PRODUCTHEAD
PRODUCTHEAD is my free curated newsletter of the best articles, videos and podcasts from product leaders and commentators all over the world. All neatly packaged up in a weekly email delivery for your reading, viewing and listening pleasure.
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Recent editions
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» Being a better listener can improve your productivity, as well as your ability to influence, persuade and negotiate » Psychological safety partly depends on your team feeling they are being listened to
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» We perform better when we bring our emotions to work » Call out toxic workplaces, but also have an exit strategy » An effective team needs: psychological safety, dependability, structure & clarity, meaning, and impact » Treat psychological safety as a key business metric, as important as revenue, cost of sales, or uptime
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Rumelt: » “Good strategy grows out of independent and careful assessment of the situation” » “Bad strategy follows the crowd, substituting popular slogans for insights” Eriksson: » “Deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do”
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» You can only tell if you’ve been successful if you can measure it » Analytics approaches that work for others may not work in your context » Behind every metrics is a behaviour » The point of an experiment is to learn
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A service: » is defined from an external end user’s point of view » describes something someone would want to do, in their language » has an outcome that relates to the organisation’s goals » includes all the steps between the user and provider » includes all the parts involved in delivering it
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» A component team’s focus on a specific technology can result in being less user-centric » Feature teams are better suited to deal with innovation, uncertainty, and change » Centralised skill teams should aim to make themselves redundant by disseminating knowledge
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» Federation squares the circle of having both a cohesive design system and autonomous product teams » A successful design system closely meets the needs of developers of apps and the end-users of those apps » For a design system to appeal to third parties, it has to accommodate their brand identity and niche audience needs
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» Performance appraisals fail to take into context whether the organisation is permitting them to succeed » Deming: “a bad system will beat a good person every time” » Personal development and performance are different things » Shift performance management from the individual to team, group, or organisational level
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» Service maps help teams and stakeholders to understand interactions with a service across touchpoints over time » They provide a visual representation of an abstract and often wide-reaching process » Think of your service like a theatre: front stage, backstage and behind the scenes » Service mapping helps your team to tell their story to the wider organisation
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» Outcome-driven product roadmaps shift the focus from building features to solving user problems » A product roadmap is a communication tool first and foremost » A now/next/later roadmap helps teams to focus on the bigger picture » Delivering outcomes instead of outputs is harder, but more valuable
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» A product coach should measure their own job performance by the successes of their team members » Strive to develop a capacity for learning in the people you supervise » Coaching taps into an individual’s own wisdom and keeps them accountable for achieving their goals » People who are genuinely committed to change but nonetheless dig in their heels may be unwittingly self-sabotaging
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» Async working lets you set aside time for deep thinking » Forced remote working led naturally to more async work » Async relies on three main tenets: multiplexing, communication and action » Find the right balance between flexibility and cohesion, independence and togetherness » In-person time is important to sustain the human relationships that enable you to get work done
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» Over time, communities of practice risk themselves becoming new silos » Be intentional about what you want to learn, and about your own behaviour to others » Delivery by itself is worthless — deliver value
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» Data ethics studies and evaluates moral problems related to data, algorithms and corresponding practices, in order to formulate and support morally good solutions » Product managers have ethical responsibilities that transcend career, company and profit » Organisations need to assess and build their trust and trustworthiness » Mitigate biases in your product that may have unintended discriminatory effects on individuals and social groups
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» 3 tenets of product ops: insights, research, and processes & practices » Product ops is about enablement and coaching, not a rebrand of the product owner or product marketer roles » Product ops is the ‘glue’ that binds different business functions and product focus areas together » Product ops enables product teams to achieve better outcomes
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» Focus your prototyping on the moments that matter most to users » Prototypes range in fidelity, but remain throwaway » Prototyping brings tangibility to intangible experiences » Be clear about what you want to learn, and what assumptions you want to test » Design simply to deliver early and learn quickly
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» Don’t be driven by metrics — be informed by them » The mental tendency to replace strategy with metrics can destroy company value » Onboard your users all the way to becoming your best users » 3 kinds of innovation: method, market and product
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» Your products will reflect your organisational structure (Conway’s Law) » You can structure your teams around a central function, or as self-contained business units » Periodically re-evaluate the right mix of innovation and optimisation for your organisation
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» Firing someone is a task you will always perform with some anxiety, but you still need to be able to do it well » At Netflix, it’s not enough to be a hard worker achieving only B-grade results » Founder of AngelList Naval Ravikant seeks happiness by trying to live in the here-and-now, neither obsessing about the past nor fantasising about the future » If your team’s cultural norms cause you to feel uncomfortable, ask yourself why you think it’s not ok
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» 5 useful canvases to help you frame your product ideas