Jock Busuttil's Blog: I Manage Products, page 14

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

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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

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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...

90: Always have a plan B

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.

Have you ever wondered why product managers say “it depends” quite so often?

In this articleIntroductionIt’s all a bit complicatedAlways have a plan BYou can’t plan for every eventualityDon’t put it off — embrace it and practiceMaking unlikely but critical events mundaneOrchestrating complex eventsFinal thoughtsIt...

PRODUCTHEAD: Product-led growth

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADlike spinning productstl;dr

Moving to a product-led growth model takes time and will encounter resistance

A product-led model does not replace the sales-led or marketing-led approach completely

Growth loops operate on a similar principle to compound interest

Software companies with a frictionless product approach displace custom-built apps

ev...

PRODUCTHEAD: How to evaluate product opportunities

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADfake plastic opportunity solution treestl;dr

Take a systematic approach to evaluating multiple solutions to the same opportunity

‘Assumption’ is just another word for ‘things we believe’

When there are many opportunities in contention, assess whether it’s worth solving the problem

We tend to come up with solutions before defining the problem they so...