Product lessons from Waymo | Shweta Shrivastava (Waymo, Amazon, Cisco)

In this episode of Lenny's podcast, Shweta Shrivastava, a Senior Director at Waymo, dives into the unique world of self-driving car technology and the role of product management within this innovative field. She begins by explaining her responsibilities at Waymo, which include developing software that powers autonomous vehicles, creating simulation tools for performance validation, and scaling their ride-hailing business.

Lenny recounts his experience of riding in a Waymo vehicle, emphasizing the natural feeling of the ride and how the car communicates its intentions, which leads to a discussion about the importance of creating a believable and human-like driving behavior. Shweta mentions that their systems are trained on human driving data to foster trust and natural interactions between the car and other road users.

The conversation then shifts to the distinct differences in working at Waymo compared to traditional software companies. Shweta highlights the need for product managers to have a deep technical understanding and be comfortable with ambiguity and long-term objectives. She stresses that the safety standards for self-driving technology exceed those for typical software products, necessitating a rigorous approach to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) concept.

Shweta discusses key performance indicators (KPIs) employed at Waymo, such as safety metrics, operational costs, and user engagement data, and explains the ultimate goal of ensuring that self-driving technology is safer than human drivers.

She also shares insights on how to maintain stakeholder buy-in for long-term projects, emphasizing the importance of transparent progress and meaningful technological achievements. Finally, Shweta reflects on fundamental principles of successful product management which include understanding customer problems deeply, learning from failures, and maintaining trust and transparency with users and stakeholders.