Archive of the PRODUCTHEAD newsletter, a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil (@jockbu).
» When starting your next role, gather opinions and evaluate them before making your own appraisal of the state of the product
» Think of your first month’s activity in terms of people, product and personal
» The transition from product manager to leader requires many new skill sets
» To set up a new starter in your team for success, be clear on their role and goals
» Success theatre undermines the long-term potential of your team and organisation
» Small changes can incite a large culture transformation
» As organisations grow, they incorrectly start to value the importance of “process” over “product”
» Measuring process distracts you from determining whether you are creating value
» Quarterly planning is disruptive when it introduces too much new information at once
» Free, online courses are available to help you become more literate in the basics of finance
» There are three key financial metrics to track in a recurring / subscription business
» Gain a competitive advantage by interpreting annual corporate accounts
» Challenge received wisdom about key financial metrics and ratios to reveal hidden insights
» The vision describes the future we are trying to create
» The strategy describes how we’ll make the vision a reality
» There are only 4 strategies after finding product-market fit
» Tesla subsidised more affordable car models with the revenue from their initial luxury roadster
» Storytelling helps to convince stakeholders to believe in your vision
» Customer research and validation is critical, but it can’t always make decisions for you
» Remedy mistakes quickly and honestly to earn respect
» Use the “rule of 10” to put mistakes in context
» People remember most your small defining moments
» Objectives and key results (OKRs) set ambitious goals and track progress towards them
» Manage your desired outcomes separately from what you do to achieve those outcomes
» Make use of OKRs standard across all teams
» Learn from when you fail to achieve your desired outcomes
» OKRs go hand-in-hand with team autonomy
» 6 core concepts of systems thinking will help you start solving complex problems
» Systems thinking complements the more familiar analytical (reductionist) thinking
» It is a way of creating a shared understanding of how something works
» It provides useful tools for surfacing and breaking reinforcing cycles of blame
» Competing execs will sometimes sabotage by claiming features for their own product long before they plan to implement them
» Your product roadmap can reveal symptoms of underlying organisational dysfunctions
» We need to consciously remember that the needs of our users change over time
» Many biases are underpinned by shared psychological mechanisms, such as the desire to feel positively about ourselves
» Coaching allows you to leap ahead — it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you
» Active listening helps you restrain the urge to jump in early with a solution
» Performance management is retrospective; performance development looks forward
» A lack of clear goals and simplistic evaluation are ways performance management goes wrong
» Mind The Product pivoted in 8 weeks, then spent the next 8 months refining the concept
» When working remotely, post information in at least 3 places to ensure everyone sees it
» Pivots that align with the existing corporate vision tend to be more successful
» The shift to digital during the COVID-19 pandemic will not be as sticky as some assume
