Google's productivity overhaul, Slack's new docs tool, Coinbase announces a new set of APIs plus how to ship product - really fast
Product Briefing - 22nd September, 2022
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Hello product people,
Google has unveiled a major overhaul of its productivity suite that finally brings together many of its disparate products into a unified experience. The star of the show is Google Tasks, which will now be integrated across Assistant, Calendar and the rest of the Google Workspace apps. Up until this point, Google Reminders was separate from Tasks and a reminder that was set in Calendar was separate from Keep. Now, the reminders set in one place will be shared across most of the ecosystem, but there was no mention of how - or if - Keep is included. You can read more about the upcoming product changes in a post from Illya Brown, Google’s VP of Product, here.
In other productivity news this week, Slack has unveiled a brand new documentation tool, Canvas. A canvas is a part document, part low-code website which allows users to include YouTube links, tweets and documents - all in one place. It’s understood that the new product utilises some of the technology from Quipp - the firm Slack owner Salesforce acquired for $750 million in 2016. Slack’s VP CPO Tamar Yehoshua described Canva as a “persistent layer of information that is a complement to the real-time nature of channels”.
Meanwhile, Uber suffered a major security breach last week which saw hackers reportedly gain access to sensitive data via AWS. A statement released shortly after the incident confirmed that the malicious actor likely gained access to Uber's infrastructure including Slack and G-Suite after purchasing credentials on the dark web. In an effort to defend itself against future potential attacks, the company is now hiring over 80 cybersecurity jobs in multiple roles including threat detection, application security and security incident management.
Finally, if you ever find yourself struggling to manage all the tabs you’ve got open at the same time, this nifty new browser extension could come in handy.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
New product launches - YouTube announces Creator Music product
At its inaugural "Made on YouTube" event, YouTube announced Creator Music, a new marketplace for creators to browse and license music with clearly defined terms and rates all spelled out. They can also elect to share revenue with music rights holders. (Mashable)
Case study - How Oatly built 16 global websites in 2 months
A headless CMS like Storyblok allows you to cut time to market in half. Devs get the flexibility to choose any frontend technology they prefer, while content editors enjoy a blazingly fast visual editor. Check out why Oatly made a move to Storyblok. (Sponsored)
New product features - Coinbase announces new set of APIs
Blockchain infrastructure firm Coinbase Cloud has launched Node, a revamp of its previous Query & Transact (QT) platform that offers a node service accessible free of cost to developers. Founded in 2020, the platform has serviced enterprise customers dedicated blockchain nodes that are managed on Coinbase Cloud. The platform is currently used by blockchain companies such as CoinList, Chainalysis, and Crypto.com. (The Block)
Product process - How to ship weirdly fast
Being able to build products fast is a huge advantage at any stage of the company. As a founder, you always want to get things done to grow your startup and please your customers. Motivation is an essential part of being fast — but in this essay, we’re going to focus on the process and concrete steps to implement it. (Growing Products blog)
UX - Should I use a button or a link?
One of the most seemingly contentious questions in web accessibility is whether or a button or link should be used when creating certain kinds of interactive elements. Why is it so contentious? The question has been answered countless times over the years by accessibility experts. There is also a wealth of reference documentation that answers the question. (Ashlee Boyer)
Podcast - LinkedIn’s Senior Growth PM Suji Kim on essential product tools and processes
Suji Kim is a senior product manager at LinkedIn focused on member acquisition efforts in the International Growth team. Prior to working at LinkedIn, Suji was senior product manager at Amazon where she helped create Amazon’s worldwide delivery experience. (Department of Product)
Product strategy - Grow or Die: a framework for turning your company around
Most great teams would agree, there’s nothing more powerful for executing on big ambitions than a clearly defined and well-communicated goal. But sometimes the stakes are much higher than usual. In these instances, a goal requires even more focus, execution, and clarity. All of these can be achieved through a framework that I have come to call SuperGoals, which I’ve relied on heavily throughout my career. (Andreessen Horowitz)
Case studies - How Stripe builds interactive product docs
At Stripe, our product docs are designed to feel like an application rather than a traditional user manual. For example, we incorporate a user's own API test key into code samples, making it possible to copy and paste code that seamlessly works with the user's own account. We have client-side interactivity, like checklists and collapsible sections. We tailor the content to the individual user, conditionally displaying content based on their location or the Stripe features they use. These features result in a high-quality user experience that reduces friction and contributes to the success of developers. (Stripe)
Tweets worth reading
Wolf of Franchises on the death of Blockbuster and its failure to pivot its strategy to adapt to changing consumer behaviours
Other product news in brief
Spotify is launching an audio book feature
Female health startup Flo launches anonymous mode
General Atlantic has bought a 15% stake in Kahoot
Bryan O’Sullivan has joined Zoox as senior vice president of software
Scott Levine has joined Brightcove as SVP head of product
BeReal thought to be exploring premium subscription monetization
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