PRODUCTHEAD: “It was at that moment he knew …”
» Be comfortable not having all the answers; trust your team
» Prioritise the customer when balancing B2C/B2B decisions
» Counteract your cognitive bias towards adding complexity by subtracting
Category: PRODUCTHEAD – Product management newsletter
PRODUCTHEAD is my free curated newsletter of the best articles, videos and podcasts from product leaders and commentators all over the world. All neatly packaged up in a weekly email delivery for your reading, viewing and listening pleasure. Curated by Jock Busuttil (jockbusuttil.com).
PRODUCTHEAD: Pragmatism versus idealism
» There’s a balance between motivating people to a goal and killing their enthusiasm with the gory detail
» Just as with users and customers, we need to meet our peers where they are
» In most complex organisations, product supports the organisation’s goals, not vice versa
PRODUCTHEAD: Attitudes to technical literacy
» Choosing not to learn is a choice to be left behind
» 4 types of “money story”: cost savings; upselling; new market; and customer satisfaction
» Reflections on how we think about aspects of product management
PRODUCTHEAD: The pendulum swings back to business impact
» What product work will deliver the greatest positive impact for the business?
» Rather than multiple levels of abstraction, team goals should be 1 step away from the corporate goal
» Enabling teams can have impact by prioritising the teams doing the most impactful work
PRODUCTHEAD: Not bricking it – retiring a product with good grace
» Just over half of product managers surveyed rate themselves poor at retiring a product
» Consider how people may continue using your product after it is retired, or the company exits
» Activists are pushing to prevent companies from bricking devices reliant on cloud software
PRODUCTHEAD: Exponential growth is a myth
» So-called hypergrowth is quadratic, not exponential (adding a larger fixed amount each year — not multiplying)
» Sustainable growth requires new products or built-in virality, not just more marketing
» True exponential growth is rare and short-lived
PRODUCTHEAD: Is your subscription really a rental?
» 10 tactics for subscription value creation
» 10 tactics for reducing subscription churn
» When switching to a subscription model, initially costs will go up and revenue will decrease
PRODUCTHEAD: People problems and solutions
» A prototype expresses a product concept far better and quicker than a product requirements document (PRD)
» People good at doing a thing themselves are not always good at building a system to do it
» Work is craft: theoretical knowledge and practical experience combined
PRODUCTHEAD: What to consider when implementing AI in your product
» Implementing AI means assessing user needs and your data sources
» AI technologies run the risk of creating harm — how are you planning for that?
» LLMs and genAI open up new vectors for novel attacks that need to be countered
PRODUCTHEAD: Platform product management
» Platform product management dials everything up to 11
» A successful platform is continually evolving in line with user needs and emerging tech
» Platform teams must recognise and respect the varying needs of their community of users
