Leading Product Edition 11 (A Quick One)

🛌 This newsletter went dormant. 2022 got busy. And then, suddenly, ChatGPT! Just kidding, I wrote this myself ;)

Where are we at?

This past summer saw the start of a shift in the market that has forced many companies to take measures to preserve capital. Such measures have included delayed expansions, leaving markets, foregoing hiring, and layoffs. IPOs have been delayed while valuations have fallen. Optimism left the chat.

Except it’s also a great time to build, and keep building. Businesses that navigate the headwinds of inflation wrought by supply chain bottlenecks, war, and increased demand will be stronger for it.

Business models are being tested and the way that leaders bring about changes will hugely impact what the product function delivers across the entire lifecycle - from discovery, to release and beyond. Adaptability remains a valuable trait.

Of course, there’s also the next moment, when the ebb is over. Too much tightening now could mean a more limited option space later. The tough part is figuring out when “later” actually is. Where is the bottom? The most ambitious companies aren’t waiting for what’s next; they’re actively shaping it. Preserving capital only matters if a company can, at the right moment, properly deploy it.

So what can product people do?

1. Take stock of the moment, revisit assumptions, and figure out how your (and your company’s and especially your customer’s) place in the market has shifted. For example, those working in e-commerce would benefit hugely from Kevin Labuz’ Q3 2022 E-commerce Review in Parts 1 and 2.

2. Take stock of yourself, portfolio, skillset, network and career plans. What do you value, and how has it changed over time? Things rarely work out the way they’re designed; luck (good and bad) is always at play.

3. Recognize the impermanence in everything since entropy most definitely exists. Sometimes we’re subject to forces well beyond our control or understanding and we need to go with the flow. In some cases (rarely), we can forge a path with a known trajectory and destination.

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🧰 Tools and inspiration for goal setting and learning:

• Adam Amran’s Tools for better thinking

• Bala Sahitya’s Career and Life Journey of a Product Leader at Meta

• Sean Bolton’s Satisficing: The Time-Saving Decision-Making Strategy

• Milan Milanović on 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 for Learning Anything

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An Attempt to Focus

This year, I’ll spend more time writing about systems. Effective product managers recognize what can scale to increase value. People tend not to scale well, or doing so is costly (it can be worth it, of course). A PM with a large portfolio and long list of responsibilities can have outsized impact by implementing systems - repeatable constructs that apply across many types of situations - and empowering others to employ them. Rather than tackle similar routine tasks (prioritize the backlog) as distinct exercises, teams can employ a system that offers criteria for evaluating priority for faster time-to-value. Seems simple enough, but hard in practice.

A system can solve a complex thing, but shouldn’t be complex itself - i.e. the inputs and outputs must be clearly understood. (A complex system is one for which the outputs are not clearly linked to the inputs and processes that comprise it, I’d offer). It can be as bare bones as a checklist, and can evolve into something that accounts for conditions and diverse inputs.

As Aleix points out, his journey to understand engineering strategy led to systems thinking. Same thing for product, and that’s what I hope to get into.

Aleix Morgadas @aleixmorgadas

Strategy is fascinating. I thought Engineering Strategy was about Software Architecture. Today, I can say that System Thinking is at least as important for Engineering Strategy as it is Software Architecture, if not more.

Hope 2023 is off to a great start, however you’ve chosen to define it. Happy Building,

Nick