When Olivier joined us at comet as the Head of Product he started to implement a new method to make a decision regarding product development: the Bet.

For this article, I will just paraphrase what Olivier said during a presentation he did a few weeks ago. You can download the slides deck here.

For Olivier, the PM (Product Manager) is not the CEO of the product but an enabler (or coach) or an investor with no authority:

• She got funds: the time of her team.
• Pitches: problems and ideas.
• Thesis: product vision.
• Bets: she can't be sure it'll work.

1/ You start with a problem and you don't optimize locally

• Research your users and your market.
• Map your product or business.
• Study available data (data-informed).
• Align with company objectives.

→ From Product to Problem Manager: you shape a well-articulated problem for your team (user journeys maps, flows, 5-whys), and work with intent towards vision (aligned incentives company → product vision → OKRs).

2/ Think in Bets

• The world is random, and we don't have all the pieces of information.
• All decisions are actually bets.
• Good outcomes = SUM(decisions quality) + luck.

→ The product team is taking bets. It's not an exact science. You need to act fast, and limit the risk (with pre-mortems for instance).

3/ Unleash the investor in you

• Invest your team time (fixed allocation).