I recently shared an article a day for a month (31 articles across 31 days). In this post you’ll find brief descriptions and links to all 31 articles.
Covering topics such as product management, culture, strategy, leadership, innovation, customer experience, product design, etc., and written by leaders and organisations including Jared Spool, Steve Blank, Lolly Daskal, Seth Godin, Nir Eyal, Mark Manson, Corporate Rebels, Harvard Business Review, Product Manager HQ, Business Insider, TechCrunch, New York Times, McKinsey, HubSpot, ProdPad, Cascade Strategy, and many more, these make for interesting and insightful reading.
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- The Skills Leaders Need at Every Level – leadership is required at all levels (esp. product people), this article explains why and describes the skills that are needed.
“…there are a set of skills that are critical to you throughout your career. And if you wait until you’re a top manager to develop strategic perspective, it will be too late.”
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- WTF is Dark Pattern Design? – a very direct summary of (intentional and unintentional) dark patterns in the world of product design!
“Another aspect of dark pattern design has been bent towards encouraging Internet users to form addictive habits attached to apps and services.”
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- The 8 Habits Of Highly Progressive Workplaces – the Corporate Rebels give us their considered views on what makes a great place to work.
“Progressive organizations no longer focus solely on increasing shareholder value …. Because having purpose and meaning gives people the energy, passion and motivation to get out of bed in the morning.”
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- Jared Spool & Bruce McCarthy on Themes & Bruce McCarthy – UX and Product Roadmaps – two articles* in which Jared Spool deep dive into Bruce McCarthy’s ‘themes’.
“Themes help teams stay focused without prematurely committing to a solution that may not be the best idea later on.”
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- Why diversity matters – a commercial as well as humanist take on the value of diversity to organisations.
“…companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.”
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- Embedding product culture at LendInvest – nice and concise piece about the product culture at LendInvest.
“…we embed our approach in everything we do, from the day-to-day collaboration with other teams to our hiring and onboarding of new joiners, improving it together as we go.”
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- The Gap Between Large and Small Companies Is Growing. Why? – thought provoking article on the abilities of larger companies to innovate!
“…part of the reason for this growing corporate divide between big and small firms is the growing R&D expenditures of large firms.”
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- What’s missing from Zoom Reminds Us What It Means to Be Human – Steve Blank raises some great points about where video conferencing misses the complex human interactions and some thoughts on things they can do to bridge this as we move forward/going forward.
“It turns out that today’s video conferencing technology doesn’t emulate how people interact with others in person.”
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- The Best Way Leaders Can Lead People Remotely – useful thoughts about leadership and how to engage teams now (and at any time).
“Being supportive is always important—but in times of crisis and separation, it’s critical.”
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- Millennial Segmentation – focused on ‘millennials’, but applicable to any group, this research reminders us that people of a certain age range should not be treated as a heterogeneous group and instead we should look further to understand each groups’ needs.
“A lot of the perceived information about Millennials is that people see them as being always on digitally, and we found that actually, really large proportion of them who weren’t always on.”
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- Let’s stop calling them ‘soft skills’ – Seth Godin provides his views on the not so soft ‘real skills’ required to succeed in organisations.
“Real skills can’t replace vocational skills, of course not. What they can do is amplify the things you’ve already been measuring.”
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- The Strategic Plan is Dead. Long Live Strategy – an informative read on adaptive strategies and the approach of setting a direction and adapting it along the way. Written for not-for-profits, but applicable to all!
“We think that what is necessary today is a strategy that breaks free of static plans to be adaptive and directive, that emphasizes learning and control, and that reclaims the value of strategic thinking for the world that now surrounds us.”
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- Empathizing with Engineers – a great perspective on developing and maintaining relationships with engineers.
“One of the most critical value multipliers that a product manager can bring to the table is the ability to empathize with their engineers.”
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- A Practical Guide to Cross-Functional Work – interesting piece that goes on a journey from dysfunctional teams to effectively working cross-functionally.
“…nearly 75 percent of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional, with dysfunctional being defined as the inability to meet three of five criteria”
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- Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies – some deep insights and links to even deeper insights on the negative impact of overwork and why we need to find a balance.
“…overwork and the resulting stress can lead to all sorts of health problems…”
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- The Ultimate Remote Work Policy (In 3 Words) – a great policy that should stay with us long after COVID-19 has passed!
“Nothing reveals character like a crisis.”
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- Great Products That Failed: When Corporate Innovation Goes Bad — if ever you wanted a list of products that failed because they were ahead of their time or just did not meet a need, this is your list!
“Understanding failure is crucial since so many accounts of innovation focus on the successes and so are affected by survivorship bias.”
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- Building product culture at ProdPad: The rules we’ve made and why we stick to ’em – a very practical article on how the founders of ProdPad have created and maintained their product culture.
“A truly effective product team communicates with sales, support, marketing, development, QA and so on, in a way that is meaningful to each of those teams.”
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- Design Principles for Reducing Cognitive Load – to the point piece on cognitive load and how to avoid making your customers think too hard!
“Every time you visit a website, a process of learning is initiated in the brain.”
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- A Product Experience That Makes My Life Easier – my (hopefully thought-provoking) take on how a more joined-up approach could make some product experiences better.
“…there is more that can be done, from a product experience perspective, to make mine (and many other users lives) easier when we seek to complete these jobs”
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- Employees Can’t Carry Out A Strategy If They Didn’t Help Plan It – useful points about the benefits of involving all levels of the organisation in strategy creation as well as execution.
“When the implementers of strategy are part of the process, they can not only add perspective to the plan, but they are also immersed in its tradeoffs and nuances.”
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- What It Takes to Become a Great Product Manager – given the breath and depth of the product role, this article provides a practical view of what’s required to be a great PM.
“The best PMs I have worked with have mastered the core competencies, have a high EQ, and work for the right company for them.”
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- The 6 Best Business Strategies I’ve Ever Seen – including companies such as Tesla, Airbnb, Toyota*, HubSpot and PayPal, this article spotlights unconventional business and product strategies.
“Tesla on the other hand, did things completely the other way around.”
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- Adaptive Leadership Mindset – a look at the positive role leaders can play in an organisation that takes an adaptive approach to strategy setting and execution.
“By stepping outside the Agile/scale debate, leaders can stop having to be an Agile or scale leader, and adopt an Adaptive mindset…”
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- How Netflix’s Customer Obsession Created a Customer Obsession – a great case study on Netflix approach to suing different sources of insight to support investigation, exploration, hypothesis and ultimately product improvements that delivered results.
“His vision was that product leaders at Netflix would develop remarkable consumer insight, fueled by results and learning from thousands of experiments.”
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- Skills to Help You Develop Emotional Intelligence – a very direct and insight piece on developing and enhancing your emotional intelligence.
“Psychologists who study emotional intelligence sometimes claim that it is actually more important than general intelligence.”
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- Intel’s Sharp-Eyed Social Scientist – an enjoyable read about the work and approach of a world renowned anthropologist.
“They traveled around the world, examining, logging and photographing the contents of people’s cars…”
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- How Engaged Is Your Team, Really? – how do you spot and engage people who are engaged in their career, but not the team!
“But when we looked more closely, we found that they also exhibited deeper signs of disengagement…”
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- HubSpot’s Product Culture – including iterating quickly, investing in the platform, giving people ownership and growing together, this piece from HubSpot outlines key aspects of their product culture.
“And we’re trying to build a company where the people who make that software enjoy doing it.”
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- Decentralised Authority in Banking – with a unique and successful business model, this story of Handelsbanken provides a great illustration of how a decentralised business can work.
“What makes it different from other banks is its relentless focus on delivering exceptional customer service and its unique decentralised system that truly harnesses the power of its employees.”
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- New Zealand’s Prime Minister May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet – great example of leadership at a time of crisis (and anytime).
”What makes it different from other banks is its relentless focus on delivering exceptional customer service and its unique decentralised system that truly harnesses the power of its employees.”
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I hope you find these articles as interesting as I have – get in touch below with your thoughts.
Enjoy reading!
Asomi