📈 Everything is product, Zuckerberg’s product strategy, suboptimal solutions are sometimes the best

Local Optimum: short, imperfect-yet-useful ideas - Edition #4

Welcome to a new edition of Local Optimum: a short, imperfect-yet-useful collection of ideas related to optimization, decision-making, and applied Operations Research.

Let’s dive in! 🪂

1) 🌍 Everything is product

Yesterday I shared this idea on LinkedIn:

(click on the image below to go to the post, especially if you want to join the conversation!)

Does it resonate with you?

2) 🧭 Product strategy at Meta

I did read the other day a post about Meta’s product strategy. It’s in Spanish so I’ll take the freedom to translate the key points:

📱 What is product strategy at Meta?

It’s a system in constant evolution. They don’t release final products but iterations (twice per day!) that adapt to users’ behaviors.

An effective product strategy should answer four key questions:

1. What’s the problem we are solving?

2. Why should we solve it? (competitive advantage)

3. How are we going to solve it? (direction, not only execution)

4. What outcomes are we looking for? (impact in users and business)

⚔️ Product strategy vs roadmap

Don’t confuse the what with the how.

✅ Strategy defines general direction and priorities.

❌ Roadmap is the specific execution, that constantly changes considering your learnings.

🔑 The key to success at Meta

→ Learning faster than others. How?

• Constant A/B testing.

• Massive feedback in real time.

• Optimization based on data, not opinions.

• Fast execution without fears to iterate over mistakes.

💡 Key lesson

→ Product is not about launching but about learning.

You can watch Zuckerberg in action (just 45 seconds of your time):

3) 🏆 Suboptimal solutions are sometimes the best

When it comes to solving real-world challenges, I firmly believe that practice 🧪 beats theory 📚.

And Amazon's approach to order grouping is a perfect example.

Instead of getting lost in endlessly complex optimizations, they chose a solution that’s quick, computationally light, and flexible enough to adapt as circumstances change. This is the essence of practicality: finding a solution that's “good enough” to make a real impact without over-complicating things.

In the world of Operations Research, this practical mindset is as valuable as it is necessary 🤝.

While models and algorithms provide insightful theoretical guidance, they often fall short in real-life application if they’re too detailed. The secret is a well-designed, interactive process that lets you experiment, test, and iterate quickly. It’s all about balancing speed and efficiency, ensuring that the solutions you create can be seamlessly integrated into everyday operations.

🎯 So, how do you put practice into action?

If you want to read the full article, click here 👇

📈 #25 OR in action: why suboptimal solutions are sometimes the best

---

Are you a Product OR Engineer yet?

Next Monday, I’ll share what I believe is the ultimate goal of an OR Engineer with a product mindset.

I’ll cover:

🔧 What being a Product OR Engineer really means
🔥 Why Product OR Engineers are on the rise right now
👥 How user-driven development becomes your secret weapon

If you're into building optimization tools that people actually use (and love), this one’s for you. See you Monday!

---

And that’s it for today!

If you’re finding this newsletter valuable, consider doing any of these:

1) 📣 Partner with Feasible. I’m always looking for great products and services that I can recommend to subscribers. If you are interested in reaching an audience of Operations Research Engineers, you may want to advertise here. Just 📨 answer this email 📨 and I’ll get back to you.

2) 📤 Share the newsletter with a friend, and earn rewards in compensation.

If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email!

Have a nice day ahead ☀️

Borja.