Jock Busuttil's Blog: I Manage Products, page 31

Podcast: Voxgig Fireside for professional speakers

I’ve just been on Voxgig’s Fireside podcast for professional speakers. In the episode, I reveal how I turned my flair for product management into a speaking career, and how I set up a home studio for live streaming using an old television.

You can listen to the podcast over on Simplicast, or using the widget below, which you can find after the break.

Fireside with Voxgig for Professional Speakers
Episode 63 – Jock Busuttil



Episode notes

Jock Busuttil is a product manager who b...

PRODUCTHEAD: Introverts, extraverts and just a smidge of pseudoscience

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD





how to product completely



hello

This week I came across a piece on how introverts and extroverts handle lockdown differently. It shared the perspective of several introvert-extrovert couples, whose experiences I could very much relate to. They seemed to be coping pretty well, all things considered.

Lovely Wife is an extrovert (or “extravert” if we’re being pre...

Open, honest and always improving

Best product management practice in government organisations will look startlingly familiar to anyone who’s worked in a user-centric company. But what does it look like when the usual commercial drivers such as revenue, profits and investors are taken out of the picture?

In government, product is borne out of transparency, quite a lot of cake and a fanatical desire to serve the needs of users.

In this recent video for ProdPad’s webinar series, I talk about the acute challenges of cult...

PRODUCTHEAD: Tricksy interviews

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD





subterranean homesick product manager



hello

This week I’ve pulled together a few things to help with the job hunt.

Sometimes s**t happens to the best of us. A good friend of mine, and an exemplary product manager to boot, found himself looking for a new job after the incoming CEO loudly declared he didn’t believe in product management as a practice.

This go...

74: The black art of designing content

While distracting myself from doing real work this week, I learnt the phrase ‘black art’ comes from the world of printing presses. So I delved deeper into the world of content design. Eventually I found a product management angle.

Typesetters would set individual metal letters (‘sorts’) into racks. These were then used to print pages of books and newspapers in black printer’s ink (hence ‘black art’). A typesetter would finesse the spacing between individual letters and words to make them ...

PRODUCTHEAD: Living your brand values

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD





true product managers wait



hello

Hot news this week: celebrity outed as being unpleasant IRL! Yes, not exactly a story that would usually even register on my product management radar. Nonetheless it did because it gives us an unintentional object lesson in why your product has to embody your brand values.

For those that have never seen Ellen DeGeneres’s show, ...

PRODUCTHEAD: Finding the positives

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

Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD





anyone can manage products



hello

This week I’ve been looking for the positives of lockdown.

Taking customer geography and physical presence out of the equation has been helping some businesses to grow:

Conference organisers are able to draw on speakers from a wider pool, and to open their event to a wider audience for marginal additional cost;

Product ma...

Saving yourself from product management hell

I gave a talk for Product Anonymous in Melbourne, Australia. Well, kind of, as I was still sat in my office while doing so. It was all about saving yourself from product management hell. You’ll recognise the symptoms such as not being allowed to talk to customers, and my personal favourite, “screw research, let’s build!”

In my talk I guide you through the causes of these painful symptoms and, more usefully, show you how to get yourself out of product management hell. (Hint: it’s all about hav...

73: You wouldn’t drive blindfolded

I heard a story of an octogenarian who drove himself to the hospital for his eye cataracts operation. (Just let that sink in a bit.) On his surprisingly safe return home, his relatives queried the sense of his actions. He replied that what he lacked in sight, he made up for in driving experience.

Imagine yourself jumping into your car, strapping in, and firing up the engine. You have a quick look around then pull on a blindfold before launching yourself into traffic. Likelihood of an acci...

Upcoming live talks – September and October 2020

I’m giving some more live talks in September and October. The first is for ProdPad’s regular webinar series. I’m also giving a series of four talks on Tuesdays in October for my Product Management Digital Masterclass.

Read on for talk details and how to attend.

Tuesday 22nd September: ProdPad Webinar

ProdPad is the brainchild of Janna Bastow and Simon Cast, names you’ll likely have heard in connection with their other little venture, Mind The Product. I’ll be joining Andrea Saez...