Briefing: Google Docs gets tabs, RIP Jira Issues
Briefing: Google Docs gets tabs, RIP Jira Issues
Plus: Instacart’s gamification renaissance, a new startup for technical documentation
Hi product people 👋, Rich here and I hope you’re well. A warm welcome to the 380+ new readers who joined us since last week.
In today’s product briefing, we explore some major new releases from Jira, OpenAI and Google Docs. Plus, an intriguing new startup which promises to automate technical documentation.
But before we get into the details, with everyone jumping on the Google NotebookLM bandwagon, we thought we’d try something a little different for the briefing this week; for the first time, you can watch the briefing powered by NotebookLM in an experimental video posted on YouTube. It’s the first time we’ve done this but if it’s something you’d like to see more of in the future just let us know.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
New product features and innovation this week
Uber has launched a new chatbot tailored specifically for its drivers who might be interested in electric vehicles (EVs). The bot answers questions about transitioning to EVs and was unveiled during the company’s sustainability conference in London. Uber chose OpenAI ahead of other rivals for this bot and we could see more of these user-specific bots roll out on other product eventually, too.
Google Docs is getting a new tabs feature which makes it easier for writers to break down complex topics and for readers to navigate them.
Meta released its latest generative AI video models which allow users to generate or edit videos from text and create sound effects and soundtracks. Meta says the new model outperforms its competitors and could be used in the future across products like Instagram Reels where you’re able to create and edit videos based purely on text prompts or a single image. Read the paper here.
The company also announced the winners of its first Llama Impact Innovation awards, designed to showcase products built with open source Llama. Some of the winners this year included: aLex - a tool to help Peruvian citizens understand their legal system and AISee, designed to help visually impaired people see the world around them.
Meanwhile…
Is gamification in product design having a renaissance? Instacart unveiled new AI capabilities which gamify its smart shopping carts and transform the process of finding items in an aisle into a game.
Jira is overhauling the language it uses across its core products. All items were previously known as “issues” which had the unintended side effect of making everything piece of work feel like a problem or bug that needed to be solved. This is sometimes the case, of course, but not always. Atlassian’s team now allow users to choose what they want users to call their work including “tasks”, “subtasks”, “blockers”. The changes were unveiled during the company’s Team Europe Event which you can watch here.
OpenAI has launched Canvas - a direct rival to Claude’s Artifacts - designed to allow users to work more deeply with the code generated by LLMs. For product teams, this could be super helpful for cases where you want to quickly mock up a prototype. Strategically, though, there are risks that building a product like this could act to undercut major partners and investors like Microsoft’s Copilot.
Dating app Grindr is building an AI “wingman” that will scout for long-term relationship prospects, set up dates and more. Bumble’s CEO previously suggested similar features could be on the way for that app, too. Is the future of dating just AI bots talking to each other?
In other news…
A new AI startup, Driver, has raised $8m in funding for its technical documentation app which it says cuts down 3 months of work down to 2 hours. One of the neatest features, though, is “Auto-sync” - the ability to sync docs with the latest code changes deployed. Plus, it also creates different versions of documentation that is tailored for different users:
A devops engineer might care more about the infrastructural parts of a tech stack
A designer may be curious about what UI components are used
It’s likely only a matter of time before major companies offer the same functionality but it's still nice to see startups with clearly thought out, valuable use cases.
Key reads and resources for product teams
UX - How to embrace simplicity
Simplicity is achieved when you prioritize, merge, organize, reduce, combine, hide, gradually unveil, shorten, compress, and sacrifice. (Doc cc)
Case study - Inside how Stripe crafts quality products
Stripe is a company that’s widely known for its focus on craft and quality and Katie Dill, Stripe’s Head of Design is one of the most influential design leaders in tech. Previously, she was the Head of Design at Airbnb and Lyft. (Creator Economy)
Strategy - Why product managers need to stop thinking big
One of the biggest mistakes that Product Managers make when approaching a problem is thinking too big and too “strategic”, argues Mahmoud Magdoub. (Substack)
Resource - OKR cheat sheet from Microsoft
How to write effective OKRs that inspire action and deliver results. A free template from Microsoft.
Podcast - How to get forecasting right
From the Department of Product Substack
Knowledge Series - What is JSON?
JSON is everywhere. As Uber says in its own API docs: “The Uber API speaks exclusively in JSON”. While it’s mainly engineers who work with JSON, designers, PMs and business folks can also benefit from knowing more about how it works.
(Department of Product)
More from the Knowledge Series on AI and machine learning
Tools you can use
Cove is a visual workplace for working with AI. Cove looks like a Miro board with an emphasis on managing generative AI assets including text, tables, images, web pages, PDFs and more. A nice idea.
General Collaboration is one inbox for all your workplace discusisions from sources like Figma, Gmail, Slack, Notion, Linear, Asana and others.
Chat with your database is an open source product whose name explains exactly what it does.
📈 Product data and trends to stay informed
Google is set to drop below 50% of the search ad revenue market for the first time within the next year. But it’s not AI startups eating away at Google’s dominance (yet). It’s Amazon. It turns out quietly building a search ad engine eventually pays off after all. But, Perplexity is preparing its own ad-funded model with OpenAI and others likely to follow suit, too.
Only 5% of jobs are likely to be replaced by AI in the next decade, according to an MIT professor. “A lot of money is going to get wasted,” on over-investment in AI, he says.
India now leads the world in the number of internet shutdowns. Between 2016 and 2023, India shut down the internet 771 times. Myanmar and Ukraine ranked second on the list of internet shutdowns in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
US adult TikTok users are more likely to follow social media influencers than politicians. 46% of users follow mid-tier influencers and creators vs less than 1% who follow politicians. Pew report.
Threads is still growing. Last month, it reached 21.7 million visits from US users. There are leaks suggesting that Instagram Reels will soon be sharable on Threads, too.
Other product news in brief
🧑⚖️ Roblox is under fire for serious allegations over child safety and inflated DAU figures - made by a stock short seller.
💰 Snapchat is planning to monetize the main chat feed with ads.
🗺️ Ex-Asana chief revenue officer Oliver Jay is joining OpenAI to lead its Singapore office.
The Weekly Briefing is a product-led perspective of what’s happening in tech - and why it matters to product teams.
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