Author: Jock Busuttil

Jock Busuttil is a product management and leadership coach, product leader and author. He has spent over two decades working with technology companies to improve their product management practices, from startups to multinationals. In 2012 Jock founded Product People Limited, which provides product management consultancy, coaching and training. Its clients include BBC, University of Cambridge, Ometria, Prolific and the UK’s Ministry of Justice and Government Digital Service (GDS). Jock holds a master’s degree in Classics from the University of Cambridge. He is the author of the popular book The Practitioner’s Guide To Product Management, which was published in January 2015 by Grand Central Publishing in the US and Piatkus in the UK. He writes the blog I Manage Products and weekly product management newsletter PRODUCTHEAD. You can find him on Mastodon, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

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» When delivering difficult news at work, you are not there to seek sympathy

» Tie business impact to deprioritised work to highlight the problem to your CEO without sounding whiny

» An organisation’s emotional culture governs which emotions people express and suppress at work

» Many organisation equate “fixing” to basically “patching holes in the slowly sinking boat”

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» Desire paths spring up as users’ needs and goals change

» The effort paradox: the effort of forming a new path versus the desire to take the path of least resistance

» In digital products we use analytical tools to help us observe desire paths

» When a new desire path emerges, question your old assumptions — user behaviour is changing

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» A mobile phone may be all you need to record an interview

» For in-person recordings, keep your setup simple and portable

» The simplest way to record video calls is to use the local or cloud recording option

» Consider carefully whether to record an interview or to have a dedicated note-taker

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» Ask your team: what do we actually need to know, by when, and how confident do we need to be?

» Don’t ask users what they do. Ask them for an example of a time they have done something, and then ask if it was typical

» When recruiting participants, say what the study is for, how long it will take, and what’s in it for them

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» Ask “why” to understand the other side’s position and interest

» All negotiations involve both rational and emotional elements

» Whatever decision you make as a product manager will disappoint some people

» Teams benefit from a shared understanding of the trade-offs of decisions

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Years ago, someone once told me that “perception is reality” when it comes to reputation at work. Of all the lessons I’ve learned in my career, this has been by far one of the hardest.

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» Asking about a specific problem causes people to ignore the other problems they have

» Make time for product discovery in small steps, not all at once

» Biases reduce cognitive load for our brain when it processes new information

» An opportunity solution tree is a way to externalize your thinking