Overheard in product: Habits, consistency, product books, copycats, and Slack

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TL;DR

We’re back with part 23 of Overheard in product—a series where we round up all of the tantalizing conversations from product folks that you may have missed on the web last week.

This week, we overheard discussions about habits, consistency, books about product, best practices, and how Slack uses Slack.

Let’s get to it. 

Habit the bullet

Maryam Zaidi, UX Researcher at You X Ventures, stressed the importance of daily habits. 

tweet from maryzai that reads: people don't decide their futures. they decide their habit, and those habits decide their future

Food for thought: What habit could you start today that would radically change your life in 6 months?

Put the pro in progress

In the same vein, James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits, championed the idea of consistency over intensity. 

this is a tweet from james clear about consistency vs intensity

Food for thought: Do you need more intensity or more consistency in your work?

Impromptu book club

Alison Austin crowd-sourced a roundup of top product books. 

this is a tweet from alison austin about product management and software books


Top recommendations included: The Lean Product Playbook, Inspired, and Just Enough Research. 

Copycat

John Cutler, Product Evangelist at Amplitude, has an opinion about adopting best practices. 

this is a tweet from john cutler at amplitude about copying best practices

Food for thought: When’s the last time you adopted a practice of a high-performing team, only to have it not work? 

Bonus: How Slack Slacks

Slack just went public in a direct listing—so it’s natural that we are all thinking about how we use it. Nir Eyal wrote an article for Fast Company that profiled how folks at Slack use Slack—and, here’s the key—without getting overwhelmed by Slack. 

A few tips from the article that you can refine and adapt to your own workflow:

  • No direct messages after hours,
  • Take purposeful breaks from real work to check Slack, and
  • Use emojis to help grow psychological safety. 

Facts & Questions

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