Escaping the Build Trap
by Melissa Perri · first published 2019
6mentions
6recommended by
6HN commenters
2019–2026first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Argues that product teams should tie their work to customer value and outcomes rather than shipping feature lists; seen as a practical starting point for product managers and engineers who want better backlogs.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…feedback. This was pretty successful, I liked it, and I took the chance to switch to be a PM full-time when a new role opened on a different team in the department. 2. Resources - Inspired (Marty Cagan), and Escaping the Build Trap (Melissa Perri) are good starting points. My company also sent me to Pragmatic Institute training, which didn't cover new ground but did provide lots of template docs if that's your style. 3. A note…
on “Ask HN: How to grow into a Technical Product Manager role?” ↗…and/or building, and dive right in - only to realize later we either didn't understand the product, or our stakeholder didn't and now wants changes once they've seen what it does. (Deeper dives here: "Escaping the Build Trap"[1], "The Minimalist Entrepreneur"[2] - Understanding negotiation is extremely helpful as you are often operating under constraints, and need to get those across to your stakeholders such that you can…
on “Getting things “done” in large tech companies” ↗…management (coming from SW+chip design). PM: - Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love - The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback - Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value - What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Service - Strategize: Product Strategy and Product…
on “Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?” ↗…Start measurning the value of each feature to your customers. Have short customer feedback cycles for planned features. Your backlog should reflect solutions that make sense to the customer. The book "Escaping the build trap" talks about this. I highly recommend the book. Good books on the subject talks against roadmaps and shifting to a value and goal based approach.
on “Ask HN: How to properly manage a product roadmap?” ↗I would recommend Escaping the Build Trap - https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/escaping-the-build/9781...
on “Ask HN: Best books to transition from development to product management?” ↗…a relentless focus on feature development over core product refinement. I often have the impression that Anthropic would benefit from a few senior product people. Someone needs to lend them a copy of “Escaping the Build Trap.” Just because we _can_ rapidly add features now doesn’t mean we should. PS I’m not referencing a well-known book to suggest the solution is trite product group think, but good product thinking is a…
on “An update on recent Claude Code quality reports” ↗