Frank Tisellano | ft.io

“Beautiful design” doesn’t matter for the reasons you think

2024-05-28T00:00:00Z

As much as I believe in making the back of the cabinet as beautiful as the front, I’ve seen many product managers, especially new ones (including a starry-eyed, 23-year-old Frank) value beautiful design in their products for the wrong reasons or at the wrong times. Here’s how I think about integrating design improvements into my products while maintaining focus on delivering for the business.

Cynical PM Framework Webinar at Product School

2023-12-17T00:00:00Z

Cynical PM Framework, Live at Lean Culture

2023-11-11T00:00:00Z

Thanks to Sean Murphy and Theresa Shafer for inviting me to speak on the Cynical PM Framework. Had a blast sharing and discussing it live for the first time. Fantastic insights from Sean & co, and great questions from the whole Lean Culture crew.

Video and transcript inside.

Product Voices Podcast, featuring yours truly

2023-06-07T00:00:00Z

Many thanks to JJ Rorie for inviting yours truly to Product Voices, her excellent product management podcast. We discuss how PMs can have more impact by increasing their focus on the commercial side of the job, including some techniques you can use to improve your business focus.

Find it wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple and Spotify, or listen directly on the Product Voices Website.

ML market predictions

2023-03-24T00:00:00Z

TL;DR

Value will overwhelmingly accrue to incumbents
Generative models (LLMs, imagery, video, etc.) will be deeply integrated into platforms (OS, browser, major social platforms)
Foundation models will be used to train highly specialized models in various domains, while "orchestrator" models seamlessly route queries to specialized models
Apple will drive mass consumer adoption of ML

Shift left on go-to-market to build better products

2023-03-20T00:00:00Z

Average PMs discover customer problems and create elegant solutions to those problems with software. Building products is what they’re best at.

Great PMs recognize that building a good product is table stakes and that the way to truly differentiate themselves is by taking a strategic approach to how customers or users find and adopt their products. Read on to find out how.

A simple commenting system for my static site generator

2023-03-03T00:00:00Z

Inspired by some of my favorite blogs, and in search of my next funemployment project, I’ve decided to experiment with enabling comments on this site. After exploring a number of off-the-shelf options, I decided to build a Ruby on Rails/JavaScript-based system that meets my unique requirements for privacy and user experience.

Check out how it works (and leave a comment!)

Dynamic link preview images using Lektor, a static site generator

2023-02-26T00:00:00Z

I wrote some Python! Take a ride with me as I recount my experience writing a plugin for Lektor that dynamically generates link preview images. Super gratifying to build something fun (and a little bit novel, if I do say so myself) for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.

The Cynical PM Framework, a business-first approach to product

2023-02-09T00:00:00Z

As PMs, of course we have a responsibility to our users — but we’re primarily responsible for advancing the goals of our business. In this post, I posit a simple framework for identifying the different strategic roles your product might play and how to prioritize, position, and measure success once you’ve identified that role.

Firsts

2023-01-20T00:00:00Z

There’s a first time for everything. First kiss. First heartbreak. First job. First kid. First home. This morning, I experienced my first layoff. I was one of the 12,000 folks let go by Google.

On user interface density

2022-08-28T00:00:00Z

At a previous company, we had strong feedback from sales that prospects thought our legacy, cash-cow product looked old and outdated. They were right, and those first impressions are hard to shake. We lost deals (in part) because of design.

We had to figure out how to solve the sales objection while not alienating our existing power users.

Make a good, fast website

2020-01-02T00:00:00Z

Not much has changed since I started publishing on the web in 1998. HTML written back then still works, and the most successful bloggers still earn their success not only for the quality of their writing or the design of their blogs but because they just write.

Every now and then, I get questions about this site — its design, how it’s ‘run’, etc. If you need a nudge in the right direction, here’s how I did it, and here’s what you should do, too.

Product Management Reading List, 2019

2019-11-11T00:00:00Z

Do you want to be a better product manager? Do you enjoy words? Do you like the endorphin hit you get when they slide their way through your eyeballs into your brain? I sure do. Here are some of my favorite words on Product Management.

Interviewing Product Managers

2019-03-18T00:00:00Z

Because PMs come from diverse backgrounds and because every company does Product Management differently, there’s no ideal interview process that works for everyone. But most great PMs share key attributes and behaviors that make them great.

Over time, I’ve honed a number of interview questions I believe get to the heart of these attributes and behaviors. Responses to scenarios like these are difficult to rehearse, since they’re unpredictable and since good interviewers can ramp the difficulty of the scenario when candidates respond well.

Lessons

2019-03-06T00:00:00Z

Over my career, I’ve kept a short, private list of the most important lessons I’ve learned, usually the hard way. In hopes that others might avoid the mistakes I’ve made, I’ve decided to publish and maintain that list here.

Rome

2019-02-14T00:00:00Z

Outside of my home city of New York, my favorite city in the world is Rome. I’ve spent almost half a year of my life there, and I find new things to love every time I visit.

I’m sometimes asked for advice on where to go and what to do in the Eternal City, so I’ve compiled this little guide containing my favorites.