PRODUCTHEAD: Ignoring or embracing complexity?

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tl;dr

There may be multiple ‘truths’ about the work depending on how different people frame it

Different groups of people will adopt strategy in stages, and have differing information needs

Fostering collaboration is the necessary first step for an organisation to work with more agility

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hello

John Cutler’s most recent couple of articles have been about dependencies of one form or another. His most recent article (‘Dependencies Aren’t Your Problem’) seems to boil down to the point that sometimes we fail to see the more valuable work blocked behind a dependency because we’re too caught up with fighting fires. (That’s a Jock summary, not an AI one, so blame me if it’s an oversimplifcation.)

I think his earlier article (‘Source Of Truth’) has more to get you thinking. John writes that people at companies deal in different ways with the complex reality of all the things they’re working on. Some choose to ignore the complexity altogether, others force-fit everything into standard work packages to cope, and others simplify by shedding the nuance of the work they’re doing.

Meanwhile, Martin Eriksson writes about how strategy spreads within an organisation. Rather like Geoffrey A. Moore’s book, Crossing The Chasm, different groups of people will adopt and embrace the strategy at different times, and will have differing needs from the strategy. This has implications for how you communicate to each of these groups, and what level of practical detail they each need.

And Johanna Rothman writes about the necessary conditions for enterprise agility. If that phrase no longer holds any meaning for you, Johanna advocates for collaboration, experimentation and funding teams, not initiatives. If you’ve experienced the fallacy of resource accounting – treating people as units of FTE (full time equivalent) that can be divided across multiple projects simultaneously – then this article will likely resonate with you as an antidote.

Speak to you soon,

Jock

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what to think about this week

Sources Of Truth

Most ‘source of truth’ problems in product development aren’t really about the source of truth at all. They assume that everyone wants the truth, that they can agree on what truth they’re seeking, and that they’re willing to put in the work to forge coherence when there are different versions of the truth.

Forging coherence when there are different views of the truth

[John Cutler / The Beautiful Mess]

Crossing the Chasm… Inside Your Organisation

After watching countless strategies get lost in translation between the C-suite and the teams actually doing the work, I realised something: communicating strategy inside an organisation follows exactly the same rules as Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm.

Different groups have different information needs

[Martin Eriksson / The Decision Stack]

How to Think in Flow to Create the Three Necessary Culture Changes for Enterprise Agility

I’ve heard that the AA/PMI wants to create a manifesto for enterprise agility. I’m not sure we need a manifesto, but that’s fine.

Here are the necessary conditions for enterprise agility:

1. A culture of flow efficiency thinking. That means everyone collaborates across the organization to optimize up for one overarching goal.

2. Limited planning horizons, with the expectation that plans will change.

3. Funding teams, not initiatives.

4. Deciding how much to invest as incremental funding when planning what to do next.

5. Rewarding people based on how they contribute to the overarching goal, not any single person’s “individual” accomplishments.

People aren’t FTEs

[Johanna Rothman]

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PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter for product people of all varieties, and is lovingly crafted from an incoming shipment of building materials.