PRODUCTHEAD: Living your brand values
PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
true product managers wait
tl;dr
What happens when words and deeds don’t align
More than office decoration: taking a stand on core values
When our values are aligned to the things we create, work doesn’t feel like work
What is meant by the word “brand”
hello
Hot news this week: celebrity outed as being unpleasant IRL! Yes, not exactly a story that would usually even register on my product management radar. Nonetheless it did because it gives us an unintentional object lesson in why your product has to embody your brand values.
For those that have never seen Ellen DeGeneres’s show, its core value is about being nice to people. So when she’s called out by her crew for apparently being mean, it sets her at odds with the brand values of her show, and undermines the implicit trust between the show and its viewers.
In much the same way, your product and company’s actions have to embody the brand values you claim. There’s no point in claiming to put customers first if in practice your service does no such thing.
When behaviour analytics company Hotjar recently discovered that one of their customers was the merchandising website of the Trump-Pence re-election campaign, they deactivated the account and donated the proceeds “to fight racism and injustice.”
Regardless of your political leaning, can you say truthfully that your product and company honour the brand values you speak about publicly?
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
Be kind, rewind: Why the tables have turned on Ellen DeGeneres
Less than a year after an awkward interview in which Dakota Fanning called out DeGeneres’s economy with the truth, Ellen’s ratings are reportedly at a 17-year low amid widespread allegations of a toxic workplace culture.
Don’t sell a lie to your customers
[THE INDEPENDENT]
Putting our core values to work
“We believe that the values displayed by this organization as a customer of Hotjar are clearly not aligned with our values as a company, and in the spirit of living our value of working with respect, we have decided to take action.”
[HOTJAR]
The road less travelled
How do we design more distinctive, credible, and memorable products? Should we work more responsibly, more ethically? What does it mean to solve the problems worth solving?
[MIKE ATHERTON / YOUTUBE]
The power of branding
An organisation’s brand is a whole set of associations which people make when they think about or encounter that business.
A common misconception – and one that designers are always at pains to correct – is that a brand is simply a logo or identity.
[DESIGN COUNCIL]
25% off my Product Management Masterclass
I’m running a series of four live, conference-style sessions on Tuesdays in October.
- What Do Product Managers Do (And Not Do)?
- Understanding User Needs
- The Secrets of Meaningful Product Roadmaps
- Landing and Starting Your Product Manager Job
Each session is USD $20 to attend, and right now if you buy tickets to all four, you’ll get 25% off.
5 product leadership lessons learnt from the UK’s Ministry of Justice Digital team
Video, slides and transcript of what I learnt about digital transformation and working with autonomous, empowered delivery teams.
If government can change culture, any organisation can
[I MANAGE PRODUCTS]
You wouldn’t drive blindfolded, would you?
Imagine yourself jumping into your car, strapping in, and firing up the engine. You have a quick look around then pull on a blindfold before launching yourself into traffic. Likelihood of an accident? (Quite high.)
So why do so many take the exact same approach when it comes to creating products?
[I MANAGE PRODUCTS]
Save yourself from product management hell
You know you’re in product management hell when you realise corporate strategy is absent or dysfunctional. I’ve certainly been there. This video shows you how to define your product strategy and use it to (hopefully) influence corporate strategy.
‘Get of hell free’ cards available here
[I MANAGE PRODUCTS]
upcoming talks and events
22nd September 2020, 16:00 BST / 11:00 EDT
ProdPad Webinar
Open, Honest and Always Improving: Product Management in Government
Free registration
25th September 2020, 12:00 BST / 07:00 EDT
Trends and Benchmarks in Product Management Webinar
Growing Together: Developing and Retaining your Product Team
6th October 2020, 16:00 BST / 11:00 EDT
Product Management Digital Masterclass
What Does a Product Manager Do (and Not Do)?
Tickets
13th October 2020, 16:00 BST / 11:00 EDT
Product Management Digital Masterclass
Understanding User Needs
Tickets
20th October 2020, 15:00 BST / 10:00 EDT
Product Management Digital Masterclass
The Secrets of Meaningful Product Roadmaps
Tickets
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 1980s pop videos.
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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