be related to the product itself, a cross-functional company effort, or even a program that a People Team is trying to implement. This of course also occurs in non-work settings (e.g. within a friend group). We've been conditioned to think that the smartest people are the ones who are skeptical, those who point out holes and flaws in a plan that you haven't considered yourself. When we over-optimize for this, we often see people giving feedback the wrong level of fidelity (e.g. getting into the weeds when we're discussing high level problem statements), not letting an MVP or early test get off the ground due to personal bias, seeking "gotchas" at the expense of team mates, and even demoralizing an organization's creative energy and psychological safety. When we're at our best, we look for ways to understand the underlying problem and what level of discussion is appropriate for the moment. We point out holes and roll up our sleeves to help to patch them up. We put skin in the game and demonstrate curiosity versus waiting around for someone else to deal with things for us. And when we do need to push back because something is not a priority, we give empathetic and clear reasons while explaining our motivations. #productmanagement #productmanager

If you have the title "Product Manager" on your LinkedIn profile, it's highly likely that folks who have a desire to transition into PM-ing will reach out to have an informational chat. As someone who transitioned into Product from a non-technical role, I am always eager to chat with folks so that we can lower the barrier to understanding for a role/department that has often been gate-kept with hazy and unclear entryways. However, I'll share here the one most important piece of advice I end up giving to 9/10 folks I speak with: the best Product Managers care more about understanding the problem than being the one to come up with the solution. If your main interest in becoming a PM is because you want to come up with ideas for the Product, you'll stymie your ability for growth and impact. The best PMs I've worked with are the ones who can articulate how they noticed the user or business problem, the many questions they asked themselves/users/other stakeholders so they could better understand the problem and the motivations underlying it, and care about how they went about prioritizing that problem versus the many other problems to solve. From there, sure I'm interested in what ideas you have to solve that problem, but mostly curious how you'd measure it and what you'd hope to learn to (again) better understand the problem itself. The "wouldn't it be cool if" and "I'd definitely use it" are great entry points, but not the crux of the role. Consider what excites you about the role at its core! #productmanagement

Could not be more proud of Eric Ji Sun Wu and the whole Gainful team! I've been a Gainful customer since the very beginning and can't recommend it enough, so head over to ANY TARGET to go try it out! The protein powder industry always terrified me, the gigantic tubs with homogenous, intense flavoring accompanied by images of body builders made me assume that protein powder wouldn't be right for me and my routine. Gainful's personalized and approachable product has made me a convert for many years, and they even accommodate specific dietary needs like plant-based or lactose-free.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Senior Product Manager at Strava!

In January, I had the pleasure of attending an offsite for the leads of our Strava Employee Resource Groups. Strava's commitment to DEI has had an extremely positive force in my 2 years here, and our renewed investment in our ERGs has ensured that marginalized communities are not responsible for invisible, unrewarded labor to educate and endure. I look forward to continuing to build this company (both product and culture) with this group! A special thank you to Glenn E. Newman Jr. and Kenny Chiem for putting this all together! #ergs #diversityequityandinclusion #belonging

Product Manager II, Community & Social at Strava