Neil Mansilla

SF Tech Week kicked off yesterday, and I hopped over to a Reforge session on prototyping. I wanted to soak up the SF energy and see what’s new. Sachin Rekhi shared highlights from his new Reforge course, plus Brian Balfour announced Reforge Build’s tools. It is clear that Reforge are expanding from being a teaching only shop to building the tools that can help product teams. Here are my takeaways from the talk and from my experience with prototyping (yes, I needed to join this talk to realize it's worth sharing my learnings): 🐒 - Pair prototypes with analytics to get earlier user validation. Watching what people do before you ship cuts waste and validates faster. You can import your product style and layer new flows right on top. This was a new insight for me that makes complete sense—moving the validation phase up. 🎁 - Use the AI vast examples. I avoid providing overly detailed specs when I prototype because I want additional opinions during the building process rather than being stuck with one approach. Many tools now offer options like variations (in the new Reforge Build program), inspiration on Magic Patterns or just ask for several options. I loved how Lovable presented several options with pros and cons, letting me decide what I preferred. 👭 - Prototyping as a team is still early, but it works if you design for it. Also, handing off a prototype to engineering might not be fully internalized everywhere, but I believe as prototypes start to replace parts of PRDs, this will become more standardized. Q&A is always my favorite part. Hearing other people’s constraints sharpens my thinking. 😍 How I build from scratch 😍 :  • I start with the main screen where the core activity of your app happens. Connecting with AI tools and databases is essential to identify the small details you'll need to point out or consider. Inquire about preferred design patterns to create a better app.  • Then I add everything else along the way—navigation, home page, save functions.  • After navigation changes, test all paths, as AI tools aren't very good at maintaining consistency. 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 We’re not at “prototype → deploy” yet, but PMs are much more empowered to test paths, pressure‑check prioritization, and change our minds fast. Go Build!! #Prototyping #ProductManagement #SFTechWeek #Reforge

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I am super excited this morning to announce Sandgarden's acquisition of Layer! When I first met Jonah Katz and Andrew Hamilton, I fell in love with their enthusiasm and positivity, not to mention what they were building. Two years later, I'm proud to have them join Sandgarden. Thanks to Michael Hirshland for the introduction, and to Andrew and Jonah for believing in what we're building to take a chance. Congrats on getting it over the finish line! Welcome to the team Ayaan G. and Gavyn P.! Finally - check out Doc Holiday! It keeps everyone in the company up-to-date as features ship, starting with release notes and documentation all the way to team-specific Action Plans. Demo video here: https://lnkd.in/grkAuXkh And finally - a shout to Jonathan J. Chou, Nicholle Lamartina, and Tori Stark for the insane help. You never fail to deliver 🥰

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