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.
To ensure you receive your subscription, please add
jock [at] mailtrain [dot] productpeo [dot] pl
to your Safe Senders list.
Recent editions
-
» Job interviews are a terrible way to assess how someone will perform in role » All genAI companies are evil, but some are less evil » Accumulated inefficiency has come back to bite organisations – what to do about it
-
» Tomer Sharon will be remembered for pioneering UX research techniques such as Experience Sampling and Google’s HEART framework
-
» Product managers exist in part to free up the specialists to do their thing » Being the point of contact with senior executives and stakeholders tends to also make you accountable to them » Specialists’ expertise is needed to wield a tool effectively, even if it’s easy to use
-
» Different cultures communicate with varying directness; context heavily influences interpretation and meaning » Leadership, trust, and decision-making styles differ widely across cultural backgrounds and must be adapted to the team » Bridging cultural divides requires empathy, flexibility, and awareness of one’s own cultural lens
-
» Organisational changes will reveal weak spots in the current ways of working before you adapt them » Structure teams differently based on the nature of the work » There is value in using shared language to describe how teams differ
-
» Be comfortable not having all the answers; trust your team » Prioritise the customer when balancing B2C/B2B decisions » Counteract your cognitive bias towards adding complexity by subtracting
-
» There’s a balance between motivating people to a goal and killing their enthusiasm with the gory detail » Just as with users and customers, we need to meet our peers where they are » In most complex organisations, product supports the organisation’s goals, not vice versa
-
» Choosing not to learn is a choice to be left behind » 4 types of “money story”: cost savings; upselling; new market; and customer satisfaction » Reflections on how we think about aspects of product management
-
» What product work will deliver the greatest positive impact for the business? » Rather than multiple levels of abstraction, team goals should be 1 step away from the corporate goal » Enabling teams can have impact by prioritising the teams doing the most impactful work
-
» Just over half of product managers surveyed rate themselves poor at retiring a product » Consider how people may continue using your product after it is retired, or the company exits » Activists are pushing to prevent companies from bricking devices reliant on cloud software
-
» So-called hypergrowth is quadratic, not exponential (adding a larger fixed amount each year — not multiplying) » Sustainable growth requires new products or built-in virality, not just more marketing » True exponential growth is rare and short-lived
-
» 10 tactics for subscription value creation » 10 tactics for reducing subscription churn » When switching to a subscription model, initially costs will go up and revenue will decrease
-
» A prototype expresses a product concept far better and quicker than a product requirements document (PRD) » People good at doing a thing themselves are not always good at building a system to do it » Work is craft: theoretical knowledge and practical experience combined
-
» Implementing AI means assessing user needs and your data sources » AI technologies run the risk of creating harm — how are you planning for that? » LLMs and genAI open up new vectors for novel attacks that need to be countered
-
» Platform product management dials everything up to 11 » A successful platform is continually evolving in line with user needs and emerging tech » Platform teams must recognise and respect the varying needs of their community of users
-
» On a typical dev project, the reality is around 2-3x the original estimate » Trying to go faster when you’re already moving quickly has limited effect for a lot of effort
-
» Switching to a product-led sales movement should not be a hard pivot but a blended transition » The product must demonstrate its own value regardless of whether sales people are involved » Intent adds nuance to the classic “strategic, execution, and planning” cascade
-
» Conflict in product management is unavoidable » Some conflict is actually desirable and healthy » You can learn to assess and manage conflicts more constructively
-
» The negative effects of social media algorithms were an early warning for the consequences of generative AI » As product managers, we have a duty of care to our users » The unpredictability of genAI poses varying risks of harm to users depending on the context
-
» Comprehensive introductory training on large language models (LLMs) » Nonverbal communication can make assistive robots more effective » Practical suggestions to foster greater alignment between product and go-to-market teams