Briefing: A new Jira, Amazon Q, Figma takeover stalls
Plus: Roblox’s product excellence, ChatPRD, CSS frameworks explained
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Hi product people 👋,
Jira has a new competitor in the form of Plane, an open source software management platform. And it is this open source model that Plane hopes will set it apart from the competition. Founded by two brothers, Plane began as an internal tool for managing clients at an IT consulting company, but like many great products, it gradually evolved to serve external customers, too. While it lacks some of the more advanced features of its competitors, its UI looks clean and clutter-free and you can take a look for yourself here.
Since the emergence of new research this week which proves that Zoom fatigue is a very real thing, tech companies are still trying to figure out what the best approach to work is. Officely is a new product that promises to ‘make flexible work really work’. It plugs into apps like Slack, Teams and Google Workspace to help you understand who is working where and when. So, for example, at the start of each day it can ping everyone a notification to let them know who is in the office and who’s remote or remind people when a new member of the team is joining and will be heading into the office. It’s an intriguing concept but for now is fairly limited in scope. It will be interesting to see how the product develops and whether this approach to work life comes with any unintended consequences.
Meanwhile, it’s been a big week for Amazon at their annual re:Invent conference. One highlight worth knowing about for product teams is the launch of a new data analytics platform called Amazon Q. Amazon calls it a new type of generative AI assistant that is designed to answer questions about your product. And since AWS spans so much infrastructure, the data sets it has to work with are significant. In many ways, Q is Amazon’s answer to Microsoft’s Copilot and the launch means Amazon has officially entered the productivity AI assistant wars.
Finally, if you ever get tired of providing status updates to stakeholders, this new product will do it for you.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Essential reads for product teams
New from the Department of Product this week:
🧠Knowledge Series #14: CSS Frameworks Explained
In this Knowledge Series, we’ll explore a specific type of framework you may have heard engineering teams refer to: CSS frameworks. Over the past few years, CSS frameworks like Bootstrap and Tailwind have become increasingly popular but getting your head around what they do, the benefits of using them and the potential downsides - can be challenging.
(Department of Product)
Interview - Why do people build ugly products?
Linear’s co-founder Karri Saarinen says it was during his childhood that he first asked himself this thought-provoking question. In an interview with Sequoia Capital, Saarinen outlines his principles for product design and why his perspective is distinctly Finnish. (Sequoia Capital)
Process - How to get more out of design reviews
If a designer can't explain the problem they're solving it's a sign they need to think it through some more with whoever set the issue or opportunity. (Hey Designer)
Strategy - How Cash App Grows
63% of Block's revenue comes from Cash App. In the second quarter of 2023, Block's revenue grew 26% year over year to $5.5 billion. Cash App's revenue increased 36% to $3.6 billion during that same period. outside of the finance category, in 2022, it was the 3rd most downloaded app in the US across all categories. How did they do it? (How they Grow)
Skills - How to develop a 5 year career plan
Having a long-term plan can help you focus on developing your transferable skills, as opposed to skills just for your current role and organization. (Harvard Business Review)
Tools you can use
ChatPRD - an on-demand chief product officer that drafts and improves your PRDs
Vimcal - the world’s fastest calendar and winner of Apple’s best calendar app
DocuReview - review legal contracts before signing. Handy if you’re planning to work with any third party providers.
MindPal - your personal repository and second brain that knows everything and gets stuff done
New product features, launches and announcements this week
Chrome is testing an organise tabs feature which uses AI to smartly organise all of your open tabs. Google also introduced new features to Meet this week which includes gesture detection which will automatically detect if you’ve raised your hand during a meeting.
AI startup Pika has raised $55 million in funding for its generative AI tools which allow users to create and edit videos from text descriptions. You can watch it in action here.
API product management tool Postman has taken product marketing to the next level by releasing a game to promote an API-first world. The game is set in the world of mismanaged API processes and the description in the app store outlines the mission as "Escape the monolith by avoiding obstacles, destroying bugs, and using Postman powers to reach the API-First World." Kudos to the teams at Postman for doing something radical to cut through the noise.
Uber is launching a new partnership with London taxi drivers that will see black cabs become available on the service for the first time.
Apple is reportedly shutting down its credit card product it launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The product is understood to have underperformed vs expectations and is a blow to Apple’s services revenue stream.
📈 Product data and trends to stay informed
US tech layoffs have eased off in recent months and peaked in Q1 2023. But they’re still accumulating with between 3,000 and 11,000 layoffs per month.
Users are ditching dating apps to find love on DuoLingo instead as people are increasingly meeting others through shared interests and habits. An undiscovered use case worth considering if your product facilitates social connections, perhaps.
82% of college graduates know that cookies track users’ visits and activity on websites. But only 50% of Americans with a high school diploma or less education do. Full Pew Research on Americans and Cybersecurity.
The use of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) products over the Black Friday Weekend shot up 20% year on year, driving $760 million in online spend. Shares in BNPL product Affirm rose 10% as a result.
On the Sunday of the OpenAI drama, there was a 27% increase in Eight Sleep app users getting under 5 hours of sleep in San Francisco. The revelation was met with criticism from some due to privacy concerns but is fascinating nonetheless.
Roblox has now onboarded over 240 brands onto its advertising product and $30 million has been spent on branded virtual items.
Watch the Roblox investor day presentation for more on how the company delivers product excellence.
Other product news in brief
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has stalled Adobe’s proposed acquisition of Figma.
Okta’s Chief Security Officer David Bradbury says all customer data was stolen in their data breach.
Reddit is rumoured to be considering an IPO. Its recent push for profitability suggests this might be the case.
The DOP Weekly Briefing is a product-led perspective of what’s happening in tech - and why it matters to product teams. If you want more than the Weekly Briefing, paid subscribers also get access to DOP Deep dives, The Knowledge Series and Product Databases.
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APIs explained: everything you need to know but weren’t sure who to ask
HelloFresh and the economics of meal kits: lessons in strategy for product teams
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