#245 – June 08, 2025
How to balance business investments
Short-term vs long-term
12 minutes by Mike Fisher
Mike describes the tension between short-term and long-term investments in digital product companies, advocating for a portfolio approach to product development. He distinguishes between growth hacking (short-term returns) and product-led growth (longer-term investments), recommending organizations balance both through strategic portfolio planning.
Turn your scattered documentation into instant answers.
sponsored by Unblocked
Unblocked connects to your team’s code, discussions and docs, so it can explain both how your code works AND why it works that way. Now everyone gets helpful answers, without having to interrupt a teammate.
Leaders, stop accidentally scaring your team
5 minutes by Wes Kao
Wes shares how leaders should be cautious about accidentally implanting negative ideas when attempting to reassure their teams. She explains that mentioning negative scenarios (even to deny them) makes those scenarios more concrete in people's minds, and recommends using positive, moderately abstract language instead.
Navigating the corporate maze
13 minutes by Sergio Visinoni
Sergio shows challenges faced when transitioning into a leadership role at a large corporation, particularly the gap between job description and reality. He offers a four-step framework for driving change: mapping the organizational environment, clarifying your role, building relationships with stakeholders, and implementing changes incrementally. He also emphasizes the importance of patience, strategic documentation, and self-care while navigating organizational transformation, noting that success requires balancing determination with adaptability.
Big bets
5 minutes by Jack Danger
“Big bets” are executive-driven product initiatives that skip key validation steps and often fail despite heavy investment. Drawing on experiences at Square and Gusto, Jack highlights how these projects overlook strategic risk and drain company resources. In contrast, successful products typically grow through careful, iterative development. He advocates for a balanced approach that avoids both reckless bets and paralyzing caution.
The problem with shadow development
5 minutes by Kelli Korducki
Kelli talkes about "shadow development" which refers to software developers using unsanctioned tools to bypass company-approved systems. This practice emerges from frustration with inefficient enterprise tools that prioritize process over progress, with developers creating workarounds ranging from simple spreadsheets to custom-built applications. While these unauthorized solutions can boost productivity, they potentially create security risks. Kelli argues that most effective approach involves managers acknowledging developers' workflow needs and providing flexibility while maintaining security oversight.
Tests are dead. Meticulous AI is here.
sponsored by Meticulous
Meticulous automatically creates and maintains an exhaustive e2e UI test suite that covers every corner of your application – with no developer intervention required whatsoever. Dropbox, Lattice, Bilt Rewards and hundreds of organisations rely on Meticulous for their frontend testing. It is built from the Chromium level up with a deterministic scheduling engine – making it the only testing tool that eliminates flakes.
And the most popular article from the last issue was: