Archive of the PRODUCTHEAD newsletter, a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil (@jockbu).
» Bare facts by themselves are not persuasive; they must be “storified” in a way that triggers people’s sense of self
» A smaller initial ask can increase the likelihood of agreement to a larger, related ask
» Bad services can arise from not realising the service and the user need have drifted apart
» GenAI shifts the focus from shipping products to stewarding living systems that are continually learning and adapting
» Changing behaviour and beliefs is crucial for people to adopt a fundamentally new org strategy
» Culture optimised without alignment has unintended consequences
» KPIs measure what you’re already doing, OKRs are for change
» Problematic OKRs are too big in scope, activity-focused and disconnected from strategy
» The Narrative, Commitments, Tasks (NCT) framework offers an alternative to OKRs
» Product duos and trios can enhance the team, but are never more important than the team as a whole
» If a team depends on an external decision-maker, could that person join the team to empower them?
» Most read edition: ‘Where does the time go?’ – a developer explains the work around the work
» Edition with most clicks: ‘The rift between design and product’ – reportedly designers covet the PM position
» Most clicked article: ‘How to structure a product organization’ – John Cutler and Leah Tharin talk product OS
» Product-market fit is more elusive than ever in a dynamic market
» In deep-tech companies, it’s unrealistic to compete with your team on technical knowledge
» ‘Financial theatre’ occurs when the Board and product leadership aren’t communicating effectively
» There is room for both concrete and abstract thinking
» Thinking purely in problems to solve can limit you
» The words you use to describe your proposition are really a test of how well you know your target users’ needs
» Find ways to ‘tilt the umbrella’: small considerate features for your users
» Too often, ‘building’ becomes the default state for a product team, at the expense of other valuable ways of working
» An product team should not be so rigid that it cannot cope with the occasional mandate from above
» Extreme work as a product leader is a systemic issue, not a failing of individuals to set boundaries
» Define performance expectations for your product team clearly using customer value, velocity and quality
