Product Thinking Newsletter - December Edition

'Twas the night before launch, and all through the Slack, not a soul had stopped typing, all patience was cracked. The roadmaps were hung by the Kanban with care, In hopes that the MVP would soon be there.

The developers hunched, still glued to their screens, while visions of bugs danced like unwelcome dreams. And QA in hoodies, with coffee on hand, Ran scripts that refused to do what they planned.

When out in production arose such a clatter, the teams turned their focus to see what’s the matter. Away to the dashboard, they flew like a flash, praying the server logs wouldn’t rehash.

The sprint board displayed every story and task, each labeled "BLOCKED" as if daring to bask. Then appeared the Product Manager, brimming with cheer, A smirk on their face that inspired both hope and fear.

So lively and quick, they rallied the team, pulling off tricks like a seasoned dream. "On Frontend! On Backend! On Testing and Staging! On Legal! On Metrics! On Paging and Branding! Now debug away! Fix what’s enraging!"

As burnout met caffeine, adrenaline flew, launching a product beneath deadlines overdue. Up to the servers the pipelines did go, A prayer on every tongue—"Don’t let this overthrow."

And then, in a twinkling, arose from the chat, a groan from dev-ops, "Who committed that?" As heads turned to wonder, the designer stepped in, Mockups in hand and a sheepish grin.

"This font’s off by one pixel," they said with a sigh, "But ship it for now—no time to retry." The marketers huddled, clutching their phones, crafting tweets with painstaking tones.

"If it goes viral, we’ll take all the fame, but if it flops, we’ll blame the name." The CTO paced, eyes scanning the stats, frightened over crashes and PR spats.

But suddenly… errors! The servers were choking! "Roll back the deploy!" the lead cried, provoking. The teams sprang to action, no time for despair, each clicking and typing to fix it with care.

Through chaos and stress, a miracle arose: A patch was deployed, and stability showed. The green checks appeared; the dashboards lit bright, "We’re live! It’s stable! It’s working all right!"

As dawn broke through, the team sighed with delight. Their product was launched after a long, weary fight. And as the office grew quiet, the monitors dimmed, the team's bond shone brighter—unbroken, not grim.

And someone whispered in that soft morning light. "Happy launch day to all, and let's pray there's no fires tonight."

I hope everyone had a great year, and before we welcome 2025, there’s one last thing to do…

The Month in Product & Tech History: December Edition

1. The transistor emerged from Bell Labs, shrinking electronics from room-filling hulks to pocket-sized wonders, and setting the stage for the gadget avalanche that followed. (December 23, 1947)
2. Sony’s PlayStation landed in Japan, proving that gaming consoles could jump from niche novelties to cultural juggernauts—and chew up entire weekends. (December 3, 1994)
3. The first text message, a simple “Merry Christmas,” flew across a mobile phone network, planting the seed for an era of endless pings, emojis, and frantic thumb-typing. (December 3, 1992)
4. Apple agreed to buy NeXT, quietly welcoming Steve Jobs back and paving the way for the Mac to become the sleek, must-have status symbol of the computing world. (December 20, 1996)
5. Marconi’s transatlantic radio transmission whistled across the ocean’s static, showing that voices could leap continents and speeding up the world’s gossip chain. (December 12, 1901)
6. Douglas Engelbart’s “Mother of All Demos” unveiled the mouse, hypertext, and interactive computing, giving the world a guided tour of tomorrow’s digital landscape. (December 9, 1968)
7. Angry Birds vaulted onto screens, proving that flinging feathered rage into pixelated pigs could become a global pastime—and a weird measure of idle thumb agility. (December 11, 2009)
8. Avatar soared into theaters, putting CGI-driven, alien-world immersion on the map and nudging Hollywood toward blockbuster budgets measured in terabytes. (December 18, 2009)
9. Doom blasted onto PCs in shareware form, redefining first-person shooters, inspiring LAN parties, and proving that pixels and adrenaline were a match made in hell. (December 10, 1993)
10. Windows 2.0 arrived, introducing overlapping windows and hinting that graphical interfaces would become the lingua franca of the PC world—even as keyboard shortcuts clung on. (December 9, 1987)
11. Ford’s moving assembly line rattled into action, trading craftsmanship for mass production and putting the modern automobile within reach of the average driver—complaints included. (December 1, 1913)

Happy New Year and Holidays to you all.

Chris

December's Content

The time we demystified investing for novices at a renowned news outlet

Our mission with one of Canada's largest news sources was to revitalize their existing stock market watchlist tool, creating a more intuitive and informative platform, particularly for new investors. This task was both ambitious and essential, aiming to simplify the complex world of stock market investment for a new generation.

A Field guide to a product mind: Inversion

Join Jonathan Savage and discover how to outsmart obstacles by flipping the script: concentrate not on chasing success but on avoiding failure. This pivotal change in perspective is crucial for crafting resilient strategies and robust products. Navigate by sidestepping pitfalls, not solely by pursuing victories. Uncover vital strategies for impactful problem-solving and heightened critical thinking. Observe the profound impact of inversion on user experience and team cohesion. Innovation blossoms from foresight. Embrace a revolutionary approach and unlock the full spectrum of your product mind.

eBook: How to build an organization that creates great products

In a market where customer expectations are constantly evolving, aligning product strategy with business goals is not just a necessity – it's a game-changer. In our latest ebook ‘How to build an organization that creates great products,’ Andy Birds, Global Product Community Lead, Thoughtworks shares the A to Z on transforming your operations to be more product-centric.

Built for anything: A lesson in proactive problem-solving:?

Unexpected challenges are a given in any project. Recently, a critical setback occurred while working on a major project for one of Canada's largest telecoms. Instead of panicking, the team remained calm and confident, grounded in the robust principles of Extreme Programming (XP). How can a team turn a potential disaster into a resounding success? That's exactly what Vitaliy Kondratiev answers in his latest article, highlighting: Robust architectural design, test-driven development, and pair programming. This proactive approach not only solved the issue but also showcased a commitment to excellence and innovation.