I heard about the LNO framework from Shreyas Doshi. For a product manager, it’s a powerful way of thinking about your todo list, to ensure you’re delivering valuable output consistently.
It started when Shreyas joined Google. He had a hard time keeping pace with the high performance environment. He had his first child shortly after starting. He was working long hours, tired, feeling overwhelmed and stressed.
Unsatisfied with his output and a never ending todo list, it was really starting to take its toll on his personal life. Searching for solutions, he hit on the LNO framework, it was a game changer.
Your tasks are not created equal. Categorise them into three types (L, N, and O):
L = leverage tasks
- You can get 10x or 100x in return for the effort you put in, they offer significant leverage for you
N = neutral tasks
- You get roughly what you put in, or maybe a little more sometimes, but not by much
O = overhead tasks
- You get back less than you put in, sometimes a lot less
People tend to treat these tasks the same, they all sit on the todo backlog together. This was the epiphany Shreyas had at Google; among the things in the todo list, there were very few L tasks…
