PRODUCTHEAD: This too shall pass
PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.
i am product insane #
every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to
tl;dr
A pursuit of job stability can easily translate into an unproductive ‘inertia’ instead
Self-sealing arguments are no-win situations: every defence you make is co-opted the by other party as evidence you’re wrong
hello
That my starting point for this week’s PRODUCTHEAD is a meme perhaps gives you insight into how productive I’ve been recently. On the plus side, it is Radiohead adjacent.
The various chats I’ve been having with product people recently have reminded me how important it is to have a support network. That is, people who understand our line of work and its challenges from their own similar experiences.
Tom Kerwin, Corissa Nunn, John Cutler and the Cynefin Company (ku-nevin) are running a Sensemaker project to gather personal stories from people in tech. At the time of writing, about 500 people have shared their experiences anonymously, including myself. Tom and Corissa are sharing all the stories with participants, so if you’re interested in how others are weathering the current state of the industry, do consider contributing.
Understandably, many of the responses paint a picture of people unfulfilled by their work, disillusioned with dysfunctional leadership, and concerned about job security or the struggle to find work. Many also feel that their situation is out of their control.
The difficulty facing many of us is that we’re in a Catch-22 situation. If we call out the dysfunction or attempt to regain control of the situation, we risk becoming labelled as troublemakers, increasing our odds of being laid off. If we suck it up and persevere, we put our mental health on the line and likely end up leaving the job with burn-out anyway.
This would be less of a problem were the job market more buoyant than it is currently. It’s not all about money, but even a shitty job pays the bills better than being unemployed. Voting with your feet is a lot easier when the market favours job seekers. While things seem particularly bad at the moment, the tech industry is cyclical, and demand for skilled, experienced people will return in time. This is admittedly cold comfort for those struggling right now.
When I was reluctant to leave a particularly shitty job, partly because I was afraid I wouldn’t find another, partly because I didn’t want to leave my team in the lurch, I lacked objectivity. It took consulting an independent career coach to remind me that I had value and enthusiasms beyond my current job, and that any changes of direction in my career were not one-way manoeuvres.
Despite feeling a bit braver, I didn’t resign immediately. Rather, I gradually scaled down my working days. This made me feel slightly more in control again and reduced the effect on me of the toxicity at work, while still bringing in some pay. Then, more by luck than by design, on my non-working days I rediscovered what I enjoyed doing, but in a different form. For me, it was chatting with other product practitioners, freelancing and writing, although it will probably be different for you.
12+ years on, I’m still broadly following the same path. I’m continuing to help other product practitioners on my own terms, and I find the work fulfilling. However bleak it may seem at the moment, try to hold on to the thought that things will improve in time. You do have control to make your own choices, despite how you may feel right now. If you need someone to chat to who understands, I am always here to listen in confidence.
Speak to you soon,
Jock
what to think about this week
What the heck’s goin’ on in tech?
In partnership with John Cutler and the Cynefin Company, we’ve put together a public platform for folks like you to tell the world what it’s like working in tech right now. The good, the bad, the downright hideous.
Tell your story anonymously, read others’ stories
[Tom Kerwin & Corissa Nunn / Trigger Strategy]
Sharpening the career lens, in adverse times
The target audience of this post are talented, tech workers facing adverse market conditions for the first time in their careers. That said, I hope this content is useful for others too.
“A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure”
[Waqas Sheikh / Waqas’ Musings]
The self-sealing argument trap
We frequently get pulled into Catch-22 arguments and discussions. No matter what we do—at least the normal gut options—we lose. But awareness is a gift. In this post, I aim to provide that awareness and some strategies to find better outcomes.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
[John Cutler / The Beautiful Mess]
recent posts
Control your narrative
Years ago, someone once told me that “perception is reality” when it comes to reputation at work. Of all the lessons I’ve learned in my career, this has been by far one of the hardest.
[I Manage Products]
Podcast: Voxgig Fireside with Jock Busuttil
Voxgig CEO Richard Rodger explore the similarities between DevRel (Developer Relations) and product management, and we cover topics including:
» Learning product management by soundbite and from stories that gloss over the messy context has given a generation of product managers a superficial understanding of their craft.
Other professions find ‘people stuff’ hard as well
[I Manage Products]
The power of open
4 valuable product and culture lessons from the UK’s government digital teams. This was a talk I gave for Product People in September 2024. Video and transcript available.
[I Manage Products]
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 non-waterproof waterproofs.
Read more from Jock
The Practitioner's Guide To Product Management
by Jock Busuttil
“I wish this book was published when I started out in product management. It gives a really wonderful overview of what product management is and involves on a day to day basis.”
— Keji Adedeji, product leader & coach
Jock Busuttil is a product management and leadership coach, product leader 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, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.