Practical writing, videos, lessons, and shipped work from Daniel R. Odio, selected for Technical Product Manager.
16 items
You've probably skipped writing PRDs and jumped straight to prompting — this shows you why that's been causing your builds to go sideways, and introduces Chief, a tool that structures your vibe coding so you stop getting stuck mid-project.
You're probably prototyping in Figma and calling it 'technical enough' — this shows you how to skip straight to functional code you can hand to engineers as a pull request. You'll learn why ping-ponging between Cursor and Windsurf gets you unstuck faster than grinding alone in one tool.
You'll discover why your instinct to 'build it right the first time' keeps getting you stuck — this CEO prototypes a van kitchen in cardboard, learns what he got wrong from actual use, and iterates twice before committing to wood. It's the recovery strategy you're missing when your code goes sideways.
You're probably building too much before validating—this shows you how to catch failed ideas earlier by shipping prototypes instead of code, then actually measuring user reactions instead of guessing. It's the feedback loop you keep skipping that leaves you stuck rebuilding.
You're probably adding features to fix problems when you should be perfecting the core experience — this breaks down why Slack beat crowded competition by *removing* distractions, not adding them. The trap you're falling into is scope creep; this shows you how ruthless focus on 'less, better' creates the product/market fit that makes users overlook what's missing.
You think you're prioritizing well, but you're probably building half-baked features that seemed urgent at the time. Pandora's system shows you how to kill your darlings before they waste weeks of your runway.
You're probably spreading yourself thin across too many features and wondering why nothing feels polished. This breaks down how Dropbox's narrow focus lets them ship clever integrations (screenshot uploads, photo backups) that feel obvious in retrospect—but only happen when you stop chasing every shiny idea.
You've probably built features users ignore, and this article explains why: you're missing the difference between Inherent engagement (core value, like Home Depot's bolt-sizer) and Enhancement engagement (social overlays, gamification). Understanding this distinction will save you from building yet another abandoned app.
You've probably heard 'HTML will catch up to native apps in two years'—but this breaks down why that's a trap. Hardware evolves faster than web standards can follow, and understanding this timing mismatch will save you from betting on the wrong horse when you're deciding what to build.
You've been burned by missed deadlines even when you 'estimated carefully,' and this post explains why: Person A always takes the same time to complete Task X, no matter what you promise. Understanding this one constraint will save you from over-committing and help you prioritize what actually ships.
You've probably heard "interest graph" tossed around in product discussions but never quite grasped why it's supposed to matter—this breaks down exactly what it is, why it's not just social-graph-with-extra-steps, and how it fundamentally reshapes how you should be thinking about user engagement. You'll stop nodding along cluelessly when execs mention it.
You're probably building way more than you need before launch, just like Shane was. This traces his shift from feature-bloat to shipping in 90 days with less—the mistake you're likely making right now and how to recognize when you've overshot your MVP.
You think shipping features is just about user engagement metrics, but this shows how Facebook Photos became infrastructure for political revolution — a reminder that the systems you build have consequences you never planned for.
You've probably jumped into building without really understanding whether native or web was the right call for your project—and paid for it later. This panel walks through the actual trade-offs and common mistakes (14 of them) so you can avoid rebuilding from scratch when your approach hits a wall.
You'll catch how experienced mobile leads at Google Maps, Dropbox, and Bump think about architecture and team structure—the kind of perspective that helps you avoid the classic mistakes when your prototype needs to scale.
You've probably skipped writing PRDs and jumped straight to prompting — this shows you why that's been causing your builds to go sideways, and introduces Chief, a tool that structures your vibe coding so you stop getting stuck mid-project.
You're probably prototyping in Figma and calling it 'technical enough' — this shows you how to skip straight to functional code you can hand to engineers as a pull request. You'll learn why ping-ponging between Cursor and Windsurf gets you unstuck faster than grinding alone in one tool.
You'll discover why your instinct to 'build it right the first time' keeps getting you stuck — this CEO prototypes a van kitchen in cardboard, learns what he got wrong from actual use, and iterates twice before committing to wood. It's the recovery strategy you're missing when your code goes sideways.
You're probably building too much before validating—this shows you how to catch failed ideas earlier by shipping prototypes instead of code, then actually measuring user reactions instead of guessing. It's the feedback loop you keep skipping that leaves you stuck rebuilding.
You're probably adding features to fix problems when you should be perfecting the core experience — this breaks down why Slack beat crowded competition by *removing* distractions, not adding them. The trap you're falling into is scope creep; this shows you how ruthless focus on 'less, better' creates the product/market fit that makes users overlook what's missing.
You think you're prioritizing well, but you're probably building half-baked features that seemed urgent at the time. Pandora's system shows you how to kill your darlings before they waste weeks of your runway.
You're probably spreading yourself thin across too many features and wondering why nothing feels polished. This breaks down how Dropbox's narrow focus lets them ship clever integrations (screenshot uploads, photo backups) that feel obvious in retrospect—but only happen when you stop chasing every shiny idea.
You've probably built features users ignore, and this article explains why: you're missing the difference between Inherent engagement (core value, like Home Depot's bolt-sizer) and Enhancement engagement (social overlays, gamification). Understanding this distinction will save you from building yet another abandoned app.
You've probably heard 'HTML will catch up to native apps in two years'—but this breaks down why that's a trap. Hardware evolves faster than web standards can follow, and understanding this timing mismatch will save you from betting on the wrong horse when you're deciding what to build.
You've been burned by missed deadlines even when you 'estimated carefully,' and this post explains why: Person A always takes the same time to complete Task X, no matter what you promise. Understanding this one constraint will save you from over-committing and help you prioritize what actually ships.
You've probably heard "interest graph" tossed around in product discussions but never quite grasped why it's supposed to matter—this breaks down exactly what it is, why it's not just social-graph-with-extra-steps, and how it fundamentally reshapes how you should be thinking about user engagement. You'll stop nodding along cluelessly when execs mention it.
You're probably building way more than you need before launch, just like Shane was. This traces his shift from feature-bloat to shipping in 90 days with less—the mistake you're likely making right now and how to recognize when you've overshot your MVP.
You think shipping features is just about user engagement metrics, but this shows how Facebook Photos became infrastructure for political revolution — a reminder that the systems you build have consequences you never planned for.
You've probably jumped into building without really understanding whether native or web was the right call for your project—and paid for it later. This panel walks through the actual trade-offs and common mistakes (14 of them) so you can avoid rebuilding from scratch when your approach hits a wall.
You'll catch how experienced mobile leads at Google Maps, Dropbox, and Bump think about architecture and team structure—the kind of perspective that helps you avoid the classic mistakes when your prototype needs to scale.