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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 commercial does a product manager need to be?by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 2nd December 2024
» Product managers need a blend of skills, of which commercial acumen is a part » Which does your company pay more attention to: the immediate or the long-term? » Selling to everybody is selling to nobody
- What freelance product management is really like with Jock Busuttilby Jock Busuttil on Wednesday, 27th November 2024
Off the back of his recent article for Mind The Product, Liam Smith interviewed me about my experiences in freelance product management. I started as a freelance product manager in 2012 when I founded Product People Limited, and had been blogging about product management for a couple of years before that. (You can read my first ever blog post if you like.)
- PRODUCTHEAD: Should OKRs be boring?by Jock Busuttil on Monday, 25th November 2024
» Accept that some customers will never migrate to your new platform » Products do not fail in vain if you learn something valuable in the process » In 1979 Intel realigned its 2000-strong company around a new set of objectives in just 2 weeks
- PRODUCTHEAD: Minimalist product strategyby Jock Busuttil on Monday, 18th November 2024
» Balancing opportunity with strategy in the midst of competing distractions is hard » You wouldn’t let genAI write your product strategy without checking it, right? » Product strategy discovery focuses on the problem space
- Is coding in the open right for your organisation?by Jock Busuttil on Wednesday, 13th November 2024
Coding in the open benefits public sector organisations and can yield a strategic advantage to commercial organisations also. I explore how and why.
- PRODUCTHEAD: Strategy toolkit, disappointment and behavioural changeby Jock Busuttil on Monday, 11th November 2024
» Strategy is a coherent set of choices about what we’re going to do to achieve our vision » Negotiating estimates ultimately leads to disappointment — it will still take as long as it was going to » The necessary conditions for any behaviour to be enacted include capability, opportunity, and motivation
- PRODUCTHEAD: The 3 pillars of product opsby Jock Busuttil on Monday, 4th November 2024
» Product ops is an enabling function that streamlines the logistics of product management » It is particularly valuable in larger organisations with fragmented product practices » Product ops is just as focused on context as product management is
- How do you ensure success as a freelance product manager on a short engagement?by Jock Busuttil on Wednesday, 30th October 2024
As a freelance product manager, think about two things: how you can deliver value as quickly as possible, and how to ensure you do at least the one main thing they brought you in to do.
- PRODUCTHEAD: Negotiating freelance day ratesby Jock Busuttil on Monday, 28th October 2024
» Companies hire freelancers because they need to address a specific issue or are not ready to commit to a full-time hire » Excel by being a problem-solver — pay close attention to potential clients’ challenges » Don’t apologise to your client for your (hopefully reasonable) day rate
- PRODUCTHEAD: This too shall passby Jock Busuttil on Monday, 21st October 2024
» A pursuit of job stability can easily translate into an unproductive ‘inertia’ instead » Self-sealing arguments are no-win situations: every defence you make is co-opted the by other party as evidence you’re wrong
- DevRel and Product Management with Jock Busuttil on the Voxgig podcastby Jock Busuttil on Wednesday, 16th October 2024
I’m chatting with Voxgig’s Richard Rodger about common challenges in product management and DevRel: » Why learning by soundbite gives a superficial understanding of the craft » Why we’re finding it hard to communicate value to our bosses + more 🙂
- PRODUCTHEAD: The backlash against the Spotify Modelby Jock Busuttil on Monday, 14th October 2024
» The Spotify Model was only ever a snapshot in time at Spotify » It existed in the context of a company whose leadership valued trust, self-organisation and change » As Spotify grew, it failed to strike the right balance between autonomy and collaboration » Alignment to product strategy remains crucial for autonomous teams to deliver valuable work