PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD true product managers wait every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr Have a bias to test, learn, and to put code in production Feed what you learn from exploring solutions back into your understanding of the problem Help stakeholders visualise their ideas to make them easier to challenge, assess risk and test out hello Last week I wrote up a quick overview of discovery for a client recently with links to lots of useful further reading. I thought you ..read more

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. Stepping up to a Chief Product Officer (CPO) or VP Product role doesn’t so much change what you do. Rather it amplifies everything. This guide lets you know what to expect. In this article Introduction Your starting point When you’re the senior product person in a startup How a CPO or VP Product role will differ What you’ll look after Direct reports Time horizons Bringing context Bigger stakes Relationship with peers Approachability Final thoughts Furth ..read more

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD lotus product every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr Customers care about your mission, less about how you’re achieving it For rapid feedback in discovery, ship and learn from more users, earlier Changing something that’s been that way for years is hard because of the inertia behind it hello Back again after a short break for holidays! It’s time for a reality check. Every now and again I try to think about the habits I’ve formed and assess whether ..read more

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD product flowers every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr Product people are tired of being held up to unrealistic standards It important to remember what’s in your control and what isn’t Now is the time to be extra rigorous with finding product-market fit hello Some guy called Marty Cagan has released a new book, Transformed. Apparently he’s a big deal in product management*. His views in the book and recent interviews have riled some product people ..read more

Hi Jock, My product currently has one tier of per-seat pricing for all customers. I want to change my pricing strategy to cater differently for SMEs and enterprise customers. Where do I start? Thanks, M Hi M, There’s lots to consider about pricing strategies, so here’s a potted summary of a few things to think about. Kano model Given you want to differentiate your pricing for different user / customer segments, one starting point to consider is the Kano model. This is a way to assess how different features of your product are valued in different ways by users. Remember that all features beco ..read more

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD talk show product manager every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr Brand provides emotional context, which creates a contact between you and your customers Brands evoke a subtle mix of people’s hopes, dreams and aspirations Apple’s famous “1984” Super Bowl ad began a branding campaign that portrayed it as a symbol of counterculture hello If you’re responsible for your product as a whole, you should give some consideration to its brand. Brand is not ..read more

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD product a every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr Larger companies are far more likely to hire for intern, junior or associate level PM positions, but competition will be greater Product success comes from the way its product manager makes decisions, thinks, communicates and relates hello The job market for product managers is in a weird place at the moment. On one side, the tech sector has been hit by layoffs, right, left and centre. On the other ..read more

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD product babies every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr “First comes the crowd, then comes the funding.” — Brad Guigar Done well, a crowdfunding campaign helps with market validation and publicity, as well as raising cash Make sure you repay your campaign backers’ loyalty, faith, and patience hello There is a certain type of product manager who, after working for other people for a while, boldly embarks on their own venture. Whether or not they succ ..read more

PRODUCTHEAD is a regular newsletter of product management goodness, curated by Jock Busuttil. Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD hail to the product every PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to tl;dr Navigating change is hard because we don’t want to be seen as villains Don’t simply cut-and-paste another company’s organisational model without understanding the context Consider how the members of your team will understand the change, embrace it, and work through it hello Last year I attended a panel discussion featuring Randeep Sidhu. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was responsible for ..read more

Hi Jock, My product roadmap is not getting the right information across to other people in my company. In particular, my customer success and marketing teams are struggling to plan their work for upcoming product releases. I’m also not sure how I can show my roadmap’s relationship to the half-yearly OKRs we set. How can I improve it? Thanks, J Hi J, First and foremost, your product roadmap is a communication tool, so if people are taking away the wrong message or not getting the information they need from it, then it may be worth rethinking how you present the information. Extract a release ..read more