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My favorite weekly finds

🛠️ Tools

• News Minimalist helps you read only the most important global news stories by ranking 10,000+ daily news articles on a 0-10 significance scale.

• Use Brainnote as an AI thought organizer to summarize your ideas in seconds

• Persana AI finds and automatically emails your ideal potential customers from their 700M+ contact list

• Roundups (for Ecom PMs) generates product comparison guides from Amazon that you can use to earn affiliate commissions when readers buy through your links.

• For Managers, Maki helps you screen job candidates through immersive conversations that test skills like a virtual interview (raised $28M).

• DryMerge is another agent tool that lets you automate your repetitive tasks by typing what you want to happen.

📰 AI Insights

• Apple paused its AI notification summaries due to inaccurate alerts, disabling them until Apple resolves the issues.

• Here’s a curated list of resources for understanding how AI agents can take actions on your computer or phone.

• HuggingFace has a free agent course that teaches you how to build AI agents

• Apple just joined a massive tech alliance (AMD, Intel, AWS, Google, Meta, and Microsoft) trying to break NVIDIA's AI monopoly.

👀 ICYMI

• Leading Through Uncertainty: Key Strategies (Listen or read)

• Why Waiting to Make Decisions Could Be Killing Your Startup (Listen or read)

• How to Create a Team That Owns Every Outcome (Listen or read)

Deep Dive: Certainty Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Why should I care?

I’ve always loved math. Not just the patterns or problem-solving—but the certainty. There’s always one right answer.

Follow the logic, step by step, and you’re there.

No debates, no gray areas.

That simplicity? It’s bliss.

Everything’s clear: right or wrong, black or white. No tough trade-offs.

Product management, though? It’s the opposite. Certainty is rare. Decisions are messy, shaped by countless factors—many unmeasurable.

Most of our choices hinge on guesses about the future, and let’s face it, guesses aren’t guarantees.

Two product leaders could tackle the same problem and take completely different paths—different priorities, solutions, and outcomes. And both could still succeed.

That’s why so much rides on you, the product leader.

But here’s the twist: product leadership isn’t about you. Your preferences don’t define success. Your job is to reflect the market’s needs, not your own.

So, you lean on data. You build your case with evidence, and that’s what makes you good.

Until it doesn’t.

At some point, the skills that got you here can hold you back.

The next step? Learning a new way to lead.

Let’s dive in.

1- Is Data Still King?

What happens when data can’t prove your point? Not because you’re wrong, but because there’s no clear answer?

In this uncertain world, success isn’t just about data—or charisma. It’s about navigating disagreements and moving forward. Yet, many product managers get stuck. They’ve tried everything to convince others but still face pushback.

Here’s the key: don’t ignore objections—embrace them. Addressing them doesn’t mean giving up. It means understanding that every decision carries risk.

Leading without authority means taking calculated risks. And yes, taking risks is risky—especially when others are convinced you’re wrong. But how do you know if it’s a critical mistake or just a bold move?

Here’s how to get unstuck and take action, even when faced with strong opinions.

2- Understand the Real Disagreement

When someone disagrees with you, start with this: assume they have a point.

But don’t just take their input at face value. Dig deeper.

At the heart of every disagreement is usually one core issue. Instead of battling over final opinions, focus on uncovering that root cause. Often, it’s simpler than you think. You might spot a blind spot you missed—or find the disagreement stems from subjective beliefs or preferences.

For example, imagine debating whether your product should support a specific technology. That feels stuck, right? But if you realize the real question is how widely that tech will be adopted in three years, the debate shifts. Both opinions become valid, and you can use projections or research to clarify.

In some cases, digging into the core issue resolves the disagreement entirely—one person sees the other’s side. Other times, it’s about refining the approach or gathering more data to turn opinions into informed decisions.

And sometimes? It’s subjective. But by narrowing it down, you’ll know exactly where you stand and why the other side feels differently. And that’s okay.