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.
Recent editions
PRODUCTHEAD: Should we be saying no or not?
» Saying no to a good idea requires confidence in your product strategy
» Even if saying no to an opportunity, take the time to understand its value and context
» Keep ideas and suggestions separate from your product backlog
» Clear company goals and strategy make it easier to say no to unaligned requests
» Saying yes habitually to one-off custom features will usually kill your product business
PRODUCTHEAD: 9 of the best product management podcasts
» A selection of the best product management podcasts by product people, recommended by product people
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: 9 of the best product management podcasts
PRODUCTHEAD: (Re)discovering discovery
» Discovery is about understanding the problem space experienced by people
» When on a tight budget for discovery, mitigate bias where possible and document all the biases you see
» A relaxed participant will open up and be more honest with you
» A discovery can prompt one or more possible solutions, or tell you the problem is not worth pursuing
PRODUCTHEAD: Acting like a startup seeking funding
» Bootstrapped startups have free rein with their strategy
» Successful startups try to anticipate failure, and learn from it when they don’t
» Investors look for long-term defensibility of your product’s proposition and unique advantage
» Operational velocity is key to company success
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Acting like a startup seeking funding
PRODUCTHEAD: Starting your next role in product
» When starting your next role, gather opinions and evaluate them before making your own appraisal of the state of the product
» Think of your first month’s activity in terms of people, product and personal
» The transition from product manager to leader requires many new skill sets
» To set up a new starter in your team for success, be clear on their role and goals
PRODUCTHEAD: Success theatre
» Success theatre undermines the long-term potential of your team and organisation
» Small changes can incite a large culture transformation
» As organisations grow, they incorrectly start to value the importance of “process” over “product”
» Measuring process distracts you from determining whether you are creating value
» Quarterly planning is disruptive when it introduces too much new information at once
PRODUCTHEAD: Basics of finance for product managers
» Free, online courses are available to help you become more literate in the basics of finance
» There are three key financial metrics to track in a recurring / subscription business
» Gain a competitive advantage by interpreting annual corporate accounts
» Challenge received wisdom about key financial metrics and ratios to reveal hidden insights
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Basics of finance for product managers
PRODUCTHEAD: 5 product strategy tips
» The vision describes the future we are trying to create
» The strategy describes how we’ll make the vision a reality
» There are only 4 strategies after finding product-market fit
» Tesla subsidised more affordable car models with the revenue from their initial luxury roadster
» Storytelling helps to convince stakeholders to believe in your vision
PRODUCTHEAD: To err is human
» Customer research and validation is critical, but it can’t always make decisions for you
» Remedy mistakes quickly and honestly to earn respect
» Use the “rule of 10” to put mistakes in context
» People remember most your small defining moments
PRODUCTHEAD: Better than okay OKRs
» Objectives and key results (OKRs) set ambitious goals and track progress towards them
» Manage your desired outcomes separately from what you do to achieve those outcomes
» Make use of OKRs standard across all teams
» Learn from when you fail to achieve your desired outcomes
» OKRs go hand-in-hand with team autonomy
PRODUCTHEAD: Pimp my system
» 6 core concepts of systems thinking will help you start solving complex problems
» Systems thinking complements the more familiar analytical (reductionist) thinking
» It is a way of creating a shared understanding of how something works
» It provides useful tools for surfacing and breaking reinforcing cycles of blame
PRODUCTHEAD: Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage
» Competing execs will sometimes sabotage by claiming features for their own product long before they plan to implement them
» Your product roadmap can reveal symptoms of underlying organisational dysfunctions
» We need to consciously remember that the needs of our users change over time
» Many biases are underpinned by shared psychological mechanisms, such as the desire to feel positively about ourselves
PRODUCTHEAD: Everyone needs coaching
» Coaching allows you to leap ahead — it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you
» Active listening helps you restrain the urge to jump in early with a solution
» Performance management is retrospective; performance development looks forward
» A lack of clear goals and simplistic evaluation are ways performance management goes wrong
PRODUCTHEAD: Product management post-COVID-19
» Mind The Product pivoted in 8 weeks, then spent the next 8 months refining the concept
» When working remotely, post information in at least 3 places to ensure everyone sees it
» Pivots that align with the existing corporate vision tend to be more successful
» The shift to digital during the COVID-19 pandemic will not be as sticky as some assume
PRODUCTHEAD: World Product Day 2021
» Change in your organisation may be inhibited by a small number of constraints
» Your product, your company is always part of a wider ecosystem
» A product strategy needs to be clear on what metrics to focus on and how to move them
» Finding product-market fit is the beginning, not the end
PRODUCTHEAD: Stakeholders are people too
» Identify the key stakeholders whom you need to trust you and collaborate with you regularly
» Understand the real reason for anger – whether in others or ourselves
» Remember where stakeholders’ help starts and ends
» To be trusted, you need to demonstrate your competence
PRODUCTHEAD: “Don’t f**k up the culture”
» Problems come and go, but culture is forever
» Psychological safety presents a new set of social norms
» Product managers should be at the forefront of helping organisations to do things better for people
» The corporate vision explains why the company exists
» Open forums and communication lines between teams helps to maintain alignment
PRODUCTHEAD: Service design and product management
» Customers are seeking more value from digital technologies — “liquid experiences”
» Services by nature don’t always fit current organisational structures
» Service design and business analyst roles require a different type of focus and mindset
» Key to becoming a service designer is not finding a new job, but transforming your current job
» “Seamless services” means bringing together people from across professional boundaries
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Service design and product management
PRODUCTHEAD: Ethical product management
» Product managers must understand the impact of their products on society as a whole
» Now is the time to push for broader product management accountability
» No company, individual or set of activities, yet provides a clear-cut example of ethical best practice
» What we build must not be at the cost of another group’s needs
» Nothing in traditional product training prepares you for making ethical decisions
PRODUCTHEAD: User personas or creepy caricatures?
» Avoid waste by by first researching “shallow” user personas then progressively elaborating as needed
» Product managers can and should conduct user research when demand outstrips the researchers available
» Connect user personas to people’s actual goals for more emotional impact
» Good interviewers listen, not talk
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: User personas or creepy caricatures?
PRODUCTHEAD: Trust and customer success
» Keeping your users’ attention means minimising cognitive drain
» Customer onboarding is a continuous process
» Video games use contextual nudges to teach players how the game works
» A new customer success team builds trust by prioritising people, then process
PRODUCTHEAD: Why do my houseplants keep dying?
» Use sensitivity analysis to identify the make-or-break metrics for your business
» Your analytics approach needs to change over time to keep up with your evolving product
» Blindly copying best practices results in an imperfect copy
» Analytics tools don’t do the thinking for you
PRODUCTHEAD: What’s the fuss about Jobs To Be Done?
» A milkshake is really just a way to pass the time and stave off hunger on a long drive
» Users struggling to use your product to complete their tasks have unmet needs
» Christensen emphasises the higher order goal, Ulwick the task at hand
» Jobs To Be Done is often misunderstood, making it difficult for some to begin applying it
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: What’s the fuss about Jobs To Be Done?
PRODUCTHEAD: The new lamplighters
» Amazon warehouses are gradually moving towards full robotic automation
» Greater automation creates new types of work, but not necessarily for people
» Smart contracts are already automating financial transactions, but can be susceptible to coding flaws
» Increased use of machine learning in insurance places greater burden on regulators to ensure fairness
PRODUCTHEAD: Recruiting the right stuff
» Emotional intelligence is more important than technical skills
» Hire people who will increase your rate of learning
» A head of product needs prior experience as a product manager
» Good candidates have initiative and passion to pursue their opinions
PRODUCTHEAD: When did storytelling become so hard?
» “Requirements” is another way of saying “just shut up and build it”
» A user story is deliberately sparse on detail to provoke a team conversation about the user’s goal
» We often incorrectly assume everyone does something the same way
» The mental model to describe epics, user stories and tasks can be clarified with visual artefacts
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: When did storytelling become so hard?
PRODUCTHEAD: It’s payback time on technical debt
» Don’t ignore technical debt
» Devote time for removing some debt in every sprint
» Debt can be a prudent choice in some situations
» It’s harder to read code than write it — so resist the temptation to start the code base again from scratch
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: It’s payback time on technical debt
PRODUCTHEAD: Wrap your ears around these podcasts
» Recommendations of product podcasts
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Wrap your ears around these podcasts
PRODUCTHEAD: The what, why and how of user research
» User research needs to be proactive as well as reactive validation
» Some research techniques are more useful than others at different stages
» You must safeguard the welfare of your user research participants
» There are many ways to recruit participants for your research without outsourcing
» Use a simple format for sharing research findings memorably
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: The what, why and how of user research
PRODUCTHEAD: Remind me, what am I meant to be doing?
» A product manager works at the intersection between business, technology and user experience
» A product manager is not a replacement for absent specialists
» The product manager is accountable for ensuring the solution is both valuable and viable
» Product managers use their knowledge of user needs and business goals to frame problems and set priorities for their delivery teams
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Remind me, what am I meant to be doing?
PRODUCTHEAD: Rethinking product roadmaps
» Remove the timelines from your product roadmap
» Use roadmap themes to focus on solving user problems
» User outcomes are more important than delivering features
» Roadmaps help to make strategic decisions when there’s low certainty
» Rethinking your roadmap approach can help when managing mature products
PRODUCTHEAD: Creativity is borne of constraints
» Constraints that motivate and focus are most effective
» Boredom can trigger a creative and productive state of mind
» It’s important not to stave off boredom immediately with distractions
» You can optimise your working environment for greater productivity on different types of task
PRODUCTHEAD: Pricing – everything and nothing has changed
» Pricing determines the structure of the business that produces it
» Start with consumer research to determine potential demand and feasibility of the product
» A step-by-step guide to pricing software
» Scalpers have made $82M in sales of consumer tech in under three months
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Pricing – everything and nothing has changed
PRODUCTHEAD: The good, the bad and the ugly of machine learning
» Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed
» DeepMind’s AlphaFold solves a complex protein folding problem in days rather than years
» Netflix and the BBFC automate age certifications for content with a staff-trained algorithm
» YouTube’s recommendation algorithm has the unintended consequence of creating echo chambers
» An algorithm widely used in US courts for predicting future criminality exhibits racial bias
» Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya explores the impact of biased facial recognition algorithms on human rights
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: The good, the bad and the ugly of machine learning
PRODUCTHEAD: Better teams need better leaders
» Leaders have a disporportionate impact on the psychological safety of their teams
» Effective teams feel their work means something and makes a difference
» A servant leader’s motivation begins with a consious choice to serve others without self-interest
» A leader can show support and respect by approving and following a team’s social charter
PRODUCTHEAD: There are only 5 product strategies
» Product strategy is how you will achieve your product vision
» There are only 4 types of work after finding product-market fit
» A step-by-step guide to building product strategy like Netflix
» “Framework fanatics” and “optimisation optimists” mask the absence of product strategy
» Using research to overcome organisational inertia to your product strategy
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: There are only 5 product strategies
PRODUCTHEAD: Being able to see the chessboard
» Business strategy is guesswork without situational awareness
» Once you understand the game’s rules, you can out-manoeuvre your competitors
PRODUCTHEAD: Digital inclusion and accessibility
» Practical accessibility and inclusion guidance from UK and US governments
» Accessibility guides to various impairments by disabled gamers for the gaming industry
» Making your content accessible and inclusive isn’t ‘dumbing down’
» Professionals want clear, concise information, not jargon or complex terms
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Digital inclusion and accessibility
PRODUCTHEAD: Content design
» Use the language of your audience
» Easy-to-read content is accessible and inclusive
» Even experts prefer plain language
» Content design can be done on a tight budget when needed
PRODUCTHEAD: Rearranging the deckchairs
» Procrastinating on a TED talk about procrastination
» How to get stuff done if you’re a procrastinator
» Using procrastination to your advantage
PRODUCTHEAD: Have you been having visions?
» The vision describes the future we are trying to create
» It is a first filter for new ideas and change requests
» Mission, vision and other concepts are often confused with each other
» Have one overarching product vision, not lots of smaller ones
PRODUCTHEAD: The plummeting price of power
» Scientists have solved a problem preventing the commercial production of more efficient solar panels
» Solar generated electricity is now cheaper than fossil fuels
» Tesla’s South Australia battery farm is saving tens of millions of dollars
» South Australia spent an hour powered solely by solar, 77% of which came from consumers’ home panels
» The cost of US battery farm projects has dropped 70% in 3 years
» Tesla’s battery innovations would result in cost dropping by half, capacity increasing by half
» The convergence of green technologies would lead to explosive growth
PRODUCTHEAD: Hardware’s harder to manage
» Changing a hardware product iteration has a 12-18 month lead time
» Having more parties involved in manufacturing means higher costs and squeezed profits
» “Building in hardware ‘security’ mechanisms is just always a double-edged sword”
PRODUCTHEAD: Hieranarchy
» Hierarchy in organisations appeals to our innate need for stability, but turns us into ego-driven and needy children
» Nature abhors a hierarchy. What if there was a viable alternative way to organise ourselves?
» Valve Corporation shows new employees how an organisation can operate without hierarchy
PRODUCTHEAD: A single point of failure
» Even seemingly successful companies fail because of “one thing”
» Amazon is winning because it’s playing the game differently
» 6 ways to defend your business from systemic stresses
» Practical ways to build your mental resilience to setbacks
PRODUCTHEAD: Introverts, extraverts and just a smidge of pseudoscience
» Even introverts need a bit of social time in lockdown – just on their terms
» If we’re persuading, we’re selling, says Daniel Pink
» Selling is listening, understanding, empathy and only then does persuasion factor in
» Myers-Briggs test is pseudoscientific nonsense
Read more › PRODUCTHEAD: Introverts, extraverts and just a smidge of pseudoscience
PRODUCTHEAD: Tricksy interviews
» Qualifying yourself to be a product manager
» Finding a product manager job
» Janna’s advice on how to get into product management
» Landing and starting a new product manager job
» What it’s like working at a startup
» Job fairs and job boards
PRODUCTHEAD: Living your brand values
» 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”
PRODUCTHEAD: Finding the positives
» Lockdown has accelerated existing tech adoption trends
» You need to be asking different questions about product strategy now
» 25% discount available on my Product Management Masterclass
» How to make your résumé stand out from the competition
» 5 lessons from transforming culture in government
» Avoid the biases and traps of user and market research
» How to use product strategy to influence dysfunctional corporate strategy