PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
product in the aisle #
every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to
tl;dr
Highlights from 2024’s guests on Melissa Perri’s podcast
Office politics isn’t always distasteful
Applying common sense can by stymied by the organisational culture
User research is a discipline — it requires trained practitioners
hello
Happy new year!
Welcome back to the PRODUCTHEAD newsletter, your weekly dose of product management goodness. As always, I’ll be sharing with you the articles, podcasts and videos I’ve been voraciously consuming during the week.
While we were mostly taking a break from work, watching trashy TV and probably eating our own bodyweight in mince pies and chocolate, a few authors published articles that may have passed you by. This week I’ve gathered a selection of them for you.
Melissa Perri shares the highlights from her 2024 guests on the Product Thinking podcast. She includes insights from Leah Tharin, Kate Leto, Steve Portigal and others.
Rich Mironov appears on Murray Robinson and Donna Spencer’s No-Nonsense Leadership podcast to make the case that not all office politics is distasteful.
John Cutler snuck in a post about common sense and why it can seem so uncommon, and Lesley Crane explains why everyone seems to think that anyone can do user research and why that’s a fallacy.
If there’s any particular topic you’d like me to focus on in 2025, you’re always welcome to get in touch. Email subscribers can just hit ‘reply’, and if you’re reading this on the web, you can reach me here.
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
Christmas Special Greatest Hits 2024: Mastering Product Leadership Through Research, Goals, and Growth
This special episode features highlights from conversations with product leaders who have shaped our understanding of effective product management. Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden’s discussion on OKRs, Kate Leto’s wisdom on leadership coaching, and Leah Tharin’s approach to product-led growth – each conversation offers valuable lessons for product professionals at all levels.
Is Wham! the Christmas number one?
[Melissa Perri / Product Thinking Podcast]
No Nonsense Leadership (Podcast)
We talked about how calling things “politics” usually conveys a lot of distaste, rather than recognition that real organizations are run by real people – none of whom are purely logical or disinterested in their own position. If we want to understand and improve our organization, we need to engage hearts, incentives, and divergent viewpoints as well as (apparently) cold facts and analysis.
You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
[Rich Mironov / No-Nonsense Leadership podcast]
(Un)common Sense Playbook
I remember listening to a podcast a few years ago featuring a Netflix engineering manager who described how he turned around a struggling team. The approach worked. The team (and the manager) turned things around.
None of this sounds revolutionary. Nothing struck me as controversial or edgy. The manager’s “common sense” approach struck me at the time, so I wrote, “Why is common sense so uncommon?” in the margins of my notebook.
Is it the environment or the individual?
[John Cutler / The Beautiful Mess]
Why the idea that ‘anyone can do user research’ is a bad one.
There is a perception that user research (UR) is something that anyone can do – that you don’t need any kind of ‘formal’ research grounding or training. So, if you’re one of those who thinks that anyone can do user research, then please don’t call it research — because that isn’t.
The research onion highlights what you’re missing
[Lesley Crane / Medium]
recent posts
What freelance product management is really like with Jock Busuttil
Off the back of his recent article for Mind The Product, Liam Smith interviewed me about my experiences in freelance product management.
We cover topics including:
» Should you hire freelancers in your product team?
» How to be successful as an external hire
+ more :-)
If this doesn’t put you off, nothing will
[I Manage Products]
Is coding in the open right for your organisation?
One of the design principles that underpinned the digital renaissance in UK government was — and still is — ‘Make things open: it makes things better’.
For this article, I’ve focused specifically on the ‘coding in the open’ part. I’ll cover how it benefits public sector organisations, and how — in the right circumstances — it can yield a strategic advantage to commercial organisations also.
Increased scrutiny keeps us all a bit more honest
[I Manage Products]
DevRel and Product Management with Jock Busuttil on the Voxgig podcast
I’m chatting with Voxgig’s Richard Rodger about common challenges in product management and DevRel:
» Why learning by soundbite gives a superficial understanding of the craft
» Why we’re finding it hard to communicate value to our bosses
+ more :-)
Other professions find ‘people stuff’ hard as well
[I Manage Products]
can we help you?
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PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from tinsel remnants on the carpet.