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
-
» Dissect your monolithic metrics to drive growth in more easily influenced segments » Don’t kill the golden goose of growth by oversaturating a channel » If growth is your goal, have a sense of urgency
-
» Sarah Jeong on why the Pixel 9’s Reimagine feature is the final nail in the coffin for trust in photos » 9 Sept: I’m giving a talk for Product People on lessons about org culture
-
» Knowing what kinds of customer you want and don’t want help you to prioritise ‘one-off’ feature requests from sales » “Enterprise customers look at our roadmaps as the starting point for negotiations” » Are feature requests a deliberate strategy or a reactive wild goose chase?
-
» The uncertainty of a problem should influence how we respond to it » Misdiagnosis of a problem can compound it » We frame our solutions through the lens of our social predisposition » Wicked problems can only be addressed by collaboration between different social types
-
» The only thing you can truly control in life is yourself » Securing buy-in is meaningless if you let people go back on their agreement without challenge
-
» At C-level, focus more on “what’s in it for you” and less on “here’s what I need” » Get your strategy, priorities, risk-taking heuristics, and goals straight, and treat allocation as a hypothesis
-
» Failure to adapt and iterate on team structures and processes will result in your strongest product people leaving » Accepting that an employee might thrive in another environment is accepting that you (as their manager) could have done a better job
-
» Vocal self-confidence in the midst of uncertainty has become a desirable trait in leaders » There must also be space for quieter, more contemplative leadership styles
-
» Shape Up is a collection of product development techniques that happen to work for Basecamp » Just because they work in Basecamp’s context doesn’t mean they’ll work for yours » OMG so problematic
-
» If context is continually changing, aim for incremental progress and let go of perfectionism » Balance the need for action with the drive to understand both the problem and your biases » Change is like a sledge stuck in the ice: hard to get moving, but easier to keep moving once freed
-
» Software is never ‘done’ even if you choose to ignore it for a while » A ‘training wheels’ framework to get a team started should be treated as a throwaway experiment » Clarity is not the same as certainty, although it helps you manage the uncertainty
-
» When negotiating, don’t pitch, listen » To minimise residual influence, negotiate each point independently » When trust is low, consider making a concession contingent on the other party reciprocating » Conceding because you don’t want to upset the other party is a losing scenario
-
» Speak the language of C-level by focusing on revenue, customer benefits, and financials » Without understanding, there can be no empathy » Product managers need to be able to communicate with a wide range of people using different languages » The worst product managers only speak in the language of product management
-
» Good product managers amplify the ability of an organisation to generate value » Successful companies have figured out how to align quality, customer value, and sustainable velocity » With no formal entry requirements, many people have piled in to product management with little care for the craft
-
» Be involved and interested, but not on the critical path » Talk about the ideas you threw away, in commercial language » Founders are rejecting the generic advice to delegate everything — this evolves the product manager role
-
» For better alignment, leaders should only communicate the why and what of the goal to their teams » Auftragsklärung facilitates alignment through both top-down and bottom-up goal setting » Try to communicate your work’s value to stakeholders in terms they will understand » Alignment is a system in dynamic equilibrium
-
» One definition of value is the impact of a product team’s work on the company’s success » To deliver value quickly as a new starter, understand people, problems, context, process and culture » We rarely show value to users, the business and others affected by our product on the same journey map – why?
-
» The Prisoner’s Dilemma shows us that cooperation is a winning strategy in the long term » Faciliate more rational decision-making by helping stakeholders to understand the context better » A mental model is a compression of how something works, keeping key information and ignoring irrelevant detail
-
» Common challenges leaders encounter are a lack of trust for their teams and executives, a lack of coaching, and letting go of control » How others perceive the value and effectiveness of the product team’s work holds immense transformative power
-
» Have a bias to test, learn, and to put code in production » Feed what you learn from exploring solutions back into your understanding of the problem » Help stakeholders visualise their ideas to make them easier to challenge, assess risk and test out