Crafting a compelling product vision | Ebi Atawodi (YouTube, Netflix, Uber)

Ebi Atawodi is Director of Product Management for the Creator Experience at YouTube, former Head of Product at Uber, and a former Director of Product (Payments and EMEA) at Netflix. Known for crafting a strong, unified vision, Ebi empowers her teams to achieve outsized outcomes. In today’s episode, we go deep into vision and strategy, including: • The four key elements of a good vision statement • Three ways to determine your mission • The four pillars of great product management • How writing helps you gain clarity • How culture influences product • Tips on how to structure a strategy session • Advice on building team culture and improving work relationships • What’s coming soon at YouTube — Brought to you by Sidebar —Accelerate your career by surrounding yourself with extraordinary peers | Jira Product Discovery —Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Wix Studio —The web creation platform built for agencies — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/crafting-a-compelling-product-vision — Where to find Ebi Atawodi: • X: https://twitter.com/ebiatawodi • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebiatawodi • YouTube mixes: https://www.youtube.com/@EbiAtawodi/videos — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Ebi’s background (04:31) Four key elements of a product vision (08:14) Examples of lofty but attainable visions (11:43) Vision vs. mission (13:23) Examples of visions and missions from notable companies (15:00) A simple framework for outlining a vision (20:51) Other methods for outlining a vision (23:29) The impact of writing clear headlines (26:41) Using mockups to frame your vision (28:24) A step-by-step approach to developing a vision (32:58) Ebi’s “10 Things” document (37:47) A quick summary of Ebi’s tips (40:56) How to use the “10 Things” doc in a strategy session (43:11) The three concentric circles of evangelizing (47:48) The cadence of developing a vision and bringing it to life (49:26) Visions vs. micro visions (52:58) First steps in developing a vision (55:12) Infrastructure is the product (56:39) Clarity and conviction, the main jobs of PMs (59:58) Ebi’s narrative doc (1:04:59) Conviction, its role in the job, and how to build it (1:08:20) How to build company culture (1:17:06) The monolithic culture at Uber (1:19:09) The culture Ebi embeds in her teams (1:23:58) How to evaluate your relationship with your engineering manager (1:26:02) What’s new at YouTube (1:29:22) Ebi’s closing thoughts (1:30:45) Lightning round — Referenced: • Andre Albuquerque on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-albuquerque • TED’s mission: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization • Stripe’s operating principles: https://stripe.com/jobs/culture • Microsoft’s vision and mission: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about • Tesla’s mission statement: https://www.tesla.com/blog/mission-tesla • Lyft’s mission on Comparably: https://www.comparably.com/companies/lyft/mission • Ebi’s playbooks and templates: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tU3jpbq_xHcF4x1bdANCVBsO6rbQ8h1HqvdQfwGW4MA/edit • Working Backwards Press Release Template and Example: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/working-backwards-press-release-template-example-ian-mcallister/ • Patrick Collison on X: https://twitter.com/patrickc • Seinfeld meme: https://seinfeldmemes.com/you-know-how-to-take-the-reservation/ • Travis Kalanick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviskalanick/ • Wimdu: https://www.wimdu.com/ • Leaving big tech to build the #1 technology newsletter | Gergely Orosz (The Pragmatic Engineer): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/leaving-big-tech-to-build-the-1-technology-newsletter-gergely-orosz-the-pragmatic-engineer/ • The 48 Laws of Power : https://www.amazon.com/48-Laws-Power-Robert-Greene/dp/0140280197 • The God of Small Things : https://www.amazon.com/God-Small-Things-Novel/dp/0812979656/ • Outliers: The Story of Success : https://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930 • All About Love : https://www.amazon.com/All-About-Love-New-Visions/dp/0060959479 • The Bear on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f • Scavengers Reign on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/scavengers-reign/50c8ce6d-088c-42d9-9147-d1b19b1289d4 • Sleep Cycle: https://www.sleepcycle.com/ • Nanit: https://www.nanit.com/ • “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51642/invictus • Burning Man: https://burningman.org/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe