PRODUCTHEAD: Hardware’s harder to manage
PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
million dollar product
tl;dr
Changing a hardware product iteration has a 12-18 month lead time
Having more parties involved in manufacturing means higher costs and squeezed profits
“Building in hardware ‘security’ mechanisms is just always a double-edged sword”
hello
I’ve always had great admiration for product managers who happen to look after hardware products. Not only do they have to be good at product management, they also have the associated constraints of the process of creating hardware.
Software product managers have their own challenges, sure, but they don’t usually have to worry about safety certifications for their products to be used in different countries. Distributing software to customers may sometimes incur costs and a bit of lead time if you’re going through an app store, but this is not quite on the same level as the costs of tooling up a factory for mass production, or having to wait for a container ship to arrive with your finished units.
Minimum viable product? Ha. Not an option – it’s all or nothing, baby.
And don’t forget that you’re usually locked into your design decisions – and bugs – for a lot longer than software product managers would find comfortable. Just see the Wired story about the exploitable flaw in Apple’s T2 security chip for details.
Hardware product managers: I salute you. You’ve taken a hard job, then added complexity, even more stakeholders to manage, and tied one of your hands behind your back for good measure. Just try not to make the rest of us look bad, okay?
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
Hardware vs Software Product Management
Hardware product managers are forced to make crucial unchangeable product related decisions extremely early on in the development process.
Do all your decisions hold up 12-18 months later?
[SCOTT WEINREB / MEDIUM]
How It’s Made
An insight into product discovery techniques for physical products and the realities (and costs) of what it takes to get something ‘Made in China’ and sold around the globe.
[CONOR BARRY / YOUTUBE]
Apple’s T2 Security Chip Has an Unfixable Flaw
The horrible implications of finding a security hole in your hardware security device.
Whoops, no hotfix for this one
[WIRED]
Don’t miss out on my Product Management Masterclass
You still have time to grab a ticket to the remaining session in my masterclass series.
6 Oct: What Do Product Managers Do (And Not Do)?13 Oct: Understanding User Needs20 Oct: The Secrets of Meaningful Product Roadmaps- 27 Oct: Landing and Starting Your Product Manager Job
The session is USD $20 to attend.
recent posts
Open, honest and always improving
In government, product is borne out of transparency, quite a lot of cake and a fanatical desire to serve the needs of users.
In this recent video for ProdPad’s webinar series, I talk about the acute challenges of culture clash. You’ll also discover what can be achieved by highly motivated, principled and capable people when they set an example for the rest of an organisation – or the entire Civil Service – to follow.
Product management with revenue out of the picture
[I MANAGE PRODUCTS]
Voxgig Fireside for professional speakers
In the podcast episode, I reveal how I turned my flair for product management into a speaking career, and how I set up a home studio for live streaming using an old television.
[I MANAGE PRODUCTS]
Growing together: developing and retaining your product team
34% of product managers surveyed said they left their previous role because there were no opportunities to grow.
In this video, Lucie McLean (Zalando) discusses growth and career progression for product managers with Jock Busuttil (Product People Limited) and Daniil Pavliuchkov (Tier).
Team coaching and career paths
[I MANAGE PRODUCTS]
upcoming talks and events
27th October 2020, 15:00 GMT / 11:00 EST
Product Management Digital Masterclass
Landing and Starting Your Product Manager Job
Tickets
can we help you?
Product People is a product management services company. We can help you through consultancy, training and coaching. Just contact us if you need our help!
Helping people build better products, more successfully, since 2012.
PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from used COVID-19 test kits.
Read more from Jock
The Practitioner's Guide To Product Management
by Jock Busuttil
“This is a great book for Product Managers or those considering a career in Product Management.”
— Lyndsay Denton
Jock Busuttil is a freelance head of product, product management coach 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, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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