Jock Busuttil's Blog: I Manage Products, page 13

Force multipliers

I seek out “force multipliers” to extract multiple benefits from the same work, like my very own workplace fusion reaction. Can you find your own?

In this articleIntroductionStill here? Good!Simple examples of force multipliersStandard software (versus bespoke)Training deliveryWriting a talkDistribution channelsFinal thoughts

Recently I was explaining to a client why I focus my efforts on finding “force multipliers”. These are what I call activities ...

PRODUCTHEAD: Charting your career path

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADclimbing up the products

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

tl;dr

Early in your career, focus on building one skill at a time

Find out what a company’s really like by meeting a contact there informally before the interview

Practice experts can enjoy a varied career, but may find it harder to work in some domains

As a prod...

PRODUCTHEAD: Who’s in charge? You or the process?

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADhow i made my products

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

tl;dr

An inflexible process means working with incomplete information and making the wrong decisions

Treating work as closed-ended projects leads to context switching and discontinuity

A way to increase value in Scrum is to involve the team members in the discovery an...

91: How to sharpen up your vision and strategy

I’m writing about 100 things I’ve learned the hard way about product management. You can catch up on the previous entries if you like.

You can help your company to sharpen up its vision and strategy with these straightforward questions and worked examples.

In this articleIntroductionA few disclaimersDoes everyone see the same vision and strategy?Your degree of influenceSharpening the visionIKEA’s vision statementX’s vision statementWhat are we currentl...

PRODUCTHEAD: Wartime vs peacetime product leadership

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADproduct of wartl;dr

Wartime vs peacetime leaders employ different skill sets

Airbnb’s changes to product management could be just what is needed in wartime or equally a retrograde step

Working from home is a particularly polarising debate because it aligns with the leader-employee divide

Discussions about productivity are often a proxy discussion fo...

PRODUCTHEAD: The value of a drink in the desert

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADcoke productstl;dr

To buy your product, the value users perceive from the product must be greater than its price

The biggest, worst-kept secret of monetisation UX: ask, ask and ask again

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

hello

I’m drinking a glass of water while I write today. There’s about a third of the water left...

PRODUCTHEAD: How to align vision, strategy and action

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADtinker tailor soldier sailor rich man prod man beggar man thieftl;dr

Every decision is a trade-off — deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do

A good product vision captures customer, user, value proposition and links to organisational objectives

Interrogate your goals: “For this to happen, what must be true?”, then mark which...

PRODUCTHEAD: Defending against ‘Dawn of the Dumb’ product ideas

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADproductdrunk lovesick singalongtl;dr

User and market research is more easily accessible, yet the opinions of senior managers still bias product decisions

Confidence in an idea only truly comes from gathering evidence

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

hello

You may be familiar with Intercom’s RICE (Reach, Impact, Con...

PRODUCTHEAD: Exploiting inertia for fun and profit

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADyou and whose product?tl;dr

When strategic frames grow rigid, companies, like nations, tend to keep fighting the last war

If organisations (incorrectly) view change as gradual they will have resistance to the change

The innovator’s dilemma: cater to current needs or attempt to anticipate future demands?

Many common financial tools distort the value,...

PRODUCTHEAD: Traditional, SaaS, usage and surge pricing models

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness,
curated by Jock Busuttil.

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADpyramid producttl;dr

Match your product’s units to how your customer measures value

Changing your pricing model regularly needn’t be a bad thing — it just has to be done carefully

With usage-based pricing, help your customers to anticipate their likely costs

Care has to be taken to keep dynamic / surge pricing transparent

every PRODUCTHEAD ed...