On Product Strategy, Consumer Science, and Culture

In this episode, Jenny Herald is joined by Gibson Biddle, former VP of Product at Netflix and CPO at Chegg. He’s now a speaker, teacher, and workshop host. They discuss many of his tools, models, and frameworks — like GLEE (Get big, Lead, Expand, Expand further) and SMT (Strategy, Metrics, and Tactics), how culture is not a touchy-feely soft thing but rather describes the skills and behaviors expected of everyone in an organization. Gib puts Jenny in the hot seat a few times as they examine some Netflix case studies together.

“At that time, I never would have said that or thought that, but in hindsight, being in a band is like being in startups.” — Gib [00:02:04]

Show notes

• [01:51] Gib’s three careers.
• [05:26] Why it’s important to have a product vision.
• [10:47] On why people cancel their Netflix subscription.
• [13:15] Consumer science and applying the SMT model to develop product hypotheses.
• [16:07] What is culture?
• [18:20] The CEO embodies culture by providing role-modelship.
• [22:37] A case study on handling culture issues.
• [35:44] What a product leader should consider in their first three months.
• [40:01] Where to focus your time when you’ve got multiple teams running in parallel.
• [41:49] Defining a core proxy metric that defines if you’re a good or bad job.
• [48:18] Stating OKRs at launch may not be very useful.
• [52:24] OKRs can be a helpful tool but may introduce false precision. 
• [59:27] Gib answers quick-fire questions.

Relevant links

• Ask Gib Newsletter
• Gib's twelve-part series on product strategy
• Product Leader Summit