Wrapped: Product Leadership in 2024
The year's most read articles.
This newsletter is almost one year old. I registered the domain productleadership.io on January 16th, 2024. It was the fruit of my yearly reflection and planning, followed by the weekly Watchtower Reflection exercise.
Even though I have been relapsing with posting for the last months, my goal with it is still the same:
Write about real-life product leadership (not how Google supposedly does it). This is valuable to me because helping others grow is deeply satisfying. It is also much easier on my calendar than mentoring. Writing also helps me learn, as it clears my thoughts. Finally, I want to develop my brand around product leadership.
When I launched Product Leadership, my ambition was to reach 1,000 subscribers. There is a long way to go; I have 290 subscribers while writing this. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can contribute to the goal:
Most popular articles
🔥Hot take: Product Management isn't hard (1.86k views). The PM's job is straightforward. PMs need to deliver business results through products that customers love. Yet, most companies make it unreasonably hard to do the job well.
Your company strategy is sh*t (1.78k views). What most companies pose as strategy is everything but. I clarify company strategy and how to build one in practice, with an example about validating it.
Product operating model assessment template (1.69k views). I read Marty Cagan's excellent Transformed book and transformed it into an assessment template. This should help any company improve its product development practices.
How to develop high-performing PMs, a no BS practical guide (1.12k views). It is the most critical responsibility of every people manager to develop the skills of their people. Yet, so many leaders don't do the basics.
The Founder Mode vs. Management Mode debacle (733 views) is a cautionary tale for founders who think they are Steve Jobs. It also explains how to put “founder's mode” into practice without missing the point.
My personal favorites
How to not suck at 1:1 meetings (498 views). I have participated in a fair share of useless one-on-one meetings. Do yourself and your direct reports a favor by reading this.
Spreadsheet prioritization framework quackery (442 views). Prioritization frameworks are the homeopathy of the PM world – seemingly scientific, but ultimately not. While an interesting exercise, spreadsheets cannot prioritize for you.
Good Product Leader/Bad Product Leader (356 views). Eventually, every product writer will write a take on the seminal Good PM/Bad PM by Ben Horowitz. At least mine is about product leaders.
The leader's user manual (325 views). How to write your readme file to set expectations with your reports. I've included my (real) example, which always gets me praise when joining a new company.
How to craft a product strategy and put it into practice (822 views). Step-by-step and with examples.
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