Jock Busuttil's Blog: I Manage Products, page 24

PRODUCTHEAD: John Cutler’s North Star Metric

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

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Plans for the short and long term are often easier to define than those for the medium term (1-3 quarters)

A North Star Metric is a leading indicator of sustainable growth

It is the single metric that best captures the core value that your product delivers to customers

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PRODUCTHEAD: To specialise in product management?

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

There are 4 emerging product manager specialisms

You can recruit different flavours of product manager by thinking along 3 axes

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Throughout my writing a...

83: 5 tips to ace your first impression at a new job

Because so much of product management is about working with people, it’s important to take time to reflect on the kind of first impression you make to those people. In this latest entry for my series of 100 things I’ve learned about product management, I share some coaching advice to help you make the best possible impression every time you start working somewhere new.

1. Small defining moments

Since the beginning of 2021, I’ve been joining serial entrepreneur Ray Rafiq on our podcast,...

PRODUCTHEAD: Prize winners / reinventing HR

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADfollow product around

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

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One of the things I don’t miss about my old jobs is HR. Just the name, “human resources”, sets out its stall as something that is only sees people as dehumanised workers feeding the corporate machine.

Much of company HR policy and procedure tends to fulfil two purpo...

PRODUCTHEAD: Dear younger me …

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADa product at the door

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This week Ken Norton published a lovely article and video about his advice for aspiring product managers. In particular I admire that he calls out his own privilege and exhorts everyone to ‘hold the door open’ for others, to actively encourage greater diversity in our ...

PRODUCTHEAD: Win a VIP ticket to #ProductCon Online

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADa product at the door

every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to

hello

I’m mixing things up a bit this week with a special offer for you. Product School have kindly given me some VIP tickets to their November #ProductCon Online, so I’m offering them to you.

(I’m not receiving any other sponsorship or payment from them in return for the...

PRODUCTHEAD: Tsundoku (piles of books waiting to be read)

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADpackt like products in a crushd tin boxtl;dr

Piles of books by experts in disciplines you’ll be working with on your product team

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If you’re anything like me, you probably have a pile of books sitting on a shelf, patiently w...

PRODUCTHEAD: Facilitating workshops

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD(nice product)tl;dr

Meetings are for information exchange, workshops are for solving problems

With hybrid working, adopt a “remote first” mindset to avoid divisions in your team

Poor workshop facilitation discourages future participation

Reflection gives everyone a chance to contribute and listen

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PRODUCTHEAD: Product management in charities

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEADkarma producttl;dr

Charities’ strategy should focus on the future, not the annual planning cycle

Break the habit of surveys and focus groups with user interviews

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated growth in digital fundraising

Commodity services free teams from reactive and defensive development patterns  to truly innovate

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82: Replatforming the cash cow

I’m writing about 100 things I’ve learned about product management.

Recently people all seem to be encountering the same problem. Their engineering teams are choosing to work on projects that make them look busy, but which don’t actually move things forward. What they’re usually working on is a convoluted — and arguably doomed — attempt to replatform a legacy ‘cash cow’ product.

Why are these projects doomed?Lost tacit knowledge

Replatforming a legacy product runs several risks....