Hello product people,

Following the growing popularity of ‘Zoombombing’, where uninvited guests turn up to Zoom rooms to share unsavoury content, the comms company has announced a series of new security features. These include passwords now being turned on by default for pre-scheduled meetings meaning participants will need to enter a password upon arrival into a Zoom room. Zoom was seemingly one of the early beneficiaries of remote working as customers from government agencies through to large corporates adopted the tool. As a result, Zoom has seen its daily active users jump from 10 million to over 200 million in the last 3 months alone. Security concerns are threatening to stifle its growth however, with some companies choosing more established tools offered by Microsoft and Google instead. Since those security concerns were raised Zoom’s share price has experienced a turbulent few weeks. 

Workplace collaboration app and product management favourite Notion has announced a new $50 million fundraise at a whopping $2bn valuation. With its user base growing from 1 million to 4 million in the last year, Notion says the funding gives it a 10 year runway, as the popularity of digital productivity tools continues to soar. The company recently unveiled new apps designed for tablets with cursor support for iPad Pro.

With large parts of the globe retreating into their homes, coworking spaces are unsurprisingly hurt particularly badly and WeWork is feeling the pain. Following the recent announcement that SoftBank would be withdrawing from its proposed stock buyout which would have resulted in its founder cashing in on almost $1bn, the coworking business is now launching a legal campaign against Softbank. WeWork’s business model makes it particularly vulnerable to the covid-19 crisis as it grapples with a cash-killing combination of long term leases and flexible pay as you go rental options. You can read the full lawsuit filed by WeWork against SoftBank here.

Finally, if you ever find it difficult to say no to stakeholders or colleagues, here’s a selection of communication templates you can use in situations where no is the answer.

Your product briefing

Tools - The best component library tools for product teams

As a product manager, you need an effective way to manage the user experience and user interface (UX/UI) of your digital product. It is essential that your digital product will scale effectively without requiring frequent additions or rework of design files and assets, while maintaining a consistent UI system. Several innovations over the last few years have helped reorganize the traditional UX/UI design process, and more recent innovations on the development side now allow for a complete design-to-development tool stack. This article will go over the most recent UX/UI design processes and the best tools that allow for tighter integration between design and development. (Emerge Blog)
 

New product launch - Microsoft launches new AI voice styles

Microsoft today announced the launch of new neural text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities in Azure Cognitive Services, its suite of AI-imbued APIs and SDKs that enable developers to tailor the voice of their apps and services to fit their brand. Each of three new styles — newscast, customer service, and digital assistant — promises natural-sounding speech that matches the patterns and intonations of human voices. (Venture Beat)
 

Interview - Slack CEO discusses the impact of coronavirus

Stewart Butterfield, chief executive officer of Slack, discusses the challenges and opportunities of navigating the COVID-19 crisis. (Bloomberg Technology)
 

Customer success - How to run customer support remotely

Lots of teams are now working remotely and we’re also taking this approach for now with our own operations. We’re a team of 80+ across 4 offices, so working with people in different locations is not new for us. But as we take our customer support fully remote, we are rethinking our workflows, automation tools, and day-to-day rituals to protect our team dynamics and productivity. More importantly, we’re thinking about ways to uphold the caliber of our support in a remote world. (Intercom Blog)


Strategy - An introduction to product strategy

This webinar was conducted with Gibson Biddle, the former VP of Product at Netflix, on behalf of Product Collective -- a community for product people. The Q&A and polling features referenced in this video were specifically for those attending live, but this recording allows you to learn insights on Product Strategy that Gib Shared, including understanding the tools, models, and frameworks that help product leaders to do the most critical part of their job: to communicate an inspired vision of the future. (Product Collective)


New product features - Skype launches ‘Meet Now’ meetings

With Meet Now, hosts can create and share a free meeting with just three clicks, according to the company. Even the host doesn't need to have Skype installed -- you can start the process from its website right here -- and then invite people either using a simple link or the share button. If the person you're inviting has Skype installed then it will open the app directly to the call, and if not then it will open the web client that works in Chrome or Edge. (Engadget)


Opinion - VR is missing its moment… again

So where is VR? With quite possibly the biggest opportunity to enlist new users, new environments, and especially new experiences, why hasn’t the VR industry made a huge leap forward? After watching the Westworld Season 3 episode “The Winter Line,” I was reminded that the current moment is probably VR’s third missed opportunity in recent years to leap forward. (OneZero)
 

Process - How to bring product thinking to non-product teams

At its most basic definition, a product is the way an organization delivers and captures value. For teams doing daily product work, it can feel relatively easy to define the words product and customer. Whether it’s a jet engine, an insurance policy, an online banking app, or mobile phone service there is an end customer who purchases and uses that product (athough, occasionally, it’s a different person). A product team will work hard to get to know that customer and how the organization’s products and services can be continuously improved to make them more successful. (Harvard Business Review)


Tips - 7 practical tricks to make Zoom meetings great

Good Zoom etiquette dictates that if you’re not speaking, you should mute yourself. However, you’ll invariably be called on to speak and, after being jarred awake from your half-slumber, you’ll fumble around for what seems like eternity to try to unmute yourself. There’s a much better way! Assuming your Zoom window is active, just hold down the space bar to unmute yourself. While it’s held down, say your piece, and once you’re finished, let the space bar go and you’ll be muted again. (Fast Company)


UX - What is a user journey map and why is it useful?

A user journey map will help visualize and document the experience a user has as she/he uses a product or a service. It presents this experience in a chronological way, usually as a visual timeline. A user journey map will list the different phases and actions users will go through to accomplish their goals. The journey might start way before users interact with your specific site or mobile app. It usually also goes beyond or after the experience with the digital part of your service. For example: if you have an e-commerce website, the experience doesn’t stop after the user pays for the product. (Stephanie Walter Design Blog)

About us

The Department of Product is an education company for product teams.

Our educational training programs include Product Mastery, designed to help you master your product skills and Web Technologies, built to help managers become more confident with technology and engineering teams.