The Secrets Behind Great Products at The Biggest Companies

About this video

Shreyas Doshi is a highly respected product management leader and startup adviser, known for senior product roles at Google, Twitter, and Stripe, where he was a foundational PM leader, and for his widely followed teaching and writing on product strategy and leadership.

Most team problems and weak product decisions aren’t about capability—they’re about misaligned thinking levels and poor leadership judgment. If you want better outcomes, stop defaulting to execution details or metrics and instead align on impact, decision philosophy, and trade-offs. The real leverage is not more data or process—it’s how leaders think, frame problems, and choose what matters.

Full Video at the end of page

Core Insight (Plain English)

You’re not failing because your team lacks talent—you’re failing because people are solving the same problem at different levels (execution vs impact vs optics), and nobody is aligning that upfront.

Good teams follow process. Great teams use judgement.

7 Practical Lessons

• Start conversations at the right level
  If you're talking to senior stakeholders, lead with impact (customer, revenue, market), not execution details. Many SME founders make this mistake when pitching investors or partners.

• Diagnose conflict as “level mismatch,” not incompetence
  When teams argue endlessly, it’s often because one side cares about execution while the other cares about optics or impact. Fix the level mismatch first before debating details.

• Don’t over-index on metrics early
  Not everything needs measurement upfront. In early-stage SMEs, waiting for “perfect data” often delays action. Use judgement and qualitative signals when needed.

• Separate “impact” from “proxy metrics”
  Revenue, clicks, conversions are proxies—not the goal. If you optimise only for what’s easy to measure, you risk building low-impact, incremental products.

• Avoid the “low-effort trap” in decision-making
  Teams naturally choose quick wins (low effort, high ROI optics), but this leads to mediocre outcomes. Focus on opportunity cost: what big move are you not doing?

• Use writing to force clarity (even in small teams)
  Writing exposes weak thinking. Even a simple 1-page doc with “core insight + proposal” improves decision quality more than long meetings.

• Hire and reward high-agency people
  In ambiguous environments (common in SMEs), people who act despite uncertainty outperform “smart but passive” employees. Go-getters beat frustrated experts.

Summary & Reflections

This framework is powerful but not universally easy to apply. SMEs often lack the luxury of structured thinking or time for deep alignment. In fast-moving environments, execution bias is sometimes necessary.

Also, emphasizing judgment assumes strong leadership capability. If leadership is weak or inexperienced, removing reliance on metrics or rules can lead to inconsistent or poor decisions.

Balance is key:
Use structure when needed—but don’t hide behind it.

Who should watch the full video

• Founders scaling from small teams to structured organisations

• Product, operations, or strategy leads

• Anyone managing cross-functional teams or decision-heavy roles

Decision Rating

Decision Usefulness: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Directly improves how operators make decisions, manage teams, and prioritise work—high leverage across all business functions.

Strategic Value: ★★★★☆(4/5)
Strong framing on impact vs metrics and opportunity cost, but requires leadership maturity to fully implement.

Operational Relevance: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Highly relevant to daily team management and communication, though smaller SMEs may struggle to formalise practices like writing culture.

Until next time,
The SME Signal editorial Team