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

PRODUCTHEAD: Becoming a service organisation

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

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every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

tl;dr

Context helps to make a service good as opposed to simply existing

By not consciously designing our services, we instead force our users to link actions together

Outcomes for users are core user needs that a service helps them to meet

A starting point can be to ask ...

PRODUCTHEAD: Empathy with engineering (or avoiding developer disengagement)

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADstreet product (fade out)

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

tl;dr

Rather than focusing on engineering team productivity, examine the causes of their low / negative value work

When asked for development estimates, ask why they need the information and what they’ll do with the answer

Different development tasks need varying a...

PRODUCTHEAD: Empowered teams can’t simply do whatever they like

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADanyone can manage products

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tl;dr

Empowered teams can only succeed if the leadership team is on board

Leaders can’t scale or have all the answers; empowered teams stand a better chance

Leadership needs to be open and transparent when issuing a “must-do” edict to an empowered team

Product ...

Getting your first job as a product manager

Getting your first job as a product manager can seem impossible. Thankfully it’s not! I share my advice on how to break into a career in product management.

In this articleIntroductionIdentifying and filling your skill gapsBenchmark your current skillsProduct management trainingInternal promotionOther ways into product managementShadowingAssociate product manager positionsA product owner role is a dead endOnce you’re a product managerFurther r...

PRODUCTHEAD: Training wheels and learned helplessness

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

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tl;dr

Motivation comes from making progress in meaningful work

A mission-focused team tackling poorly understood problems may appear unproductive to outsiders

It is everyone’s responsibility to act upon negative behaviour / thinking, but without assigning blame...

PRODUCTHEAD: Is there a standard product development life cycle?

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADhow to product completely

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

tl;dr

Success at every lifecycle stage hinges on the same challenge: being able to solve problems for your users

Early on, focus on learning about your users and their context and the constraints that affect your problem

Maturity is the most difficult stage for a p...

PRODUCTHEAD turns 3 🎂 / The changing realities of product management

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADthe product mail

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

tl;dr

In product management, “the basics never change, it’s the more advanced stuff that changes”

Oft-cited company frameworks such as the Spotify model were just a moment in time — everything moves on

When all is changing around you, be an anchor of stability and trust for...

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...