Principles

My Operating System

“The rules I run on”

01

BUILD IN PUBLIC

The best feedback comes from shipping, not planning.

02

USERS OVER FEATURES

Every feature without a user need is technical debt.

03

TALK TO USERS, NOT SPREADSHEETS

40 merchant interviews taught me more than any analytics dashboard.

04

STRONG OPINIONS, WEAKLY HELD

Conviction to act, humility to change when evidence says otherwise.

05

FAIL FAST, LEARN FASTER

Every failed experiment is just a data point for the next one.

Playbook

PM Frameworks I Use

The mental models and frameworks that shape how I prioritize, build, and measure.

RICE

Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort — quantitative scoring model for prioritization

When to use

When prioritizing a backlog of feature requests with limited resources

  1. 1.Estimate Reach (users/quarter)
  2. 2.Rate Impact (0.25–3x)
  3. 3.Set Confidence (%)
  4. 4.Estimate Effort (person-months)
  5. 5.Score = (R × I × C) / E

Applied in: Backlog — AI-Powered Feature Prioritization SaaS

Jobs-to-be-Done

Understanding the job users hire your product to do

When to use

When defining product strategy or exploring new market opportunities

  1. 1.Identify the job
  2. 2.Map the job steps
  3. 3.Find unmet needs
  4. 4.Define value proposition

Applied in: Splitwise Product Teardown

MoSCoW

Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have — scope prioritization

When to use

When scoping an MVP or defining release boundaries

  1. 1.List all requirements
  2. 2.Classify: Must / Should / Could / Won't
  3. 3.Validate with stakeholders
  4. 4.Build Must-haves first

User Story Mapping

Visual map of user activities, steps, and stories to plan releases

When to use

When planning sprints or organizing a product backlog

  1. 1.Map user activities (horizontal)
  2. 2.Break into steps
  3. 3.Write stories per step
  4. 4.Slice horizontally for releases

North Star Framework

Single metric that captures the core value your product delivers

When to use

When aligning teams around what matters most

  1. 1.Identify core value exchange
  2. 2.Define the metric
  3. 3.Map input metrics
  4. 4.Align teams to inputs

Applied in: Splitwise Product Teardown

Decisions

How I Think Through Trade-offs

Real decisions with options, frameworks, and outcomes — not just the polished result.

Growth

Things I've Changed My Mind About

Intellectual honesty means updating your beliefs when the evidence changes.

Before

No-code tools are toys

After

No-code is the fastest path to validation

Changed: Jan 2026

Before

You need an MBA to be a PM

After

The best PMs are builders who deeply understand users

Changed: Nov 2025

Before

Retention is a feature problem

After

Retention is a context problem

Changed: Dec 2025