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Jock Busuttil publishes articles regularly on I Manage Products, a blog for product people to learn about product management from the ground up.


PRODUCTHEAD is a newsletter of the best articles, videos and podcasts from product leaders and commentators all over the world, curated by Jock Busuttil. All neatly packaged up in a regular email delivery for your reading, viewing and listening pleasure.


  • PRODUCTHEAD: How to evaluate product opportunities
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 5th June 2023

    » 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 solve

  • PRODUCTHEAD: There’s hope for us (and AI) yet
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 29th May 2023

    AI is: » accelerating the design of novel proteins, enabling a new wave of vaccines and drugs » predicting extreme weather events, helping to protect residents » listening to the rainforest and sends real-time alerts for chainsaws, trucks, cars and signs of incursion » monitoring the world’s oceans for illegal fishing activity

  • PRODUCTHEAD: Seeking control in a crisis
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 22nd May 2023

    » To reduce coordination cost, partition the work by time or space » Behavioural design considers customers’ levels of mental energy, cognitive biases, and their existing patterns » Successful organisations reinforce psychological safety in different ways » Adding more people to a team makes communication a more significant overhead

  • PRODUCTHEAD: What do you worry about on a Sunday night?
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 15th May 2023

    » To reduce coordination cost, partition the work by time or space » Behavioural design considers customers’ levels of mental energy, cognitive biases, and their existing patterns » Successful organisations reinforce psychological safety in different ways » Adding more people to a team makes communication a more significant overhead

  • PRODUCTHEAD: ‘Better’ decision making
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 8th May 2023

    » Decisions should be the result of rational and deliberate reasoning, but not all are perfectly rational » Almost every decision has associated downsides or compromises » Avoid trying to please people or to allow individuals to dominate the decision-making process » It’s easy to conflate transparency on the decision-making process, with transparency on the actual decisions

  • 89: What games taught me about customer onboarding
    by Jock Busuttil on Wednesday, 3rd May 2023

    The most successful games and products share a common attribute: they help the user become more skilled throughout their journey. Customer onboarding is a continual process.

  • PRODUCTHEAD: Games and customer onboarding
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 1st May 2023

    » The best moment to teach a user to use a new feature is when it is valuable for them » Uncompleted tasks stick in a person’s memory, completed tasks are more easily forgotten » Provide a safe, controlled environment to help users experiment and learn a new skill

  • PRODUCTHEAD: How technical does a product manager need to be?
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 24th April 2023

    » Developers and managers often have conflicting views of what constitutes value in software » Software engineers should ideally understand both what they are building and why » Unforeseen edge cases can cause headaches at roll-out, but provide valuable lessons

  • PRODUCTHEAD: 3 ways to handle team conflicts
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 17th April 2023

    » When delivering difficult news at work, you are not there to seek sympathy » Tie business impact to deprioritised work to highlight the problem to your CEO without sounding whiny » An organisation’s emotional culture governs which emotions people express and suppress at work » Many organisation equate “fixing” to basically “patching holes in the slowly sinking boat”

  • PRODUCTHEAD: The strange attraction of desire paths
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 3rd April 2023

    » Desire paths spring up as users’ needs and goals change » The effort paradox: the effort of forming a new path versus the desire to take the path of least resistance » In digital products we use analytical tools to help us observe desire paths » When a new desire path emerges, question your old assumptions — user behaviour is changing

  • Should I take a product manager job in a sales-led company?
    by Jock Busuttil on Wednesday, 29th March 2023

    “Hi Jock, I’m currently applying for loads of product manager jobs. I’ve received an offer from a sales-led company where the Product team reports in to Sales. Should I take the job?”

  • PRODUCTHEAD: How to transcribe and analyse your user research recordings
    by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 27th March 2023

    » Thematic analysis identifies the main themes emerging from qualitative data, such as interview transcripts » It can be a great activity to do with your team for establishing empathy with the users and their context » Good research means being intentional, conscientious, and ethical at every step